media release 29/1/19 Stratford Race Track closure proposal

[Daveysdoll 0]

Well the fight should be on!

But it would certainly help if the club hierarchy actually had a historical tie to Stratford rather than not, as the fight would then have more meaning behind it. 

Yes the December 29th meeting had a huge crowd, mainly due in part to it possibly being the last gallops meeting to be held there, so where were those people in previous years? 

Why is there a 5 member committee providing an interim report to Winston Peters by the end of February and clubs sending their recommendations to NZTR by March 2019, for New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing to consider all and any proposals. ???

New Plymouth’s track is the worst in Taranaki to train and race on, so its logical then to have both codes race there.... NO.  

That’s why Stratford is used by a number of NP trainers as it is a better kept track for both training and racing on, thanks in most part to a small but dedicated strong group of volunteers/life members who know the true worth of keeping the track in great shape, these amount to countless hours of selfless pride in a venue and more importantly a Stratford institution for both Gallops and Harness Racing in our region for over 100 years. 

If they delicence Stratford as a racing venue then it’s up to US the community to become members or volunteers to keep it as a training track at least. 

So who is in charge of closing tracks around the country.... is it The Minister for Racing or New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing? 

NZTR should have no authority to act on behalf of NZHR - New Zealand Harness Racing and it’s body of members throughout the country. 

I know that as far as Harness Racing is concerned if we lost the right to even train out of Stratford alone then there would be a huge possibility that your local trainers will give up training and that won’t be a good thing for the racing industry as a whole or the regions here in NZ given that the proposed track closures around the country will impact greatly on the small local but valuable trainers in the industry. These are the trainers that bring in new owners/followers into the racing industry, their fees are attainable due in part to many of these trainers do their own shoeing for instance and some costs aren’t passed on to the owner/s  These owners aren’t interested in syndicated ownership, being one small part of a group of people they don’t know. They want to be involved mostly in local for local, that’s the heart of racing, take away the heart and you are left with a decline in horses, trainers, owners, punters and followers. 

As local people follow local trainers, and in a small rural community many remote farmers only come to town for these annual race days, that’s when they catch up often their neighbours, and other remote farmers in the region, it’s the one of only a handful of days they leave their farms to socialise with the towns folk, they won’t travel to the larger towns or cities to have a day out.

Many trainers won’t want to travel out of their towns to train their horses, thereby adding more expense to their owners, so the decline in horse ownership and horse numbers will have the desired effect that NZTR would be looking for as NZTR are only thinking of Thoroughbreds not their poor cousins as they see us in the Harness Racing game. 
Rant Over

[Taku Umanga 194]

...... and the New Plymouth track is only leased from the local authority.  Any investment in upgrades to facilities would be best spent on tracks owned by the industry or community.

[Stables 577]

How many horses are trained at Stratford. If possible could you please provide numbers for Harness Racing and Thoroughbred racing

[scooby3051 10,854]

Be sad to see it close...a great track to race and train on many good horses from there over the years.

[Blue 1,095]

Scoobs, there have been many good horses come from every corner of the country over the years, even the likes of George Yakich and Solo's Dream from Dargaville who won at Ellerslie in front of the Queen.Like has been said before. The industry is dying but nobody wants to be the first to help it into the recovery position. Everybody wants to go to heaven but nobody wants to die.

[Daveysdoll 0]

18 hours ago, Stables said:

How many horses are trained at Stratford. If possible could you please provide numbers for Harness Racing and Thoroughbred racing

 

18 hours ago, Stables said:

How many horses are trained at Stratford. If possible could you please provide numbers for Harness Racing and Thoroughbred racing

There are approximately 80-90 horses trained at Stratford 

roughly 10 are Harness 

Not quiet sure of how many New Plymouth gallop trainers come to stratford to train but as a guess it’s approx 12 

the rest are stratford trained gallopers 

the New Plymouth track is closed regularly and those trainers come to stratford  

 

 

 

[Stables 577]

Thanks for that. So where do you think they would go if the track closed, is there a suitable track nearby. With the harness horses, are they all trained on the track or do some of the trainers have their own facilities

[2Piper 408]

Need to keep it open for all to use ( foremost ). If Thoroughbreds leave Harness should buy and develop it so central Districts get harness all year round.

[Stables 577]

Ha Ha

[eljay 1,718]

What's funny?      I certainly don't think it's a laughing matter!       Have you ever been there?            

[Stables 577]

What I think was funny was somebody saying that Harness Racing should buy Stratford if the galloping code abandon ship. Where would the money come from. Perhaps the 10 remaining harness trainers should buy it

[Thejanitor 1,217]

7 hours ago, Stables said:

What I think was funny was somebody saying that Harness Racing should buy Stratford if the galloping code abandon ship. Where would the money come from. Perhaps the 10 remaining harness trainers should buy it

Dickson won a few last night so he can afford to chip in. 

[Taku Umanga 194]

15 hours ago, Thejanitor said:

Dickson won a few last night so he can afford to chip in. 

Hunterville is a long way from Stratford

[2Piper 408]

21 hours ago, Thejanitor said:

Dickson won a few last night so he can afford to chip in. 

Harness Racing NZ could with their share from money projected from the Race Field Legislation.  10 present trainers would be able to help out getting new young ones into the game. 20 odd raceday licence's to add to the grass tracks and Palmerston North and you got a proper circuit. 

[eljay 1,718]

Easy solution - it's called "status quo'.      And thats backed up with "if it aint broken then why fix it"          I really think Massara, Winston, and all those guys who know bugger all should really look at the problem.       The general public and the punter.       It wouldn't cost anything to get rid of half of those silly bets they brought in - like saddle cloth numbers etc. and just give the punter the plain old "worked for years" situation.     1 race - 1 winner, 3 places, 1 quinella, 1 double, 1 concession double, either trifecta or first 4 but not both.      And (dare I say it) get rid of those so called bookies the TAB pay big money to - they are just an extension of the tote (look at prices they offer) and this would also help clean up the voracious appetite of the TAB because they dont declare or tell how much they making out of this form of betting, but we all know it the punter, the code and/or owners who suffer.

[tim vince 985]

Agree entirely with Lloyd 're bet types.when pool sizes are diluted it has a flow on effect.the pools get smaller so less attractive to bet much money on.if a pool has 10k in it say in quinella how can u justify betting much.if there 30 k u can and so on.otherwise u betting against yourself.i think there should only be fixed odds now.a decent win bet on the tote u destroy your own dividends.also no 1 thing.reduce the tax and the tab will make more money overall.

[2Piper 408]

With all these closures proposed where is the clubs history and memorabilia  going to be stored. Like take Cheviot as an example , in which they have previous held their races near Amberley, more recent at Rangiora and lately Addington. I can not remember them having a local track for raceday . Most probably used the Hurunui one they hold the Waitangi day picnic meeting each year ( open to non licences and licenced competitors ).

[tim vince 985]

im told pathetic crowd saturday did intend to go but things changed- might be good only for a training facility if no local support for races- keep the track and stables sell everything else?

[Value Bell 250]

Ask Shane Jones to buy Stratford. Throwing money willy nilly around. Winston could have a talk to Shane !!!!!!!!!!!!