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It always did amaze me how much work some runners could do during a race, yet still win in record time. So are they still involved with below?

We are not in the told you so category. You are just looking for a fight. Stick up for track managers if you like. You are talking bullshit about how useless you think trainers and jockeys are. There are quite a few who maintain their own tracks, and properties. Awapuni has been renovated quite a few times in recent years, this is not an exclusive fix up after 100 years of neglect. Why would the CEO of NZTR not have all the information? I thought the Awapuni renovation was being closely monitored by NZTR. You continue to run trainers and jockeys down for the state of tracks and racing. You have a funny take on some aspects.

It seems the All Weather tracks have not had the support from trainers, they would rather keep nags in the barn once meetings are cancelled…. than race on the grit.

Gotta have the required admin nous first.

Sure I get that, but at least there would have been some racing and Connections would have had an option rather than be told to go home.

Fantastic so some of you are in "I told you so" mode. I guess they have been saying it for the last 20 years that Awapuni has had problems? Those who let this gradual degradation of our tracks to happen over the last 20 plus years. I don't blame the under resourced track managers over that time at all. Where were these experts that you refer to demanding that tracks were maintained adequately? How often do these trainers renovate their day paddocks? That's reactive and only an incompetant CEO would have gone down that path without the full information being available. To do otherwise could have opened a whole raft of litigation. So you want blood - you want heads to roll of the very people that have attempted to fix the mess that took decades of neglect to occur. Those calling for blood seem to have very short memories and conveniently forget the part they played. Remember the Awapuni meetings abandoned in 2010, 2015 (The Kevin Morton vs RIU Case), 2017 and others? Be greatful that finally they are trying to do something to fix the problems and spending nearly $6m to do it.

This is a pic of the chimp that adds finishing order of horses on Trackside as they cross the line…. Sadly, he is 108 yrs old and 90% blind due to excessive banana eating which caused diabetes, he also has many other health issues. Can Trackside please send him away on a well earned break, and maybe employ somebody with basic skills that can place 3 horses in finishing order as they cross the line…. how hard can it be??

Some wondered if the safety limit of 12 was in place for that very reason. Who knows how many would have scratched if that option was put up? There would have been horses entered that would never have been on one.

Was there any reason why the AWT at Awapuni was not used for the est of the minor card at least. Wasnt that one of the selling points of the things. I understand there was a reasonable crowd there. Doesnt exactly entice them back for a day out does it. I understand there may have to be prep done on the track but surely it wouldn't be too hard to have it ready prior to the day.

