USA
Canada
Australia
New Zealand
Europe
UK / IRE
Harness racing in New Zealand is in disarray, with the governing body kicking yet another own goal with its decision to scrap two feature races at Cambridge Raceway’s Cliff Thomas & Charlie Hunter FFA meeting this Saturday night.
The decision by those responsible at Harness Racing New Zealand to essentially throw the good folk at Cambridge Raceway to the wolves is incredibly short-sighted on many levels.
Furthermore, the attitude and approach of the governing body in dealing with the issue is remarkable and suggest no lessons have been learned in recent months when it comes to communicating with stakeholders of the sport.
Cambridge Raceway was undoubtedly one of the benefactors of the recent calendar change, having been afforded some new feature races, not to mention The Race by Grins, which for all intents and purposes, Dave Branch and the club took in its infancy as a concept by the scruff of its neck and turned into a resounding success.
However, it wasn’t all just dished up on a plate.
As far as the clubs are concerned, Cambridge bought into the restructuring of the feature race programme as well as one making the changes could hope for. I say this by virtue of having been part of the architect group responsible for selling them on said changes.
Branch and the Cambridge Raceway bought into the idea that losing the Group Races like the Trotters Flying Mile (G2) from its popular Christmas Eve meeting and the Waikato Flying Mile from its first meeting of the season were a necessary evil of helping the North Island feature programming in the Autumn to flow.
To help ease the blow, The Charlie Hunter and Cliff Thomas FFA were created as a way to attract some of the best talent the country has to offer at a time of year when racing is attracting crowds of holiday makers enjoying an afternoon or evening at the trots.
One of the key reasons for the change to horse birthdates in this country was to afford Harness Racing New Zealand the opportunity to create radical change to its racing calendar.
In doing so, it not only provided the industry with the ability to prolong age group racing into the latter part of the calendar, but it also presented an opportunity to create carnivals at attractive times of the year, showcasing our great sport in all its glory. This isn’t my own opinion, HRNZ said as much in their letter to the industry detailing the change:
The change in a horse’s birthday presents an opportunity to reshape not only the pattern of racing but a chance to re-evaluate our approach to marketing to the benefit of all sectors of our sport.
The opportunity to host a dual New Zealand Cup winner in Copy That and pit him against an up-and-coming superstar in Old Town Road is worth the price of admission to any track in the country. Let alone this time of year. That’s not forgetting the horse who downed the champ on New Years Eve in Alta Wiseguy, nor the local heroes in Taipo and multiple Group Race winner, Kango.
In 2009, Cambridge played host to a four-horse feature in the Waikato Flying Mile, with rising superstar Auckland Reactor drawing plenty of attention. The Sunday Star Times the day after quoted:
“Can I touch your horse?”
How the little boy’s voice penetrated the noise of the excited Cambridge crowd was uncanny – but Mark Purdon heard it – and stopped immediately.
And every few metres, Purdon, beaming with pride, brought the champion to a halt as the arms reached out.
“Mark, you’re the man.”
“He’s the best.”
“What a horse.”
All the while, from the stands and lawns, the clapping and cheering persisted like a Mexican wave as the new heroes of harness racing left the arena.
AUCKLAND REACTOR REPLAY
There are several factors, notwithstanding the lost opportunity to market the stars of the track, that make the decision to can both features a real headscratcher.
Dave Branch debated with HRNZ’s handicapper, Andrew Morris (as reported by Barry Lichter) that a precedent had been set by running a $50,000 G2 feature at Auckland for just four horses. He was told that circumstantially the contrast from one race to the other was that the Franklin Cup was a Group Race, and the Cliff Thomas FFA was not.
That would be somewhat more palatable had the very club and track Branch manages not played host to a four-horse race that included a runner owned by none other than Gary Woodham, CEO of HRNZ, 12 months earlier. The race won by South Coast Arden on the 27th of January last year was run for a stake of $17,200. $2200 more than what Branch had countered with after suggesting he drop the stake of both features for Saturday night to $15,000.
The suggestion was shut down immediately for fear of setting a precedent.
You can’t make this up! It’s not apples with oranges. It’s horses for courses.
“Nothing about the decision makes sense to me,” said Branch.
“The most disappointing thing is we didn’t get to discuss it like adults (Branch was hung up on by Morris), we were just told we can’t run either of the races, end of story,” he said.
The issue for trainers, owners and administrators beyond that of the decision lacking any consistency is the obnoxious way it was handled.
With both Gary Woodham and HRNZ Chair, John Coulam on holiday and unable to be contacted, it’s unclear who had the final say on the decision. But here you have a handicapper with a history of treating license holders and participants with general disdain and contempt, further exemplifying the narrative of his own arrogance.
After the announcement of a $15,000,000 shortfall to the bottom line of the TAB, appreciably, HRNZ are under pressure with returns to owners being reduced by 10% for stakes paid between the 1st of February 2023 and 31st July 2023.
Whether the decision to scrap the two races is a cost-saving exercise is anyone’s guess, but if it is, then again, it’s incredibly short-sighted.
Admittedly, five and six-horse fields are not the most attractive betting products and generally provide reduced returns to the industry.
However, average Gross Betting Revenue for races over $30,000 is generally in the 40% range and is a burden the sport is prepared to carry within reason. The bottom line is we need aspirational races and to see our best horses compete and we do so in many instances with an opportunity/cost mindset.
The G2 Franklin Cup was run with four horses for a stake of $50,000. Admittedly, there was a beaten $1.20 fixed favourite, but the betting margin was 32% of the advertised stake at around $16,000, being 15% of turnover. Even the five-horse 2YO race run in the same programme and won by Charlie Brown, paying $1.50 returned a margin of around $9,000.
Racing is funded by wagering. We all get that. However, short-priced favourites get beaten as we saw with Copy That and this week at Omakau with Krug and Five Wise Men. Measuring success or failure on one race is short-sighted when other factors are at play.
Despite the unfavourable date of a Saturday for the meeting typically held on a Friday (TAB van at a gallops meet and couldn’t service both meetings), you could argue a six-horse field as were the original nominations for a stake of $25,000 would be a profitable one, even in the event of Copy That winning at a short quote.
Plenty of businesses and industries have ‘loss leader’ strategies with the intention of attracting new customers/sales. Cambridge would typically expect anywhere between 1000-1200 people on-course on a good day in January, particularly with the prospect of seeing some of our best horses in action. What is it exactly we are trying to sell?
Global racing jurisdictions that are experiencing success have generally done so as a result of marketing the animal, or the equine heroes, if you will.
There is a reason that Eden Park sells out for an All Blacks game, and not a Bunnings Cup match.
Then you have the other factor that seems to have been completely forgotten, and that is the South Island trainers and owners of trotters who have incurred considerable expense to underpin the watered-down North Island Open Class races over the summer.
Spare a thought for the likes of Phil Williamson, who left Central Otago on Monday and flew into Cambridge on Tuesday only to find out the race had been scrapped.
Contrary to what was first reported, Williamson has opted to keep his two trotters in the North Island rather than prematurely cut their campaign short.
Whether the numbers for the Waikato Trotters Flying Stakes will be sufficient to get off the ground given the same pool of horses will be available remain to be seen, but there is little doubt the likes of Majestic Man could have done with a lead in run heading into a Group Race.
Wasn’t that the premise of running the $17,500 gimme for South Coast Arden last year? To give Open Class horses a lead into a group race a week later?
If you are going to cancel the two feature races held on the programme at Cambridge’s this Saturday, surely the least you can do is stop advertising the meeting with very names of the races you decided to cancel!
Possibly afraid to set another precedent?
by Brad Reid, for Harnesslink
