Oh absolutely let’s scrap those awful big fields and go all-in on 8-horse processions where everyone gets a pat on the back and a ribbon for participation. Because clearly, what punters really crave is less value, fewer betting options, and $1.30 favourites jogging home in single-file. Forget turnover, forget trifectas that actually pay more than a loaf of bread, and forget any kind of liquidity in the pools. Who needs proper markets or real competition when we can stage glorified trials with field sizes so small you need binoculars just to spot a quinella? And yes — we should absolutely ensure no horse finishes with a "0" next to its name. Maybe we can throw in appearance money, a warm cocoa, and a voucher for emotional support. Because clearly the goal here isn’t competitive sport or sustainable wagering — it’s morale preservation for slow horses. Let’s also ignore the well-established fact that larger fields = more turnover = more stake money = more sustainability. Truth is the betting public doesn’t tune in for soft draws and walkovers. They want depth and a chance to find value all of which come from, you guessed it, bigger fields. So sure, we could run two days of cuddly 8-horse fields where everyone finishes 4th or better… or we could accept that racing is a competitive sport, not a community raffle. Some horses will finish last. That’s the game. But punters will still bet — and when they do, the industry survives. If what you say is the best option for harness racing, why is it that all the owners trainers absolutely flock to meetings like these and punters open their wallets to create the bigger pools.  Actually the complete opposite! Give him a BK Dawn at $5.00 a place at Mot and Brodie would have been straight in to take the bookies to the cleaners back in the days when he could get on.

The main two at value I had a nibble on were Amendment at 10s and the horse Blair Orange is driving in the first. I see that starting shorter on the day the way it ran home last start. Heavens Mark I think will start shorter than 8.50. Plenty of overs on horses paying 20+ too many to name. 

You're becoming irrelevant @Huey.

Here'sthe fast Menangle on the grass from a while back. A NZ bred of course , by Garrison Hanover, and even though he carrying the number ONE Saddlecloth, Ian Henry had started off 20m after winning twice in the 4 days prior. and being re-handicapped accordingly. So Ian Henry makes it 3 wins in five days as he powers to victory.  Very little grass on Aus tracks as the summers long and hot in NSW/QLD

There will be no short-term Hong Kong stint for Joao Moreira in 2025, with the Jockey Club declaring the riding roster full for the first half of the season. While trainer Caspar Fownes had stated his intentions to bring Moreira back to Hong Kong as his stable rider from October to December, the Jockey Club confirmed on Thursday that “there is no availability for retained jockeys”. After announcing on Wednesday that James McDonald, Hollie Doyle, Maxime Guyon and Dylan Browne McMonagle will spend...View the full article

Exactly. Just like to see more sign of them doing that.

Looking forward to hearing what they have come up with to turn things positive for the future, without all the Entain  cash splash? What they are currently doing with Entain money is only a band aid that will come off!  Entain have got what they wanted and now it is up to racing to perform!

