Hastings cancelled

[Huey 2,037]

 

Nomination Morning

Weather: Fine

Track: Good 3

Rail: Out 5m | Irrigating Today 8mm

Weather and Track updated at 8.22am Tuesday 15 September

 

The interview that Sweeny did with the track manager on Friday arvo during the Taupo races ,I thought the track manager said it was a G2 Tuesday arvo , so they had to apply moisture , something along those lines. 

 

Your reading is in morning.

[Leggy 4,076]

 

. Jockeys never had a problem with the track until race 3 and I can't see what is the problem with the statement.

Wrong. From the stipes report after race 1:

 

On returning to scale O Bosson reported that his mount EARL’S COURT had lost its footing in behind near the 800 metres.

 

And Neal is reported in the SST as saying there were two incidents in three races of horses slipping free of interference.

[Leggy 4,076]

Track woes cancel Group One meeting 19 September 2015, 5:46 p.m.

Warning signs about the safety of the Hastings track were voiced early and subsequent concerns brought Saturday’s premier meeting to a halt.

Top jockey Opie Bosson reported his mount Earls Court had slipped 800 metres from home in the opening event and two races later the fixture was abandoned after Jonathon Riddell had a similar tale to tell after finishing fourth aboard Tiger Tim.

“On the point of the turn he lost his footing,” Riddell said. “I raised my concerns with the stewards, the track’s not 100 per cent and it’s not a nice feeling as a rider.”

Following a meeting with jockeys, the decision was made to call time on the meeting, which was to have featured the Gr.1 Windsor Park Plate and the Gr.3 Hawke’s Bay Breeders’ Gold Trail Stakes.

“After speaking to riders we made the call to abandon the meeting,” stipendiary steward Ross Neal said. “In the interests of safety the meeting couldn’t go ahead.”

Trainers’ association president Tony Pike said it was an extremely disappointing outcome.

“It’s come as a huge cost to the industry and these things shouldn’t happen – there’s been no rain in the Hawke’s Bay for a number of weeks and we’ve got to get these tracks right.” – NZ Racing Desk.

[Leggy 4,076]

 Are you saying he should have said. "All New Zealand tracks are unsafe and I refuse to listen to any jockey." Perhaps that would have satisfied you.

That appears to be closer to the truth.

[Leggy 4,076]

 Can someone explain to me how the groundhog machine works ? As jockeys wanted it used but stipes didn't

It's a slicing type aerator with 6-7" tines.

http://www.taskpower.co.nz/shop/Aerators/Agricultural+Aerators/Ground-Hog+SE240.html

[Insider 3,943]

So the issue again is watering of tracks?If the track manager isn't instructed to produce a dead 4 track race morning would he water so much?

NO.

[gubellini 3,993]

The problems with our tracks can be sheeted directly to the dysfunctional NZRB.Instead of ploughing money into essential track maintenance they have siphoned off money for grandiose salaries for their staffers.It is time Racing Minister Nathan Guy put the organisation into Administration.

[Tinkerbelle 79]

I mow grass as part of my job on a tractor most weeks during the season. More rain = more juice in the grass = slippage. Its not rocket science. When the grass hardens off due to less rain the mowing is easier as the grass is dry. By irrigating tracks to get these good 4 conditions NZTR demands you create lush moisture filled grass and abandoned meetings. You may be trying to put moisture in the soil but the grass uptakes this and becomes lush. This series of abandonments were unheard of years ago before irrigation, who cares if the grass looks a bit brown on TV.

 

I wonder if that Twiggy bloke will now bag North Island clubs as he did to the South Island earlier this year calling it a circus

Peg, this is by far best explanation I've seen for the ongoing problems and makes perfect sense given that Hastings is far from an isolated incident. The problem seems not so much tied to the soil and the watering of it, but the state of the grass and the effect of water on that. Mr Dickson Cider ... have you / can this be referred upwards? Is someone at NZTR watching this? 

