In this Discussion
- AbbysAce April 2018
- Chariotsonfire April 2018
- curmudgeon April 2018
- JayJay April 2018
- Kane_26 April 2018
- KTQ April 2018
- loose_goose April 2018
- Markovina April 2018
- Moonraker April 2018
- PackedMetalPanda April 2018
- Rocket_Reign April 2018
- savethegame April 2018
- sonny April 2018
Who's Online
Special General Meeting Kalgoorlie
Harness & GreyhoundsSPECIAL GENERAL MEETING-Wednesday 9th May 2018 at 6pm in the Members Lounge of the GMTC!
We would like trainers, drivers, owners, sponsors, advertisers, staff, supporters,
anyone interested in trying to keep pacing in the Goldfields to attend.
We are looking at approaching RWWA with the argument that it’s not just
about racing and returns, it’s more than that. It’s about the loss to
the community and the ability for them to enjoy a night out.
So hopefully we get a great turnout that we can show RWWA that we are
well supported here and maybe we can overturn this decision and continue
racing in Kalgoorlie.
The more that turn up the better chance of showing RWWA that GMTC is relevant in the Community
Hope to see you all there!
Offthebit, sonny, Ridersonthestorm33 likes this post.
Comments
The days of trainers being able to pack up their lives for six months and stay in Kal are gone. There is a severe lack of youth coming through from the Goldfields region and it is a blight on the industry and its participants to keep asking people to travel a minimum of six hours and lose your Friday and your Saturday re working along with working other horses.
I'm strongly led to believe that the club was actually offered a handful of meetings next season to farewell their fans, sponsors and participants but the club rejected the offer and actually wanted more meetings then they had last year! These meetings are better off closer to the Great Southern and South West regions along with Kellerberrin as they will bring larger field sizes which equals for better turnover = better for the industry.
You can increase the stake money as much as you like but it's extremely unfair on the MAJORITY of the industry and its participants to have money being poured into a MINORITY area. There's only 11 trainers in the area who agreed to have a total of approximately 50 horses in work for the next season (you could barely run a meeting with that without outsider support).
Unfortunately for the Goldfields in this financial environment they are just to far away from the MAJORITY of the industry. As sad as it is for this industry to go forward this decision had to be made.
loose_goose likes this post.
I fear that turnover is driving every thing these days....and that's understandable but if that was the only consideration, we would shut down everything and just race at Gloucester Park. In doing so, a lot of history and tradition would be consigned to an as yet unwritten history book. Involvement at a regional level is dissolving fast and that has coincided with previous decisions made to close down multiple country clubs and circuits and the situation of death by a 1000 cuts to some of the country clubs that are being drip fed very limited dates. I could rave on about Dainty's Daughter, Radiant Oro, Binshaw, Frosty Nelson, Color Glo and all the rest of the past champs that emanated from a paddock in the country somewhere. Will that ever happen again? Against all hope, probably not. But when I go to Busso and Collie and Wagin and battle to get a seat in the Dining room, I think there is still hope. Keeping the game alive in the regions is critical for the future of the industry in my view.
By shutting down Kalgoorlie, isn't the baby being thrown out with the bathwater? On course attendance at GP on Tuesdays and probably Bunbury and Pinjarra ( I regularly attend those meetings and would battle to count 40 patrons in attendance aside from industry participants, Cup nights, major meetings excepted) is pathetic....obviously turnover is the criteria that rules above all else.
If at least the Kalgoorlie Round meetings were retained, with both attendance and turnover criteria being met, history would be preserved and a presence of harness racing in the Goldfields would be retained. Surely that is not asking too much....metro trainers would go up for the week, and 3 meetings in the week set around the Hannans Handicap and the Kalgoorlie Cup (minus a Jimmy Barnes concert run in direct opposition to the trots) as it used to be is a distinctly viable proposition. I don't know what the situation is in respect to running some non TAB meetings at Kal and I don't know whether that is a possibility. But to simply shut down the whole shooting match seems to me, to be a very bad decision.
I am not privy to any of the stuff about how many meetings the club asked for and how many horses are in work and how many trainers there are but one thing is certain....if the current decision stands, there will be zero horses in work, zero trainers training, a very good facility will go to waste and there will be zero interest in Harness Racing from a fairly significant regional city. Whilst respecting others views, and acknowledging valid points they raise, in the big picture of things, I can't make any sense of the decision to shut up shop.
curmudgeon, sonny, cisco, Ridersonthestorm33, savethegame, spinking likes this post.
Ridersonthestorm33, spinking likes this post.
Kalgoorlie has 3/4 of its trainers over 50 with very little interest shown in the way of younger trainers coming through. So let's say in 15 years time no one else comes into the industry from Kal there may only be three trainers up there, how is that sustainable?
I don't want to be the to get tomatoes thrown my way as this is just an opinion from a younger generation. I've spoken at length with many colleagues who have an above average size stables and it's unanimous that the travel is to great.
Maybe that's just the opinion of the younger generation but sometimes we need to leave the past in the past (nostalgia) and remember it is 2018 not 1978 and the price of everything has gone up along with trying to survive make a living and to support a family.
