Chief Stipe

I don't to it for thanks - I truly would be insane if I did. But thank you. 😀 I'm still passionate about the game after 55 years active involvement. I only see problems to solve not holes to dig.

I think they had less things to spend it on.

Do I support the monopoly? Yes and No. Philosophically I think competution is always better but I haven't worked out how you stop others free loading off our imdustry investment. Some argue that NZ Racing was at its best 50 years ago which ironically was when the TAB truly did have a monopoly.

Agreed. Sometimes though some people overstep the boundaries and need to be moderated. I always defend the right of members to post their opinions but there have been numerous occasions where some have just gone too far. The key to running a forum is to moderate lightly and have a thick skin. Then let the community argue it out like we all used to do in the local pub school. To be honest I don't give a rat's arse if BOAY is considered a "tin pot forum" (got that today in an email from another forum) but also don't expect to not get a debate either. LOL the number of times people have asked me to ban someone because they didn't like their personality!!! I said do what you do at the pub - wear them down with cogent argument and discourse.

If you just want a site to post your opinions on without any response the start a blog and ban comments. Thats the best way to post crap and not get crap for it. At least on BOAY you have free rein to offend the site owner or even disagree with him without being banned.

Sorry I can't see the collary of Budweiser hiring a loud mouth transvestite to promote their light beer in a woke fashion with 3 racing clubs in the Waikato building a new track. Kenny Browne isn't with us anymore so it wont worry him that the members of three clubs each voted inidividually to build the new track.

Australia loses control of Pattern as APC takes over – The Straight thestraight.com.au https://bitofayarn.com The Asian Pattern Committee will reshape Australia’s black-type calendar after taking the extraordinary and unprecedented step of stripping the power of the country’s national body to determine what races carry stakes status.https://bitofayarn.com After years of infighting amongst the principal racing authorities and their delegates on Racing Australia about the Pattern, the organisation has effectively forfeited its right to make changes to its black-type races. The Asian Racing Federation confirmed on Wednesday that due to the “exceptional circumstances” the APC would now “make decisions regarding the status of all black type races in Australia”. The international body said it was a short-term measure but has not specified how long the APC would manage Australia’s black-type calendar. The far-reaching decision, which doesn’t go as far as demoting Australia to a Part II country of the International Cataloguing Standards Blue Book as had been threatened, was made at an APC meeting in Hong Kong on Friday.https://bitofayarn.com “This means that the APC will now be responsible for making status change decisions (including upgrades and downgrades) for all Group 1, Group 2, Group 3 and Listed races in Australia,” a carefully worded ARF statement said on Wednesday. “These decisions will be reported to the International Grading and Race Planning Advisory Committee (IRPAC) of the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities, which will subsequently report any significant decisions to the Society of International Thoroughbred Auctioneers (SITA), prior to publication in the International Cataloguing Standards Book.” IRPAC and SITA have been informed of the ARF’s decision and the APC said it would start making changes to Australia’s black-type calendar prior to the start of the 2026/27 Australian racing season. “This course of action has been adopted in circumstances where there has not been a properly functioning black type quality control system in Australia since as far back as 2017/18,” the statement said. “While the ARF has been extremely patient and provided significant assistance to try to resolve this matter, it determined that action now had to be taken.https://bitofayarn.com “The action to be undertaken by the APC, under the ARF’s authority, is intended only as a temporary measure. “The ARF’s strong preference is that, as a Part I country, Australia establishes a functioning black type quality control system operating in accordance with the APC Ground Rules in the near future, and for the above arrangements to end. https://bitofayarn.com “However, absent such resolution, the ARF will consider other actions that it may need to take.” Racing Australia chairman Rob Rorrison said RA understood the decision and viewed the situation very seriously. “I refer to the statement made today by the Asian Racing Federation (ARF) that due to “exceptional circumstances” responsibility for decision-making in relation to the status of Australian Black Type races will fall to the Asian Pattern Committee (APC),” he said in a statement. “As such, for an undetermined period of time, the Asian Pattern Committee will determine the status of all (Black Type) Australian races including upgrades and downgrades against the Asian Pattern Committee Ground Rules (APCGR). “Racing Australia fully understands the position taken by the Asian Racing Federation, a position that was fully supported by the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA), regarding the lack of Australian Black Type quality control which has arisen through there being no approved Australian Black Type Guidelines which comply with the APCGR nor functioning management protocols.” https://bitofayarn.com “Racing Australia views this significant decision by the ARF very seriously and commits to collaborate with the APC during this time. It acknowledges that while decisions in relation to the status of its Black Type races by the APC under the APCGR is not for any fixed period, it is the ARF position that the adoption of APCGR compliant Australian Black Type Guidelines by Racing Australia must be progressed as a matter of priority and failure to do so could lead to other actions being taken.” Rorrison’s statement said that Racing Australia retains the desire to appoint an Australian Black Type Advisory Group, with members drawn from appropriate stakeholder groups. Racing Australia delegates thought they had come to an agreement in September last year using proposed ratings-based Black Type Guidelines, but amid an uproar from stakeholders PRAs led by Racing Victoria backed away from the framework.https://bitofayarn.com Racing NSW, which was in favour of the Black Type Guidelines, has upgraded a suite of races since October 2024 using the policy even though those new and upgraded stakes races weren’t recognised by international authorities. They were also not reflected in horses’ pedigrees, sale catalogues or stallion records with data providers such as Arion.

Exactly. However the new trend (e.g. Pakenham) is to put in a multipurpose event centre that can cater both as a stand for viewing and inbetween times act as a revenue earning centre.

I argued vociferously on BOAY for an AWT business case. @Pitman was a strong supporter of the AWT at Riccarton and one of the reasons he and I fell out badly was my hammering of the need for a business case. I forewarned (as did others on BOAY) that the operational costs and long term maintenance capital required could not be funded through track fees and racing alone. Unless there was a substantial increase in the number of horses trained on it. Anyhoo the rest is history... Now NZTR is subsidising them.

Really over something that hasn't bothered you to post about until you get the pricker with ENTAIN? Who's intelligence are you insulting? The issue that I posted about is a network constraint issue magnified by the use of Cloudflare as a CDN. The Sunday Surge was not available for the majority of punters on Sunday. Geez for once I was agreeing with you!

Again don't be patronising you aren't good at it. All well and good not looking at the other site but I draw the line when I'm being defamed and accused of things I DID NOT DO. Nothing has changed over in that cesspit. The behaviour of the owner and the people he atracts is the reason for the genesis of BOAY in the first place. The outright lies need to be called out for what they are.

It was 23 YEARS AGO!!! As I said Bruton was happy to live in the limelight when it suited. You don't know where he was betting. FFS come up with some recent examples environment! The fact is Bruton couldn't get the amounts he betted on now which ironically is something your were complaining about in previous posts. What side are you on?

That could be offset by the deal they do with any Developer that purchases the land.

Don't become patronising @Huey leaves you for dead in that regard.

Are you really that naive? I don't believe you for a start. You confined your betting to the pub bookie or the TAB agency every few weeks? Hell I was bought up on reading the form, calcuttas and setting horses for the big punt. Did you choose to ignore all the stories associated with racing and big punting? Hypocriscy again. Are you really worried about young problem gamblers? I don't think you are because I'm not even sure you understand the problem you are trying to address. You only awoke from your slumber on the issue when ENTAIN was granted a NZ monopoly well only when it came into effect.