WRC public relations team

[nomates 3,609]

36 minutes ago, We're Doomed said:

I note that Trentham and Gore were both soft 6. Gore looked immaculate and Trentham looked like a cow paddock. I just hope it was the Gore meeting they chose to show to the Aussie punters.

The extra meetings at Trentham in December buggered the track for the cup meeting , didn't take a genius to work it out it was going to happen . 

[Alf Riston 1,553]

57 minutes ago, Palliser said:

Don't worry Entain will fix everything

Apart from some 'gimmick' races can anyone else tell me what might have been done since the takeover??

I haven't been paying close attention but nothing much seems to have changed

 

[Insider 3,973]

10 minutes ago, Alf Riston said:

Apart from some 'gimmick' races can anyone else tell me what might have been done since the takeover??

I haven't been paying close attention but nothing much seems to have changed

 

Just look at the stakes across the board as a starter.

[Whyisit 232]

41 minutes ago, Alf Riston said:

Apart from some 'gimmick' races can anyone else tell me what might have been done since the takeover??

I haven't been paying close attention but nothing much seems to have changed

 

The gimmick races conveniently coincides with the upcoming sales  one on Saturday and one the night before sales .Gives the breeders something to entice a good price  apart from the ability to breed a possible  Group and Listed winner.  Gives them more strings to the bow   Syndicators likewise.    Could have better stakes across the board.

[Hi Ho Silver 785]

1 hour ago, chiknsmack said:

Would you have gone to Trentham if it was free entry if you showed your Phoenix ticket?

I don't know how good the public transport links are to Trentham but if you could take public transport to the races, get in for free, then have buses put on specifically to take people to the Phoenix game, would that have been a goer?

There are also the obvious things to do if you're going to charge $50 at the gate (food/drink/betting vouchers, get your $50 back if you hand in $X of losing bet tickets) as mentioned.

This is a really good idea, with a jig because the Phoenix game was the Friday night before Trentham on Saturday.

[Hi Ho Silver 785]

4 hours ago, Houlahan's Dream said:

Best example is the public stand at Ellerslie. I thought last week with the track upgrade they might have, oh, I dunno, waterblasted the place, perhaps replaced broken seats, maybe a bit of paint here and there. 

It's not like the facility was closed for only a week.  There was ample time to have everything ship shape.

[Houlahan's Dream 541]

To do that you have to first give a rats arse. 

Surely you have one or two of the staff not doing the track rebuild, on the stands and surrounds? 

Or, are they so broke they cannot afford even those upgrades?

Track management are either incompetent or negligent. No amount of cheerleading from Guerin and co next Saturday changes that fact. 

[Chris Wood 1,577]

I found it interesting, NZ Rail closed the Railway between town and Petone, bus out there and get on the train at Perone to the track.

Big days racing at Trentham and they close it down, NZ Rail at its bloody best…..

[We're Doomed 4,872]

5 hours ago, Alf Riston said:

Apart from some 'gimmick' races can anyone else tell me what might have been done since the takeover??

I haven't been paying close attention but nothing much seems to have changed

 

I do get your point, but Entain have poured a lot of money in and boosted stakes significantly. The big question is whether the money invested is sustainable and whether it will lead to increased turnover, bigger fields, better facilities, more top class jockeys and trainers and more owners. And eventually even better stallions and greater demand for yearlings.

To date it doesn't seem to have led to any significant up-turn, field sizes look smaller if anything. The conundrum continues to be more and more money poured into the anointed few, the big metropolitan tracks, but they continue to be the major under achievers. Meanwhile the closed down clubs and their workers have been lost to the industry. I would be interested to hear how the Waikouaiti turnovers at Wingatui compared to turnovers at their own track and whether the members and committee from Waikouaiti turned up en masse at Wingatui to mow the track and clean up the course before the big day. I suppose the other question would be how many of the regular attendees at Waikouaiti actually turned up at the new venue

[Insider 3,973]

54 minutes ago, We're Doomed said:

I do get your point, but Entain have poured a lot of money in and boosted stakes significantly. The big question is whether the money invested is sustainable and whether it will lead to increased turnover, bigger fields, better facilities, more top class jockeys and trainers and more owners. And eventually even better stallions and greater demand for yearlings.

