Here we go again

[mckenzie 645]

In the last eight years this is the third time a Hastings Spring G1 meeting has had to be abandoned (2017 Livamol Classic, 2022 Arrowfield Plate, 2024 Tarzino Trophy). Not a great strike rate.

[Palliser 1,131]

1 hour ago, Pam Robson said:

If they're not they should be.

Since Entain took over in this Country with their big bag of money everything has turned to custard.

Standards have slipped, presentations and new initiatives are vanilla at best. It appears amateurish, boring, AI form guides, some AI presenters who aren't racing people reading off a script. Abandonments galore etc etc. 

I have been a racing man for 50 years and have never been so dismayed.

[Maximus 673]

6 minutes ago, mckenzie said:

In the last eight years this is the third time a Hastings Spring G1 meeting has had to be abandoned (2017 Livamol Classic, 2022 Arrowfield Plate, 2024 Tarzino Trophy). Not a great strike rate.

wonder how Monsieur Messara is feeling about sponsorship of this race (not) going forward? 

[Frustrated Owner 0]

There will be another review by the same people who have undertaken previous reviews and guess what will happen? Enough is enough. We need to stop trying to prepare a good 4 surface for all spring and summer racing. Set up some protocols e.g. If it rains 24 hours before race day run verti machine over track or at least corners and known problem areas on morning of races. Grass type and length. If grass to long it creates dead matter underneath and no grip, so don't have it too long. Look into grasses that do not get a slippery when wet. Also agree with a previous comment, the bend out of the home straight has always been a problem as far back as the 80's so why schedule 2000 metre plus races at the beginning of the race day on this course. Come on for the sake of the industry get in place some overarching protocols along with course specific criteria.

[Maximus 673]

Think I've had enough of Guy's constant pen twiddling and reading from the laptop .. having just discovered that (Insert Winner's Name) has now won (Insert # of wins) from (Insert # of race starts) ..."
There''s no on-screen 'chemistry'/ between him n Em at all at all at all IMO

Suggestion for Trackside: keep showing the visuals of the race wot's just finished instead of cutting back to the Dullsville Duo and let one or both of them talk over the visuals if they must.

[tripple alliance 1,215]

24 minutes ago, Palliser said:

Since Entain took over in this Country with their big bag of money everything has turned to custard.

Standards have slipped, presentations and new initiatives are vanilla at best. It appears amateurish, boring, AI form guides, some AI presenters who aren't racing people reading off a script. Abandonments galore etc etc. 

I have been a racing man for 50 years and have never been so dismayed.

"Since Entain took over in this Country with their big bag of money everything has turned to custard".

Really imagine where racing would be without their money bag,  $5000 mdns mid week seems likely,.

[Pak Star 1,074]

5 minutes ago, tripple alliance said:

"Since Entain took over in this Country with their big bag of money everything has turned to custard".

Really imagine where racing would be without their money bag,  $5000 mdns mid week seems likely,.

Exactly, nzracing was on life support and people have been very quick to forget that.  Perhaps it still is on life support, but without the Entain injection we would be a whole lot worse off.

Ironically the post come directly after another post from mckenzie demonstrating the failures of the same carnival in years gone by which were well before the Entain days..

[mulebacker 64]

3 hours ago, TurnipOrange said:

Exactly the same place I slipped on Shenely in the Hastings cup around 1982 , Tipped over and slid to the outside rail. We kept racing and I won on Tang latter in the day

I never remember as many abandonments as they do they days - Horses have often slipped but that didnt mean pulling the pin in the 80s and 90s ??????

[Pak Star 1,074]

22 minutes ago, Maximus said:

There''s no on-screen 'chemistry'/ between him n Em at all at all at all IMO

Strange because I had the exact opposite thought earlier.  I haven't watched a lot since HB abandoned but one part I did see was a throwback to the studio and Guy made reference to a Dundeel winner no doubt making Emily happy and there was some good banter between the two.  You need some decent chemistry and awareness of your co-host to be able to pull that off.

