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Intrepido, trained by Jeff Mullins, defeated Desert Gate and Plutarch in the 2025 American Pharoah Stakes (G1) and is scheduled to meet them again in the Robert B. Lewis Stakes (G3) Feb. 7 at Santa Anita Park.View the full article

throwing in a historical comment about Human Testing.  mid 80's! starting with a 'witch hunt'...  cannabis in  the "jockeys colony", Shock Horror!   Amusingly, a senor rider from America was visiting and having a few rides, he was standing by me with  reading a copy of FFlash,  with some Large Headline!!!   Gee, he says, all that for pot!!! Back home there would have been few riders! way more concern then around Class A drugs etc...  The drums were beating to get 'these druggies' and lets get these druggie stable hands and track riders as well.    *we all know they are on it*.     I had a chuckle and a chat with Bud Flavell (Sen Racecourse Dect) about how was going to have a interesting time delivering on that..  Unbidden fallout from above:   Cannabis testing came in,  leading to some Convictions!!!!  but slowly negated the use for Riders, Knowing how long it can stay in your system!  easiest solution!  trade up from Class C to the A's, out of your system way quicker!!!  Enough said for a Public Forum!    lol,  in person, I could share some stories about what I have posted above!

lol, reality doing a fine job on that sort of thing!!! for some.  "water of a ducks back" others "all rather booo who ho.." One of the (to me) unwritten rules that I like and followed on Channel X when it first started was "If you were going to be commenting directly about a 'named person' in racing that you would throw in you actual name at the bottom!   otherwise, it will be a bit of fun seeing this 'policy' (which is always Trumped by Statutory Law!) policed! 

Fresh from claiming the title of leading buyer at Karaka for the 18th time, Te Akau Racing principal David Ellis is turning his attention to one of his highlights of the racing calendar at Te Rapa this Saturday. Both Ellis and his wife Karyn Fenton-Ellis are former chairs of the Waikato Racing Club, and Te Rapa’s Gr.1 Herbie Dyke Stakes (2000m) and Gr.1 BCD Group Sprint (1400m) raceday features a prestigious race named in honour of their contributions – the Gr.2 David & Karyn Ellis Fillies’ Classic (2000m). The $275,000 feature for three-year-old fillies has carried the Ellis name since 2020, and the stable has recorded two victories during that period with Amarelinha (2021) and Self Obsession (2022). Te Akau will be represented in the 2026 edition on Saturday by last-start winner Born To Be Royal, who was bought by Ellis for $260,000 from Karaka 2024. In addition to her recent victory over 2000m at Matamata, the King’s Legacy filly has placed in another five of her eight career starts, including the Gr.2 Matamata Breeders’ Stakes (1200m) and last month’s Gr.2 Sir Patrick Hogan Stakes (2000m). Born To Be Royal will contest the Gr.2 David & Karyn Ellis Fillies Classic (2100m) Photo: Kenton Wright (Race Images)  “It’s a very special race meeting for Karyn and I every year, and we’d love to win the race that carries our name again,” Ellis said. “I think we’ve got a really strong chance in it this year with Born To Be Royal, and we’d especially like to win it with her because our good friend Butch Castles has a share in the filly with us. “Cameron George also has a share in both that filly and also Towering Vision, who will be a leading contender in the Waikato Guineas (Gr.2, 2000m), so he has a couple of very good chances on what should be another fantastic raceday at Te Rapa.” Ellis is more than satisfied with his results from the 100th edition of the National Yearling Sale at Karaka, where he extended his long reign as leading buyer. NZB’s Book 1 statistics credit him with 17 purchases from that top-tier session for a total of $4.26 million. He finished $545,000 ahead of the second-placed Chris Waller Racing/Mulcaster Bloodstock (10 purchases for a total of $3.715 million). Although Ellis was underbidder on a couple of yearlings on his wishlist – most notably the $1.1 million sale-topping colt by former star Te Akau racehorse Sword Of State – he came away with a range of yearlings priced from $40,000 (a Circus Maximus filly in Book 2) up to $475,000 (a Home Affairs colt out of stakes-performed Te Akau mare Special Memories). “It’s great to be leading buyer again, although I always say that the competition is not to see who buys the most, but who buys the best,” Ellis said. “That’s what we’re aiming to do when we go to these sales every year.” Ellis has a proud record in that regard too, famously purchasing eight of the last 10 winners of the Karaka Millions 2YO (1200m) including the subsequent multiple Group One winners Melody Belle, Avantage and Probabeel. Te Akau reached 100 Group One victories when Return To Conquer took out the Sistema Stakes (1200m) at Ellerslie last March, and 61 of those successes have come from horses bought at Karaka. Other notable Ellis yearling purchases include the likes of Darci Brahma, Burgundy, Xtravagant, Heroic Valour, Cool Aza Beel, Maroofity and King’s Chapel. That track record is a hard act for the new batch of yearlings to follow, but Ellis sees all the right signs among his latest intake. “It was a very successful sale at Karaka with an extremely competitive buying bench, and we were made to work hard for our purchases,” he said. “I couldn’t be happier with the yearlings we’ve bought. We missed out on two that we had on our list, but we got all the rest. “My vet Chief Stipe Black came around and saw all the horses with me the other day, and both he and I think that we’ve done extremely well with the horses we’ve managed to bring home. “We bought across a wide range of prices, so there’s many different levels available for people to get involved and buy shares at. Interest has been pretty strong so far – Karyn thinks they’re selling the best they have been for three or four years. “All up, we bought 15 at Magic Millions and 21 at Karaka, so that’s a lot of horses to try to sell all the shares in. We buy them all on spec too. So it’s a big job every year, but one that we really enjoy.” View the full article

