RJB

1 hour ago, Hesi said:

You continually seem to ignore, it was Ellerslie's money, any money to fix it if needed will be from Ellerslie and it is not $55 mil.  If at worst they need to just re-do the top layer, then at a guess it is $5-10 mil that Ellerslie will pay anyway.  All the other parts that were included in the $55 mil are fine.

As Barry said, your resentment towards Ellerslie seems to be colouring your view

Total bullshit I have no resentment to Ellerslie at all...I just have a resentment for accepting a shit job..something you dont seem to have an issue with...anyway I will move on...cheers ...

25 minutes ago, Hesi said:

I'm happy to accept that Barry is not guessing and has provided the most informed comment on Ellerslie, and I appreciate what he has said and realise he is potentially compromising his own position to say anymore.  And, that this track was raced on 6 months too early, so given a rest till October, will race perfectly once nature has done its job.

Those wishing to apportion blame, need to ask the question, why was it raced on before it was ready.

 

 

Well good on you...if you are someone who can accept $55 million for this piece of shyte good luck to you...lets see how long the wait will be..I wont waste anymore time here...and its not because they raced on it too early its because it was not done correctly...but hey lets see who is right in the long run shall we. I was not guessing either...for your info..and all I and the rest of the industry wants is a proper track .....it's imperative we get that.

2 minutes ago, BarryB said:

I see the last 5 races at Dalby got abandoned today also.

Did they spend 55 million on their track????

9 minutes ago, BarryB said:

Exactly, its am emotive subject for sure, most of which is posted from those who have limited to zero knowledge on what is involved or happened.

As I said above, if this doesn't work then NZ racing is fucked & wont exist in 5 yrs.

Well it looks pretty Donald ducked...and no I am not from the lower North Island and I want nothing more than those who stuffed this up to come clean as you are 100% right if this is not the Mecca showpiece then NZ racing is done..Entain will walk away.

Anyway I just feel the general public deserve answers and all they are coming out with is spin.

1 minute ago, BarryB said:

Randwick abandoned, do we feel the same about that guys?.

 

Come on it's apples and oranges...this is a shambles sorry for 55 million they never followed the correct way to do things..so nobody to blame but themselves...how can you defend the indefensible ??? Ellerslie are a law unto themselves untouchable and they now everything...well now it seems not.

So now what will the excuse be...these tracks are meant to be built for rain...this has been a botched job from day one if only they had just followed the full plan for the Strathayr that had been done elsewhere...lets see what excuses they come up with now for the bedding in process...this is fast becoming a unmitigated stuff up and a waste of 55Mill of industry money. Not being negative just being real.

It was never a wet issue it was the track without rain was too hard many horses have been injured and jarred up on previous days, this is exactly what it was meant to do but they need to fix the hardness on non wet days as the water was going through way to fast from what I was told. Good to see it doing what its meant to in the wet...50% of the job done, now lets hope the hardness issue is fixed too.We need it to be the best, not a white elephant.

11 hours ago, Hesi said:

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

That is 100% correct...twisting and turning like worms to save their own skins.

I thought we were not going to get soft tracks..so what's changed...??

And why cant it be forced out...the truth I mean...only way is to make noise so it gets forced out...otherwise nobody will ever be held accountable.

The question is why did they diverge...when all the rest of the international tracks had a tried and true formula...???Should that not be answered as they spent 55 million of industry money.

Thats terrible if that is correct...great racing guy.

14 minutes ago, Hesi said:

Worst case scenario and they have to relay the track, it is not 55 mil down the gurgler, a lot less as it will only be the top 2 layers, the turf and mesh elements.

Racing again at Pukekohe and Te Rapa might bruise a few egos though

So you seem to be like many oh it's ok to spend a few more million after they have basically misspent 55 already....see thats why they keep doing what they do...people accept mediocrity...and with that we will never improve. Muppets running the show only protecting themselves and their own survival.

40 minutes ago, curious said:

Wilcox is reported as saying it should be good to go by this time next year isn't he?

 

“Naturally we are disappointed in relation to having an abandonment. We pride ourselves on doing things right, so we let ourselves down when this happens,” Wilcox said.