I understand it would of been great to have three meetings over the round but there would be point for local trainers to have horses in work for three meetings a year and where would the outside horses come from?
hi sonny, I'm not sure i understand your question but I'll try explain what I think you've asked. In January as far as I know all trainers were sent an email with a survey asking what they could do (if anything) to get horse numbers up in Kalgoorlie and if not what was our main reason for not wanting to race at Kalgoorlie.
I thought everyone received that but maybe RWWA didn't send it out to everyone. I'm lead to believe that the results were approximately 90-95% of who completed the survey stated that the travel was the deterrent.
Tracks shut down...Cunderdin, York, Katanning, Wylie, Trayning, Merredin, Harvey,
Prices going up.....clearly a recent phenomena that didn't occur in 1978?
Look no point in getting into a pie fight but we are on different pages. Economic rationalism is a soulless heartless strategy ruled only by bottom lines with zero respect for community or history no matter what it is applied to and the long term outcomes are always very problematical. I am just expressing my view, fully expecting that it won't hold up and attract only patronising dribble like "sometimes we need to leave the past in the past (nostalgia)". There are fewer comments that I find more offensive or insulting than younger people advising me to "leave the past behind". By all means argue your case with facts and figures but don't trot out insulting cliche's.
Ridersonthestorm33, Offthebit likes this post.
Perth- 593 kilometres to Kal
Where as Pert to Kellerberrin is 205 klms -huge difference
Ive got to take my hat off to the Perth gallops trainers who go to Kalgoorlie gallops and return to Perth - because i dont think there is a worse road trip than Kalgoorlie or Coolgardie to Perth ( which ive done stacks of times ) when the sun is setting - that mungrel blinding sun shining directly into you like a gun barrel - fancing pulling a horse float driving back to Perth
If I'm not the first younger person to tell you to leave the past behind maybe it's telling you something? The fact remains there are 11 registered trainers in Kalgoorlie a number of whom didn't start a horse last season.
We'll agree to disagree, but unfortunately you're a one in a thousand owner JayJay who is prepared to travel far and wide to watch his horses. The majority of owners don't even go to the trots.
This day and age everything is on tv and albeit your opinion might be Gloucester Park Tuesdays are ghost meetings, but from a turnover perspective they are the second best turnover night of the week behind Friday night. Pinjarra Monday is a close third.
Whilst this will never be proven, it's hard to fathom that a Collie Tuesday meeting would have as good a turnover, is it?
Kane_26 likes this post.
Slowly slowly they're reducing regional track meets which reduces regional trainers. My dad drives to Perth, Pinjarra and Bunbury every week from Busselton. It's bloody tough driving those distances all the time, to the point where he hasn't started at GP or PJ once or twice because he needs a break from just the driving.
Up the meets at regional tracks and show them some love
jum likes this post.
JayJay, paraletic, jum likes this post.
To be fair, some of the younger drivers are only too willing to travel far and wide to drive at the outer country meetings which is appreciated....and it is a good grounding for them. Have found them to be very respectful and accomodating. And they never tell me to stop wallowing in the past!!!!
curmudgeon likes this post.
You’ve completely missed the mark... again... it’s not the travelling trainers that have caused Kal to close it’s the locals. Take some time out of your I’m sure very busy day and look back at Kal fields year by year the last 10 seasons and count the local trainers horses. People like Brett Snell and Chris Hazelwood would have 15 in work between them last few seasons they’ve barely had 2 and no new trainers have filled the void, the simple fact is the local trainer support wasn’t enough to make Kalgoorlie viable
Kane_26 likes this post.
I think the travelling trainers have indirectly caused Kal to close. Their teams are too big and too good. Not knocking them though - good on them for exploiting a nieche
Why would Snell and Hazelwood bother have 15 in work - they are not going to be able to win many more races.
They had good teams and were very good trainers when they had the interest it just seems they lost it
BH to Adelaide 513 ks
BH to Sydney 1170 ks
BH to Mildura 295k - and thats probably where they have got a bit of an advantage - because Mildura is most of the time 6-7k races and they would have double the meetings of Kellerberrin ( closest to Kal )
So you will now and again see A Adams and K Hocking ( decent BH trainers ) at Mildura
I looked up their website - they race Nov - March plenty of Sat nights - all nontab - bar their cup meeting - where theyd be 80k of stakemoney
However i agree with others - the Kal local trainers have lost interest . None of those BH trainers would be full time no way - theyd be working in the engineering/mining industry - and because they love horse they train a few of them as a hobby
JayJay, curmudgeon, Ridersonthestorm33, Offthebit likes this post.
I think the three biggest points that people opposing the decision need to get there heads around are that there is only 11 registered trainers in Kalgoorlie with the youngest trainer being 30 and without a trainer with a large stable. Of those 11 trainers four never started a horse last season!
As Barry Hamilton said this morning the industry had spoken by not nominating and I can assure you the general consensus was/is that trainers aren't interested in travelling that far for any kind of prize money.
The last point is in my opinion the most damning, RWWA offered the club a number of meetings to say farewell of which GMTC along with its committee and members pretty well said "stick it". At the end of the day the decision is final and whether you love or hate the decision it will no lt be changed.
Rocket_Reign likes this post.