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Thread: Good night harness racing south of australia

  1. #11
    Super Moderator Stallion Messenger will become famous soon enough Messenger's Avatar
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    "The Cunningham Report was commissioned in late 2016 and completed and released in April 2017 for industry scrutiny and consultation. In the interests of transparency the HRSA Board have decided to advise the industry of the current status of this Report."

    http://www.harness.org.au/media-room...?news_id=37585

    "SACHRCA unanimously supported the Report, and like HRSA, have been keen to implement the key recommendations. However, despite a positive show of hands at a members meeting, the SA Harness Racing Club have advised that they do not agree with the key governance recommendations from the Report."
    per un PUGNO di DOLLARI

  2. #12
    Senior Member Horse Of The Year Dot will become famous soon enough
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    No Wayville this year due financial position

  3. #13
    Super Moderator Stallion Messenger will become famous soon enough Messenger's Avatar
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    From today's Advertiser

    Harness Racing SA has lambasted the idea of building housing at Globe Derby Park, saying it could spell the end of the sport in South Australia.
    ....... as the two were "fundamentally incompatible"
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    per un PUGNO di DOLLARI

  4. #14
    Super Moderator Stallion Richard prior will become famous soon enough Richard prior's Avatar
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    A can see no problems with people building houses in the surrounding area, Strange comment from the Chairman who is also a realestate man, Maybe the housing would attract a few new people into the game there

  5. #15
    Super Moderator Stallion Messenger will become famous soon enough Messenger's Avatar
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    I don't know Rich, not that I know the plans or the proximity we are talking about but I think some of his fears could be real
    per un PUGNO di DOLLARI

  6. #16
    Junior Member Foal Danielle will become famous soon enough
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    Adelaide has Morphettville racecourse in Adelaide, which is only a few kilometres from the actual CBD and is surrounded by suburbia. Numerous horse stabling establishments are in neighbouring suburbs of Morphetville, with many trainers keeping their horses at these establishments. Albion park in QLD is also located in suburbia in QLD, and isn't far from the CBD, though i don't know whether that too has stables nearby. It is not beyond the realm of possibility, and may actually be used to our advantage, if we have suburbia at the doorstep of our tracks. Admittedly, the issue of bright lights may pose challenges, but I also see numerous opportunities to expose our sport to people who have NO IDEA that it actually still exists in SA. And I am talking about people in their 40s and 50s, who I work with who think that harness racing no longer exists in SA. Many young people don't even know what harness racing actually even is, which is much worse. I also lived in Yatala Vale as a kid, where we had our stabling and agistment complex. Did the Golden Grove housing development which started 25 years back get rid of the stables - no it did not! 30 years on and it is still one of the safest places to ride your horses alongside the road, with horses and stables still coexisting with suburbia almost completely surrounding it...
    The issues with Globe Derby Park are probably secondary to the health of the sport in SA.
    The fact that people aren't breeding is also completely misunderstood. People wrongly believe that the problem of breeding lies with less people doing it. The problem is that people wont breed if they cannot sell them - we don't have enough buyers who are willing to pay the costs involved. The sale of MOST does not even cover the service fee - and I am talking about horses by the most commercial stallions. I had a SBSW mare out of a Western hanover mare and from a very, very good American family - she sold for $14,000 at the APG as a yearling. Why would you bother breeding when you are highly unlikely to even recover the service fee, let alone the other costs involved? People aren't idiots.
    As far as the Annual report, I've critiqued 3 years of reports a couple of years back - those reports certainly did not demonstrate anything resembling a good annual report that makes findings against its strategic plan. However, I do believe that the SA Board have a great deal of work ahead of them, and an extremely difficult pathway to navigate when it is very much limited with what it can really do. For one, I would actually stop trying to compete with the other states by 'lifting' the quality of our horses - we just cannot afford to fund the races those horses need in this state ($7,000 minimum per race). We need to agree on our niche market. I reckon that SA MUST embrace that it is the location where we take horses that have limited ability or are at the end of their career, and we offer those horses a career on the track. There are plenty of those horses who are no longer competitive interstate, but will make a career here. If we marketed SA like that, we pitched ourselves that way, and we offered race programs for those sorts of horses, I think we would have a better chance at filling our race fields.

    In all honesty, I believe the challenges facing harness racing are a national issue, and we need a national body that has powers and funds to make decisions for the whole of the industry - the national body is virtually powerless. We have an antiquated governance system, which results in states competing with each other, and when you compete, there are always the winners and the losers. SA and QLD are now the losers.

    Harness racing needs an identity, needs national leadership, and needs to be marketed in the modern world. Furthermore, though I know SA is in a difficult positions, I really believe, it needs to decide what it really is for SA participants (I reckon we are the 'not so good' horses and horses at the end of their career) and then go with that.

  7. #17
    Senior Member Horse Of The Year Dot will become famous soon enough
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    Having experienced first hand the intentional hostility on the roads towards the horses exhibited by largely gen y that bought homes in Bankstown as the stables precinct succumbed to development I can tell you that horses and housing developments do not peacefully exist if the same streets need to be used by both. In another era when life was slower paced and the population have grown up with knowledge of horses and people had patience it may have worked, and may still work in some places, but rarely would it work now.

  8. #18
    Junior Member Foal Danielle will become famous soon enough
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    I get what you are saying Dot - many people (not just gen Y) are completely out of touch when it comes to livestock and horses. I get frustrated myself with the lack of understanding, but there are areas such as Fairview Park and surrounding areas, Morphettville and surrounding areas, where horses have been there for quite some time and they continue to co-exist rather effectively despite suburbia. People still ride their horses alongside the road around Yatala Vale, and do so safely.

    I can well understand the concerns, however, because when we had our agistment property at Yatala Vale, we were extremely concerned about the Golden Grove development and the changes that could be more rigidly enforced by Council. It's not a choice, anyone wants to have to make - we all prefer suburbia to be well away from our horse keeping areas.

    Regardless of the arguments one way or another: I am not that sure GDP is really worth saving. The track is in a terrible state, and a new one is needed. The overall infrastructure at GDP is very, very tired and probably would be shut down if WHS inspected the facilities. Perhaps it is in the best interest of the sport to commence a transition to other nearby tracks, and to prepare stakeholders for these changes...

  9. #19
    Super Moderator Stallion Messenger will become famous soon enough Messenger's Avatar
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    I am guessing this is going to impact on harness racing too

    https://www.racenet.com.au/news/tony...181223?isAmp=1

    "The SA government has cut $5.25 million from its funding to racing and, unlike Victoria, NSW and Queensland, has not allocated any income from the Point of Consumption tax to the industry."
    per un PUGNO di DOLLARI

  10. #20
    Senior Member Horse Of The Year Dot will become famous soon enough
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    Further Developments in the future of SA harness racing

    http://www.harnesslink.com/Australia...confidence-in-

    In consequence, HRSA has requested that the current SAHRC Committee resign, to be replaced by a new interim Committee to HRSA’s satisfaction. In the event that the current Committee refuse to resign by the close of business on Friday 5th April 2019, HRSA will suspend racing at the venue indefinitely, effective Tuesday 9th April 2019.
    Last edited by Messenger; 04-01-2019 at 01:13 AM. Reason: quote

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