Normandy Coast (Omaha Beach), winner of a rained-off renewal of the Listed Palisades Stakes at Keeneland on Apr. 6, was hammered down to owner Steven Judy for a final bid of $355,000 to top Friday's single-session Keeneland April Selected Horses of Racing Age Sale. The auction took place following the conclusion of the final day of racing at the adjacent racetrack. A $60,000 purchase out of the 2023 Fasig-Tipton October Sale, Normandy Coast raced for Red Gate Racing and was trained by Eddie Kenneally to three wins from his five starts to date. After breaking his maiden at second asking at Ellis Park last July, he went missing and picked up where he left off with a neck success in Fair Grounds allowance company Jan. 11. Eased home in the GIII Gotham Stakes Mar. 1, he rebounded in no uncertain terms in the Palisades, striking from close range and relishing the sloppy underfoot conditions en route to a 3 1/2-length victory (video) for trainer Eddie Kenneally and owner Red Gate Racing. Kenneally Racing consigned the colt to the sale as hip 80. “Eddie is going to stay in; bought him for a friend of mine that's newer to the business,” said Donald Wells, agent for Judy's Four Sons Stable, who signed the ticket. “We are going to run on Wednesday at Churchill Downs (in the $300,000 William Walker Stakes for 3-year-olds racing 5 1/2 furlongs on turf). He has already been entered.” The conditioner was pleased with the results. “I think there's a lot of eyes on the races at Keeneland, and if you're fortunate enough to run well in any race, let alone a stakes race here, everybody notices,” Kenneally said. “So it's a good platform, and it's a good place to showcase a horse, especially a good horse like this. And I think the timing of the sale is ideal, too, with Churchill coming up, a lot of people in town for Derby Week. It's just a good fit for me because we run a lot of horses at Keeneland, we're stabled here, and it all worked out good.” A winner of the Palisades Stakes on opening day of the Keeneland Spring Meet, NORMANDY COAST (Omaha Beach) tops the April Selected Horses of Racing Age Sale after selling for $355,000 to Steven Judy. Consigned by @kenneallyracing. pic.twitter.com/rntXtIbcNR — TDN (@theTDN) April 26, 2025 Also bringing current form into the HORA sale was Tough Critic (Caravaggio), who ran down the heavily favored Longshoreman (Midshipman) to graduate at first asking in a 5 1/2-furlong turf sprint on the afternoon of Apr. 24 (video). Added to the sale just Friday morning, the New York-bred colt–the final lot offered as hip 89–was knocked down to George Weaver, agent, for $350,000. Weaver saddled the colt to victory on Thursday for John Goldthorpe's Dew Sweepers LLC. Weaver's assistant Blair Golen signed the ticket. “I have always liked this horse since we have had him,” Golen said. “He's matured and grown up so much. He showed on the track (in winning his career debut at Keeneland a day earlier). There is Ascot (in England) and that is a lovely place to go and we have a string in New York. He'd be very competitive at Saratoga. He's a cool horse.” Weaver won the 2023 G2 Queen Mary Stakes at Royal Ascot with Crimson Advocate (Nyquist). On behalf of Paramount Sales, the consignment's Lesley Campion said: “We were thrilled to consign this colt. The move he made (in winning his career debut) was phenomenal. I feel we are selling a lot of 'blue skies,' and he is loaded with potential. Going forward, they can have all the fun in the world at Royal Ascot and Saratoga, and you have the New York-bred program for him.” Campion said Paramount consigns horses for former owner Dew Sweepers, explaining: “It is part of their business plan to race and sell.” Winner of a Maiden Special Weight yesterday at @keenelandracing, Tough Critic sold for $350,000 at #KeeApril! Consigned by Paramount Sales, purchased by George Weaver, agent pic.twitter.com/AG9MIjJnK2 — Keeneland Sales (@keenelandsales) April 26, 2025 Brad Weisbord and Liz Crow's ELiTE Sales sold 23 horses for $1.885 million to lead in both categories, and the draft was topped by three horses that fetched prices in excess of $200,000. Offered on behalf of Phil and Christine Hatfield's CHP Racing, hip 40, the 4-year-old colt Clever Mischief (Into Mischief) was purchased by Team Adams Racing's Tracy Adams for $220,000. The son of Suraya (Tiznow) most recently took his record to 2-3-0 from six starts with a last-lunge allowance success over the Gulfstream turf course Mar. 1 for trainer Chad Brown. His year-younger half-sister Lady Authentic (Authentic) sold later in the session for $37,000. “That's the one we wanted,” Adams said. “We've got our trainer (Dana Hancock) with us. I've got my co-owner (Sal Perito here), so they're the ones that really take care of this whole thing. So when they tell me when (to bid on a horse), that's what I go by.” Marquee Bloodstock paid $200,000 for 4-year-old 'TDN Rising Star' Speak Easy (Constitution, hip 17) while owner Michael Dubb went to the same amount for the 4-year-old colt Exploration (Curlin), winner of two straight, including a Laurel allowance Mar. 1. A total of 44 horses were reported as sold for gross receipts of $3,884,000. The average was $88,273, while the median settled at $65,000. “This sale was a lovely complement to the race meet,” Keeneland Vice President of Sales Tony Lacy said. “Everyone here tonight was having fun, and there was a buzz around the grounds. The energy from the race day rolled down the hill from the race track to the Sales Pavilion, and we look forward to even more excitement when we open our new venues.” Added Keeneland Director of Sales Operations Cormac Breathnach: “Trade tonight was solid and the median was more comparable to the April Sales of 2022 and 2023. The horses were well received and most of all them sold through the ring.” For full results, please visit www.keeneland.com. The post Recent Stakes Winner Normandy Coast Tops Keeneland HORA Sale appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Chief, some of us have said there were problems no one wanted to know about. Now the disastrous cancellation of races has resulted you seem to be demeaning our comments and saying we shouldn't blame track management. Who do you think should shoulder the blame then? You asked what could the CEO have said? The only decent thing to do is cancel a contract or two and then resign.

