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mr_gee

Bernard Saundry appointed to key role at NZTR

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Disillusioned yes NZ has had a top Racing Administrator who departed to Australia. Ian McEwen was the Secretary of the Bay of Plenty Racing and Trotting Clubs from 1964 to 1970. He was then the Chief Executive of the MVRC from 1970 to 1991. He was the driving force in turning the Cox Plate into the premier WFA race in the Southern Hemisphere. From 1993 to 2000 he was the Chief Executive of Harness Racing Victoria. This present mob of administrators are light years behind Ian.

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13 hours ago, Midget said:

Might I ask why, if he's of any great worth, he hasn't been able to find himself a position of any significance in his homeland ??

He's not the first overseas appointee to have that question asked of them is he.....?? Probably not the last either.

The powers that be seem to labour under the illusion that anything but NZ is best....history would tell you otherwise.

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24 minutes ago, hesi said:

I stand to be corrected, but does it really matter who gets appointed,  the person who fills the role has very little opportunity to effect any real change, or is that incorrect and just something we have got used to over the years through a series of non-proactive appointees

Is it not a nothing role, that a middle manager with racing experience could do, along with a lot of clerical support.

They don't generate any money directly, their money comes from the RB,  there is no accountability, 90% of the money they get goes on stakes, it has very little marketing and promotion role.

It's mainly administrative.

What could he actually change that would have a significant impact on resurrecting racing?

Re-jig the calendar?

Change the structure of stakes across the board?

Lobby the RB for more funds for infrastructure, stakes etc??

Look out for new pokie machines near you soon.......:rolleyes:

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5 minutes ago, hesi said:

I stand to be corrected, but does it really matter who gets appointed,  the person who fills the role has very little opportunity to effect any real change, or is that incorrect and just something we have got used to over the years through a series of non-proactive appointees

Is it not a nothing role, that a middle manager with racing experience could do, along with a lot of clerical support.

They don't generate any money directly, their money comes from the RB,  there is no accountability, 90% of the money they get goes on stakes, it has very little marketing and promotion role.

It's mainly administrative.

What could he actually change that would have a significant impact on resurrecting racing?

Re-jig the calendar?

Change the structure of stakes across the board?

Lobby the RB for more funds for infrastructure, stakes etc??

All correct.

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Personally I am happy with the appointment.  A job like this has a life span, and I think once he has his feet under the table we will see change. 

At his level, in this game the market for jobs are limited.  So he may have saw NZ as an opportunity to make a difference on a country scale not just state scale.

His work with the racing.com website shows he knows where the future is.

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Here is my take on the situation in NZ and why his job is really like a job from hell.

 No new investment in industry, tracks falling to pieces facilities donald ducked or ancient, to many racecourses

Too small a population to have big Wagering pool.

Vela's too old and no heirs, they will sell Karaka  for real estate value. Future sales will be in Hamilton area near airport I am told.

All yearlings worth more than $200k will more and more venture  to Oz Sales as the upside is much greater there as racing is very strong in many states.

Hogan has no heir so after he is gone what will happen to Cambridge stud??? Once he is gone a loud voice is also gone.

No new big players in industry. No investment in new stock. Love them or hate them once DE and Te Akau stop spending the large dollars who is there after them???

New Zealand market niche for stayers has now largely gone as European stayers prove time and time again they are better.

 

Just a few reasons why the industry is dying on the vine in my opinion and a few reasons why things will change greatly in the not to distant future. I am not sure he can or will be allowed to do anything about it.

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10 minutes ago, scooby3051 said:

Here is my take on the situation in NZ and why his job is really like a job from hell.

 No new investment in industry, tracks falling to pieces facilities donald ducked or ancient, to many racecourses

Too small a population to have big Wagering pool.

Vela's too old and no heirs, they will sell Karaka  for real estate value. Future sales will be in Hamilton area near airport I am told.

All yearlings worth more than $200k will more and more venture  to Oz Sales as the upside is much greater there as racing is very strong in many states.

Hogan has no heir so after he is gone what will happen to Cambridge stud??? Once he is gone a loud voice is also gone.

No new big players in industry. No investment in new stock. Love them or hate them once DE and Te Akau stop spending the large dollars who is there after them???

New Zealand market niche for stayers has now largely gone as European stayers prove time and time again they are better.

