horses

TAB app improvements on the way!

/ Mezzasez

I found myself an interesting new email pal last week after I contacted the Racing Board to see why I missed out on the mea culpa email after the inglorious crash of the TAB’s betting system.

 

Credit where it is due, he did his best to discover why I didn’t get the apology, which was much appreciated.  While I had his attention I did use the opportunity to bring up another couple of pet peeves and – more kudos – he was forthcoming with information around both.

 

The first, raised here last week was the lack of information provided for runners on the TAB betting app.  Actually, interesting aside here, a couple of (male) friends I spoke to about said app had managed to confuse themselves thinking the mobile website was the same as the app – blokes! Anyway, my gripe is apparently about to be addressed with an updated app to go out this week…..I am counting the days!

 

Another irritant of mine – the fact I am able to load money into my account via a card, yet the same process does not work in reverse.  Sometimes it is just not possible to get to a TAB to withdraw money and I really would like the chance to put some winnings back on the card.  Apparently, a transfer of funds project has begun and, once the banks all decide to play ball, this will be a happening thing.  My email pal couldn’t give me the exact date but promised to keep me in the loop.

 

All in all, it was quite a positive encounter.  The thing which really struck me though was the following comment he made in one email: “I appreciate feedback so again I welcome hearing from you. Its the customers needs that will drive our business not our teams thinking.”[sic]

 

He followed up with information about a national punting competition to be held at Addington with the winner heading to Las Vegas in early 2018 for the National Horse Players’ Championship with an estimated pool of $2.5m. The winner of the Hawke’s Bay Punter of the Year will gain entry into a field of 40 at Addington thus having to ensure their punting knowledge spreads across both codes!

 

I discussed this with a friend who has won and placed in a number of prominent galloping Punter of the Year events over the past two decades and he admitted he wouldn’t be a cross-code starter. It wouldn’t rock my boat either.  Still, I guess they get points for trying!

 

In the meantime, I will be watching and waiting to see what improvements have been made to the app and counting down to when the transfer of funds can bounce back my way!

TAB stuff-ups mar weekend

/ Mezzasez / 1 Comment

Where to begin?  If the Lions got a “did not achieve” grade for their tour opener in Whangarei, then the TAB probably had to join them in the dunce’s corner, such were the number and level of stuff-ups over the weekend.

 

Last week adverts for the TAB’s betting app started appearing during the peak news hour on mainstream TV.  Given the app is seriously limited when it comes to racing, one would hope that the sports side of it is living up to expectations.  

 

Whichever 12-year-old designed the racing facet of the app needs a Racing 101 immersion course.  WTF is the point of having a little heart “like” option for a horse?  I don’t want to be its friend and I’m sure as hell not swiping right – if I am looking at it then I am potentially thinking of putting some money on it.

 

Of course, if I am contemplating betting on it then I also might want to reacquaint myself with who trains it; its breeding; liking for that particular track; record over the distance; and preference for that going.  In that case, the app provides me with what my old ex-Marine mate used to refer to as Sweet Fanny Apples.

 

I can only use the app in conjunction with say, The Informant, which provides all that (and more) information.  Or, if I am sitting at home mid-week watching Trackside (with the mute button pressed – yes, that blog is coming!) then I need to have the TAB site open on my laptop to get the info which might convince me to have a bet. Though I am now very wary of the accuracy of what is provided there.

 

Not enough that the app the TAB is now promoting to the great unwashed has limited information but for a large part of Saturday afternoon it was impossible to access.  At the same time the internet site was down and the only betting option left was touchtone betting – 0800 from a landline, but not from mobile – or try and find one of the few remaining TAB outlets.

 

I gave up.

 

In between watching races just to see what happened, the discussion moved to Sunday morning’s running of The Derby at Epsom. Checking out the field later that night on the TAB’s site provided much entertainment, well it would have been entertaining if we weren’t so gobsmacked that they could get things SO wrong.

 

Sir Peter Vela’s runner, Eminent was expected to improve on his effort in the Guineas and might have carried some purely parochial Kiwi money. However, the TAB had managed to confuse the son of Frankel with the David Vandyke-trained Choisir two-year-old.  

 

Nowhere at the TAB did alarm bells ring where someone might have said, “hey, this is a bit of a big step up from a 1200m race on the Gold Coast to 2040m in the other hemisphere.”

 

Neil Ridley must’ve got a hell of a shock too, to look at the field as see his three-year-old Per Incanto filly Capri was, in spite of her 45 rating, tackling the English classic at her fourth race day start.  

 

What sort of muppets are they employing in Petone these days?

