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

Can the Auckland Trotting Club survive?

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When the previous CEO was explaining how well she  wasdoing it did not ring true with me knowing a little about failed trotting clubs.!! All of the comments here are valid and many of us sounded warnings many months ago on this forum. TO SELL OFF land with great tenants as you say is short term desperation and can only be detrimental to the Club in the long term. ATC needs assistance as can not be permitted to collapse. HRNZ must seek Govt. help if necessary to keep the club solvent and may need to put in place a crisis management structure acceptable to them and the bank. I believe it is time for head out of sand for the present Board as any further" shocks" could see the Bank put the Club into receivership. I warned of this possibility at another Club and the only real response from many board Members , 'hrnz would never let it happen "  I personally was having weekly meetings with the Bank as to cash flow and with Council to seek relief . ATC is Harness Racing in the North  and must survive for the future of harness racing.

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15 minutes ago, john legend said:

When the previous CEO was explaining how well she  wasdoing it did not ring true with me knowing a little about failed trotting clubs.!! All of the comments here are valid and many of us sounded warnings many months ago on this forum. TO SELL OFF land with great tenants as you say is short term desperation and can only be detrimental to the Club in the long term. ATC needs assistance as can not be permitted to collapse. HRNZ must seek Govt. help if necessary to keep the club solvent and may need to put in place a crisis management structure acceptable to them and the bank. I believe it is time for head out of sand for the present Board as any further" shocks" could see the Bank put the Club into receivership. I warned of this possibility at another Club and the only real response from many board Members , 'hrnz would never let it happen "  I personally was having weekly meetings with the Bank as to cash flow and with Council to seek relief . ATC is Harness Racing in the North  and must survive for the future of harness racing.

Good points john.........there were doubters from day 1 and obviously bad decisions were made early on with the project and particularly the choice of contractors etc.

IMO its important to start with a 'clean slate ' on future plan and not get bogged down with the past , except not to repeat it.

Desperate situations need urgent action and the major banker involved will be looking for significant monies to reduce its exposure.

Collaboration from stakeholders is crucial and this not always evident in the Harness Industry....it seems .

 

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1 hour ago, tim vince said:

The last 2 posts right on the button

Well Tim , you and I have been discussing this situation most Fridays for past 4 years.......I even asked for a regular amateur race at an AGM to cater for the slower horses !

When  possible savings are looked at to add a few pennies to the coffers ,maybe they/we [ its the member's club ] will cut down on some security folk e.g. the 3 who rallied around to move us from the stairs where we watch every race from !

Today relax by the pool and recharge those batteries , the club needs you and SW to be fighting fit to help put on the show / action .

Bula Vinaka !

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1 hour ago, tim vince said:

Hotel more like Glen.

"And I was thinking to myself,

This could be heaven or this could be Hell ,

Then Tim lit up a candle and showed me the way "...............it's a lovely place !

And in the room we will invite all the big hitters ,especially those with the big ideas and money.....the NZRB ,Local Government , NZ Harness , even Auckland Racing Club etc , folk who should see it in their best interest to make ATC great again.

But most of all the participants ,those who put the show on ....and many younger folk who will continue to put the big dance on long into the future !

Are they out there ?

 

 

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16 hours ago, tasman man 11 said:

"And I was thinking to myself,

This could be heaven or this could be Hell ,

Then Tim lit up a candle and showed me the way "...............it's a lovely place !

And in the room we will invite all the big hitters ,especially those with the big ideas and money.....the NZRB ,Local Government , NZ Harness , even Auckland Racing Club etc , folk who should see it in their best interest to make ATC great again.

 

 

Did anyone think to invite D Trump? Seem to be pretty good at this type of thing, at least  according to himself.

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4 hours ago, Hermione said:

I was unable to attend the meeting last night unfortunately and am surprised at the lack of comment or feedback anywhere?  Has everyone been sworn to secrecy?

The motion to give the board the authority to negotiate the sale of the front land was passed.  

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As mentioned , short term gain obviously forced by the Bank .lets all hope it is worth as much as mr Croon believes.and enables some of the apartments and shops to be completed..Of course the future income from  the front land say 1.5 million pa. will now no longer exist. and is a trade off.  Good Luck ATC. 

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5 hours ago, Bruce J Hadley said:

The motion to give the board the authority to negotiate the sale of the front land was passed.  

I attended Bruce . Even though a relatively new member I sensed a certain humility amongst the Board which one would imagine after the recent/current messy venture into construction.

It also obvious that many members have a strong allegiance to the club built up over many years and really do care about the club....a source of pride.

There clearly is a desire for the club to be great again and the comments re the recent years accounts/disclosures etc suggest there will be greater scrutiny into the future. 

