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Message: The AJC has a major problem on its hands judging by the condition of the Randwick track today.
On a supposedly "good" track jockeys later in the day were all scouting wide a long way from home and nobody wanted to be in on the fence.
I think the AJC needs to call in some experts to try and fix up the track because obviously the people currently in charge of the course proper do not know what they are doing.
Quite a few regulars at Randwick yesterday assured me the tracks at Wyong and Gosford are in much better shape than Randwick.
It seems the track was rolled extensively on Friday and while this may have resulted in fast times it destroyed the track as a fair surface.
Author: phil the punter Timestamp:- 21/12/2003 11:03:59 AM Subject: Re: Randwick track a disgrace!
Message: It certainly didn't help the chances of This Manshood 1 iota, him being a dry tracker and being held up on the worst part of the track. Makes his run look outstanding in the circumstances. Perhaps with better luck he could have won despite the ordinary state of the track anyway.
Author: TopGun Timestamp:- 21/12/2003 11:23:40 AM Subject: Re: Randwick track a disgrace!
Message: I was out there yesterday and the track was terrible. It was probably closer to dead than it was good.
How on earth can this happen when we haven't had rain all week. Just hot weather. Was the track watered Friday evening anticipating a hot day Saturday? This seems to be my only idea about why the track was like it was.
when will the ajc finally use common sense and give the track a break.
do they really think if they keep racing there the track will some how get better?? sorry guys it wont.
then again im sure the track staff would like to give it a break but as usual it comes back to the greedy TAB who know turnover will not be as good at warwick farm or on the inner track, and the race club know they will loose money if this happens.
use your brains fellas. if you keep racing on this track in a few months time you will need to dig it up and replace it. how much turnover would be lost then??
i say give the track a month or so break and then it should be back to its best.
Message: Spot on Moonchase, yes usually Randwick does turnover more than Warwick Farm or the inner track but the current track scenario is far from usual.
Tell me how many punters on this forum had a serious bet on Friday? Also look at the fields, they were down as well.
Every other state rotates it's tracks so why are we compelled to race at Rosehill and Randwick every Saturday.
Even Gawler today provided a refreshing change for SA Punters.
The Magic Millions on Saturday week looks like being a ripper.
For a club that has made changes to it's Easter carnival unless it gets it's act together for the rest of the year, we will all have lost faith and might end up going to church at Easter.
Message: They need to give Warwick Farm and Canterbutry more of a go even a 1 off for wyong or hawkesbury. It needs a break so it is tip top for the autumn. Give randwick and rosehill a month off and start back early february, that would reap nothing but rewards especially come the autumn.
Message: I didn't see the races so I cant comment on the state of the track at Randwick, but it has been clear for some time that Sydney racing has lost a lot of credibility.
The field sizes have been appalling.
They have a perfectly good track at Warwick Farm that they seem loathe to use.
Kensington is racing well (I haven't had a problem with Kensington since it reopened and those that continue to harp about it have a bug in their ear. It WAS a goat track, but it is racing fine now).
Yet still they run Randwick into the ground. It was only 12 months ago people were singing the praises of the work done at Randwick and now it stinks.
Turnover falls when the races are not at Randwick ? Sydney people are very strange. They wont attend the races except at carnival time, and when they do they want to look at each other and not the horses. Too many Princes and Princesses and not enough race fans. Yet they insist on proclaiming they have the best tracks, the best horses, the best trainers, the best jockeys, the best prizemoney...blah,blah,blah.
Yeah, they have got the best of everything and still they wont turn up. They have the best of everything and they are flat out getting a dozen horses to go around in any race. They have the best of everything but they insist on racing on a worn out track at Randwick because Sydney people appearently wont bet anywhere else.
They are a weird mob.
Get the tracks right, get the programming right, get the racing right and the punters and their money will follow...at least they will anywhere else in Australia.
And most all get over the Melbourne paranoia and get the chips off the shoulder and get on with it.
Author: Alcatraz Timestamp:- 29/12/2003 7:23:47 AM Subject: Re: Randwick track a disgrace!
Message: A city of several million people, the bulk of whom are on holidays, a Boxing Day crowd of just over 8000. Disgraceful.
Apparently they get similar numbers to reasonable quality country Sunday meetings (particularly cup meetings) anywhere in Australia. Sometimes more.
Sydney night racing is a mess, Tuesday city racing is no better and now Saturday. Mostly small, poor quality fields, maiden races, frequent 7 race programmes, now racing on surfaces of dubious standard. A great recipe for success! Yet Sydney racing continues to slide downhill at a great rate, with seemingly not an idea in sight to change the formula.
