Ellerslie track issues

[MrBigStuff 441]

3 hours ago, scooby3051 said:

Interestingly Sha Tin always waters the track leading into a meeting so the surface is always the same to allow punter confidence...maybe something to look at here.

If you watch the coverage on the internet, they always water on the morning of a meeting at Sha Tin

[Alf Riston 1,996]

My memory takes me back to teams of white coated gentlemen getting on the track between races and replacing clods of dirt and grass with their wooden stampers - obviously things weren't so rooted in the good old days 

[Contentious 693]

1 hour ago, Alf Riston said:

My memory takes me back to teams of white coated gentlemen getting on the track between races and replacing clods of dirt and grass with their wooden stampers - obviously things weren't so rooted in the good old days 

and tractor towing a large bristled/broom harrows between races  - easy out nowdays - just move the running rail!

I doubt we had so many issues before moveable running rails came into play - the tracks were looked after with a lot more manpower. 

[Blaird 333]

Didn't they stop having those guys go out in between races to replace the clods etc when they had a miscalculation, and they went out and started doing their thing while the horses were still going around? I'm sure that happened at Ellerslie a few years ago.

[Gruff 2,924]

When I was going to races  i was there hours before the first race and never spotted any instrument of 'Condition even after walking the track. Just like anything in life the 'expert's are missing in action but telling you otherwise

[Leggy 4,193]

Gosh Vinnie didn't sound too impressed with the track. Said it's going to take a lot of racing on it to get it right if I heard correctly.

[Blaird 333]

2 minutes ago, Leggy said:

Gosh Vinnie didn't sound too impressed with the track. Said it's going to take a lot of racing on it to get it right if I heard correctly.

Yep that's what I heard too.

[Muzzaman 70]

21 minutes ago, Blaird said:

Yep that's what I heard too.

Oh dear. he will be up on a charge before the days out.

[nomates 4,960]

I believe he said it was lovely before the other comment , I don't think anybody is under any illusions that the surface is going to need bedding in , it's how long it's going to take .

[Leggy 4,193]

26 minutes ago, nomates said:

I believe he said it was lovely before the other comment , I don't think anybody is under any illusions that the surface is going to need bedding in , it's how long it's going to take .

I've asked this before nomates but I don't really understand what bedding in means and Wilcox said it needed rest over the winter for that whereas Vinnie says it needs a lot of racing for the same thing. What does bedding in mean?

[Pete Lane 1,163]

Well I'm obviously only going on visual from the TV but it seems to be playing pretty fairly so far. 

Certainly not the front runner's paradise a few have been predicting.

[Insider 4,775]

4 minutes ago, Leggy said:

I've asked this before nomates but I don't really understand what bedding in means and Wilcox said it needed rest over the winter for that whereas Vinnie says it needs a lot of racing for the same thing. What does bedding in mean?

A good humpty dumpty is my thoughts.

[Pete Lane 1,163]

Who to believe?

Sam Weatherley:

"Track's firm but nice. They've done a good job".

[nomates 4,960]

1 minute ago, Leggy said:

I've asked this before nomates but I don't really understand what bedding in means and Wilcox said it needed rest over the winter for that whereas Vinnie says it needs a lot of racing for the same thing. What does bedding in mean?

Look I don't know much about track maintenance but I've laid a few lawns in my time , where extra soil is brought in and the seed is laid , it is watered regularly and that watering is not only for the seed it is to help the soil settle and compact and I would assume with the amount of material that has been put down there that it is going to take time to find it's natural level .

Call it what you want bedding , settling in , whatever , but your a smart man I'm sure you know what was meant and understand that the track was going to take time to be what will be considered in top condition . You've spent too long arguing with Doug .

[Leggy 4,193]

4 minutes ago, nomates said:

Look I don't know much about track maintenance but I've laid a few lawns in my time , where extra soil is brought in and the seed is laid , it is watered regularly and that watering is not only for the seed it is to help the soil settle and compact and I would assume with the amount of material that has been put down there that it is going to take time to find it's natural level .