[nomates 4,967]

So possibly the 2 main races to Mutumutu next Saturday or possibly the whole program on Wednesday .

[Houlahan's Dream 614]

11 minutes ago, mulebacker said:

I never remember as many abandonments as they do they days - Horses have often slipped but that didnt mean pulling the pin in the 80s and 90s ??????

New h and s laws have resulted in more caution around dangerous workplaces.

NOT closing the track after a horse slips is inviting disaster.

[nomates 4,967]

23 minutes ago, Pak Star said:

Exactly, nzracing was on life support and people have been very quick to forget that.  Perhaps it still is on life support, but without the Entain injection we would be a whole lot worse off.

Ironically the post come directly after another post from mckenzie demonstrating the failures of the same carnival in years gone by which were well before the Entain days..

Whilst I agree that Entain have helped hugely with stakes , they also are being failed by NZTR and I'm sure they will be highly pissed off by todays events , this will have cost them a fair bit of revenue , this is not isolated and doesn't help them in getting newbies into betting , doesn't take a lot for the younger generation to just huff and walk away . There will be words spoken of that I'm sure , I wonder if they will get the generalized fob off , or accept it .

[Pak Star 1,074]

Apparently the meeting moves to Matamata Wednesday. 

The Matamata meeting that would have run Saturday moved to Tauranga.

[nomates 4,967]

9 minutes ago, Pak Star said:

Apparently the meeting moves to Matamata Wednesday. 

The Matamata meeting that would have run Saturday moved to Tauranga.

Whilst I am happy for my horse' sake and the races not being lost I do have a sinking feeling in my stomach about yet more big CD races heading north .

[tripple alliance 1,215]

Meeting News

Update Re North Island Race Meetings

 

The remainder of the meeting that was abandoned today at Hastings will be run by the Matamata RC at Matamata on Wednesday 2 October. New nominations will be required for all races aside from The Arrowfield which was an early entry race. This race will be transferred to Wednesday. Preference will be given to horses that were originally accepted for the Hawke’s Bay meeting. Nominations for this new meeting will close on Monday 30 September at 9am with withdrawals closing at midday also on Monday.

The Cambridge meeting which was scheduled for Wednesday will now run on Thursday 3 October, Nominations remain open for this meeting until 9am Monday.

The Matamata meeting scheduled for Saturday 5 October will now be a Tauranga meeting at Tauranga. The programme for this meeting will need to be revised, This programme will be provided either on Sunday or early Monday morning.

[nomates 4,967]

The big question is can Livamol day be held at Hastings and if not where .

[nomates 4,967]

Just now, nomates said:

The big question is can Livamol day be held at Hastings and if not where .

Just had a look , no northern meeting that Saturday so I would think Matamata .

[Maximus 673]

In a moment of absolute unadulterated inspiration, Max switched from the irritating Dullsville Duo (aka Em 'n G ..he pronouncing info we already know eg we're just 1 minute from Rosehill...Lord knows why they have a countdown on the graphics when we've got SuperGuy to tell us what's on when...)  to the Test Cricket ...27-3 ...and as I write this we are now 53-7.

So its back to Trackside til the Bledisloe...The Guy-meister's on mute!

 

[We're Doomed 5,551]

I was there, one of a few hundred people on track. Went all that way to witness the SI quinella in the Group 1. Arrived just as the horse lost its jockey. People on course were only told there was a problem 5 minutes prior to race 2. I did wonder why no horses turned up in the parade ring.

The people I was with found it quite exciting in a way, said they had never seen an abandoned race-meeting before. I said they should come to the HB more often.

One thing I can confidently predict, it will be my last ever visit to the HB races.

Disgraceful really. And I now see all the races have been moved to the north. In any other industry heads would roll.

I felt very sorry for the people with the food stalls who had turned up to try and make a dollar. One poor chap with heaps of rolled pork, probably expecting a big day. 

