South Island race dates

[Lord Wilf]

Two days at Cromwell last weekend. Nothing in the South on grass for another fortnight, the only exception being one on the synthetic at Riccarton on Friday. Are trainers/owners happy with this programming?

[nomates]

Clearly because there is good numbers  , I can't fathom it at all , why it was programmed nor why so many just accept it and run their horses there .

I see they are putting up 40k stakes , where were those stakes when my filly was winning 3 at Cambridge through Autumn and Winter ???

No plan , no direction and certainly no pathway for horses that are really good on it .

 

[We're Doomed]

1 hour ago, Lord Wilf said:

Two days at Cromwell last weekend. Nothing in the South on grass for another fortnight, the only exception being one on the synthetic at Riccarton on Friday. Are trainers/owners happy with this programming?

I mentioned this same thing on the Levin thread. It happens every year, a 5 week gap with only the one AWT meeting in Canty, so we have to assume trainers are quite happy with it. I did notice the Riccarton AWT meeting this week has the smallest Canty fields for many weeks. It is the first SI meeting for many weeks that hasn't had to split a field.

We have to assume either some trainers don't like the AWT at this time of year or else they are all a bit tired after Cup Week and are happy to have a month off. Your guess is as good as mine which it is.

I have no idea what has happened to all of the horses that raced at Timaru a couple of weeks ago. Only 21 of them are backing up on the AWT. Perhaps the other hundred prefer grass tracks.

SI programming and dates continues to look poor. Non stop 3yo races in the NI, including 7 noms at Trentham, but no 3yo racing in the SI. No 2yo racing in the SI, but happy to have a 2yo race with 4 noms at Te Aroha. Splitting a race at Taranaki with 20 acceptors into two fields of 10. Can anyone remember the last time they split a 20 horse field in the south?

[Farnarkler]

13 minutes ago, nomates said:

Clearly because there is good numbers  , I can't fathom it at all , why it was programmed nor why so many just accept it and run their horses there .

I see they are putting up 40k stakes , where were those stakes when my filly was winning 3 at Cambridge through Autumn and Winter ???

No plan , no direction and certainly no pathway for horses that are really good on it .

 

They make it up as they go along, a circus with many ringmasters......sadly.

[We're Doomed]

10 minutes ago, nomates said:

Clearly because there is good numbers  , I can't fathom it at all , why it was programmed nor why so many just accept it and run their horses there .

I see they are putting up 40k stakes , where were those stakes when my filly was winning 3 at Cambridge through Autumn and Winter ???

No plan , no direction and certainly no pathway for horses that are really good on it .

 

Interestingly, there are 31 horses who have done some of their most recent racing on the AWTs in at Riccarton. So obviously quite a few of those horses have targeted this meeting.

It does beg the question why the poor buggers who like to race on the grass during the summer months have to go 5 weeks without a suitable opportunity.

[Leggy]

1 hour ago, We're Doomed said:

I mentioned this same thing on the Levin thread. It happens every year, a 5 week gap with only the one AWT meeting in Canty, 

And then it's back to Timaru for another industry day and another month until another feature meeting in Canterbury after that.

[We're Doomed]

10 minutes ago, Leggy said:

And then it's back to Timaru for another industry day and another month until another feature meeting in Canterbury after that.

Same every year. You have to assume the trainers are happy enough with it as there never seem to be complaints and it never changes.

I see quite a few have voted with their feet and headed to Trentham to get a start on the grass.

[Leggy]

4 minutes ago, We're Doomed said:

Same every year. You have to assume the trainers are happy enough with it as there never seem to be complaints and it never changes.

I see quite a few have voted with their feet and headed to Trentham to get a start on the grass.

Some may go to Southland too but why can't we have a couple of feature days on the grass in Canterbury at this time of year? Some of those voting with their feet may walk away altogether and who could blame them?

[Lord Wilf]

1 minute ago, Leggy said:

Some may go to Southland too but why can't we have a couple of feature days on the grass in Canterbury at this time of year? Some of those voting with their feet may walk away altogether and who could blame them?

If only Rangiora or Motukarara , with decent track and facilities were available.