First-time rider on the track, Kate Hercock, was equally impressed. “The track is lovely, it’s very consistent all over.” Well, that blows my info out the window. If the riders can't tell it like it is every time and decide to tell the masses what they want to hear, they lose credibility when coming out at a later date with criticism. "reports from nameless trainers and Jockeys about the trials." It would be unfair to give names from conversations to have their words and character pulled to shreds on here.

You heard the murmurs close to the ground as did I. Without playing the blame game, where was any foresight?

Looked like thousands turned away at Alex Park. Meanwhile, NZ Metro was going off with The Warriors playing next door straight after. Maybe thats the way ahead, combining events and feeding off one another. Food for thought

Never happen, easy money and no accountability add to that they don't give a s**t about the industry and they are happy to stay on a very good wicket indeed!

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But where does that toxic culture come from? I can understand it with the RIB.

That's not correct. She was interviewed quite a time after the abandonment. Not only that she repeated what she had said the previous times she has been interviewed. Her answer is to tell the track manager they should have irrigated more. She hasn't said how much! The track had had 17mm of water in the previous 7 days. 5mm in the 24 hours before raceday. Should they have put the 30-40mm that Ellerslie need to put on their track in the days leading up to a meeting? Hell just imagine the screaming from trainers not wanting a track that was too soft! In reality what is he going to say? Just come out and bag Club Management and the Track Manger as well as the Track renovators? The Manager of Awapuni was interviewed on Trackside WELL before Hercock and gave a guarded opinion about what happened and what was happening next. You couldn't expect anything else. As for the anecdotal negatrive reports from nameless trainers and Jockeys about the trials. Well they don't seem to align with the trial videos nor the public comments of Jonathan Riddell, Leah Hemi and Kate Hercock herself. To quote Hercock - " First-time rider on the track, Kate Hercock, was equally impressed. “The track is lovely, it’s very consistent all over.”

There is an old saying, If you are not part of the solution you are part of the problem. The right thing for these people to do is to resign and allow people who are part of the solution to replace them. I am sick of the press releases that come out time after time after time, track infrastructure is the biggest problem the industry faces and what is the NZTR Board response, hire a CEO from Sky City with no background or even professional knowledge of anything to do with Racing Infrastructure. I don't blame the new CEO he has only been here 5 mins but the Board and by extension the members council need to take a darn good look at themselves in the mirror.

@curious I've been thinking about the moisture reading that track managers now seem to be obliged to provide on a regular basis. For some reason some aged neurons formed during my horticultural science days got me to thinking and revisiting some of the science of moisture reading and field capcity. I've come to the conclusion that the moisture reading on its own as the measure of a track condition is a load of nonsense. Even as a measure of the water content it is only relevant at the point in time it was taken - water is constantly draining or being added. However the meter needs to be calibrated to the field capacity of the soil type. Depending on how you measure it the field capacity of sand is 15 to 25% by volume (the % can change relative to the size of the sand grains) with a water holding capacity of 5% to 15%. Applying these benchmarks and correlating the moisture readings then you could assume that Ellerslie is largely pure sand. Awapuni has produced a higher moisture reading and was rated at a Good 4. Why can't they give us penetrometer readings anymore? Or find a more reliable repeatable multi-factor measurement tool for measuring a tracks firmness? Would a Going Stick which measures firmness and shear be a better tool? Would measuring shear have given an indication that the surface was unstable?

Prescient comment Special ...

