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

AWT Cambridge

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3 hours ago, Leggy said:

Interesting. So it sounds like it will be predominantly a training and trials track with eventually a few minor midweek meetings. And a shorter home straight than most other tracks, so presumably a front runners track. And as it isn't an existing proper racecourse with existing race meetings, all of its meetings will be taken off nearby tracks such as Te Aroha, Matamata, Tauranga. 

Who would have thought a brand new race course would be created when all of the talk was about closing existing courses to save money.

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20 minutes ago, We're Doomed said:

Who would have thought a brand new race course would be created when all of the talk was about closing existing courses to save money.

That does seem a bit odd and contradictory doesn't it, especially when facilities have to be built before they can run race meetings there?

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33 minutes ago, poundforpound said:

Let’s try to be positive here.

i personally do not think AW tracks are the answer, they suit round actioned horses and punters don’t really warm to them, other than top end Strathayr which this is sadly not, but on a positive note this will bring savings to the industry because horses and staff won’t have to travel to Ruakaka ( or similar ) to get an opportunity in winter 

The horses are largely in the Waikato so this redevelopment is appropriate, but as suggested we should keep our expectations low 

 

I'm inclined to agree with that assessment P4P. I think the travel cost savings and ability to work and trial horses in conditions where that might otherwise not be possible is a plus and as you suggest a good bit of that will fall immediately to the bottom line of owners and trainers who need it most.

Don't know what to think about the choice of surface but as you say, other than Strathayr it's a bit of a fraught decision to make. Obviously, these are the same tracks installed and removed at Del Mar, Keeneland and Woodbine I think. They did have a good safety record from a racing fatality standpoint but anecdotally there was considerable trainer concern about the escalation of non-fatal soft tissue injuries. As you also suggest, one of the main reasons for removing them was a lack of trainer and particularly punter support.

I also note that master trainer Aiden O'Brien has had one for years but won't use it for fast work as far as I know, preferring the turf and woodchip gallops for that. I assume that NZTR would have talked to the likes of him in their due diligence process though.

They also take some maintenance but don't require irrigation which is a plus. I'm not sure where the maintenance and top-up cost funding is to come from or will Cambridge be expected to wear that from training, racing and trials income?

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1 hour ago, poundforpound said:

Let’s try to be positive here.

i personally do not think AW tracks are the answer, they suit round actioned horses and punters don’t really warm to them, other than top end Strathayr which this is sadly not, but on a positive note this will bring savings to the industry because horses and staff won’t have to travel to Ruakaka ( or similar ) to get an opportunity in winter 

The horses are largely in the Waikato so this redevelopment is appropriate, but as suggested we should keep our expectations low 

 

That is another good point. I was thinking the various other Waikato tracks would lose winter meetings, but is is more likely to be Ruakaka that will become surplus to requirements.

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18 minutes ago, poundforpound said:

NZTR talk to Aidan O’Brien ... surely not... they’ve got ( had ) Gary Foskett :) 

Don't be too hard on Gary. He was a good man under the instruction of idiots. Haven't talked to him for a while but when I last did they were trying to get him to figure out how to get water to run uphill at Otaki.

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So it's winter time and they transfer a meeting to the AWT but 6 of the good winter gallopers in the field have tried the Awt before and failed each time by 15 lengths .

Are they allowed to scratch?

Then a proven AWT horse can"t start because it was a cancelled meeting and wren't entered for the meeting.

Te Rapa is already a Ruakaka 10 k away.

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1 minute ago, berzerk said:

The value of an AWT is as a training venue - 365 days a year for 1200+ horses, especially during late winter and early spring.

To be concerned about 8-10 racemeetings is ridiculous.

Pardon my ignorance but was is the difference between an AWT and a sand training track?

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21 minutes ago, berzerk said:

The value of an AWT is as a training venue - 365 days a year for 1200+ horses, especially during late winter and early spring.

To be concerned about 8-10 racemeetings is ridiculous.

Therein lies the problem and why these tracks failed in the USA: training + racemeetings = wear and tear.

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10 hours ago, 100 1 said:

Pardon my ignorance but was is the difference between an AWT and a sand training track?

From a local perspective, a sand track is most certainly not all weather.  After a couple of days decent rain they are unusable;  similarly, after a frost.

