Time between races

[mardigras]

Recall reading a thread about this. Take a look at Flemington today. 30 minutes between races all day. Moonee Valley does this for their night meetings. And other meetings in Vic do it regularly. Why can't NZ do this for even a low grade meeting? Even less would be better. 25 minutes would be great.

[Freda]

45 minutes ago, mardigras said:

Recall reading a thread about this. Take a look at Flemington today. 30 minutes between races all day. Moonee Valley does this for their night meetings. And other meetings in Vic do it regularly. Why can't NZ do this for even a low grade meeting? Even less would be better. 25 minutes would be great.

I recall contributing to the same thread,  I think.

In short - as a spectator, 25 or even 20 would be great.

As a trainer - getting saddles in time could be difficult,  as would hosing down a previous runner as well as saddling-up in the time frame.   Which comes down to extra staff, which comes down to money.   Here,  apart from the big trainers,  many rely on volunteers/family/friends to help on raceday.

[mardigras]

12 minutes ago, Freda said:

I recall contributing to the same thread,  I think.

In short - as a spectator, 25 or even 20 would be great.

As a trainer - getting saddles in time could be difficult,  as would hosing down a previous runner as well as saddling-up in the time frame.   Which comes down to extra staff, which comes down to money.   Here,  apart from the big trainers,  many rely on volunteers/family/friends to help on raceday.

Yes Freda, there has to be sufficient time for the people who are doing those tasks to be able to do so. For larger stables, they would be expected to have staff. For smaller ones, the frequency of when they have runners in consecutive races would be likely less, however burdening them with extra costs is also something the industry can ill afford.

[curious]

5 hours ago, mardigras said:

Yes Freda, there has to be sufficient time for the people who are doing those tasks to be able to do so. For larger stables, they would be expected to have staff. For smaller ones, the frequency of when they have runners in consecutive races would be likely less, however burdening them with extra costs is also something the industry can ill afford.

I think it's one of those things where anything positive that might increase overall participation and revenue is likely to have an immediate cost to some participants but I think we have to figure out how to manage that if the change potentially has a longer term benefit even if it's a while before that filters through.

[Freda]

16 minutes ago, curious said:

I think it's one of those things where anything positive that might increase overall participation and revenue is likely to have an immediate cost to some participants but I think we have to figure out how to manage that if the change potentially has a longer term benefit even if it's a while before that filters through.

That's right enough...but we also have to have buy in from those in charge.  I think I mentioned in the earlier thread about the weigh-in issues,  obviously it can be done as shown in Victoria,  but physical issues like distance from tie ups, the rule precluding weighing-out early would need to be changed, all do-able but there will be many who just put up obstacles for no good reason other than that they can.

[Hesi]

You

7 minutes ago, Freda said:

That's right enough...but we also have to have buy in from those in charge.  I think I mentioned in the earlier thread about the weigh-in issues,  obviously it can be done as shown in Victoria,  but physical issues like distance from tie ups, the rule precluding weighing-out early would need to be changed, all do-able but there will be many who just put up obstacles for no good reason other than that they can.

You've  just mentioned the 2 biggest systemic problems in NZ racing

Total lack of confidence in the people running it

Resistance to change

So a bit like that 2 moons advert, caught in the headlights unable to do anything

[Turny]

Change nothing and nothing changes, looking at the lack of crowds on trackside and its beamed into ozzie - embarrassing 

Starting at 11.30 and finishing at 5.00 was all over 30 years ago - laughable

[Freda]

Not to mention other entertainment options that might add to a quick-fire raceday...better brains than mine can surely come up with something,  but pony sprints,  shetland steeplechases,  all tried in the Uk and great fun...?

[curious]

This time of year you could run a 6 race industry meeting after work @ 25 minute intervals, say 5.30 to 7.30. Racegoers could be home or out for dinner by 8.

Weekend meets could run an 8 race programme from say 1 to 4. No need to deal with horrible racecourse food for lunch and home in time for a few beers and dinner before the rugby.

Can't really be that hard. Still can't find any rule preventing jockeys weighing out a race ahead Freda though if they are engaged in the current race they can't because they would be changing their gear (colours at least) after weighing out?

 

Edited February 9, 2020 by curious

[Freda]

Yes,  the concept of jockey valets comes to mind,  would certainly make the whole operation much smoother.   Another negative [ and don't assume I'm against the idea,  far from it, I think it is a grand concept ]  is time to be loaded in the barriers.   At Riccarton Sat we had a cock-up in the last,  with a horse eventually late scratched.    It seemed to me that if the staff had been on the job the horse would have loaded - which was confirmed by several jockeys who thought the efforts were woeful.   A couple of those and the timing is sent awry.   The southern crew [ Otago/Southland ] are consistently running over time.   I'm not knocking people doing their best -  god knows, it is not an easy job, very very important in fact,  but clubs won't pay for sufficient staff in many cases.  Loading times would have to be slick and efficient for these concepts to work well.

I guess I am thinking, great idea,  but does NZ racing, overall, have the professionalism and well-oiled systems in place for that to work?  sadly,  I think not.

[Freda]

46 minutes ago, curious said:

This time of year you could run a 6 race industry meeting after work @ 25 minute intervals, say 5.30 to 7.30. Racegoers could be home or out for dinner by 8.

Weekend meets could run an 8 race programme from say 1 to 4. No need to deal with horrible racecourse food for lunch and home in time for a few beers and dinner before the rugby.

Can't really be that hard. Still can't find any rule preventing jockeys weighing out a race ahead Freda though if they are engaged in the current race they can't because they would be changing their gear (colours at least) after weighing out?

 

Two sets of gear would sort that,  surely ?

[Freda]

I was told yesterday that the quick-fire meeting at Flemington was all from the 1200m barrier - thus eliminating the need to shift the gates.

Something like that could work well at Riccarton;   and could lead to a 'series' of similar events from,  say,  the 1600 barrier, with a points system and a quick-fire winner for each distance after two or three such events over the summer period ?   

Just a thought.

[mardigras]

8 minutes ago, Freda said:

I was told yesterday that the quick-fire meeting at Flemington was all from the 1200m barrier - thus eliminating the need to shift the gates.

Something like that could work well at Riccarton;   and could lead to a 'series' of similar events from,  say,  the 1600 barrier, with a points system and a quick-fire winner for each distance after two or three such events over the summer period ?   

Just a thought.

They were all down the straight, but over 1000m, 1100m and 1200m and did have to move them for every race except one. So not much of a shift though. In saying that, they can move those barriers pretty quickly. You could do similar with 3 1200m races, 3 1600m races and 3 2000m races or something along those lines. Only shifting gates twice. Along with various additional elements (points systems, series) to add extra interest as required.