I will not bet(trifectas)in any field of less than 10 starters (11+ runners preferred) so not much happens in Sydney. I also bet with the NSW TAB, so money lost to them.
If administrators could turn their backs on the turnover issue for one second (whis is not possible) wonder what decisions they would/could make, which would actually improve racing in Sydney and New South Wales in general.
Has anyone ever seen a document of the NSW racing five year plan? Do they in fact, have such a plan? Or as it appears, do the administrators move from one immediate crisis to the next?
With not a clue as to what the future should bring.
Many of the Sydney meetings are a pointless exercise. Why have racing in Sydney at all, other than Saturday and public holidays? Is there a logical reason? Financial or otherwise?
What has night racing done for the sport? Perhaps someone could admit that night racing was a mistake, the millions spent setting it up has gone...bad luck. Let's forget it and move on. Was/were the original reason/s and expectations for night racing, flawed at the outset?
Perhaps metropolitan racing in Sydney has almost run its race? From what we the punters see, that appears to be the case.
Message: The land Randwick is built on must be worth a fortune. Sell all the Sydney tracks, they are a wasteful restriction of capital. Build a new Shatin style supertrack and training centre on a green field site somewhere out near Penrith and Emu Plains. Or better still beyond Burke.
Construct skyscraper stables, swimming pools,tunnels, vet hospitals and even Japanese style detention centres for Jockeys. Have a dirt racing track, stuff grass, its too expensive to maintain, so 10 September. There should be shutes for every distance ensuring at least a 600m run to the first turn.
By racing at one track on one surface you eliminate the cause of fluctuating turnover because we all know thats got nothing to do with the quality of fields. Think seriously about racing in lanes with staggered starts if necessary, eliminate improbables like racing in a pack, keep handicaps though because turnover on them is better than set weights. We want to eliminate as many variables as possible to make the punter think he's got a good chance but not eliminate them all so it isn't worth a punt. Punters seem to accept horses carrying different weights but don't like interference, differing pace, barrier draws that tracks race differently on some days, that horses aren't machines or that jockey's make mistakes. More on that later.
Bookmakers should be banned because they however slightly affect TAB turnover and those few hardy souls who still go to the races should be discouraged with even fewer amenities because they will pay subscriptions for SKY and bet through TAB.
The aim should be to eliminate attendance at the races, better that the punter just bet without any spectacle, most do that now anyway.
Then really work on reducing the cost base of racing, those pesky horses and those associated with them. Tabcorp is already doing sterling work on this with those computer races. And lets not forget that nifty little machine at Penrith Panthers. Start programming computer generated events. Use and develop the existing software. Encourage punters to breed and train cyber horses. Get Inglis and Magic Millions in to sell the successful codes.
Look at the advantages, completely controlled environments, very low overhead. Almost as good as Keno.
At the same time crush the real horse industry. Eliminate all other tracks. Force the industry to rationalise by basing it self in the one central location. Limit the number of horses that can be owned or trained by any individual. Screw up all the fees and lower the amount of programmed real racing. Wipe it out.
More emphasis on the cyber racing. Sell the super track to finance a deal with Microsoft and Google for full planet wide coverage.
I am inspired. Why, we could do away with the horses altogether not to mention the annoying little koalas on their backs.
We could replace them with mind numbing computer generated graphics of chickens crossing the road, pixies in the forest, dancing Elvises and cherries, plums and Georges. And they could spin around and round and round to a musical accompaniemnt that sounds like a mobile phone on heat.
Punters could sit on high chairs and simply feed the machines money, thus eliminating the need for Tote operators. The machines could be programed to say 'Thanks Darl' when you give it money just like they do in real life.
We could black out the windows and remove all the clocks so that punters could dispose of their money without being distracted by the real world. We could add oxygen to the air conditioning system so that punters would feel good doing it.
And we could provide leaflets with the title Gamblers Help so that the punters dont go home empty handed.
Author: return-of-infidel Timestamp:- 30/12/2003 11:10:18 AM Subject: Re: Randwick track a disgrace!
Message: Looks, let's face facts, the point of horseracing is to extract dollars from mugs pockets. It has no other other purpose. The present horseracing project is a 19th century solution to that problem. It is archaic and horrendously expensive. Horseracing is a relic.
Message: I walk this track every day, there has been a flurry of activity on the track since the outcry began but let me share with you some of the great management strategies I notice on a day to day basis:
> Irrigation that aims into the wind: resulting in water that blows off the surface and ends up saturating the stable blocks.
> Rolling of the surface within 24-48 hours of racedays
> constant mowing of the surface
> severe areas of dieback of the couch and ryegrass
> irrigation whilst raining
Off the top of my head, I dont think thats the way to succesfully maintain any grass surface, let alone a major sydney racetrack
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