Should we be worried about Awapuni again

[Leggy 4,096]

48 minutes ago, brownie said:

I presume they would have rolled it after the last meeting.

 

why?

[nomates 3,609]

I would think the Eulogy would be run on Saturday at Te Rapa .

Another question is can they afford to run the Boxing day meeting at Awapuni , run that at Otaki and they will get a massive crowd .

[d.burrow - Joan 224]

48 minutes ago, tripple alliance said:

Allan Pollitt <Allan.Pollitt@nztr.co.nz>

12:51 PM (1 hour ago

Good afternoon,

 

In relation to the abandonment at Awapuni on Saturday the following changes and additions apply for the week beginning Monday 12 December.

........................................................ etc

A decision on the re-scheduling of the Eulogy Stakes will be made on Monday 12 December.

I have given this some careful thought taking into account two factors:

1] This is a Central Districts race.

2] The Northern fillies don't want to travel again this coming Saturday

I say reschedule it for this Saturday at Trentham. The CD fillies then get to run on their home patch as after all it is a CD race. Maybe even a S I filly might  might venture north. The Northern fillies who want to run can, and those that don't want to venture south, can wait for Boxing Day, after all it is only nine days further on!

If the Eulogy Stakes is transferred north and run say next week it will seriously dilute the quality of the Eight Carat on Boxing Day, then everyone is a looser, especially the CD.

[ADM 225]

I don't see the point of closing Timaru as there are no land assets that can be sold as it is equestrian reserve, better off developing as it has good consistant surface, better than many in the SI

[Hi Ho Silver 785]

The 2016 Boxing Day races were moved from Awapuni to Otaki due to a horse slipping at the Awapuni races on December 17, and the death of jockey Rebecca Black at Gore on December 18.  RIU deemed the Awapuni track unsafe and then it was closed for two months for repairs.

Anyone outside of the RACE inner sanctum, or the racing industry itself, would look at the Awapuni situation and would summarise it something like this:-

- Awapuni has obviously been a safety issue for quite some time.

- The RIU/RIB have already seen fit at previous times to close the venue for safety reasons.

- Do you want to keep pressing the point by racing at Awapuni until another jockey is killed?

- Many untruths have been coming out of RACE in the modern era, in a time where there appears to be more than a few conflicts of interest on the Board.

- A contract with RACE is not worth the paper it is written on as they do not honour agreements.

- RACE is seriously in debt.

- Sections believed to be sold in the Kikiwhenua Development will be subject to Resource Consent not obtained before marketing the sections, and possibly unlikely to be approved for a very long time, if at all, yet figures of projected sales are part of the RACE portfolio.

- The real estate at Awapuni is worth a lot more than many other racecourses around New Zealand and town plans for Palmerston North as a city show a residential slant for land right up to and including the racecourse.  At what stage will Awapuni become too expensive to race on?

As far as the Eulogy Stakes named in honour of CD based breeding royalty is concerned, another significant race cannot be lost to the north.  There is no issue with the availability of a CD venue because there are race meetings on in the area within the week.  If northern fillies won't travel down that is just too bad.  There should be no problem with a local filly winning this race.

[We're Doomed 4,874]

1 hour ago, d.burrow said:

 Maybe even a S I filly might  might venture north. 

They aren't allowed to. There is a prescribed route that must be followed in the South. 1,200m Wingatui boxing day, 1,335m Gore Guineas, 1,500m Otago Guineas, 1,600m Southland Guineas. The only deviation allowed is a 1,400m fillies race afterwards at Wingatui.

No one would dare break that pattern.

Besides, there hasn't been a 3yo race in the SI since Cup Week so no one would be ready for a Trentham race.

[We're Doomed 4,874]

1 hour ago, ADM said:

I don't see the point of closing Timaru as there are no land assets that can be sold as it is equestrian reserve, better off developing as it has good consistant surface, better than many in the SI

And many in the NI.

[Blue moon 0]

On 12/10/2022 at 1:35 PM, Insider said:

See you all at Trentham next Saturday

What other choice do they have?

Hope you improve your food selection after last weeks pitiful offerings

[brownie 17]

4 hours ago, Leggy said:

why?

To be fair if you are asking this question it doesn't need a response but shows your knowledge of track/ maintenance  or lack of.

[Crow 229]

6 hours ago, Leggy said:

They rolled it?

Are you for real what would a static roller do to a track that is over compacted anyway you might as well run it up the road

 

[Leggy 4,096]

1 minute ago, Crow said:

Are you for real what would a static roller do to a track that is over compacted anyway you might as well run it up the road

 

Exactly. That's why I was questioning it. Never heard of a track being rolled when it is already troubled with compaction issues.

[nomates 3,609]

The Eulogy Stakes will be run at Te Rapa this Saturday , the rationale being that 7 of the 10 runners were from north of New Plymouth .

[scooby3051 10,977]

A joke they may as well move all the Group races north WTF. CD racing is Donald Ducked mark my words CD and south will become in the coming years feeder racing for the ATR...racing for small money while the ATR has big stakes....trainers in the north will buy or lease horses from the rest of the country....lets see how crazy that ends up.

