That didn't last long! 1.54.5 in the 3yo.
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That didn't last long! 1.54.5 in the 3yo.
United Legacy only held the YV 1650 track record for little over an hour as Outrageous El came out in Race 4 for 3yo's and took another .5 off it running 1.54.5 in winning his first ever race (2nd start since coming from NZ)
The track must be lightening fast as the first 4 would have all beaten the old track record
Seems to be catching! At Blayney last Sunday we witnessed The Wifes Calling run a staggering 1:57.6 rate over the 1640 trip. Interestingly, I think the overall time for the race, 1:59.9 was the old track record!
http://www.blayneychronicle.com.au/s...ictory/?cs=522
How good is that photo Phil - wish we could get replays that looked like that! Would seem to be a very pretty setting
Agree, the photo is a real good one. On the setting, doinmabest, aka Fred Hastings, remarked at last years COC meeting that it wouldn't be hard to imagine your somewhere in NZ! What a shame that the powers that be wanted to kill off tracks like these and now they only race twice a year! Anyone that has enjoyed a day at Blayney, Orange, Lithgow, Cowra, Forbes, Eugowra, Peak Hill, and the many other tracks like them must wonder how the authorities ever decided to do without them. Sorry about the rant :) It still annoys me that we have administrators that want to kill our industry at the grass roots level.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Messenger
[What a shame that the powers that be wanted to kill off tracks like these and now they only race twice a year! Anyone that has enjoyed a day at Blayney, Orange, Lithgow, Cowra, Forbes, Eugowra, Peak Hill, and the many other tracks like them must wonder how the authorities ever decided to do without them. Sorry about the rant :) It still annoys me that we have administrators that want to kill our industry at the grass roots level.[/QUOTE]
Hi Phil
I can't entirely agree with your rant. Country harness racing was cut back extensively during the 90's and very early 2000's but that was not the doing of the administrators we currently have nor the one's immediately preceding them. I think the current board of HRNSW has done quite a great deal to re-invigorate racing at the grass roots level. The Goulburn track came back into existence through this version of the board as have Blayney, Orange, Maitland and quite a few other country tracks. Yes, many of them may only race twice a year but that is 200%, as a minimum, on what they were racing.
I would agree at levelling blame to those boards that were responsible for the cut backs but not the current. Unfortunately the wording of your rant doesn't differentiate and it sounds, well at least to me, that you include the current board, which as I have stated, has done a great deal and continues to do so.
Regards
Mark
Hi Mark, I stand by my rant :) Rex Horne was there when they tried to shut us down and has now just shifted from NSWHRC to HRNSW! Sam Nati was there too. The current powers that be are still basically the ones that we had to fight tooth and nail to remain in existence. You say that we race 200% more than we used to, don't know how that one works. Blayney used to race at least six times a year, reduced to two, Orange probably had 12 or more meetings a year, now 3, Lithgow would have been in the 8-10 category, now zero. Forbes, Eugowra, and Peak Hill would be similar to Blayney.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark Croatto
To further illustrate the point, how about the intra code agreement, been told many times that NSWHRC consider it unfair and are doing their best to help the clubs disadvantaged by it. Well if both sides of an agreement agree to tear it up and start again, why can't it happen. NSWHRC want to be seen to be the generous party looking after everyone whilst maintaining the agreement that protects their allocation of funds.
Was recently in Ellis Street, Bankstown, an area that was extensively populated with horses in the 70's and 80's, most of them expect it and Bankstown to be gone in 2-3 years and I can assure you that many of them are not relocating to Menangle!
HRNSW is doing all they can to keep things going, but they too are hamstrung by the inequalities contained within the agreements that were put in place by power hungry brokers from NSWHRC many years ago, so in Reagan style, I say to Dumesny and his board, tear up that agreement and start again. Whilst ever you have to bow to an oppressor, it doesn't matter how much you tell the people that they have it good, they don't feel good about it.