 

Just a few reasons why the industry is dying on the vine in my opinion and a few reasons why things will change greatly in the not to distant future. I am not sure he can or will be allowed to do anything about it.

Then why waste money hiring him?

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6 hours ago, scooby3051 said:

Here is my take on the situation in NZ and why his job is really like a job from hell.

 No new investment in industry, tracks falling to pieces facilities donald ducked or ancient, to many racecourses

Too small a population to have big Wagering pool.

Vela's too old and no heirs, they will sell Karaka  for real estate value. Future sales will be in Hamilton area near airport I am told.

All yearlings worth more than $200k will more and more venture  to Oz Sales as the upside is much greater there as racing is very strong in many states.

Hogan has no heir so after he is gone what will happen to Cambridge stud??? Once he is gone a loud voice is also gone.

No new big players in industry. No investment in new stock. Love them or hate them once DE and Te Akau stop spending the large dollars who is there after them???

New Zealand market niche for stayers has now largely gone as European stayers prove time and time again they are better.

 

Just a few reasons why the industry is dying on the vine in my opinion and a few reasons why things will change greatly in the not to distant future. I am not sure he can or will be allowed to do anything about it.

You make very good points. I do worry that a lot of the industry problems are only just being papered over at the moment. If Michael Pitman, Kelvin Tyler, the Parsons and the Andertons were to give up I imagine SI racing would have to close down. Likewise in the NI most of the smaller provincial tracks would have to close if it wasn't for Kevin Myers and Graeme Rogerson. Is there any succession planning going on? Is anyone taking responsibility for encouraging young trainers? Look at Riccarton this weekend; they don't even pretend to have sponsors for the first three races. Decent stakes, but poor fields and I imagine the oncourse turnover will be shocking. Bernard is going to have his work cut out. I don't imagine he can make things any worse.

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12 hours ago, gubellini said:

NZ has had a top Racing Administrator who departed to Australia. Ian McEwen was the Secretary of the Bay of Plenty Racing and Trotting Clubs from 1964 to 1970. He was then the Chief Executive of the MVRC from 1970 to 1991. He was the driving force in turning the Cox Plate into the premier WFA race in the Southern Hemisphere. From 1993 to 2000 he was the Chief Executive of Harness Racing Victoria..

 
1

Thanks for that, Gubellini,

I had heard of Ian McEwen but had no idea he was a New Zealander.

The Cox Plate is one of my fave races - 2000 metres is my 'classic' distance: the Kentucky Derby, the Cox Plate, the Champion Stakes etc...

I just read Ian's potted bio and it includes this:

McEwen was then secretary of the Bay of Plenty Racing Club after working as a racing writer for The Dominion newspaper and appointing a New Zealander to the post was, at the time, a controversial move. None of which bothered McEwen, or "Macca" as he was known to his many friends.

When he took over, the Cox Plate was worth $30,000 and was not even the feature race on the day. Now, it has prizemoney of $3 million.

During his time as CEO, from 1970-90, McEwen turned Moonee Valley into the "Action Attraction" and was the first to introduce a host of features including detailed form in the racebook, integrating men and women in the members' enclosure, allowing trainers and bookmakers to become members, introducing twilight and Sunday meetings, providing dining boxes for the public and a total undercover betting ring — innovations that are taken for granted these days.

In a 1988 interview, McEwen envisaged, among other features, racecourses equipped with hotel-style facilities and racing on artificial tracks, which are now coming to pass, and he was one of the first to call for removal of the principal clubs system that ruled Australian racing for so long.

 

 

 

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Why the emphasis on Vela, Hogan, Rogie  etc? Yes, Industry greats. But who are  the successors? Let me name a few. Team Baker/Forsman, Stephen Marsh, Tony Pike, Team Logan/Gibb, etc etc. NZ has not got a problem with succession in training ranks. Now, breeders. Windsor Park, Waikato, Haunui, Little Avondale, Westbury, etc etc. So where is NZ 's problems lay ? Easy. Administration. Everyone is decrying the trip to America by Purcell - a lame duck CEO. Who signed that junket off? If you want to point the finger somewhere, start with the NZRB and NZTR Boards. BINGO !!

