CosmicBlackie

Having met the guy, he does come across as a lot of fluff and spin, definitely the frontman or ringleader of the circus. He’s surrounded himself with his people from another sector and as their record shows, don’t have much clue , or are good at winding down enterprises with not much heart in the game( excluding Gary Woodham). They are the people that as an industry, we should be making accountable.

First thing I remember when I saw him in the photo was the day he got beaten at Rangiora by the local horse, Commissioner. Only a young lad then but, standing down by the rail with my father, thought the world had ended. Still had me hooked after all those ‘W’ s in a row though :).

On the card one night @ Metro there was Christian Cullen, Courage Under Fire & Under Cover Lover had just returned from a stint in the States...hardly anyone there. Racing needs to promote itself as part of a a packaged entertainment option, how about a concert in the midfield, making Addington a “horse expo centre”, not just for racing but for educating the masses on anything equestrian, in particular young people, school visits, classes on how to bet(R18 :))to break down the “ I feel like a goose” syndrome,a dressage arena, a one stop shop as it were, Hippomania Central. Works in Hong Kong.

Ditto to that Tom. One of those who you always enjoyed the company of, never forgot your name RIP

I always remember what JA said once appointed by Glenda.....”should be fun”.... Rrrright Tui Ad.

MS and the Board at the time got told by the techs very early on that Typhoon would not integrate with Jetbet, but they still preceded. Much like the Triple Trio disaster, CEO’s without racing knowledge seem to like spending money that isn’t their own, and everyone suffers. Greyhounds are just pokies on legs, they are ideal for fulfilling the needs of the addicted gambler. And agree with you both, it’s a hard ship to turnaround, seems to be to far gone because of the ineptitude of the at the top. Sunset industry? Well, they have the right team, they’ve all come from NZ Post.

Mirka’s Mate

I think the damage has been done over the ensuing years, and lay the blame completely at the feet of the racing board, with no vision and no long term viable plan to increase stakes and encourage people to breed a horse. I have mates that would rather buy a boat or jet ski and get their fun that way , after you present the costs involved and returns once you present them to train a horse. Less horses bred = smaller fields = less betting = lower turnover = less distributions = lower stakes.

I agree with all the above. This is a business that deals in cash, CASH!!!, on a daily basis, millions, what business wouldn’t want that? How could they go wrong? By employing people with no skin in the game, no accountability. It’s really sad. ps disclaimer: I got sacked by a British twat who had never had a bet in his life, who came from NZ Post as part of J Allen’s team, and I thought, Lordy, we’re in trouble. pps Hi Turny, hope everything’s good :).

Although I hate to use the analogy of a "sunset industry",(they certainly have the people in place to manage it, coming from NZ Post ) because I'm sure as there are horses being bred to race, punters will want to have a bet on who is the fastest. I think we need to accept that the world is constantly evolving and we(racing) have to do things differently to even have a hope of keeping our heads above water. Doing the same old, same old will produce the same result. Why shouldn't we try and attract new blood into the game with people who are showing an interest? I'd bet a casino would welcome any group spending that sort of money with all types of incentives. Hard to get.

I think this is already happening in part with NZRB's Elite Customer programme where if you gamble so much per month, you're entitled(there's that word) to a rebate, corporate golf days etc. I know the TAB were looking at a card system for their higher valued customers that they could use in any channel i.e internet,retail,self service and, why not? The customer is showing some loyalty spending his hard earned. I don't think the Supermarket industry wouldn't be doing this without a reason, giving them the ability to track what you like and don't like and what you spend your'e money on, although they do have greater scale.

What came first, the chicken or the egg? Racing & punting on racing has this unique relationship where they are reliant on one another. You need horses to punt on, which feeds stake money for owners that breed horses so punters can punt on them. Not quite symbiotic , they sort of run parallel with one another. I think any initiative that increases turnover has to be positive for racing for the above reasoning. Just my 10c worth.

Chevy, you could only place an All Up on the day of the races with the old Jetbet system, looks like this is the case with this system as well. You’d be fine if you had changed to “ multi” and taken the fixed odd prices. Cheers.

You’ve hit the nail on the proverbial head right there puha, that’s why many people bet.

Fair enough and well done to The Informant( Nov 14th) for letting John Allen respond to the accusations that were aimed at the NZRB, still a question I have over the increased funding of $10 million this season. An accountant I am not, but if at the beginning of last season if the revolving credit facility was sitting at $0, and at the beginning of this season it sits at $10m, does that not equate to the funding increase? It feels uneasy where it states this is expected to rise to $30m over the course of the year on the back of increased turnover and profits, when you consider they’ve come from a position of having cash reserves and ownership of property just a few short years ago, of which now they have neither, to now having to borrow money. John states this is ‘real’ money going to the codes, it feels like real borrowed money. If the debt sits at $20m at the end of this year as he states, is that another $10m of real money to return to the codes next season ? Could I please be enlightened by someone with more accounting knowledge than me. Thanks in advance.