RaceCafe..#1...Tipsters Thread.... Share Your Fancies For Fun...Lets See Who The Best Tipsters Here Are.
Mattski

The Informant

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Strangely now the informant has gone the BB has got worse .Missing vital AU meetings comments not fully completed . Why they cant go back to including Thursday meetings is beyond me . So after millions upon millions spent we now have an inferior printed and online version.Please explain JA

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22 hours ago, rdytdy said:

I am now reliably informed that The Informant is no longer and won't be published again.

Yesterday all those employed with The Informant were told that they are no longer employed.

Not good and a sad indictment of where things are at present in the industry. :rcf-sad:

In that case the best option would be  a NZ version of the Australian Sportsman or equivalent. i.e. camera ready copy from Australia with NZ adverts inserted.

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I might be going against all of the prevailing sentiment on here, and I don't mean to offend anyone by any means, but what was so special about the Informant? As I live in the countryside I have never actually seen a copy, so I may well be missing something. I get all of my form online, which is where I presume most serious punters access their form these days. 

In the days before computers I used to rush out religiously to buy the Friday Flash as soon as it came out, and read all of the trackwork, form and editorial content, but surely these days things have moved on from that style of publication, especially in NZ with such a small market and crippling production and distribution costs.. 

In an ideal world this website right here could perhaps carry more editorial and information content. I quite enjoy the snippets currently carried in the news section. With some of the "train wreck" threads recently there is a danger of losing some of the die hard racing contributors, so I think a mix with more editorial content would work well and keep this site even more relevant.

Do people miss the Informant because it caters to the needs of serious punters, because it might somehow attract new punters who see it in a shop, or because it retains older punters who don't have access to a computer? I must admit I do very little betting in NZ these days, and one of the main reasons for that is the lack of trackwork, which from some centres was always very valuable information.

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2 hours ago, Bestbetbazza said:

Someones telling Porkies.

And it’s not Ted. 

Sadly it’s official. The current owner (Matthew Frances) has definitely pulled the pin so unless someone else picks it up it’s gone. 

I am gutted along with many others. 

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1 hour ago, shaneMcAlister said:

The TAB are looking at charging people to use its app and website. As they have become aware that people are using the app and website form to punt on the TAB. 

I don't know of anyone who uses the current TAB Website form to punt on! :rcf-laughing-2:

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5 hours ago, We're Doomed said:

I might be going against all of the prevailing sentiment on here, and I don't mean to offend anyone by any means, but what was so special about the Informant? As I live in the countryside I have never actually seen a copy, so I may well be missing something. I get all of my form online, which is where I presume most serious punters access their form these days. 

In the days before computers I used to rush out religiously to buy the Friday Flash as soon as it came out, and read all of the trackwork, form and editorial content, but surely these days things have moved on from that style of publication, especially in NZ with such a small market and crippling production and distribution costs.. 

In an ideal world this website right here could perhaps carry more editorial and information content. I quite enjoy the snippets currently carried in the news section. With some of the "train wreck" threads recently there is a danger of losing some of the die hard racing contributors, so I think a mix with more editorial content would work well and keep this site even more relevant.

Do people miss the Informant because it caters to the needs of serious punters, because it might somehow attract new punters who see it in a shop, or because it retains older punters who don't have access to a computer? I must admit I do very little betting in NZ these days, and one of the main reasons for that is the lack of trackwork, which from some centres was always very valuable information.

It was also a vehicle for comment and discussion on topics relevant to the NZ Racing Industry WD.....an outlet for opinions to be expressed without the usual arse covering/kissing restraints most journalists/presenters labour under....

Ironically, that seems to be exactly the reason for its demise......criticism tends not to go down well.....:rolleyes:

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On 5/15/2019 at 2:24 PM, We're Doomed said:

I might be going against all of the prevailing sentiment on here, and I don't mean to offend anyone by any means, but what was so special about the Informant? As I live in the countryside I have never actually seen a copy, so I may well be missing something. I get all of my form online, which is where I presume most serious punters access their form these days. 

In the days before computers I used to rush out religiously to buy the Friday Flash as soon as it came out, and read all of the trackwork, form and editorial content, but surely these days things have moved on from that style of publication, especially in NZ with such a small market and crippling production and distribution costs.. 

In an ideal world this website right here could perhaps carry more editorial and information content. I quite enjoy the snippets currently carried in the news section. With some of the "train wreck" threads recently there is a danger of losing some of the die hard racing contributors, so I think a mix with more editorial content would work well and keep this site even more relevant.

 Do people miss the Informant because it caters to the needs of serious punters, because it might somehow attract new punters who see it in a shop, or because it retains older punters who don't have access to a computer? I must admit I do very little betting in NZ these days, and one of the main reasons for that is the lack of trackwork, which from some centres was always very valuable information.

You're probably right in that the market it appeals to is going to be small in NZ. I enjoyed it because I like to have all the weekend fields down on paper rather than having to go through websites and keep checking to see who is racing when. Plus all the articles and opinion pieces,  when your reading online you only look at headlines that catch your eye, but in print you can scan over everything. It was just a well done publication that often asked important questions of the industry. The people I know who purchased it were usually the purists who liked getting their form, news and other tidbits in one place, but more and more people are moving online and getting that there.

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Any updates John Allan on the return of a weekly newspaper Horse Racing Publication?

Any updates John Allen on the return of Horse Racing on Free to Air Freeview TV?
 

You said you would ensure both would be back during your tenure within the Racing industry.

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