Merv: HRNZ should be milking Copy That’s profile not stopping him from racing

Harness racing in New Zealand has really lost its way when officials start excluding drawcard horses because they are so desperate for the punting dollar, says leading owner Merv Butterworth.

Butterworth and his wife Meg are still smarting from the decision by Harness Racing New Zealand and the Auckland Trotting Club to exclude their horse Copy That, along with Hot And Treacherous, from racing at Auckland tonight.

Just a couple of weeks after Copy That won back-to-back New Zealand Trotting Cups, Butterworth says the industry should be milking the horse’s profile not stopping him from racing.

While Copy That was eligible for the mysanta Pace and indeed should have been the first included under the published conditions that highest rated horses had preference, HRNZ invoked a “special conditions” clause “to ensure horses can race in a competitive environment whilst also optimising field sizes and where possible ensuring as many horses as possible gain a start.”

Merv and Meg Butterworth … “The best way to build the profile of harness racing is to have the best horses racing.”Butterworth said he hoped the Auckland and HRNZ officers who had horses who would have been competing against Copy That recused themselves from any decision making. Auckland club president Jamie MacKinnon and fellow director Scott Plant, who is on the racing committee, co-own Mimi E Coco, HRNZ chairman John Coulam is a part-owner of Brookies Jaffa and ATC and HRNZ board member Robert Dunn co-trains First Rose.

“But even the perception that there might have been a conflict of interest is not good for harness racing,” Butterworth said.

Changing the race conditions after entries was bad form and could hardly be viewed as best practice, even if the small print allowed horses rated much higher than the others to be thrown out.

Butterworth said, by contrast, thoroughbred racing administrators in Auckland, Sydney, Melbourne and Hong Kong were competing to attract the exciting galloper he part-owns, Sharp N Smart, trained by Graeme Rogerson.

“Can you imagine a racing club denying Phar Lap or Cardigan Bay a start in an eligible race because ‘they were too good’?

“When Winx and Black Caviar were racing in Australia they did everything to promote them, even hanging posters on the dunny doors.

“Can you imagine Flemington or Randwick telling me we can’t race because it might affect turnover.

“Harness Racing New Zealand doesn’t seem to understand anything about marketing or how to sell the industry. The best way to build the profile of harness racing is to have the best horses racing. You won’t increase punting with mediocrity.”

Butterworth challenged whether turnover would be adversely impacted anyway with punters sure to anchor the good horses in all manner of exotic bets.

“I am sure that the Australian harness racing industry would invite Copy That to grace their clubs and races.”

Butterworth said instead of now racing Copy That in two December features at Alexandra Park, he was inclined to fly him to Melbourne for the Group I $100,000 Cranbourne Cup on December 17, a race they have sponsored for the last 15 years.

One of Hot And Treacherous’ owners speaks out on Facebook.HRNZ management was on record about wanting to find more horses to race in New Zealand but decisions like this explained why so many horses were departing for Australia.

One of the part-owners of Hot And Treacherous echoed the frustrations of Butterworth in a Facebook post this week, Mark Bult saying: “Bitterly disappointed not to be able to start our horse. Waste of time training in the north. Australia definitely looks more and more appealing.”

Gordon Banks … “ridiculous situation.”Cutting ties Downunder

Meanwhile, high profile American owners Gordon Banks and Marc Hanover, who have had a lot of success here in recent seasons with Amazing Dream and American Dealer, are also cutting their links with Australasia.

“This is certainly a ridiculous situation but it doesn’t surprise me,” said Banks of the decision to blot out Copy That.

“Horse racing is meant to showcase and reward superior talent, not serve as a home for mediocrity.”

Banks said he had never heard of a horse in the States being eliminated from a race it was eligible for because it was too good for the rest.

“And our horse Majordan was never blocked out at Menangle, even when he was dominating every week.

“The sport needs its stars to race. And great horses cannot always be handicapped nowadays as it ruins them prematurely.”

Banks said they had recently shipped all their good horses to the States - except for yearlings and babies - including Amazing Dream, American Dealer, Arden Messi (nine wins), Loorrim Lake (17 wins) and Spock (five wins).

“We have given up buying horses for the Downunder market - the handicapping system makes all but champions losing propositions - until we see evidence of corrective moves in both management and policy.

HRNZ leadership arrogant

“HRNZ leadership is arrogant, non responsive, and unconcerned with industry reaction or thoughts. They are running your industry into the ground and making bad move after bad move.

“The biggest mistake is the sole focus on raising turnover through draconian handicapping and on generating bigger fields through last place payouts that cause the second, third and fourth finishers to get non-sustainable purse payouts.

“There is no consideration given to protecting good young racehorses and to having legitimate open draws giving good horses some easier spots that they need for racing longevity and that benefit owners and the sport by enabling stars to shine.

“Almost any top horse, except for the two to three best in any category, would make more money in North America. Your racing does not properly reward the horses you desperately need to retain.

“From my perspective, you need to have four owners come out of every race making decent money. Paying 15% for second, 8 to 10% for third and about 5% for fourth is not enough.

“In North America all races are 50%, 25%, 12%, 8% and 5%. Giving small payouts to non-competitive horses in an effort to keep their owner-trainers in the game is counter-productive.

“It unduly hurts good horses and it doesn’t incentivise hobbyists or smaller trainers and owners to upgrade their stock. If you can’t place a racehorse where it can frequently finish in the top three that horse should be sold or retired, not subsidised. There are better ways to help these owners via upgrade incentives. Bad horses eventually push their connections out of the industry.”

Banks said he understood that the shortage of horses in New Zealand made programming more difficult.

“But you need to look at race handicapping from a new, more flexible, and creative perspective. And you may be wise to create more claiming races so people can put values on their horses to race them competitively.”