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A close [ trainer]  acquaintance of mine was given the 'white paper' and told to present to produce a sample.  He did the bolt, and was suspended immediately, pending a sample being produced for testing.   He refused, and was disqualified.  Still is, eight years later. One's licence is contingent on presenting for drug testing when required.  The way I read it, is there are no mitigating circumstances.

Where do you get the zero tolerance for jockeys and trainers? Is it different for other licence  holders?

Talk about Trump like TOTALITARIANISM! I can understand personal abuse of officials et el but "humiliate...or that is harmful to the reputation of the NZ racing industry" Give me a break!  What about video of thoroughbreds being assaulted over the head??  A ban for upholding   SOCIAL MEDIA Social Media platforms can be used to abuse participants within the racing industry. NZTR has reviewed the current Rules and found that they could be improved to more effectively address this type of harmful behaviour. As a result, NZTR is proposing an update to Rule 801(1)(s)(ii) to ensure that all forms of abuse on social media are clearly covered. These changes are intended to better protect everyone involved in the industry from online abuse. NZTR proposes that Rule 801 be amended as follows: 801 (1) A person commits a Serious Racing Offence within the meaning of these Rules who: (s) either by themselves or in conjunction with any other person: (i) does or permits or suffers to be done any act which an Adjudicative Committee deems fraudulent, corrupt or detrimental to the interests of racing; or (ii) at any time writes or causes to be written (including in any form of electronic or digital communication), publishes or causes to be published, or posts or causes to be posted on any website, medium, forum, platform or any social media or social networking service, or utters or causes to be uttered, any insulting or abusive words with reference to a Tribunal, NZTR, committee of a Club or a member or Official of any such body or a Stipendiary Steward or Investigator, or Registered Medical Practitioner; (iii) without limiting sub-Rule (1)(s)(ii) of this Rule, posts or causes to be posted on any website, medium, forum, platform, or any social media or networking service, that is available to the public, or any section of the public, any comment, image, video, digital or electronic communication, that may insult, humiliate or cause serious emotional distress to any entity or person referred to in that sub-Rule or to any Licenceholder or other industry participant, or that is otherwise harmful to the reputation or standing to the New Zealand racing industry;

Well the rule for drug testing is about any licence holder performing a safety-sensitive activity. Whether that is a jockey, trainer, strapper, work-rider or whatever doesn't matter. I   personally think it should also cover non-licence holders such as starters and assistants for example.