We're Doomed 4,824 Report post Posted July 23, 2019 Back onto my pet subject. Despite Ashburton racing today, Timaru on Friday, 70 kilometres and less than an hour down the road, currently has 80 nominations that will miss a start unless fields are split. NZTR has indicated they will split the two maidens, but still 56 horses will miss a start. One maiden race alone has enough noms to run three full races. Contrast this with Otaki on Saturday, which has a grand total of 67 noms for the entire meeting. One maiden has been dumped and the other has four noms. So 67 noms for Otaki and 56 horses that will miss a start altogether at Timaru, even if fields are split to run ten races. My point is that this is incompetence, on quite a grand scale. There is betting product available in vast numbers in one part of the country and numerous people wanting to take part in the industry, but they are being treated like shit to be blunt. If an all weather track is intended to keep horses going through the winter it would be a disaster for the SI, which can't cope with the numbers of horses it has already; horses that are more than happy to race on the tracks that already exist. In all of the radical plans to revitalise the industry I have yet to see any discussion about how this problem will be resolved. I just can't get my head around how closing Waimate, and potentially Timaru for god's sake, will somehow solve this problem of heaps of horses but no opportunities in one part of the country and heaps of race meetings but no horses elsewhere. dock leaf, Baz (NZ), THE TORCH and 4 others 6 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pam Robson 1,536 Report post Posted July 23, 2019 The plan was [ I believe ] to run weekly or fortnightly races on the allweather to 'mop up ' races from those tracks that have been 'closed' . Whether that would actually work I can't say, but one thing is sure, nobody would be turning up to watch a borefest, no one comes now apart from Cup meeting. Oh, and National - but if jumping is dispensed with down here, that won't exist either. From what I can gather, only a handful of trainers are keen on an allweather....most don't want a bar of it. A part of that reasoning is the reality that to install an allweather, Riccarton would probably have to lose the plough training track. This is our lifesaver in the summer months, in the dry Canterbury climate training without the plough at Riccarton would be very difficult, the grass tracks are like concrete. Your points make good sense, why nothing is done about the programming astounds me. We're Doomed, THE TORCH, dock leaf and 1 other 4 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
We're Doomed 4,824 Report post Posted July 23, 2019 1 hour ago, Pam Robson said: Your points make good sense, why nothing is done about the programming astounds me. Sadly, I am beyond being astounded. Programming isn't all that hard, but it is obviously beyond anyone currently employed in the industry. Why you would entrust anyone with millions of dollars of spending when they can't get any of the basics right is quite staggering. I have never seen any comment from Rita or the like about getting the basics right. Heaps of people looking at the "big picture", but no one capable or interested in getting into the basics; it's as if it is below them all somehow. When you are on $200,000+ a year I suppose small details seem insignificant. I really do think that unless the trainers take a much bigger role in the industry then it probably is stuffed. Sadly the more capable ones seem to be deserting the sinking ship, and who can blame them. All very sad really. Imagine how staggered we would all be if Rita came on here one day and said "we have noted the problems you are referring to, and we do have plans to correct the imbalance between horse numbers and race numbers". Pigs and flying come to mind. THE TORCH, Patiti, dock leaf and 1 other 4 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huey 2,037 Report post Posted July 23, 2019 12 hours ago, We're Doomed said: Sadly, I am beyond being astounded. Programming isn't all that hard, but it is obviously beyond anyone currently employed in the industry. Why you would entrust anyone with millions of dollars of spending when they can't get any of the basics right is quite staggering. I have never seen any comment from Rita or the like about getting the basics right. Heaps of people looking at the "big picture", but no one capable or interested in getting into the basics; it's as if it is below them all somehow. When you are on $200,000+ a year I suppose small details seem insignificant. I really do think that unless the trainers take a much bigger role in the industry then it probably is stuffed. Sadly the more capable ones seem to be deserting the sinking ship, and who can blame them. All very sad really. Imagine how staggered we would all be if Rita came on here one day and said "we have noted the problems you are referring to, and we do have plans to correct the imbalance between horse numbers and race numbers". Pigs and flying come to mind. It needs a proper bunch of racing people in that can communicate, think, analyse and understand at least a bit of what trainers and owners put up with... You're right is probably stuffed. We're Doomed 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...