Slipper Island (No Nay Never) put together a picket fence form line down the Trentham chute last season and he’ll be aiming to pick up where he left off at the Upper Hutt venue on Saturday. In autumn, the No Nay Never gelding went from winning at Rating 65 grade to defeating Group One winner Pier (NZ) (Proisir) and subsequent Group One placegetter Tomodachi (NZ) (Tarzino) three runs later in the Listed City Of Napier Sprint (1200m). That performance made four straight successes down the dogleg, and while his trainer Tony Pike hadn’t intended to head back there first-up, bad weather in the north shifted those plans. “He’s come back in great order again this preparation and his trials have been good, he looks pretty forward,” Pike said. “Ideally we wanted to go to Te Rapa last week, but with the wet track there, that forced our hand to decide to go back to Trentham, a track he obviously loves. It looks like they’re going to miss most of the rain and it’ll be about a (Soft) 6 or 7, which will be a big help. “The better the track conditions, the better he’ll go, but with his form on this track, I think he’ll be hard to beat on Saturday.” Slipper Island shares favouritism for the CR Grace And Waterforce Handicap 1200 with his stablemate Witz End (NZ) (Savabeel), but the pair will likely head in different directions after resuming, with the Listed Stewards Stakes (1200m) during New Zealand Cup Week the goal for the former. “I think the Stewards will be ideal for him, he should still get in on a reasonably light weight and the straight racing really seems to suit him,” Pike said. “Riccarton has similar sort of track dimensions to Trentham, so that is the plan for the short term.” A Group Two performer as a three-year-old, Witz End mixed his form at times last season at four, and Pike is looking forward to seeing a stronger galloper this time in. “He was also entered for Ellerslie (on Saturday) but I thought the 1200m was a better fit first-up,” Pike said. “His preparation last year was a bit hit or miss at times, but he’s come back and trialled well and is looking like a more mature horse this time in. “He’ll be very competitive fresh-up, and with that extra season of racing under his belt, he’ll come back a stronger horse and hopefully be up to those good mile races this season.” The Cambridge horseman will also send a pair of promising three-year-olds on the journey south, with the proven Ashoka (NZ) (Hello Youmzain) and debutant Pure Lotus (Lean Mean Machine) going head-to-head in the Marsh Insurance Brokers and Treadwell Gordon 1200. A son of in-form sire Hello Youmzain, Ashoka was twice runner-up in his two juvenile starts to Boombox (NZ) (Spirit Of Boom), his former stablemate who has recently entered quarantine on his way to racing in Hong Kong. “Ashoka is probably a little bit better left-handed even though he ran well in both of his two-year-old races going right-handed,” Pike said. “He just tended to want to drift to the middle of the track and I think the straight 1200m at Trentham will really suit him. “He’s run second in a couple of quality two-year-old races and trialled really nicely, so you’d expect him to be really hard to beat down there on Saturday.” While the less experienced of the two, Pike isn’t counting out Pure Lotus as he steps out on raceday for the first time. “I didn’t really want to run the two of them together but we have a couple of three-year-olds in at Ellerslie as well, so we’re trying to split them up with the lack of maiden 1200m races at the moment,” Pike said. “He’s a beautiful type that has trialled well, he’ll probably have to go back from that draw but I think he’s a talented horse going forward. It wouldn’t surprise me to see him go close to winning, with improve to come from the trip away and raceday experience.” Pike will be well-represented at the other New Zealand meeting on Saturday at Ellerslie, including recent debut winner Is That All (Cable Bay) stepping up in the Trackside.co.nz 1300. “He’s been a slow maturing horse, obviously making his debut at four, but he looks a nice progressive type that was pretty impressive at Ruakaka,” Pike said. “He still has plenty to learn, he’s pretty new and green, so that would be my only concern heading into Saturday. “It’ll be his first time at Ellerslie, but he looks like a talented horse going forward.” Pike is expecting to see an improved effort from well-bred colt Storm Front (NZ) (Snitzel) in the NZB Ready To Run Trainers Series 3YO 1400, having finished in the second half of the field when resuming in the Listed Sir Colin Meads Trophy (1200m). “I was happy enough with his fresh-up run, we were dictated to by the barrier draw having to go all the way back in a slowly run race,” he said. “He made up good ground late off the back of one very soft barrier trial, so he’ll improve immensely off that. “He’s a really talented colt, unfortunately he had a cardiac arrythmia in his last start as a two-year-old, so it was a bit of a messy preparation and we were a bit held up by the weather to get him ready for that first-up run. “He’s drawn a better gate on Saturday, and with the application of blinkers, he’ll be able to put himself closer to the speed. I think you’ll see a marked improvement from him.” He will present a trio of well-performed open gallopers in the Eagle Technology 1400 in Churchillian (NZ) (Churchill), Cannon Hill (NZ) (Ardrossan) and Rudyard (NZ) (Charm Spirit), with the youngest of the three expected to feature prominently. “Cannon Hill and Churchillian ran in the 75 carrying big weights two weeks ago, so they’ll improve off that, I was happy with both of them,” Pike said. “Cannon Hill was very good as a close-up fifth, he drops to 54.5kg here and I think he’ll be very hard to beat. Churchillian was off the scene for a long period of time so her run had merit, she only peaked late and will drop to the minimum on Saturday, where I think she can be competitive with further improvement to come. “Rudyard has trialled well, I think he’s going a lot better than he did towards the end of his last preparation. He’ll probably benefit from the run, but he’s drawn to get a soft trip and he’ll improve quickly off this run.” View the full article

Knock Off (NZ) (Fabulous) has proven to be a horse of a lifetime for Wanganui trainer Gerard Cvitanovich, who will be vying to record his first stakes victory on Saturday when his charge contests the Gr.3 Hunterville Vet Club Metric Mile (1600m) at Trentham. The semi-retired dairy farmer has been training intermittently over the last 30 years, and has contested three previous stakes races, but Saturday presents as his best opportunity as he gets set to line-up the $6 equal favourite for the mile feature. The occasion will be a true family affair, with his son Nick having bred the son of Fabulous, while his three other children, brother and wife also share in the ownership of the horse. “I have got four kids and they are all involved, as is my brother, and my wife, Rachel,” he said. “They all like to have a bet, go to the races and have a look around, it’s good.” The lightly-tried gelding has won four and placed in three of his 11 starts to date and has been in a purple patch of form this preparation, winning three and placing in one of his four starts this time in. Cvitanovich has been over the moon with his gelding’s meteoric rise and he is looking forward to testing him at stakes level for the first time this weekend. “It is good to give him a go at it and we will just see what level he is at,” he said. “He is very well and he seems to be enjoying his work. It is a good time to have a go at something like that.” While Knock Off has recorded three of his four victories in the last few months, Cvitanovich said he has shown ability from the outset. “In his first start he was a pretty close third to Valley King of Kevin Myers’, who went on to win four (from five starts),” he said. “He was always a good horse to have around and work, and the results have been a bonus really.” Knock Off will jump from barrier four on Saturday and will be ridden by Leah Hemi. “We don’t want to be too far back, we want to be fairly handy to them, so I hope that’s alright there,” he said. Cvitanovich said the remainder of Knock Off’s preparation will be dictated by his performance this weekend, with next month’s Gr.3 Thompson Handicap (1600m) a possibility if he performed well. “There is another race at Wellington in a month’s time and that is how we have been spreading his races,” he said. “We will just wait and see how he is after this and how it all fits in, he might need a holiday.” View the full article