[Nerula 1,403]

And folk from the boonies will poor mouth ATR when it is their own clubs poor management that have led to this situation.

Racing industry will mirror that of Breeders - Trainers and jockeys and become 2 tiered. The only way to avoid that is excellence.

[nomates 3,609]

Centralization north of Taupo is a forgone conclusion in my mind , the CD is gone , numbers are low , horse wise and owners , Race could be in all sorts and more so if Awapuni is closed for an extended period , and once the A/W kicks in they will get a fright , the CD has no where near the numbers required to sustain it .

Once the ATR is up and running with their bigger stakes why on earth would you want to race a horses anywhere else , the CD and SI racing will become a back water for Northern failures .

[tripple alliance 1,026]

4 minutes ago, nomates said:

Centralization north of Taupo is a forgone conclusion in my mind , the CD is gone , numbers are low , horse wise and owners , Race could be in all sorts and more so if Awapuni is closed for an extended period , and once the A/W kicks in they will get a fright , the CD has no where near the numbers required to sustain it .

Once the ATR is up and running with their bigger stakes why on earth would you want to race a horses anywhere else , the CD and SI racing will become a back water for Northern failures .

That's been the trend for a long time and it will get worse , the best hope the CD has is the proposed Trentham development , in time it may match Auckland , I  doubt many of us will be around to see it come to fruition , it's a very long term plan .

[Hi Ho Silver 785]

12 minutes ago, nomates said:

 why on earth would you want to race a horses anywhere else , the CD and SI racing will become a back water for Northern failures .

Pre-trainers for north of the Bombays and Australia ?

[scooby3051 10,977]

Many will hate this but they should build 3 or 4 super centres build stables on course for trainers and make the product like it used to be ...turn Awapuni into something like Cambridge for the CD....but thats foresight and not much of that anywhere...sadly. times have changed and racing has not changed with them...good on the ATR for the initiative they have shown...make the hard choices for the better its the only way to move forward.

[nomates 3,609]

4 minutes ago, tripple alliance said:

That's been the trend for a long time and it will get worse , the best hope the CD has is the proposed Trentham development , in time it may match Auckland , I  doubt many of us will be around to see it come to fruition , it's a very long term plan .

If and a big if , it comes about it will be too late , and there is no point in throwing big money at stakes when they never once mentioned a track rebuild , because if they are serious about turning it around then the track needs reconstructing . On top of that owners , or shortage of , is a huge issue for many trainers in the CD , the last 3/4 i have spoken to say they just can't find new owners , relying on stable regulars continuing to to give them horses and even those owners are finding it hard to justify .

[nomates 3,609]

1 minute ago, scooby3051 said:

Many will hate this but they should build 3 or 4 super centres build stables on course for trainers and make the product like it used to be ...turn Awapuni into something like Cambridge for the CD....but thats foresight and not much of that anywhere...sadly. times have changed and racing has not changed with them...good on the ATR for the initiative they have shown...make the hard choices for the better its the only way to move forward.

I have been promoting the idea of selling Awapuni and Trentham and using the funds to build just that , a state of the art track and training track north of Foxton , huge open areas of free draining farm land there . keep Levin and Foxton as satellite training and trialling facilities , especially Levin , a lot of land around the track that could be developed for stabling . 

[TurnyTom 1,542]

Agree with the comments here, all major racing will be Waikato north.

CJC will rightly loose the 2 Guinea races and will only retain a listed Winter Cup and a listed NZ Cup as their main races on the calendar. CJC will rely on the AWT which has holds no attraction for punters, so a new stand will never be built.

SI racing will largely close up thru lack of owners due to sacks of kumara prize money.

Harness in the SI will continue to flourish and gain support for those exiting thoroughbreds.

Troubled times .... or are they, I view it as exciting

[Hi Ho Silver 785]

We hear the term state of the art tracks a bit.  For me I'd just like a good old fashioned even grass surface.  I couldn't care less about all the bells and whistles.  The facilities for the horses is my number one priority.  They need quiet comfortable resting places before and after competing, an inviting safe area to walk them pre and post race and a consistent track surface on which to compete.  None of it needs to be gold plated, just not in a state of disrepair.

[Leggy 4,096]

1 hour ago, nomates said:

 when they never once mentioned a track rebuild , because if they are serious about turning it around then the track needs reconstructing .

Yes they did. The memo from Darin specifically said "NZTR management will also review the possibility, if any, of revisiting the start date for reconstruction of the Course proper"

Seems to me quite likely there will be no more racing on the current course proper at Awapuni until that reconstruction is completed.

[scooby3051 10,977]

15 minutes ago, Leggy said:

Yes they did. The memo from Darin specifically said "NZTR management will also review the possibility, if any, of revisiting the start date for reconstruction of the Course proper"

Seems to me quite likely there will be no more racing on the current course proper at Awapuni until that reconstruction is completed.

The trouble is they cant get contractors until mid next year at the earliest...thats the issue.

[mikenz 1,095]

3 minutes ago, scooby3051 said:

The trouble is they cant get contractors until mid next year at the earliest...thats the issue.

Boxing Day races will be where ?