Be lucky if they get more than 7/8 runners .
More scatter gun strategy out of NZTR .
I would love to know the actual rationale behind this increase .
Meanwhile others are struggling on reduced 17k stakes .
Honestly mate I was stunned when I seen the odds , it's record is very good and loves a wet track and showed itself to be a very promising horse last prep , I burnt my finger tips getting my money on .
From Love Racing - The RIB and Club have completed their afternoon inspection of the Rotorua track. It continues to rain, however the track is currently showing no signs of any surface water. There is more significant rain forecast throughout the evening followed by a fine forecast on Saturday. A further track inspection will be conducted after 6am on raceday morning.
There seems to be some concern about the Rotorua track and a bit of rain.
Obviously the Riccarton situation last week wasn't to be seen as a precedent, or else Rotorua would have already been moved to the Cambridge AWT. It is only about 50 minutes from Rotorua to Cambridge.
What would be the chances of a late transfer in the morning?
I get the impression the trustees of the racecourse are pretty thick. They seem to waste money on things that have no upside.
Last season they pissed away $100,000 adding an extra bonus to the NZ Cup, which I doubt hardly anyone knew about as it wasn't included in the stake.
Now all concerned have doubled the stake of the Grand National. What do they hope to achieve by that? Possibly increase the field size from 8 to 9. Possibly increase turnover by $2,000. Do they think the people of ChCh are going to think "wow the grand National is worth $200,000 this year, lets pop along." Do they not realise the value of a big stake like that is mostly in the way it creates interest in lead up races. But there are no lead up races at Riccarton or in the SI.
What do SI trainers think of their so called premium club pissing away another $100,000 to help out Northern trainers? I doubt it is going to boost southern participation in the race. Perhaps if they had reintroduced the Homeby two weeks before and made it $100,000 it might have achieved something.
I hate to sound negative, but what a waste of money. If they had put that $100,000 into The Stewards during Cup Week and made it $250,000 they might have lifted it up to a group race where it belongs and attracted extra subsidies.
Makes everyone involved look pretty dopey.
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