 

A payroll of $66 million at the NZ Racing Board and they can’t seem to get the basics right.  At least the Lions had the tried-and-true excuse of jet lag!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Celebrating The King’s 2000 wins

/ Mezzasez

I have always been a big Michael “The King” Coleman fan, so seeing him join the elite band of Kiwi jockeys to reach 2000 winners today was pretty special.

 

During a conversation with a Matamata trainer one day, he quizzed me about why I was so keen on Mickey – the answer was simple, he provided me with my biggest thrill on a racecourse when riding my first winner.

 

It was one or two wines ago – 1987, to be precise. Mickey was an apprentice and the apple of my eye, Genuflect, a filly from one of my grandmother’s old mares was trained by his boss Jim Gibbs.  I had headed from Auckland to Matamata for the South Waikato Racing Club meeting, an on-course only meeting, to see whether she could improve on her first start ninth.

 

From memory, she paraded with a shortened tail, thanks to the ministrations of the cattle beasts at the pre-training establishment.  Gibbsy, waxing lyrical, described her as being a girl in a mini-skirt…!  He also insisted I come and speak with my jockey pre-race so there I was all new to this caper about to greet Mickey – “Hello, Blossom”……I have no idea where that came from but the upshot was a jockey whose face matched the maltese cross on my colours and a trainer bent in half laughing.  Henceforth I called him Blossom.

 

Embarrassed or not, Blossom rode a great race and won, becoming in the process my favourite jockey of all time.  Just how favourite is probably emphasised by the fact I had to check on the NZTR website to see who was in the saddle when I had my first (and, so far, only!) Group One winner.

 

Michael was the leading apprentice of his generation and has always had an association with an above-average horse or two subsequently, so I was a little gobsmacked when I got a brief to write a piece on him.  

 

Not that Mickey’s countdown to 2000 wins wasn’t worth a story, it was more how the request was worded.  In this person’s mind Michael was starting to “look like a journeyman” but his season thus and his association with the formidable Baker-Forsman stable made him newsworthy.

 

Obviously, the 212 wins, including 24 Group and Listed races he had won over the three previous seasons, had escaped this good judge’s notice!

 

In general conversation during the interview Genuflect got a mention, likewise today when I sent him a text to congratulate him on his achievement.

 

According to Mickey “they all help”.

 

 

 

 

Missing a trick with raceday promotion?

/ Mezzasez

I went racing on Saturday.  It shouldn’t be a big deal, but these days I tend to prefer the comforts of home and watching things unfold on Trackside.  Of course, watching Trackside brings with it a number of challenges, but that’s a whole other blog topic!

Anyway, before dragging myself (reluctantly) to Te Rapa I first headed to the hairdressers for a little bit of pampering.  Conversation with one of the young girls working led to what “plans” I had for the remainder of the day and I ‘fessed up that I was going racing.

I am always intrigued when bringing up the topic of racing as to what the reaction is going to be. Given I was in the Tron I was half expecting she might think it was some form of motor racing which was going to grab my attention.  But not this smart cookie.  She was stunned to discover that racing at Te Rapa was a fairly regular occurrence and thought it was only held “on special occasions.”

She was fascinated too, to discover that in the winter, racing could also include jumping races. We chatted about her last experience racing at Te Rapa – a Christmas at the Races event – where she went with workmates and had a fabulous day.

She told me about her boss dividing them into three teams with each team aiming to see who could get the best result from their $50 betting fund.  Despite the two other teams having among their number someone with racing knowledge, it was her team of newbies who ran out the winners.  She raved about the fun, the colour and the fact it was a really memorable day which she wouldn’t mind repeating if she knew when the races were being held!

The upshot being, she was pretty much a racing convert ripe for the picking and, somehow we (the racing industry) failed to capitalise on that.

I know from past committee involvement that the Racing Board has employed people to maraud the course at the Festival of Summer racing events and extract email contact details. Does this not happen at the Christmas at the Races functions?  Are we missing a trick?

Lord knows, it is hard enough to convince people of the fun which can be had during a day at the races.  But why, when we have them there and they are obviously having a good time have we not found some way to connect with them so we can let them know about future events?

It also demonstrates how far off the radar racing events are when it comes to connecting with millennials and the like.  Old school advertising might remind your old school clients that an event is forthcoming but even they are relying on different forms of media when it comes to getting information.

Clubs shouldn’t kid themselves that Facebook is the way forward either. Most of the millennials I know have abandoned Facebook to their midster parents and prefer the hashtag-laden environment of Instagram.

Instead of sitting back and congratulating themselves on “embracing” social media, racing clubs and indeed the Racing Board, should be looking forward – maybe aligning themselves with, or even creating, an event app which gives the industry a new profile.

Of course, we still have a heap of work to do to ensure the events they turn up to, outside of those Racing Board promoted “occasion” race days, measure up to the expectations established there. Uphill battle?