[Midget 4,489]

Not sure who's to blame directly, but the NZRB might be guilty of hijacking our historical source of pokie funding that was used for maintenance etc...by way of grants.

Now of course it's distributed directly under S16 ( bloody lucky too as the 13 million pokie revenue involved is the only growth we've seen in betting revenue, and it's been twisted statistically by NZTR to suggest the industry is doing ok ) to the codes who now use it for stakes rather than as it was previously used before the NZRB got their class 4 gaming license, the previous use obviously being that as a club you'd apply for a pokie grant for infrastructure and maintenance, often involving your track or equipment to service it.

This new scenario whereby the pokie revenue is distributed under S16 is a bit like a public company using all their profits to pay dividends and reserving nothing for R&D, maintenance, or capital investment.

Inevitably rot and decay will follow, and there's an element of that here I'd guess.

Slam Dunk the tracks that have had issues requiring postponements or abandonments in the last couple of years are;

Wingatui, at least three times postponed or abandoned.

Ashburton, numerous cancellations.

Riccarton, various issues pertaining to uneven watering and the racing surface being unstable.

Trentham, races abandoned and scratchings because the track is far too hard or far too deep, you choose, it tends to alternate even in summer.

Otaki.

Awapuni, historical issues around the top bend...deferred or delayed meetings and limitations to where the rail can be placed.

Hastings, see yesterday.

Counties, it's been open, closed, reopened, closed, currently closed, and I won't mention their all weather dirt track

Ellerslie, appears to absolutely stuffed and now effectively shut down for the majority of winter, remains to be seen whether that's a viable treatment/solution.

Ruakaka, wind and sand means no racing twice last year. NZTR have invested 500k here to resolve a problem that apparently doesn't exist if in fact "there are no issues with tracks in NZ".

Tracks that have had significant remedial work ( with varying success ) in recent years because they had maintenance and safety issues include Rotorua, Tauranga, Te Rapa.

Now how about you name the major tracks with NO issues please, and let's agree that we'll ignore any track that races less than four times a year, because their operating standards and resources are somewhat limited, and our expectations should be the same.

[Turny 1,224]

Midget when you list as you have, I can see why GP says what problem

[gubellini 3,993]

The winning stake for the Windsor Park Plate was $125,000.A trainer has been deprived of $12,500.Meanwhile NZRB staffers will continue to receive their grossly inflated salaries.N.Z.Racing has no credibility whatsoever.

[Guest 2Admin2]

turny, on 20 Sept 2015 - 08:16 AM, said:

Midget when you list as you have, I can see why GP says what problem

A man on top of his game would have replied to the question - "yes I'm aware of a number of track issues which we are trying to address. However after years of no investment and poor priorities we have a lot of ground to catch. NZTR is assisting with investing $400k+ into remedying the Awapuni problem and will be aggressively investing in fixing the others."

Instead his instinct was to save his salary.

Oh and what's the bet that they close Foxton on the grounds it has a burnt out grandstand which no-one really needs.

[gubellini 3,993]

We are about to embark on to the Christmas At The Races season.If one of these meetings is called off because of track conditions many first time racegoers will be gobsmacked by their "experience" and never return. Pardon my Pun but there is a lot at steak/stake if this track issue is not rectified pronto.

[puha 2,177]

Does anyone know how many meetings we used to lose in the 80's to similar causes?

[jasonmccook1 2,359]

Hardly serious was it ! So what, a couple of horses not handling the track?
Tell me this, if the track was bad enough to cancel the meeting, why was every horse in the first 3 races not affected?
Bloody stupid, we have had so many bog winter tracks were horses are all over the place, then we have that track yesterday that looked great, apart from 2 horses that didnt handle it, then 2 jockeys have the power to control the meeting???
Health and safety is killing nz

Big difference between horses not handling tracks and slipping. Jockeys need to be safe

[ADM 225]

The ground hog situation is interesting, i was involved with the Pharlap raceway and we got told by Mr Foskett it was essential we had a groundhog, the 1 time we had slippage we thought great we have the race day savior the groundhog, but alas the stipes pulled the plug and didn't give us the opportunity. As far as i know the GH has never been used, another cost to a small club that was not necessary and NZTR believe they have made a good call.

