Race your horses more, just don’t ask us where!

Harnesslink has been inundated with calls from trainers in recent weeks, all singing off the same hymn sheet, but all worried about the repercussions of singing off note with the choir conductor.

That being Harness Racing New Zealand and the two men responsible for its handicapping and programming.

The code of conduct, while purporting to support the license holders and in effect, raise industry standards, has effectively done little more than muzzle those from voicing their concerns.

And when that extends to the very people employed to work with the industry, what avenue do the horsemen and women have when it comes to finding a pathway forward when the consensus is that the status quo is working against them.

One of New Zealand’s most successful trainers recently made the comment that not so long ago, there was one person responsible for programming and handicapping in an era where the current digital solutions were not afforded to them, and yet there were close to 6000 horses in the racing population.

Today you have two men responsible for less than half of the horse population, and the reality is that things could not be any worse. There is little to no advanced programming made available while license holders and club officials are being abused and hung up on when doing little more than trying to reach solutions.

Gary Woodham recently quoted in his letter to industry: “Starters declined by 689 – from 24,463 to 23,774 (2022). This is the major concern. Without product to bet on we won’t be able to grow our sport. If we were able to race every horse one more time during the year, it would compensate for the decline in numbers.”

A prominent North Island trainer not wanting to be named on the basis he was of the genuine belief that previous discussions concerning handicapping had seen him being treated differently as a consequence stated that his mare would have achieved one more start had he been able to see programming beyond the current three weeks that are publicly available to him.

“How can I tell the owners to keep a horse in work when I have no idea what races will be available to her beyond the next couple of weeks. If the thoroughbreds can put out programmes for six months in advance, then what are we doing? Harness Racing New Zealand appear to be just flying by the seat of their pants.

“Previous communication to people involved has gotten me nowhere and if anything, I feel I’ve been given the rough end of the stick. How can an email to the handicapper and racing manager trigger zero response when we are trying to work with them. And then having taken it further, we get an email back from the CEO stating that the programming is not his department, end of quote.”

There has been plenty of noise about centralised programming and handicapping but as of yet no action.

Cambridge have taken the proactive approach of calling for a meeting of industry participants in the North Island to generate discussion and ideas which can be packaged and presented to HRNZ.

It sounds great in theory, but it requires the governing body to not only listen, but act on the issues.

The Auckland Trotting Club voiced its concern on multiple occasions that the reduction in quality of its New Years Eve meeting would negatively impact its ability to generate turnover and on course attendance.

It fell on deaf ears, and furthermore, with less than a dozen Open Class horses in work, a December 17th Group One Invercargill Cup saw the horse pool split whereby you had eight in Southland and four racing in Auckland.

There was one man tasked within the architect group who had 12 months ago provided a solution to this very issue, whereby creating a pathway where the Open Class horses were forced to travel around the country and race one another. Giving them too much opportunity he said, was creating too much pressure on the pool of Open Class horses given there was so few of them available. The data told everyone as much.

It was a radical solution to a very real problem and the reality is, by not acting on it, the industry suffers.

The very issue Woodham has raised in the horse shortage quoted above is a salient one.

Breeding numbers have declined for over 20 years and he is correct in stating if every horse raced one more time we could achieve our current racing KPI’s.

But work was done to address the breeding numbers, yet there is no clear and obvious ability to find any information on the Harness Racing New Zealand website pertaining to the breeding initiative. There is no stallion register or information anywhere on the website, and there are very few newsworthy articles specifically related to breeding or the promotion of it. Ironically the closest thing to promote breeding is the sector itself spending its own advertising budget promoting stallions or the yearling sales.

Our intel suggests there will be no replacement of the currently void Breeding Manager role that was advertised publicly.

When there is an issue as black and white as the horse shortage and declining breeding numbers, what does Cambridge hope to be the outcome of ideas formulated at its forums when the governing body is refusing to act on something staring them so clearly in the face?

by Harnesslink Media