the rich NULLIBOR slot race ran last night in the Wild West. Swayzee tried to sit in the breeze and out-stay them. Came up a bit short in 4th beaten a length. Got the leader Minstrel beat too by attacking . finished in a 1.54 mile rate. Three NZ breds were the TOP 3 , picking up 100's of 1000's dollars each. they'll be back in NZ to buy some more soon so keep the breeding going boys. The amazingly successful 'Hall' and 'Bond' teams filling the placings. (the Halls winning millions with I'm TheMightyQuinn a while back including 3 Interdominions.) 2nd horse old HEZA SPORT from Canterbury still part owned by CJ DeFillipi, and the 3rd placed MINSTREL still part owned by many kiwi's including Robin Butt and his wife. So an Excellent New Zealand result. Not sure if any of these owners of the new Nullibor Champ MISTER SMARTEE are in NZ or not?? but here's the results with the winners names . Congrats to them !!!🏆💰 $1,250,000 No NR. RBD. PACERS. Mobile Results Pl Horse Prize- money Row & Br TAB # Trainer Driver (C = Concession) Mgn (m) Starting odds Stewards' Comments 1 MISTER SMARTEE NZ Fr7 7 Gary Hall Snr Gary Hall Jnr $ 8.00 3WE L1W BAY GELDING 5 by ALWAYS B MIKI USA out of LUNA DANZA (NZ) (STONEBRIDGE REGAL USA) Owner(s): S L Beven, D T Roberts, G L Moore, S W Waters, J R Fairweather, R Patriarca, F Patriarca, A Merrington Breeder(s): Dancingonmoonlight Limited 2 GEE HEZA SPORT NZ Fr5 5 G F J Bond, S A Bond Luke McCarthy 2.10 $ 31.00 GS L1W 3 MINSTREL NZ Fr4 4 G F J Bond, S A Bond Deni Roberts 2.40 $ 2.30 fav GS L 1 4 SWAYZEE Sr1 10 Jason Grimson Cameron Hart 2.80 $ 3.60

Spot on. Great point re Kate - straight with the camera + microphone in her face immediately after a race when her horse has nearly fallen on the turn. I note the CEO of NZTR had the luxury of several hours & the services of the corporate comms team to craft his response .... and it was in writing (so no questions from the floor - control the narrative & all that ....)

Keeneland concluded its 2025 Spring Meet on Friday following 15 days of racing that produced total wagering of $192 million. The Spring Meet was slated to begin Friday, Apr. 4, but severe storms and flooding rainfall forced Keeneland officials to take the unprecedented step of rescheduling the opening two days, resulting in the GI Central Bank Ashland and the GI Toyota Blue Grass moving to Monday, Apr. 7 and Tuesday, Apr. 8, respectively. “The success of this Spring Meet is a salute to the power of teamwork, and we are grateful to all who helped as we navigated the weather-related challenges of opening weekend,” Keeneland President and CEO Shannon Arvin said. “Moving our two biggest race days–opening Friday and Saturday–to Monday and Tuesday, when we typically don't race, wasn't easy, but it was the right decision to keep our horses and community safe. I am proud of the resiliency of our Keeneland team, and we offer a huge thanks for the support of our horsemen, sponsors and fans.” All-sources wagering (not including whole card simulcasting at Keeneland) for the 15-day Spring Meet of $192,676,486 was down 11.92% from last spring's 16-day meet total of $218,741,501. During the Spring Meet, Keeneland offered a season-record $9.4 million for 19 stakes. Purses were increased for 16 of those stakes, led by the $250,000 boost to the $1.25-million Toyota Blue Grass and $150,000 increase to the $750,000 Central Bank Ashland. Average daily purses were a Keeneland record $1,327,434. “The strong support of our horsemen is what makes Keeneland racing so special,” Keeneland Vice President of Racing Gatewood Bell said. “Owners, trainers and jockeys always bring their 'A' game to Keeneland. They love to test their skills and their horses against the best of the best, which creates a tremendous product for our fans and handicappers.” Flavien Prat won five races during the final two days of the meet to push his total to 20 and secure his first Keeneland leading rider title. The race for leading trainer by Brad Cox, Wesley Ward and Brendan Walsh also went down to the wire, with Walsh and Cox each notching a win on closing day to share the title with 10 wins apiece. Brad Kelley's Calumet Farm won five races, including two stakes, to be the Spring Meet's leading owner. The post Keeneland Concludes Spring Meet, Produces $192 Million in Total Wagering appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Exactly, an appropriate interviewee. Maybe Kate doesn't say the right things all the time. How do you think she was feeling after that ride? Unsafe, frustrated, light in the pocket ... The fix might not be as difficult as you think. The Awapuni track may very well be the best surface in CD, so it should be with the amount of investment, but not right now. Forget about rushing to get racing on it again. Keep trialling on it until the track is perfect no matter where the rail is. I think the industry has dodged a bullet with only a slip. Please learn from it. I don't mean put words in a report, actually take action that reflects intelligence instead of arrogance.