Many harness racing horseman are currently unhappy with the surface of the Alexandra Park track at the moment, with several going as far as to declare it unsafe in patches and not up to standard.
Richard Brosnan the president of the Auckland branch of the New Zealand Owners Association is adamant an accident is going to cause serious harm to horse or driver if the state of the Auckland track is not fixed in the near future.
Richard says “the track is very inconsistent in some areas and it varies in depth especially on the bends. It needs a good overhaul to bring back to the condition it was in several years ago”, he said.
>Harnesslink contacted the following Drivers and here are their comments;
David Butcher
For me I think they could do a far better job of preparing it for race day. The staff are just going through the motions the same way they have done for the last 30 years. They might need a trip to Australia and see what they do.
Brent Mangos
The surface is very inconsistent. Soft in places and hard in other places. It was very soft the other night. After race three I told them that they needed to put water on the track which they did and it was much better.
Maurice McKendry
The surface is not as good as it has been.
Philip Butcher
For a Metropolitan track the surface is a disgrace.
Steven Reid
The surface is deep in places and not that good although I only drive occasionally.
Todd Mitchell
The track is the worst it's ever been, just a disgrace for a leading track. The surface is deep in places and its a shame they didn't take notice of Dan Coon when he developed the track, they did not listen to him about the ongoing maintanence.
Peter Ferguson
The surface is like concrete underneath and marbles on top. The track is in bad shape for a top track. The Manawatu track is the same. They have a great club like Auckland and doing all the right things in the public arena but not looking after the track is probably the most important thing to have right to protect the horses from breakdown and to protect the drivers from accidents.
Scott Phelan
Went to a meeting and voiced my concerns once but nothing gets done.
Jay Abernethy
The track is very inconsistent, loose in places, hard in others. Not good.
Todd MacFarlane – Drivers Association Representative
The trainers and drivers association have been trying to sort it out. The Auckland Club has already had John Denton up from Christchurch and he is about to come back to help fix the track shortly.
This all brings to mind the case in North America about the Anthony Coletta accident at Harrahs Chester Track.
Anthony Coletta was left paralyzed and permanently brain damaged after he was thrown from his sulky and trampled by a horse in a chain-reaction wreck his attorney blamed on poor track conditions.
Horse trainers, harness drivers, and the president of the Pennsylvania Harness Horsemen’s Association had complained for years — before Coletta’s Nov. 17, 2013, crash — that the track was unsafe, said attorney Bob Mongeluzzi, who represents Coletta’s parents in a 2014 negligence lawsuit they filed in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court.
“The complaints included that it was like going from a hard surface, hard pack, to actually like being on the beach, and being in deep sand, and that the horses would lose their footing,” Mongeluzzi said. “These complaints came from many, many drivers over a period of years. These complaints were documented in emails [and] letters. And the tragic fact is that Harrah’s — rather than making the track safer, rather than taking the complaints seriously — ignored them and didn’t do anything about it.”
Coletta, now 35, who was engaged to be married at the time of the crash, instead has been declared incapacitated and lives with his parents, Alfred and Rosemary Coletta, in Hammonton, New Jersey.
“He’s in a wheelchair. He needs round-the-clock care. He will never be able to care for himself again,” Mongeluzzi said. “He has virtually no memory, very little comprehension of anything you would say to him … Unfortunately, I think where Anthony is [now] is where he will be for the rest of his life — in a wheelchair, brain damage.
Here is the Presidents report to the members of the Auckland branch of the New Zealand Owners Association;
Firstly I’d like to thank everyone here today. You are here because you care about our industry.
This has been a very interesting year for the NZ Owners Association. We in Auckland are only one of three branches still actively operating. The National Body seems in free fall and is not getting up and running. This branch needs to keep up with what’s going on with the National Body. It needs a person with the time and the name who can go around NZ and sell the idea of the importance of Owner Issues and Representation.
At last year’s AGM our HRNZ owners rep Trevor Beaton came up and spoke to the members. Unfortunately the promised communication has not eventuated and we don’t get a lot of information.
Jess Smith has just taken up a new post with HRNZ on Owners Issues and we must be hopeful that her appointment will make a difference. She has our support.
The present good financial position this branch is in can be initially attributed to Rosena Pyers because as our secretary she started operating the cafe at the workouts which we ran here on Saturdays. This has continued on with members of our committee who have run raffles, trophy days and collected our share of workout monies. This association had nothing when I started so we must thank our committees for all the work that has resulted in our healthy position today.
Now that the ATC no longer runs Saturday workouts at the Park in favour of Franklin Park we rely mainly on the money that is allocated to us through the North Island Harness Awards. The Ladies running the awards have done an amazing job and we are very grateful to them.
I’d like to thank our Secretary and members of our committee for their efforts throughout the year. It is only their dedication that keeps us going and we need to grow stronger with more interest from other owners.
Our Owners website is still up and running and any contributions to it are very welcome. We have had a few articles written for us by Barry Lichter which created a lot of interest so we are looking to continue that . Many thanks to Gayleen Mackinnon for her time in uploading the material onto our website.
While the ATC is doing many good things for harness racing in Auckland there needs to be more done for the people who support them. The Board need to improve their PR skills and make themselves known within the industry here.
At the moment the Alexandra Park racing surface is not up to standard and needs regular attention to make it fair to all horses. It is too deep on the bends and varies in depth all around. If not fixed it will cause a serious problem sooner or later.
Thank you to everyone for all your help and support. May this branch grow stronger and make sure that the National Body gets up and running. If you think HRNZ are going to look after you then look back on the last 12 months and think again. A strong Owners Body and lobby group is imperative.
Again thank you for attending and come back next year to a stronger and healthier and more enthusiastic Auckland Trotting Owners branch.
Richard Brosnan.