To date it doesn't seem to have led to any significant up-turn, field sizes look smaller if anything. The conundrum continues to be more and more money poured into the anointed few, the big metropolitan tracks, but they continue to be the major under achievers. Meanwhile the closed down clubs and their workers have been lost to the industry. I would be interested to hear how the Waikouaiti turnovers at Wingatui compared to turnovers at their own track and whether the members and committee from Waikouaiti turned up en masse at Wingatui to mow the track and clean up the course before the big day. I suppose the other question would be how many of the regular attendees at Waikouaiti actually turned up at the new venue

Great points We're Doomed. You and I both know the answers.

Unfortunately when they had no money they made some awful decisions closing down the provincial tracks and and effectively destroying a lot of the fan base, especially those starting out as betters and of course now all of the tracks that are left are grossly overworked.

Try having a horse trained in the Waikato/Auckland area and get a trial.

Liz

[Chestnut 3,158]

I think something that the powers that be didn't figure into their calculations is that we currently have an aging population, that aging population were and are the backbone of New Zealand racing.    By closing down so many of the tracks, they no longer take their children, and their grandchildren to local meetings, they don't want to go to some hyped up metro meeting with no seating, drunken teenagers, vacuous rooms, and they certainly don't want to go to a track where every room is some corporate event and the best rooms are taken and not left for members and regular patrons.      

The changing of betting to mainly online was also a disaster, phone betting was pretty much their way forward, not a lot of the aging population use laptops or computers, so again, tracks are taken away and if they aren't able to get to a local TAB that are also diminishing, what do they do?

It's almost as if racing in New Zealand has ignored their majority market and the market that will bring future patrons to racing ie. their children, grandchildren.   Why do you think rest homes etc. took off in the last 10 years...  it's to meet a market.

 

[We're Doomed 4,872]

14 minutes ago, Insider said:

Great points We're Doomed. You and I both know the answers.

Unfortunately when they had no money they made some awful decisions closing down the provincial tracks and and effectively destroying a lot of the fan base, especially those starting out as betters and of course now all of the tracks that are left are grossly overworked.

Try having a horse trained in the Waikato/Auckland area and get a trial.

Liz

Try having a horse in Canty and getting a start in certain classes. I think one of the Riccarton races last week had 26 noms but they didn't split it. Then those eliminated horses have to race out of their class over a distance they don't really want just to get a start somewhere and people complain about suspect form.

Personally, I think Entain's biggest disappointment so far, has been not getting to grips with the real concept of tiered racing. I accept it is incredibly early days for them so I haven't really judged them on it yet, but there is no real sign they recognise the problem.

Of course I do recognise that Entain is just a betting agency. Getting the structure of racing right shouldn't be their problem. It should be NZTR's role, but I have long since given up on them getting anything right.

I think eventually Entain will realise it is their money and if they want things to improve they will have to take over the whole show.

[Insider 3,973]

17 minutes ago, We're Doomed said:

Try having a horse in Canty and getting a start in certain classes. I think one of the Riccarton races last week had 26 noms but they didn't split it. Then those eliminated horses have to race out of their class over a distance they don't really want just to get a start somewhere and people complain about suspect form.

Personally, I think Entain's biggest disappointment so far, has been not getting to grips with the real concept of tiered racing. I accept it is incredibly early days for them so I haven't really judged them on it yet, but there is no real sign they recognise the problem.

Of course I do recognise that Entain is just a betting agency. Getting the structure of racing right shouldn't be their problem. It should be NZTR's role, but I have long since given up on them getting anything right.

I think eventually Entain will realise it is their money and if they want things to improve they will have to take over the whole show.

I agree. I think that you are right.