“From what we can ascertain, it is the same issue where the grass is matted and joins the sand profile, which is causing the slipperiness. We thought we had that under control and we obviously didn’t,”

“After the last race meeting here (this season), which is the 25th of May, it (StrathAyr track) will get a heavy renovation and that will be focussing on removing that matting to ensure going forward that that can’t cause any issues. This time next year, it will be settled and hopefully racing perfectly,”

55 million and we are stilling living on hopes and dreams...what a joke a complete joke.

I would only assume its a mess...look at Caulfield they did a new track there recently and everyone is raving about it...so new tracks dont all need time to bed in...its all bollocks...I hope it gets sorted for the sake of the industry, but I can see it having to be closed and redone...and that would be a disaster.

3 minutes ago, Freda said:

Or....if they went ahead and built a Strathayr-as they did- why, in God's name,  did they not follow the tried and true construction from A to Z, instead of deviating off course with another brilliant idea.

Unbelievable. 

100% agree but as I said they seem to know more than anyone and why the hell did they not fix the contours going out of the straight and the camber of the corner...for the sake of keeping its character ...well it lost that when they sold the hill I would of thought...and why on earth with the amount they spent was there a need still for a crossing where it is...surely it could have been a tunnel under the track...but hey thats like commonsense.

Nah he will protect his butt it will be some other poor minow if anyone is sacrificed which I doubt.

23 minutes ago, Hesi said:

Strathayr would have been closely involved in the installation, and still advising, so something has slipped through the cracks

I'm just wondering, if it was that they seeded the grass in place at Ellerslie, whereas in Aus, Strathayr pre-grow the turf, then it is laid in much the same way as they do Ready Lawn here in NZ, except on a far grander scale 

Come on Hesi stop trying to defend the indefeasible...its not been done correctly and heads should roll...we are not talking about a track revamp...this is a BRAND NEW 55 million $$$$ project there is no excuse for it not to be 100% correct unless they did things differently to the project managers suggestions.

1 minute ago, Hesi said:

I think this is separate to the mismanagement of track maintenance and renovation and the allocation of money from Entain towards an overall track renovation regime.

Ellerslie have done the right thing and spent a lot of money on a complete track rebuild, with a proven system.  It is just that something has gone terribly wrong.

No it has been misspent or if it was correctly spent it would not have these continued issues...or am I missing something???

What a joke...heads should roll but you bet nothing happens a bullshit report will be commissioned and another load of waffle will be put out to placate everyone...but they can throw as much as they want at stakes but it fixes nothing our tracks not  even the new whizzbang ones are not up to scratch ...and sorry but thats a fact....!!!!!!!! 55 million and its still not right, horses going amiss, races abandoned... and we all accept it...oh it needs time to bed in...give me strength....but nothing will change thats a fact sadly.

Haha and we cant even run a meeting on our new so called mega track...what a joke we are.

2 minutes ago, Maximus said:

He no longer has a Licence RJB...and I think curious's post has been interpreted wrongly by yourself...he noted that he's won 2 trials at Foxton but followed it with the phrase 'all the same' which tends to draw a connection between the two activities (abuse/winning trials) when I dont think curious meant that at all.

MM

Dont care how many trials he wins sorry...cruelty is cruelty he does not deserve any type of praise..to treat a horse like that is disgraceful...he could win 100 races I would never give him a horse to train...my opinion.

And I will add if anyone of the trainers I have used ever hit one of my horses that I knew about they would lose the horses immediately...this guy does not deserve a licence.

31 minutes ago, curious said:

I'd suggest you help yourself, maybe by reading Horse Sense for People by Monty Roberts.

Dont need advice from you on horsemanship thanks...you really are lucky you seem to know everything about most topics...lucky you..LOL.

1 hour ago, curious said:

Cripes. Where did I say that? Just to set the record straight, anyone who knows me would know that I think the behaviour is a total disgrace and imo, after warnings from senior trainers, deserves a lifetime ban. I've started heaps of horses and remedied behavioural issues of a number of others and never struck one of them, let alone around the head. A while back now, but the man who listens to horses once offered me a job. I resent the implication in your post.

So why mention he had winners at the trials like you were sticking up for him...anyone who beats horses does not deserve to be a trainer or anything to do with them JMO.