[hedley 1,900]

on  Tuesday, the long range forecast was for two warm westerly days preceeding the Saturday when weather fronts were forecast to possibly deliver rain during the afternoon.

rating [Tuesday] a Good 3..the 16mls of irrigation should've bee applied 'all at once' on the Tuesday, so that the water would penetrate deeply into the sole'n'sod and only gradually been drawn out by evaporation [timed to coincide with raceday] . . .watering Wed and Thursday in small amounts saw the top two inches soft and the grass lush..a recipe for slippage.

..given what unfolded, the ground hog should've been used to attempt the salvage of the vital meeting proceeding albeit 'one race behind' the schedule.

that this wasn't done is what has upset connections and rightly so..because all that Could've been done to salvage the meeting, wasn't done {Ross Neil prevailed}

[Username 36]

After a 5 hour round trip to attend the Hastings races yesterday, all I can say is what a fkn joke!

What an absolute embarrassment NZ racing has become.

As a very infrequent racegoer, I won't be back again and those I attended with feel the same. Good luck attracting new blood to the sport when those in charge clearly have their heads in the sand and have no clue of how to provide an entertaining experience for the general public.

[Leggy 4,076]

 

..given what unfolded, the ground hog should've been used to attempt the salvage of the vital meeting proceeding albeit 'one race behind' the schedule.

that this wasn't done is what has upset connections and rightly so..because all that Could've been done to salvage the meeting, wasn't done {Ross Neil prevailed}

The groundhog issue is a bit mysterious to me, a) because they wouldn't try it along with some drying to salvage the meeting; and (b) because they evidently had it set up ready to go but apparently hadn't used it prior to the meeting. Were they planning to use it afterwards or what?

[hedley 1,900]

i reckon they Had it set up and ready to go in case the rain came but only in shower bouts..causing a slippery surface [because the rain was forecast]

Butch said it was all ready to go but was over ridden by Ross Neil's determinations., his opinion being that the riders wouldn't ride competitively on a ground hogged surface.

in my opinion, he was wrong to exclaim that..as ground hogged ground has been seen to be sufficiently remedial at other venues where it has been used.

 

 

[racewars 0]

this wouldnt of happened if jason fulford was track manager there!!!!!!

 

[gubellini 3,993]

Des Coppins will be interviewing some people involved in the Hastings abandonment on Trackside Radio from 11 a.m. this morning.I can't wait for the cliches and platitudes!

[Midget 4,489]

Is that the same Des Coppins who told a caller yesterday that I hadn't been charged with any offenses?

Des I was charged with the most serious racing offence possible, then the JCA said if it justified it they'd charge me with just misconduct, a lesser charge, but while I was charged Des the JCA did the right thing and found me not guilty on all counts, then told me to seek costs for my trouble.

I understand you have to do as you're told to keep you job Des but please don't re write racing history using my name, and if you made an honest mistake let me assure you I had three months of pressure and threats, and some very serious charges, all for nothing.

For what it's worth I thought Ross Neal did the right thing Saturday although I can see the point some trainers are making about using that ground breaker and putting the races back an hour.

The jockeys and horses welfare comes first always, but it'd be fair to say that this time the track management might not have been as good as it could have been.

Midget.

 

[gubellini 3,993]

Hi Midget. Des told the caller that you had been CLEARED of all charges.

[Midget 4,489]

I was listening, it didn't sound like that at all unless he added that later.

When I heard it he said I "wasn't charged" to the guy who asked about wasting industry money.

Doesn't matter anyway, not the end of the world is it.