[Insider 3,973]

19 minutes ago, Chestnut said:

I think something that the powers that be didn't figure into their calculations is that we currently have an aging population, that aging population were and are the backbone of New Zealand racing.    By closing down so many of the tracks, they no longer take their children, and their grandchildren to local meetings, they don't want to go to some hyped up metro meeting with no seating, drunken teenagers, vacuous rooms, and they certainly don't want to go to a track where every room is some corporate event and the best rooms are taken and not left for members and regular patrons.      

The changing of betting to mainly online was also a disaster, phone betting was pretty much their way forward, not a lot of the aging population use laptops or computers, so again, tracks are taken away and if they aren't able to get to a local TAB that are also diminishing, what do they do?

It's almost as if racing in New Zealand has ignored their majority market and the market that will bring future patrons to racing ie. their children, grandchildren.   Why do you think rest homes etc. took off in the last 10 years...  it's to meet a market.

 

Chestnut, a double for everything that you have said.

You have hit the nail on the head.

Liz

[scooby3051 10,975]

And I here soon no tote windows on racecourses, yep they will be gone too...only mobile phones will be able to be used soon.

[We're Doomed 4,872]

51 minutes ago, scooby3051 said:

And I here soon no tote windows on racecourses, yep they will be gone too...only mobile phones will be able to be used soon.

I have heard the same. The claim someone made that they aren't interested in oncourse attendance and turnover sounds quite accurate. Going to be embarrassing if you have overseas visitors and you take them to the races but they aren't allowed to bet.

[nomates 3,609]

Doing their best to annihilate pensioner bettors . When I go to an ordinary day the largest proportion of the crowd are older , how many are going to just say stuff it and stop going and betting .

[We're Doomed 4,872]

9 minutes ago, nomates said:

Doing their best to annihilate pensioner bettors . When I go to an ordinary day the largest proportion of the crowd are older , how many are going to just say stuff it and stop going and betting .

Not really wanted. They don't spend enough on Lindauer.

[Alf Riston 1,553]

1 hour ago, nomates said:

how many are going to just say stuff it and stop going and betting .

Mostly done already - sad, but true.

[Alf Riston 1,553]

6 hours ago, Chris Wood said:

I found it interesting, NZ Rail closed the Railway between town and Petone, bus out there and get on the train at Perone to the track.

Big days racing at Trentham and they close it down, NZ Rail at its bloody best…..

My money would be on NZ Rail had no clue about the event, and WRC had no clue to work with them.... 

[Palliser 760]

I'm not sure why people think that Entain pouring money into stakes or whatever is going to fix everything. It is far far more than that, it's about leadership, people, foresight, experience, knowledge, vision, planning and everything else that goes with that. Shooting from the hip won't cut the mustard, Labour printed money, made horrendous decisions and faarked the country. Money is only a useful resource if used wisely and with some sort of long term plan, but all I've seen is let's pump money into stakes, great. But you need to get returns, so you need to attract more people, all I have seen is the opposite. Why can't that CEO chap give us something that will convince us they are on the right track apart from cash and words ?

[jayar 114]

4 hours ago, Chestnut said:

they don't want to go to some hyped up metro meeting with no seating, drunken teenagers, vacuous rooms, and they certainly don't want to go to a track where every room is some corporate event and the best rooms are taken and not left for members and regular patrons.      

This is spot on,.Especially at Addington and Riccarton during Cup week

Regular Patrons are now treated like the proverbial bird crap..

[TurnyTom 1,542]

So very true JR, both Clubs have lost connection with the Punter, their lifeblood 

I think we all know the end result, very sad and there will be no turning back

[Contentious 616]

10 hours ago, scooby3051 said:

And I here soon no tote windows on racecourses, yep they will be gone too...only mobile phones will be able to be used soon.

Well that is akin to no toilets in pubs and bars 

[We're Doomed 4,872]

33 minutes ago, Contentious said:

Well that is akin to no toilets in pubs and bars 

Or no beer.