Goulburn went for many years without racing and had to jump many hurdles to get back in the fold. Thankfully you guys did it, for now we have a great track to illustrate the potential that lies within country areas. The recently conducted meetings at Orange and Blayney illustrate that harness racing is alive in the country, with a little more assistance it could be healthy and strong which in turn makes Bathurst and consequently Menangle stronger as the bigger the base the better the product will be and consequently better horses will be turning up more often at Menangle. I am sure that Dubbo/Parkes/Forbes would feel the same.
The biggest killer in training horses these days is the cost of fuel. To load up a horse to travel 200 kms or more is nearly prohibitive. So having more racing close to home is the best possible answer to earning a few dollars with the ordinary horse and then hopefully getting a better one. You can only go out and try to get a better one so many times without any return at all on previous investments before your interest wanes.
Sorry about the extended rant, but this is something that irks me totally.
Goulburn went for many years without racing and had to jump many hurdles to get back in the fold. Thankfully you guys did it, for now we have a great track to illustrate the potential that lies within country areas. The recently conducted meetings at Orange and Blayney illustrate that harness racing is alive in the country, with a little more assistance it could be healthy and strong which in turn makes Bathurst and consequently Menangle stronger as the bigger the base the better the product will be and consequently better horses will be turning up more often at Menangle. I am sure that Dubbo/Parkes/Forbes would feel the same.
Obviously a commonsense comment,meaning that the powers that be will dismiss it out of hand.
As an aside,we are off to Goulburn Monday for our belated trip to the new track.Looking forward to it.
FAR for the inter and at the price I cannot not have something on TTL. It's a lottery.
Mark,I don't know how far you go back in this silly game, but MAITLAND used to race about 20 meetings a year, they now have 2, Cessnock similarly used to race about 20 meetings a year, they(we) now have zero, Newcastle used to race 50 mmeetings a year, they now have about 70. As Phil stated Blayney raced far more often as did Lithgow and many others, the key component of this was the local exposure.Quote:
Hi PhilQuote:
Originally Posted by Mark Croatto
I can't entirely agree with your rant. Country harness racing was cut back extensively during the 90's and very early 2000's but that was not the doing of the administrators we currently have nor the one's immediately preceding them. I think the current board of HRNSW has done quite a great deal to re-invigorate racing at the grass roots level. The Goulburn track came back into existence through this version of the board as have Blayney, Orange, Maitland and quite a few other country tracks. Yes, many of them may only race twice a year but that is 200%, as a minimum, on what they were racing.
I would agree at levelling blame to those boards that were responsible for the cut backs but not the current. Unfortunately the wording of your rant doesn't differentiate and it sounds, well at least to me, that you include the current board, which as I have stated, has done a great deal and continues to do so.
Regards
Mark
The rationalisation of our game was orchestrated by a bunch of imposters, trying to make "change for the sake of change". their legacy is a vastly diminished participation rate in our game because the "rationalisation" was actually a numbingly simple version of centralisation, often quoted by very juniour accountants as a means to improve returns by %.
If you shrink a business virtually overnight, then hey presto, by reducing the size of the business and in the short term having a similar gross turnover, you look lilke a dead set genius, but what you have ACTUALLY done, long term is reduce exposure and subsequently long term growth.
The people who foisted this destructive stuff are nowhere to be seen these days, I wonder why??
It is true that current administators are seeking to turn around SOME of the damage, but a little slowly in my opinion, why?, because the damage done has been left for so long and the accumaltive effect of that makes recovery difficult given the $$$ now available.
On the money as usual Danno. Down in Vic we have cute tricks like St Arnaud 'at Melton'. We still have quite a spread of tracks so I will not complain too much but you are spot on about exposure. I was exposed to the excitement of the Showies (some would have to settle for MValley) and as much as I like Melton it is a long way from the city centre and we did to capture a whole new generation (I was once told that factoring in population, that Knox is roughly the centre of Melbourne)