[Leggy]

52 minutes ago, Lord Wilf said:

If only Rangiora or Motukarara , with decent track and facilities were available.

Both tracks and facilities are fine for harness racing this month.

[Who Moi]

No trainers are not happy with the shit programming here.  Try training staying oriented horses - bloody nightmare!  We watch on with envy as CD meets are running around with 7 race programmes with 6 or 7 horse fields 2 or 3 times a week, while we struggle to get starts down here.  There should be at least 3 meets a fortnight.  Monthly mid week industry days at Timaru or Oamaru to be central for all (southern & northern).

[Leggy]

21 minutes ago, Who Moi said:

No trainers are not happy with the shit programming here.  Try training staying oriented horses - bloody nightmare!  We watch on with envy as CD meets are running around with 7 race programmes with 6 or 7 horse fields 2 or 3 times a week, while we struggle to get starts down here.  There should be at least 3 meets a fortnight.  Monthly mid week industry days at Timaru or Oamaru to be central for all (southern & northern).

I don't think there's a feature level middle distance race, let alone a staying race, at R65/75 level, north of the Waitaki, between cup week and late February.

[stodge]

56 minutes ago, Who Moi said:

No trainers are not happy with the shit programming here.  Try training staying oriented horses - bloody nightmare!  We watch on with envy as CD meets are running around with 7 race programmes with 6 or 7 horse fields 2 or 3 times a week, while we struggle to get starts down here.  There should be at least 3 meets a fortnight.  Monthly mid week industry days at Timaru or Oamaru to be central for all (southern & northern).

Okay, fine.

Over here, the fixture list is decided between the racecourses (what you call the clubs), the Horsemen (trainers, owners, jockeys) and the bookmakers.

It seems NZ racing is owned by NZTR who call all the shots - why don't the trainers and the clubs get together and say, this is the programme we want, these are the races we want on the programme and this is when we want to run them. Yes, have some co-ordination with the rest of NZ so it's a fair shake for everyone but it's not really that difficult once you realise you have the power because you own the product.

 

[Pam Robson]

1 hour ago, stodge said:

Okay, fine.

Over here, the fixture list is decided between the racecourses (what you call the clubs), the Horsemen (trainers, owners, jockeys) and the bookmakers.

It seems NZ racing is owned by NZTR who call all the shots - why don't the trainers and the clubs get together and say, this is the programme we want, these are the races we want on the programme and this is when we want to run them. Yes, have some co-ordination with the rest of NZ so it's a fair shake for everyone but it's not really that difficult once you realise you have the power because you own the product.

 

Yeah....but NZTR does the funding of stakes and some meeting costs.  What they say goes, pretty much.

[We're Doomed]

4 hours ago, Lord Wilf said:

If only Rangiora or Motukarara , with decent track and facilities were available.

That's one of the big problems. Riccarton don't want to race on the grass at this time of year, Ashburton was virtually stuffed a few months ago and Timaru is on the naughty boys list. They desperately need Rangiora up and going again.

[We're Doomed]

2 hours ago, Leggy said:

I don't think there's a feature level middle distance race, let alone a staying race, at R65/75 level, north of the Waitaki, between cup week and late February.

And yet the CD had feature meetings two days apart and a couple of hundred kilometres apart last weekend , followed by a super feature meeting this coming weekend.

A massive opportunity was missed when Waikouaiti got the boot a few years ago.  Timaru should be racing on New Years Day with a feature meeting, seven days after Wingatui. But of course that can't happen because Timaru is not in the old boys club.

[We're Doomed]

2 hours ago, Who Moi said:

No trainers are not happy with the shit programming here.  Try training staying oriented horses - bloody nightmare!  We watch on with envy as CD meets are running around with 7 race programmes with 6 or 7 horse fields 2 or 3 times a week, while we struggle to get starts down here.  There should be at least 3 meets a fortnight.  Monthly mid week industry days at Timaru or Oamaru to be central for all (southern & northern).

To an outsider looking in, it looks like the CJC provides no leadership at all and don't see themselves as having any responsibility to make sure SI racing ticks away ok. As long as they can have Cup Week every year nothing else seems to matter to them. Symbolically, giving their slot to a northern horse each year shows how they view southern racing. I think its an appallingly arrogant look.

