Redoute's Choice

Is one betting agency in a country akin to one insurance agency, one bank? If Australia can race in 6 states and have a plethora of betting agencies operating alongside each other surely we could have more than just the TAB.

You would hope that we see a united front by the trainers and they get behind Tony Pike. The point of what he is saying should be (and assumably is) a majority view of the trainers he represents. In the best interest of the industry they are behind him. You would assume he is speaking on behalf of the general consensus of thought amongst the training community and would expect them to do what they need to do as a show of solidarity. There does seem to be a few mixed messages in the media from other trainers though which isn't a good sign.

Don't get me started on Mother Teethresa

How many mares will Super Seth likely cover that are WS and shareholder mares?

Thanks Berri, That defies belief really! A selective review without an accurate look at 2 of the main components of racing falls way short of comprehensive and is a failure on the part of both agencies to allow full disclosure and transparency, something which both organisations should promote.

I can see parallels between our racing industry and the NRL. Both have had a good product at a certain point in time (up until the mid 90's) but through incompetence, mismanagement and being top heavy with far too many parasites with no concern for the future merely their own personal financial gain have seen both brought to their knees at the expense of the ones who's passion and livelihood rely on good, strong, competent leadership and have been screwed over by a series of people who have no accountability and move on to the next big money job. I think a complete rebirth of both is what is needed and the only way forward that would allow the framework to be put in place to not allow the mistakes that lead to this point to arise again and would also rewire these businesses where revenue is gained from a product, put back into the product for it's growth and to reward those who have invested lives and money into it also to ensure when profits are made those in charge won't just divvie profits up amongst them on a yearly basis as a reward for themselves then rely on the next "big TV/TAB deal" to get them out of the red. In both cases it's time to pick up the house of cards put them back in the pack and build the house out of something a hell of a lot more structurally sound.

This report from John Messara, did the working of this investigation include a comprehensive financial audit of the racing industry including TAB or was it more of a philosophical musing? Is this available for reading? I'm still completely blown away by the amount of money the RIU takes to operate. I didn't think racing in NZ was necessarily losing millions to underworld activity, money laundering or large scale doping programmes before they came into existence? There's a few conflicts of interests on the business side but hardly anything which requires a FBI for racing.

Well said Idolmite.

Hello to all of the Racecafe community. I am an armchair follower of racing and breeding, I also have a number of family members and friends employed in the racing industry and I honestly worry for them, racing is literally all they know and have given their entire working lives to racing. I have to admit that though it was evident the industry was struggling, the events of the past month have been extremely sad and worrying. By reading your thoughts and passionate concern for the industry it’s obvious that something is desperately needed to save racing and continuing along the pre-Covid lines isn’t the answer. From an outsiders perspective(I am not in any way intending to devalue or discredit something I have only a surface understanding of) it seems the industry is caught between quantity and quality of product. It also seems that sentimentality could also blind some of the more passionate stakeholders from seeing that in order to go forward some things have to be sacrificed. I hope some radical and revolutionary thinking comes from this desperate time. It seems that in certain times that tinkering with the engine and painting over the rust and dents won’t get a machine working if the machine is mechanically flawed and sometimes you have to completely rebuild it from the frame to the engine to the brand new paint job(ok car’s aren’t the most reassuring comparison R.I.P Holden) Say the racing industry literally grinds to a halt and trainers keep the horses spelling and say to the government we need to put together a plan of action for this industry. At present the racing industry has nothing to lose and returning to racing will have some benefits such as employment but is it only delaying an inevitable capitulation of a great part of our sporting landscape? Is the opportunity here for a brand new Genesis of racing? Could the mistakes that lead to this point be learnt from and a consolidated and revolutionary new way of running the industry be achieved? Can the government give the industry that contributes a highly valued revenue the opportunity to say you guys put together a presentation that is given to us by x date and if we can see merit in the way the genuine stakeholders blueprint for a better industry could work we can f off the current system and start again? Would a more socialist approach be better for the industry where smaller clubs with valuable land holdings sell and invest as shareholders in other stronger clubs? Could the industry gear the reliance away from the TAB have a more well rounded approach to where the profit comes from(if possible) could bloodstock bred and raised in NZ not be retained by some sort of incentive scheme where instead of selling overseas 100% of the time that there is an incentive to retain promising horses to race here? Seems like commercial breeding is a export only business and apart from studs retaining stallion prospects or fillies it sees most good horses go overseas. What would it do to NZ racing to have a Winx? Not since Sunline in the early 00s has a racehorse even entered the consciousness of the NZ public, every half decent horse gets sold because it makes financial sense due to lack of alternatives. Would a revolution for the sport where a racing board is not there to gain a salary but to work first and foremost for the love of racing and be able to communicate with passion and honesty, possibly even working as a direct voice for each region they represent? Possibly I see this wrong and a quality over quantity approach won't increase stakesmoney or interest in racing due to less Grass Roots racing generating revenue but it's food for thought either way. I hope for the best for the industry because it’s a great part of the sporting culture but also because it has a direct impact on people that I love. I also hope that all of you passionate and genuine racing folk can get together and make it work somehow and look back at this time in years from now and see this as not the time we saw racing die but the time when you all stood up and said fuck it let’s do it our way! I don’t know if what I have written has made any sense or offended anyone, I hope not. All the best people and look after yourselves.