[Leggy 4,193]

On 3/1/2024 at 8:41 AM, Insider said:

"NZTR and the Club have also agreed to immediately undertake a full renovation of the Hastings turf to regain confidence in the track. More information will be provided by NZTR regarding this process once a detailed plan has been finalised"

A full renovation [in layman's terms] means cutting the grass right back, removing any build up of debris material, aerate, fill divot holes, fertilize and irrigate to get the grass growing rapidly which hopefully it will, as it's still warm enough.

The next meeting at Hastings is scheduled for 13 April, so my guess is that it will not be necessary to reschedule any race dates.

I don't think many farmers would consider that a full renovation of a pasture. To me that is routine annual maintenance for any track. If that's what they mean, I don't see the point.

 

I posted the above in January. Why they would see fit to race on that track after reseeding at the beginning of the spring root development period is beyond me, let alone earlier. The track/soil structure is stuffed and has been for a number of years. Its only hope is to be completely relaid.

[mikenz 1,243]

18 minutes ago, Maximus said:

In a moment of absolute unadulterated inspiration, Max switched from the irritating Dullsville Duo (aka Em 'n G ..he pronouncing info we already know eg we're just 1 minute from Rosehill...Lord knows why they have a countdown on the graphics when we've got SuperGuy to tell us what's on when...)  to the Test Cricket ...27-3 ...and as I write this we are now 53-7.

So its back to Trackside til the Bledisloe...The Guy-meister's on mute!

 

 

Southee will play a blinder, he's in now.

[tripple alliance 1,215]

13 minutes ago, We're Doomed said:

I was there, one of a few hundred people on track. Went all that way to witness the SI quinella in the Group 1. Arrived just as the horse lost its jockey. People on course were only told there was a problem 5 minutes prior to race 2. I did wonder why no horses turned up in the parade ring.

The people I was with found it quite exciting in a way, said they had never seen an abandoned race-meeting before. I said they should come to the HB more often.

One thing I can confidently predict, it will be my last ever visit to the HB races.

Disgraceful really. And I now see all the races have been moved to the north. In any other industry heads would roll.

I felt very sorry for the people with the food stalls who had turned up to try and make a dollar. One poor chap with heaps of rolled pork, probably expecting a big day. 

 

One thing I can confidently predict, it will be my last ever visit to the HB races.

Welcome to Ellerslie , it's proving to be easier than thought  get most of the Group and Listed races to move  into the potential big time, it's a TV show and people want a great visual experience to make  losing their money enjoyable . On Saturdays we are competing onscreen with Ausses big Saturday meetings , let's at least try to match the on screen experience , Ellerslie looks fantastic , good luck to them .

[Insider 4,786]

9 minutes ago, tripple alliance said:

One thing I can confidently predict, it will be my last ever visit to the HB races.

Welcome to Ellerslie , it's proving to be easier than thought  get most of the Group and Listed races to move  into the potential big time, it's a TV show and people want a great visual experience to make  losing their money enjoyable . On Saturdays we are competing onscreen with Ausses big Saturday meetings , let's at least try to match the on screen experience , Ellerslie looks fantastic , good luck to them .

There’s only one thing wrong. The shape of the place, the negative camber into the straight doesn’t make it fair for all runners. 
 

[tripple alliance 1,215]

9 minutes ago, Insider said:

There’s only one thing wrong. The shape of the place, the negative camber into the straight doesn’t make it fair for all runners. 
 

Sorry but rubbish when any doubts that may still linger are finally  extinguished Ellerslie is a visually beautiful surface, the horses seem to flow , your supposed (doubtful) negative camber would  soon be compensated for by Jockeys , not an issue 

[Ragamuffin 137]

4 hours ago, nomates said:

This is how incompetent NZTR are , I have just an email from NZTR informing me that the meeting has been abandoned , but unfortunately for them it is a bulk email which shows me everyone's email address . 800+ . 

Aww, who 4got the Bcc button, Privacy Act springs to mind could be a costly faux pas