[Farnarkler]

There's a stealth bomber available and able you know. They're called Jockeys, if the owners/trainers got them onside they could 'make' read 'make' NZTR come to the table about Rangiora, and Banks Pen. the line could and should be, 'We ride on these tracks, we know their lifespan and the pitfalls of longevity of racing surfaces'. They need to moot, NO demand that a reasonable and feasible assessment of both tracks be taken with a view to summer racing on those under utilised tracks.

Then if silence is the answer stronger action needs to be taken. However it appears the will is missing, so my guess the jocks of the south and the trainers are flush with funds, they're not hungry, because if they are and racing is to move on a forward trajectory then a united front is needed and a call to action instigated.

Sorry to be so blunt, but it's not fucking rocket science .........just do it!

[Pam Robson]

Not gonna happen.  As discussed in another thread, apart from Corey Campbell and Dan Bothamley, the rest are imports.  They're not going to rock the boat, or offer opinions.....if they have any.

[stodge]

10 hours ago, Pam Robson said:

Yeah....but NZTR does the funding of stakes and some meeting costs.  What they say goes, pretty much.

Over here, we have Racetech who basically provide the infrastructure of each meeting from starting stalls to race callers. 

RaceTech is a limited company funded by the racecourses and the pictures they produce are sold to bookmakers and other outlets so the courses own the product which is or are the media rights of the races being shown.

That's what the clubs need to do - take control of the product and sell it to the TAB for showing on Trackside. 

Obviously, as the BHA does here, there's an integrity responsibility which sits with the central body and for example the stipes and course inspectors are paid employees of the BHA even if the local stewards are volunteers.

 

[Lord Wilf]

1 hour ago, stodge said:

Over here, we have Racetech who basically provide the infrastructure of each meeting from starting stalls to race callers. 

RaceTech is a limited company funded by the racecourses and the pictures they produce are sold to bookmakers and other outlets so the courses own the product which is or are the media rights of the races being shown.

That's what the clubs need to do - take control of the product and sell it to the TAB for showing on Trackside. 

Obviously, as the BHA does here, there's an integrity responsibility which sits with the central body and for example the stipes and course inspectors are paid employees of the BHA even if the local stewards are volunteers.

 

Well, this is NZ , not the UK.

[Farnarkler]

4 hours ago, Pam Robson said:

Not gonna happen.  As discussed in another thread, apart from Corey Campbell and Dan Bothamley, the rest are imports.  They're not going to rock the boat, or offer opinions.....if they have any.

Pam why wouldn't the 'blow ins' be onside?......after all it's their wellbeing being a focus alongside the obvious, if they're ambivalent then 'let them eat cake!

[Farnarkler]

Every man and his dog can see the emerging problems of closing tracks, the two behemoth stables located in the SI should stand up for the whole industry, I bet their owners would want to see better surfaces for their horses to race on, even if it is only over the summer months.

If they don't take a stand then the industry truly is fucked, because in the wash-up it's an animal welfare issue and that makes them complicit.

A line in the sand shortly? or, is it status quo?

[Crow]

18 hours ago, We're Doomed said:

That's one of the big problems. Riccarton don't want to race on the grass at this time of year, Ashburton was virtually stuffed a few months ago and Timaru is on the naughty boys list. They desperately need Rangiora up and going again.

Riccarton do their track renovation straight after the cup carnival so that's why no grass available there. But it just needs the programming sorted so that Ashburton is available and not running a trial meeting the week before this synthetic day at Riccarton. They need to look after Ashburton so it can cater for this time of the year instead on just hammering the shit out of it all the time

[Crow]

36 minutes ago, Crow said:

Riccarton do their track renovation straight after the cup carnival so that's why no grass available there. But it just needs the programming sorted so that Ashburton is available and not running a trial meeting the week before this synthetic day at Riccarton. They need to look after Ashburton so it can cater for this time of the year instead on just hammering the shit out of it all the time

Just to add to this why doesn't Riccarton run a few more trial meetings throughout the year as they run them around markers up north or is their track too precious for that. Surely, they have a lot more staff to maintain the track than they do at Ashburton