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1 hour ago, Trump said:

Why the emphasis on Vela, Hogan, Rogie  etc? Yes, Industry greats. But who are  the successors? Let me name a few. Team Baker/Forsman, Stephen Marsh, Tony Pike, Team Logan/Gibb, etc etc. NZ has not got a problem with succession in training ranks. Now, breeders. Windsor Park, Waikato, Haunui, Little Avondale, Westbury, etc etc. So where is NZ 's problems lay ? Easy. Administration. Everyone is decrying the trip to America by Purcell - a lame duck CEO. Who signed that junket off? If you want to point the finger somewhere, start with the NZRB and NZTR Boards. BINGO !!

So you don't think the exodus of young trainers offshore is a problem??? And there WILL be more in the coming months, years.

Who is going to hold these fuckers in Wellington accountable was my meaning the big guys are either to old or can't be bothered, racing is going to die the way they are doing it, if i was a young guy starting out i would do the same huge money every meeting everywhere big or small meetings mostly.

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The Stakemoney is much greater in Oz - so is the competition. It's not easy anywhere. The best and most progressive will travel to Oz, Singapore. But that is a natural thing to do. Every Industry has people going overseas to better themselves, having a different experience. NZ hasn't got a problem other than the what it has created for itself. 

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2 hours ago, Chris Wood said:

Don't levy the exported horses at all. They pay the same track fees and relevant expenses as the ones that don't make the grade.

Most connections jump straight back in to another horse or two, why discourage them?

Good points. Good to have some practical input.

Hesi does make several good points though as usual.

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Well, if I was Saundry, I would seek out players from all parts of the Industry and get my own picture of what state the Industry is in. (I would even ask Racecafe to nominate 3 of it's regular contributors to spend a day or two with me and listen to the problems  from their pov.) It's no good him coming in and listening to the Board - they are responsible for the current situation. If they knew how to fix it, it would be fixed or on it's way to being fixed. He's got to be his own man. I fear that the "weakness" (for want of another word) is higher than CEO level. 

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An Aussie mate today described him as a cast off & about as exciting as a old wet dish cloth.

Said the only thing he will do for NZ Racing is turn it into an old boys club.

Looks like a lot to look forward too. Great.

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57 minutes ago, barryb said:

An Aussie mate today described him as a cast off & about as exciting as a old wet dish cloth.

Said the only thing he will do for NZ Racing is turn it into an old boys club.

Looks like a lot to look forward too. Great.

Looks like his job is already done then Barry...:rolleyes:

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On 17/05/2017 at 7:29 AM, gubellini said:

Disillusioned yes NZ has had a top Racing Administrator who departed to Australia. Ian McEwen was the Secretary of the Bay of Plenty Racing and Trotting Clubs from 1964 to 1970. He was then the Chief Executive of the MVRC from 1970 to 1991. He was the driving force in turning the Cox Plate into the premier WFA race in the Southern Hemisphere. From 1993 to 2000 he was the Chief Executive of Harness Racing Victoria. This present mob of administrators are light years behind Ian.

Ian McEwen was Saundry's boss and mentor at MVRC. I think you will find that Saundry was HRV CEO from 93 to 2000

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You know guys I hope you give him a fair go.  Things have been dire for a long time and we all need to look at ourselves.  Us racing folk are sentimental, we wax lyrical about champion horses, trainers and jockeys.  We all remember the good old days, but I'm going to throw a big old cat amongst the pigeons here, society has changed and we have all been so set in our ways we haven't changed with it.  I love the track I was bought up on dearly and it holds a great deal of fond memories however we have too small a market to maintain that number of tracks.  Yes there is a place for summer picnic meetings and the like, however we need to invest more in the club's closer to the urban populations if we want to survive.  The f acillities at the likes of Te Rapa are dire, the track is magnificent but oft repeated is the comment about how tired and dingy it is.  We need to have a look at some of the things the Harness boys have done right and embrace innovation.  If its Friday night races under lights with great venues and top notch food and good entertainment, why not?  Syndication has been a huge opportunity, how often does a new race horse shareholder get into the game  pays there $200 a month and doesn't even get close to breaking even or get strung along given the bare minimum in updates on there horse until they get fed up with it and never set foot on a racetrack again?  When is the last time we asked young people what would get them along?  Why do clubs do all the work and get no revenue whatsoever from the off course?  Why does the tax gained from racing go back into investment?  These are all challenges and I really hope we see some major change or that magnificent beast the thoroughbred racehorse will have no reason to be.

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Why don't instead of 2 $1million dollar races don't we have the likes of the Harness jewells with 10 $200,000 races? How many overseas have the million dollar races attracted?

 

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