Will this lead to greater attendance and more horses in the area ? More horses needed ,pronto !

I'm confident that there will be more strategic planning ,more attention to detail and certainly more collaboration .

Obviously there is a real need for some younger blood to learn off the 'old dogs' ,some of whom still have plenty to offer .

Lets hope so.

I look forward to more collaboration on the racing side ,after all it is a racing club .....the main reason it exists !

 

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28 minutes ago, tasman man 11 said:

I attended Bruce . Even though a relatively new member I sensed a certain humility amongst the Board which one would imagine after the recent/current messy venture into construction.

It also obvious that many members have a strong allegiance to the club built up over many years and really do care about the club....a source of pride.

There clearly is a desire for the club to be great again and the comments re the recent years accounts/disclosures etc suggest there will be greater scrutiny into the future. 

Will this lead to greater attendance and more horses in the area ? More horses needed ,pronto !

I'm confident that there will be more strategic planning ,more attention to detail and certainly more collaboration .

Obviously there is a real need for some younger blood to learn off the 'old dogs' ,some of whom still have plenty to offer .

Lets hope so.

I look forward to more collaboration on the racing side ,after all it is a racing club .....the main reason it exists !

 

You are certainly optimistic TM...there are obviously some loyal members, it has been around a while, but loyalty doesn't necessarily translate into good decision making. I seem to recall great opposition to selling the Campbell St site and leasing the Manukau Road sites ( they are now wanting to sell ) despite the obvious benefits to the Club. Seeing it all pissed up the wall by people totally out of their depth is bloody frustrating to many, particularly those of us involved in getting it back on a viable commercial footing years ago.

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As us say bloody frustrating.the original question was will the atc survive.i think so and hope so.some of the problems were beyond the boards control.some they must take the blame.personally I would  like all the board to stand down next election put their names up again.new people wanted.i don't think any current board member should put thhemselv3s up for president.new direction and most  of the present board have had  more than one term and have failed to make a difference.the problem is where is the new blood.

I have heard a name mentioned.couple of terms on  board and has been invisible.as u know I'm a great fan of Gary Williams.nelson giants and table tennis amongst his c.v..races a million horses.successfull  business man and huge passion.hardest part will be to convince him and a team to complement him.

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Haha Tim , there seems a real resolve among all stakeholders to get this project and the club back on track . A few more hurdles in the way then real progress should be made.

But we need no more old buggers on Board to 'have a go".There are some strong ones there who now fully understand how to progress and importantly the pitfalls ! The lawyer on Board seems a key and if the right others can shoulder tap some younger types with a passion for success and racing along with a grip on governance and compliance then we be OK.

I saw GW yesterday as they wheeled him into a home for the bewildered and he asked me if Young Quinn was racing Friday !!

Methinks all stakeholders are going to pull together on this one .

Ohoka expresses some dismay as most do ,but the clubs net assets continue to increase , cash flow is the biggest challenge as it is in most businesses.

Keep up the good fight to improve the racing side of the business.

I'm away for a couple of weeks !

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19 hours ago, tasman man 11 said:

 

Obviously there is a real need for some younger blood to learn off the 'old dogs' ,some of whom still have plenty to offer .

Lets hope so.

 

 

This really is "Tooth Fairy" stuff.      I was at the meeting too, and looking around the attendance (about 85/90 at a guess) younger blood was very scarce.     Some "middle agers" but I would think (well) over 50 pct were like me - gold card carriers!     This is, and has been, a very real problem to Clubs and the Industry for the last one or two generations.     Sorry, I don't have the answers and I suspect the board doesn't either.     But someone has to  at least try and find a solution.   

My suggestion is over the winter months condense the programme - half an hour between races is just too long and this is just not my singular opinion, I have heard this said many times by many people.    In the winter on a shitty night, can you blame joe public for not attending.    Yes, I know they can get on their new fangled phones and have a bet if they so desire but I am sure the same people on course would bet a little more - not to mention the loss of revenue for the club through the bars and food outlets.    For 10 races by reducing the gap between races by just 5 minutes means people could get home and out of the wet/cold 50 minutes earlier.    That's nearly an hour and on the usual park starting/finishing times they should be away by 9-30.      Start the races an hour earlier and you further reduce peoples time in the gloom.    Yes, I know some people work through till 5 pm but looking at present attendances I don't think they even contemplate running the gauntlet in the Auckland 5 o'clock snarl up - and also earlier start and earlier finish would be welcome by many/most trainers.       Really, attendances can hardly get smaller than they presently are, so nothing should be lost at least giving this a go and see if any improvement to attendances.      Also the club would need to make this well publicised so that people would be aware, not just leave it to word of mouth.      Hey, I'm not saying this would work or be an answer but unless people come up with suggestions, we will remain in dodosville. 

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