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Racing WA Data

Harness & Greyhounds
The promised update on the "state of the nation" on NR in WA is dragging it's feet.

There is a good story to be told on a number of fronts, both turnover wise and pool sizes, average SP of favourites and average SP of winners,and and field sizes at GP, probably at the expense of some country meetings, which is a glass half full, glass half empty, scenario.

Just anecdotally, from private data I've kept for example, on field sizes, it is  the 12th week in a row with over 100 starters on Friday Night. Under the previous HWOE fiasco, that never happened, never got close, especially in the middle of a very wet winter.

And for the running of the 60th August Cup since old mate Minton Hall and Jack Jones won from 24 yrds behind back in 1965, the first one I witnessed, Friday Night has 113 starters as opposed to just 83 starters last year.....and a potentially brilliant Cup race as they have wisely applied PBD conditions to prevent a potential snorefest.

And only an indicator (but an important one as it is  the most profitable return to the industry), TABtouch win pools and other allied novelty pools are trending up and lasting deeper into the night's racing.

But we might have to wait for the upcoming status report for official verification. 

Comments

  • FrogFrog    169 posts
    I see NSW prize money reductions from the 1st of Jan.
  • JayJayJayJay    8,623 posts
    Yes, masked by a magnificent Walkley Award winning press release that puts all previous attempts at Spin Doctoring well into the shade.

    Under a headline of "Tiered Stakes" being promoted as an enormous plus, an examination of what is currently being paid versus what is proposed under the new tiered stakes proposal is in fact a substantial cut.

    The proposed Trainers Starter Subsidy, though pathetically small and bordering on insulting, is a least a beginning but it wouldn't buy you a burger and chips on the way home from Wagga and any comparison to the fruity largesse afforded thoroughbred trainers is a "payment" in name only.
  • JayJayJayJay    8,623 posts
    Probably also true to say that without seeing what the Total Stakes payout is across all NSW meetings for the whole year, it is a bit hard to draw a definitive conclusion. Tiered Stakes and Tiered Meetings are two different beasts.
  • FrogFrog    169 posts
    6 at Northam Friday and no fields yet for Narrogin Saturday.
  • LightningJakeLightningJake    42 posts
    Frog said:

    6 at Northam Friday and no fields yet for Narrogin Saturday.


    Narrogin has been canned! Only 41 nominations. 1st time in the last 15 years.
  • JayJayJayJay    8,623 posts
    Legitimate question to ask.....Middle of winter, two country meetings, one on a Friday Night (best for turnover) another on Saturday Night (which is a blackhole for turnover)? Perhaps just the one country meeting for July/August?

    Been very wet, just 7 gallops races at Pinjarra today, not full fields, one pay 1st and 2nd only, same at Bunbury tomorrow, 7 races, 4 races only paying 1st and 2nd, so this time of year in a very wet winter is across both codes. 

    I believe there were some Harness Web issues that affected noms? Not sure if this was rectified. 

    warrenrobinson, LightningJake likes this post.

  • LightningJakeLightningJake    42 posts
    The Narrogin noms were extended to 2pm. I tried to have a stickybeak on Harnessweb at 1:55pm & the noms were locked, which meant they weren't visible & certainly weren't open for nominating on Harnessweb, so you could only nominate via phone if you so desired. This also happened earlier in the year with a Kellerberrin meeting. That's certainly one way to kill country racing!

    I messaged Narrogin Trots, saying how disappointing this was for them, then refreshed my page & the noms were open. Then we received another text telling us late noms were now open till 2:45pm, with no other explanation given. At 2:45pm, this extra time had garnered only 2 extra nominations :-(

    Northam on Friday was a skinny meeting even after extra time, with only 6 races. GP on the Friday, as we all know, is mainly a country front meeting these days. Just about every racing 3yr old has nominated for the Westbred heats at Pinjarra on Monday with initially, easily, 4 heats to be made for each sex plus the usual races as well. And all the 2yr old equivalents have nominated for GP on Tuesday.

    Narrogin was canned due to only having 41 noms (fact). If they were to have 6 races with a minimum of 8 runners each that is a total of 48 runners needed. Only 7 more were needed. There were only 5 × 2yr old nomed & only 6 × 3yr olds nomed. A couple of extras in each of those races would have gone a long way towards holding the meeting up. Then maybe a couple of those country front horses racing at GPM should be racing at Narrogin instead of GPM. Plus, other than the 2 & 3yr old races all the other races on the card were restricted to 4yr+ horses which meant eg. a 3 win 3yr old (not eligible for the 3yr race proper) couldn't nominate for any other race on the card. Remember only 7 more horses were required. If this perfect storm hadn't happened, tada, you have a meeting, albeit a skinny meeting, but a meeting all the same.

    Plus very often Narrogin follows the day after Northam which also helps with short noms, as a similar pool of trainers & horses is targeted.

    There is something very, very wrong with our programing.
  • LightningJakeLightningJake    42 posts
    At acceptance time for Pinj there had been some withdrawals from the 3yr heats but there was still 36 noms for the fillies & 35 for the boys, so 6 full, or virtually full races on top of the "normal" races. Like I said, a perfect storm leading to the cancellation of Narrogin.
  • Chopchop43Chopchop43    435 posts
    JayJay said:

    Legitimate question to ask.....Middle of winter, two country meetings, one on a Friday Night (best for turnover) another on Saturday Night (which is a blackhole for turnover)? Perhaps just the one country meeting for July/August?

    Been very wet, just 7 gallops races at Pinjarra today, not full fields, one pay 1st and 2nd only, same at Bunbury tomorrow, 7 races, 4 races only paying 1st and 2nd, so this time of year in a very wet winter is across both codes. 

    I believe there were some Harness Web issues that affected noms? Not sure if this was rectified. 

    funny how those weren't good enough excuses to justify poor field numbers in any other year , under any other handicapping system
  • warrenrobinsonwarrenrobinson    567 posts
    For those who are fairly new into the harness industry it's happened before.I remember we didn't race for the month of August.
  • JayJayJayJay    8,623 posts


    funny how those weren't good enough excuses to justify poor field numbers in any other year , under any other handicapping system

    Yes they were.
  • JayJayJayJay    8,623 posts
    Magnificent race the August Cup. The winner? PBD.

    Am sure the owners of the winner will be enjoying celebratory drinks in the Winners Bar.

    Well driven Joseph.

    VillageKid likes this post.

  • warrenrobinsonwarrenrobinson    567 posts
    Nothing better than handicap racing, No Handicap, No Turnover No Future  :)>-

    JayJay, LightningJake likes this post.

  • Chopchop43Chopchop43    435 posts
    Looking forward to a great night of group racing all under the rbd system friday night, the draws in the majority of the races have made for an interesting discussion, yet again proving that rbd and pbd can both be used in tandem much like the rather successful interdominion grand final night, held by the only state that seems to be heading in the right direction, due to the help and common sense approach of rationalisation, qld take a bow , hopefully the powers that be over here take some notes, sometimes you have to go backwards in order to go forwards
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