Call it what you want bedding , settling in , whatever , but your a smart man I'm sure you know what was meant and understand that the track was going to take time to be what will be considered in top condition . You've spent too long arguing with Doug .

Haha. I get bedding in for laid turf as something that involves the turf layer melding with the underlying soil but I don't really get it for seeded turf. Wilcox says it needs rest over the winter to bed in and Vinnie says it needs lots of racing to do that. Doesn't make a lot of sense to me but as Pete said, Weatherley sounded more positive and it looks to be racing fine whatever else it needs from here.

[CeeMeNow 290]

1 hour ago, nomates said:

Look I don't know much about track maintenance but I've laid a few lawns in my time , where extra soil is brought in and the seed is laid , it is watered regularly and that watering is not only for the seed it is to help the soil settle and compact and I would assume with the amount of material that has been put down there that it is going to take time to find it's natural level .

Call it what you want bedding , settling in , whatever , but your a smart man I'm sure you know what was meant and understand that the track was going to take time to be what will be considered in top condition . You've spent too long arguing with Doug .

I agree, I don't claim expertise but my interpretation would be;  " the consolidation of the structures from the subsoil to the racing surface"

[nomates 4,960]

2 minutes ago, CeeMeNow said:

I agree, I don't claim expertise but my interpretation would be;  " the consolidation of the structures from the subsoil to the racing surface"

Well your expertise is far ahead of mine because that statement is above my understanding or pay grade .

[Hi Ho Silver 806]

I thought all tracks took time to consolidate.  Maybe bedding in is a modern term for same.

Vinnie Colgan has more experience than Sam Weatherley, the latter appears to be on the payroll after watching the promotional video prior to the last Ellerslie meeting.  I feel Vinnie is no yes man and I would be appalled if he was penalised for his comments.

Nomates, your lawn might have looked a little different had a field of 500kg (+ jockey) beasts run all over it.

It would be nice to think after consolidation then the winter off it will be up to more than just looking at.

[nomates 4,960]

9 minutes ago, Hi Ho Silver said:

Nomates, your lawn might have looked a little different had a field of 500kg (+ jockey) beasts run all over it.

 

That was my whole point , even lawns need time .

[Hi Ho Silver 806]

Yes.  Absolutely.  So we rushed to show case NZ racing to the world and stuffed up.

Imagine a Premier League match kicking off on a substandard pitch.  How long would that caretaker last?  Maybe Mourinho needs to come and run NZ Racing.  He'd sort out the dead wood.

[Mattski 186]

I thought the track played a lot better yesterday with more water applied during the week. 

[Blue 1,150]

Will have to wait until the rail is in the true place again to compare to KM raceday.  Six mtrs out doesn't prove a he'll of a lot imo.

[Shad 1,619]

On 2/17/2024 at 3:03 PM, CeeMeNow said:

I agree, I don't claim expertise but my interpretation would be;  " the consolidation of the structures from the subsoil to the racing surface"

The world is full of experts these day, have you noticed, so the rest of us may as well jump on the bandwagon to.

[Gruff 2,924]

Did we see a fair racing surface today?  Looked 'racing striped' yet again and after watching McNab thoroughly butcher the well placed Slipper Island in Race 4 it added to the confusion. What did Pike tell him to do pre race? And did he tell Assano to avoid being handy ( surely not) while he got circled 4 wide at Cambridge over 970 on the biggest drifting warm fav in years? $2.5 to $8... Anyone would of thought it turned up with 3 legs Worth asking questions surely, when it looks and smells like horseshit is it  or is piss poor decision making explained away that easily?

[chiknsmack 572]

I'm still not confident the Ellerslie surface is entirely fair, but there's no blatant bias I can point to yet either.

I don't know what McNab was supposed to do on Slipper Island. Maybe you can argue he should've gone under the leader; the head-on isn't available yet but from side on it looks like the leader didn't roll off the rail until the 300m, at which point Kingfisher had poked up under Slipper Island and so McNab couldn't go back to the inside. Ordinarily he could push the 1x1 horse out of the way late in the turn to go around the two leaders, but there was a 3-wide horse there too.