Direction of South Island thoroughbred racing concerns Tyler
Southland trainer Kelvin Tyler says it seems to be one set of rules for Christchurch north and another set for the south.
Jamie Searle is a long-time Southland racing writer. For more of his work head to the Southland Thoroughbreds Facebook page.
Riverton trainer Kelvin Tyler is disappointed the rating 65 1600m at Oamaru on Friday was not split into two races.
The race has 20 horses, of which six are on the ballot including two Tyler runners Divovski and Carlos.
Tyler asked race officials to draw up two 10-horse rating 65 fields.Â
"I tried to get it split so we could get a run, but nah they don't want to run 10-horse fields," he said.
"Some of these [affected] horses haven't raced for two or three weeks, there's no races for them."
Tyler has noticed races in the North Island with less than 10 starters.
A couple of examples were at Wanganui last Saturday when six horses raced in a $50,000 rating 81 2040m and six horses went round in a $25,000 maiden 2-y-o race.Â
Tyler said it seemed to be one set of rules for Christchurch north and another set for the south.
Southland contributed to New Zealand's racing industry and deserved better treatment, he said.
He believed the code's governing body, New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing was "switching off " racing in the lower South Island.
"They don't want racing in the bottom of the South Island ... anything south of Riccarton they don't want."Â
Tyler is not in favour of racing on the synthetic track at Riccarton. It is used during the winter.
"It's crippling South Island racing.
"I can't get my head around why they're running on a synthetic track when they can run down the road on a dead or slow track [at Ashburton, Timaru and Oamaru]."
Tyler has six mares booked to go to stud this season and occasionally questions himself about whether it's a good move with the challenges facing southern racing.