Fortuna Weekly Round Up 19th September
CHANCE TO DANCE to make his NZ Racing debut this weekend.
The 8yo son of Teofilo, acquired by Fortuna at Sydney’s Chairman’s sale last April will either make his NZ debut in the (Group One) Windsor Park Plate at Hastings on Saturday 23rd or the (Listed) Karaka Classic at Pukekohe Sunday 24th, both races over the 1600 metre trip. Ranked the 8th highest rated horse in the Windsor Park, CHANCE TO DANCE is, due to the Race Entry Conditions, ranked 19th in Order of Entry and would need 5 withdrawals to make the field. “We will accept at both venues and make a decision later in the week” said Fortuna Director, John Galvin. “Either of these races are designed as a lead up race for the Livamol Classic (7th October) and while, under normal circumstances, we would be happy to take the softer option of the Counties race, it looks like it could be a very Heavy Track there on Sunday and that would not be ideal as a lead up race for the 2000 metre event 13 days later.” The winner of 5 races in Ireland and Australia and NZ$455,000 in prize money, CHANCE TO DANCE has a NZ rating of 101
The NZ Racing Board (TAB) continues to Sleepwalk
Item in italics below from the Informant racing publication.
Last week the New Zealand Racing Board learnt that the Australian Parliament had passed legislation banning anyone based in Australia from betting on racing or sports through offshore agencies. It is believed the Interactive Gambling Amendment Act, which was first tabled in Canberra late last year, was aimed at rogue betting platforms in Asia and elsewhere, but perhaps inadvertently the New Zealand TAB was caught up in the same net.
The NZRB, which incorporates our TAB, became aware of the legislation last week and acknowledging that it would be breaking the law, one of its first moves was to notify its Australian-based account holders – said to number around 800 – that they had been locked out of their accounts and any monies therein would be refunded by cheque.
Even so, the situation the TAB now finds itself is far from satisfactory, as agreed by NZRB CEO John Allen when he discussed the matter with www.theinformant.co.nz.
“When the Select Committee in Canberra was working through the proposed legislation they wrote to what they deemed relevant organisations, but as far as I’m aware no New Zealand organisation was invited to make a submission,” Allen said.
“We knew Australia was going to clamp down on illegal gambling operators, but the New Zealand TAB certainly wasn’t seen as one of them. What happened was they came up with a solution and the absolutely unintended consequence was that our Australian account holders have been blocked.”
We can only shake our heads at this – here we have an organisation ( NZ Racing Board) on which the three racing codes are almost completely dependent on their source of income (betting percentages), an organisation which is extremely top heavy with highly paid executives and they seemed to have been completely and utterly unaware of how this situation was unfolding. Talk about getting caught with your pants down!!!! CEO John Allen can put as much spin on it as he likes, but the reality is that TAB income from its Australian based customers will now cease and New Zealanders traveling to Australia will be unable to bet via the NZ TAB on their cell phones or laptops. Just to show how much these highly paid TAB people actually know about racing, one of them came up with a solution to the New Zealanders traveling in Australia problem by suggesting “that a solution would be to place your bets before heading to Australia.” What a joke!!! This “spokesman” was unnamed of course!!!
Fortuna runners this week
CHANCE TO DANCE either at Hastings on 23rd or Counties 24th, HIDDEN PROMISE Singapore Friday 22nd while OUR RIVER DANCER, READY FORTUNE and KING SAVINSKY all racing on their home track of Penang Saturday 23rd.
Weather Conditions making it hard for Trainers
A few more grey hairs and furrowed brows are apparent among the ranks of NZ Trainers at the moment as they struggle with sodden training tracks, postponed and canceled trials and the need to prepare their equine charges adequately ahead of their upcoming Spring and Summer racing targets. The need for an all-weather racing/training facility is very apparent, but until implementation of such a project, Trainers (and Owners) just have to suck up the conditions as best they can. Te Akau Training Stables will soon take delivery of a mechanical walker, a device which would certainly be useful for helping horses get fit when weather conditions are difficult. Ironically, the bad weather is not over all of NZ, Hasting track as at 9am this morning is a Good 3!!!!