May be different elsewhere.

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20 hours ago, Trump said:

The only good thing about a Polytrack is that you’ll never have to cancel a meeting due to “track conditions”. Other than that, they’re useless. Punters Certainly don’t like them. 

They have cancelled in past in UK, only few times though . All weather was originally for  all weather , for years so much winter racing was lost , UK punters got fed up with dogs and trots from France  ( that no one there has a clue about ) that Lingfield and Southwell got put in , then it snowballed so to speak. All weather pretty good for following form in UK as a big percentage stick to it and handicaps well structured  so are reasonably popular , especially in winter . Horses go around for years on it . They are however all weather tracks not no maintenance tracks .You get some real track specialists on the various surfaces .

 

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The bottom line is they just have to stop busting horses up on shit tracks. Animal welfare anybody?

Look at the stunts polo horses do. I would think they have less injuries than our tb's. Difference is  polo fields are like billiard tables

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19 minutes ago, Nerula said:

The bottom line is they just have to stop busting horses up on shit tracks. Animal welfare anybody?

Look at the stunts polo horses do. I would think they have less injuries than our tb's. Difference is  polo fields are like billiard tables

Bull.

https://ker.com/equinews/injury-rate-polo-ponies/

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1 hour ago, Pam Robson said:

From a local perspective, a sand track is most certainly not all weather.  After a couple of days decent rain they are unusable;  similarly, after a frost.

May be different elsewhere.

The sand tracks I have mainly used in the last 25 years both in Canterbury and the CD are at the beach. With rare exception, perfectly groomed every morning and impervious to frost or any amount of rain.

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56 minutes ago, Leggy said:

The sand tracks I have mainly used in the last 25 years both in Canterbury and the CD are at the beach. With rare exception, perfectly groomed every morning and impervious to frost or any amount of rain.

Laytown , always the same going every year bar the odd puddle here and there . Jamie Osbourne takes a huge string over every year for the day .

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15 minutes ago, Leggy said:

Hope to be there in September. Been a while!

Dundalk would be a good track to nose around and chat to few people when you up there . Poly been in about 10 years , it looks a very nice venue but there's a few grumbles now about the track surface  as its coming to a point it needs re doing . That being said trainers were pissed off other week because they wanted more meetings and races .A  few trainers have yard basically full  with horses to race at Dundalk and doing very well . In handicaps, auction restricted  and claimers they also avoid the big yards horses as well.

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1 hour ago, Leggy said:

Thats UK. I would bet more racehorses here are lost to leg injuries than polo - pro rata.

it would be more than useful if trainers reported injuries to horses and a register was kept. it wouldn't take much time to identify bad tracks.

 

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44 minutes ago, Nerula said:

Thats UK. I would bet more racehorses here are lost to leg injuries than polo - pro rata.

it would be more than useful if trainers reported injuries to horses and a register was kept. it wouldn't take much time to identify bad tracks.

 

I prefer solid data than what someone guesses and I suspect that the stress on polo ponies' legs is similar the world over.

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1 hour ago, Red Rum said:

Dundalk would be a good track to nose around and chat to few people when you up there . Poly been in about 10 years , it looks a very nice venue but there's a few grumbles now about the track surface  as its coming to a point it needs re doing . That being said trainers were pissed off other week because they wanted more meetings and races .A  few trainers have yard basically full  with horses to race at Dundalk and doing very well . In handicaps, auction restricted  and claimers they also avoid the big yards horses as well.

Yes. They have good experience with polytrack and are doing a full replacement this year after 12 years following some presssure from Horse Racing Ireland to undertake this work. Suggests that about a ten year useful life before full replacement should be planned for depending on useage. Apparently requires about  a 3 month close down.

I assume NZTR and Cambridge will have also had a chat with them as part of their due diligence/feasibility analysis.

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2 hours ago, Leggy said:

The sand tracks I have mainly used in the last 25 years both in Canterbury and the CD are at the beach. With rare exception, perfectly groomed every morning and impervious to frost or any amount of rain.

Of course they are.   Salt water doesn't freeze in a frost.....and there isn't a hard base for the water to collect on,  and drains to block.  Oh,  and God grooms it,  twice a day.

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