Hesi

I will cover Reapers/Maxis Plenty of fluids PJ

Scr R4 7/16 to 7/8

Tassie tiger 118 Replied: 10 hours ago · IP TIME FOR US REAPERS TO BREAK INTO THE FACTORY ,NO BLOODY WOODEN SPOON FOR US,GO REAPERS. R1 6/8 R2 2/3 R3 3/9 R4 3/8 R5 2/11 R6 5/8 BB R7 2/7 R8 8/9 R9 15/16 R10 7/12 BB PLEASE CHECK SCRATCHINGS IF I CANT ,PLEASE CAPN.YEA HAA REAPERS.THANKS PJ FOR ANOTHER FANTASTIC COMP. THAT'S THUM, ALL CHECKED FOR SCRATCHINGS Hope all is well with you Tassie

1. 6/7 2. 3/7 3. 5/8 4. 8/14 bb 5. 2/12 6. 2/5 7. 1/7 8. 10/11 9. 8/12 10. 3/12 bb Good luck Rob Thanks as always PJ

Yes, I saw that Martin Neville from Strathayr and 3 others from there onsite from April 2022, Martin Neville as the project co-ordinator

Also if you water a lot for shorter time periods you get shallow roots. Not a total novice on this, have put in many lawns, seeded and turf in a former life

Health and Safety legislation nowadays, and liability if there is a death or serious injury

Because the extra excavation was adding to the cost, would this have been the reason why they decided to seed on site as it was cheaper

So Curious was also on the right track when he said it takes a long time to get a durable turf surface when you seed

Sounds like you may have been driving one lol

So as you say, it comes back to the turf (seeded) not being ready, but Karaka Million was happening here regardless, so that is where the problem lies. Begs the question whether they should have raced today on it

Thanks, good to get some more informed input

I have a feeling you are in the industry so know what you are talking about. I presume the sub base was a graded base course

I think I replied to you that I recall reading (I think) that they found so much volcanic rock, that they decided to crush it on site to use as the compacted gravel layer

Fair comment, and it suggests that they have culpability as well. Strathayr grow turf in a very controlled environment. Trying to repeat that outside of that environment, on a racecourse has a number of risks to it

Unfortunately, because I am not a doomsayer, but there is a very real possibility that the meeting will be called off prior to or after R1. There has been a lot of steady rain in Auckland with a lot more to come. I hope I am wrong for the sake of the racing industry in NZ. The main reason for building this track, was to give a world class racing surface, that would give punters confidence, and therefore increase wagering. I think already we are seeing question marks from punters about the track, question marks from connections about racing their horses on it. We still do not know why it has gone wrong. You simply can't point the finger at anyone until it is known what went wrong Explanations from ATR are lacking credibility. I don't know whether they can have an independent inquiry, but that is what is needed

1. 5 2. 8 14 15 17 18 19 20 3. AS 4. 16 5. 10 6. AS 7. AS 8. AS Late scr 2 9. 2 4 18 Late scr 1 11 15 10. 5 15 18 Late scr 16

There were some pretty major earthworks going on. They excavated the entire track then put in the various underlying substrates, so it would be surprising if that happened

Funny game, they looked like they could be anything that first 25 minutes, then they reverted to the Warriors of old. St George are no mugs though with some very classy players.

The only reference I can find to it is that the dead thatch (grass) forms a layer that is difficult for water to penetrate and wetting agents are added to help this, but then I thought the problem they were having was this shallow root mass???? I think we are all being bullshitted to save a few skins

Never really did understand this surface tension thing and I doubt anyone else in the industry does.

Some trivia for the trainspotters The Easter Handicap has only been run on Easter Saturday, 5 times in the last 25 years. This is because Easter Sat can fall anywhere from 21 March to 24 April, and the Easter Handicap is always run on the 3rd or 4th Sat in April

I'm guessing that when the decision was made to seed on site, various alarm bells were sounded by Strathayr, so maybe the accountability is a lot more difficult to pinpoint.....who knows. From my experience, you don't try a new way of doing things until it has been tried and tested many times over. So Ellerslie has turned into one big experiment If you have ever been to Turfgrass NZ, the company that produces Ready Lawn in NZ, you will see that all the special conditions for growing turf are rigorously set up, including the testing, soil conditions, fertilising, irrigation, and regularly monitored. This will be how Strathayr grow their turf in Aus. These are conditions very hard to reproduce and control on a racecourse.

I think also that Curious makes a salient point when he says that seeding grass, it takes a long time for a durable turf surface to become established. And what leads me to postulate that they tried to push it with lots of regular (shallow) watering, in order to meet the Jan deadline, and this is how we ended up with a shallow root mass

Yes absolutely, that is what people in the industry want to know, but it is not going to be divulged. I suspect the only way it could come out is if the worst comes to the worst and the track has to be re-done, then there could be legal action. But at the moment, we just don't know. Did ATR want to seed on site to save costs Did Strathayr approve that, in which case Strathayr have culpability Did Strathayr say we are not happy with that, but ATR went ahead anyway, in which case ATR is accountable. Did Strathhayr approve seeding, but it was not done in accordance with procedure. Were both parties in a situation of learning as you go, because it had never been done like that before. Many many unanswered questions, that for people to speculate on what went wrong is really just guessing