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Tauherenikau Abandoned

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The Masterton meeting at Tauherenikau today has been abandoned after Race 1 due to an issue with the track. Further information re programming will follow.

Fortunately it looks like rider of falling horse  Danielle Hirini is  sitting up.

 
 

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Tauherenkau has the biggest average attendance of any NZ racetrack. The New Years meet had a crowd of about 11 k which was well down on the previous year due to the weather forecast of Thunder Storms. The Waitangi Day meet has a crowd of approx 14k.

The Club pays for  the track, in fact the net profit for the Wairarapa Racing Club in the last financial year was $260k.

If you look at the large tracks they are the drain. Have a look at Auckland for the Magic Millions day. NZTR puts in a fortune for a very poor return on investment.

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8 minutes ago, bloke said:

Tauherenkau has the biggest average attendance of any NZ racetrack. The New Years meet had a crowd of about 11 k which was well down on the previous year due to the weather forecast of Thunder Storms. The Waitangi Day meet has a crowd of approx 14k.

The Club pays for  the track, in fact the net profit for the Wairarapa Racing Club in the last financial year was $260k.

If you look at the large tracks they are the drain. Have a look at Auckland for the Magic Millions day. NZTR puts in a fortune for a very poor return on investment.

Bloke, surely you mean $26K, otherwise I agree with everything you say.

 

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53 minutes ago, bloke said:

No net profit of $260k. Makes many other racing clubs look very sick.

Indeed they do....the Messara report I believe highlighted Wairarapa as one of the 'Iconic ' clubs in NZ.

I think this Club stands out as a progressive club ,looking to improve itself ,its facilities and this ensures it has a future.

But why the need to turn any discussion on its qualities in to an opportunity to denigrate others eg Auckland and Karaka day ?

The accounts of Wairarapa are on line and the 2020 profit was $235 ,000 after $50k plus in 2019.

They have 3 x meetings a year and rent a day to Masterton to race. 

They have a profitable Events centre which runs events, weddings and has accommodation.They also host 2x big music/dance festivals .

So $150k of profit from Events centre ,and they obviously work hard to receive all  available grants from NZTR.

Plus their admission charges on racedays are significant.

Last year they won the award for best "Community"  club in NZ.

Cynics could say they have 2 x plum dates.....Jan 2 and Waitangi day.......2 x public holidays plus they have one of the lowest net stakes to NZTR funding ratio.

Plus overall total betting on their meetings fairly average.

But they seem a progressive well run club .

Just bad luck today !

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You are right Tasman the profit was $235k , I was adding back depreciation to get $260k 

The reason I mention Auckland and it could also apply to other large clubs was because Tauherenikau was being bagged as some small club that should be dispensed with because they were a drain on racing.

You say that the New Years and Waitangi days are plum dates and on the face of things that would be so. However, for The New Years meeting they race a day after Hawkes Bay and two days before Otaki which has a massive impact on field numbers and off course Betting.

Both meetings fall on public holidays which means they incur much larger wage bills for Tote staff etc. and I have been told that due to this there are not many contenders to race on Waitangi Day. Others have tried but given it away.

The on course turnover for Waitangi Day was approx $300k which would compare well with Waikato's Group One Day and Oaks Day at Trentham.

 

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1 hour ago, bloke said:

 

Both meetings fall on public holidays which means they incur much larger wage bills for Tote staff etc. and I have been told that due to this there are not many contenders to race on Waitangi Day. Others have tried but given it away

 

Riccarton used to race on Waitangi day but can't be bothered anymore.

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2 hours ago, tasman man said:

 

Cynics could say they have 2 x plum dates.....Jan 2 and Waitangi day.......2 x public holidays plus they have one of the lowest net stakes to NZTR funding ratio.

 

I often do think that for a club that gets massive crowds, charges a big entry fee and makes a big profit that they don't put much money back into stakes. But to be totally honest they could toss in $50,000 - $80,000 of their own money for each meeting and it would probably attract about two extra horses, no extra public attendance and not much extra turnover, so they might as well keep their own money for a rainy day.

It was a great pity today as I thought they were some of the best/biggest fields I have seen there for a long time.

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17 hours ago, bloke said:

Tauherenkau has the biggest average attendance of any NZ racetrack. The New Years meet had a crowd of about 11 k which was well down on the previous year due to the weather forecast of Thunder Storms. The Waitangi Day meet has a crowd of approx 14k.

The Club pays for  the track, in fact the net profit for the Wairarapa Racing Club in the last financial year was $260k.

If you look at the large tracks they are the drain. Have a look at Auckland for the Magic Millions day. NZTR puts in a fortune for a very poor return on investment.

I thought that the Magic Millions was raced in Australia ?

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15 minutes ago, scooby3051 said:

I actually got told the horse put its foot in a hole...is that correct???

A Steward's Report has finally appeared-- the track was found to be "inconsistent", whatever that means, so the meeting was called off. Fudging IMO to cover their indecision. Horses "stumble" all the time, even running around their paddock, or jumping from the barriers.

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3 hours ago, Aaron Bidlake said:

Yes

I was actually told the same and that it was possibly  a rabbit burrow or similar'

If so, how come the track staff, stipes and maybe a few jocks who walked the track that morning didn't see it?

Secondly, why did they not take 10 minutes to fill it it in and compact it?

And, yes, I'm talking through my pocket because my bet in the race was seriously compromised as a result of the incident and they didn't give me my money back. Fortunately, no horses or riders died as a result of the crash test dummy system.

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1 hour ago, Leggy said:

I was actually told the same and that it was possibly  a rabbit burrow or similar'

If so, how come the track staff, stipes and maybe a few jocks who walked the track that morning didn't see it?

Secondly, why did they not take 10 minutes to fill it it in and compact it?

And, yes, I'm talking through my pocket because my bet in the race was seriously compromised as a result of the incident and they didn't give me my money back. Fortunately, no horses or riders died as a result of the crash test dummy system.

You are in the precinct Aaron--what's the story??? A rabbit burrow or a sink-hole the size of Texas??

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15 hours ago, chevy86 said:

You are in the precinct Aaron--what's the story??? A rabbit burrow or a sink-hole the size of Texas??

I was only there as a spectator with my dad and son so not really able to give to help the conversation apart from I did see a photo of the hole and there was no way the races would have been able to continue

. I would guess the stipes/nztr would do a full review of how it came about and full report will come out? 

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No, hasn't been for over 12 months now. A shame when they decided to not want horses there any more, I was ok because Opaki was closer for me anyway but a couple of other trainers were not so lucky with one pulling pin completely and another just carrying on with a couple that he can work around the roads and bring up to Opaki to fast work.  It didn't worry me at all, the Opaki training tracks are so good, that big long straight so good to educate young ones to gallop.

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3 hours ago, Aaron Bidlake said:

No, hasn't been for over 12 months now. A shame when they decided to not want horses there any more, I was ok because Opaki was closer for me anyway but a couple of other trainers were not so lucky with one pulling pin completely and another just carrying on with a couple that he can work around the roads and bring up to Opaki to fast work.  It didn't worry me at all, the Opaki training tracks are so good, that big long straight so good to educate young ones to gallop.

That is unfortunate that the club doesn't want trainers there. I'm sure when Tauherenikau was favoured over Opaki it wasn't anticipated that trainers would have to rely on Opaki. I often drive through Opaki and try to recall where the racetrack once once. I didn't realise it was still in use. My last visit to Opaki was when Bond Street won the Cup, at least I think it was the Cup, may have been a support race. I think I was there when Our Boyfriend won as well. Nice racecourse, long straight, but terrible public facilities and bloody cold in the winter..

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