Chief Stipe

Should The Everest a Slot Race have Group 1 status?

Asian Pattern Committee to meet on Australia’s black-type uncertainty Asian Pattern Committee delegates are set to meet this week to discuss Australia’s black-type program and its place within international conventions. https://bitofayarn.com By Tim Rowe Racing Industry November 27, 2025 The Warra is one of a number of upgraded NSW races which hasn’t be internationally recognised on pedigrees. (Photo by Jeremy Ng/Getty Images) Australia’s long-running inability to find a uniform solution to its black-type calendar is likely to be the subject of a specially convened Asian Pattern Committee meeting on Friday.https://bitofayarn.com The Straight understands that the APC is set to come together two weeks earlier than planned to discuss Racing Australia’s inaction in having an approved system in place to determine the Pattern races run across the country’s states and territories each season. An APC meeting was scheduled for December 12, two days before the Hong Kong International meeting at Sha Tin. It’s unclear whether that meeting will also proceed. Separately, it is also unknown if Racing Australia has provided correspondence to the APC in recent months regarding the issue, which continues to frustrate sections of the racing and breeding industry. Advertisement It is believed that the APC may have given Racing Australia a mid-November deadline to respond to the issue. It is not known if this response has been received. Racing Australia’s scheduled September meeting, in which the Pattern was a central agenda item, did not go ahead when it was unable to achieve a quorum because Racing NSW was not represented.https://bitofayarn.com Racing NSW and Racing Victoria hold power of veto over the national body and, in effect, for change to occur both principal racing authorities (PRAs) need to agree on a path forward for the Pattern, which has been in abeyance for several years. Racing Australia’s APC delegate, Racing SA chair Rob Rorrison, declined to comment when asked by The Straight whether it had put forward a proposal about the Pattern or indeed whether a meeting was to be held this week. Asian Racing Federation secretary general Andrew Harding also declined to comment when contacted. Previous attempts to contact APC chair, Japan Racing Association’s head of race planning Takahiro Uno, have been unsuccessful. One of the options which could be open to international authorities such as the APC when addressing issues of compliance with pattern guidelines is a recommendation of a demotion to Part 2 of the International Cataloguing Standards Book, known as the Blue Book. Last year, a proposal to introduce ratings-based Black Type Guidelines as a way of overhauling Australia’s Pattern calendar was set to be adopted, only for some states to back out due to participant backlash. Racing NSW pushed on and upgraded or placed stakes status on numerous races.https://bitofayarn.com However, that black-type is not recognised internationally nor does it feature in pedigrees and bloodstock sale catalogues in Australasia or overseas. When it appeared as though Australia was making Pattern progress about 14 months ago, international authorities did agree to grant Group 1 status to Racing NSW’s The Everest and Racing Victoria’s All-Star Mile. Last year’s Everest winner Bella Nipotina and this year’s Hong Kong fly-in Ka Ying Rising both earned Group 1 status on their pedigree pages as a result of their victories in the $20 million race. Tom Kitten’s All-Star Mile victory at Flemington in March was also recognised domestically and internationally as his second win at the highest level. The Group 1 badge awarded to both races was seen as a stepping stone toward an overall reshaping of Australia’s black-type protocols, but it also sparked fears that smaller states could be the biggest losers if a hardline, ratings-based approach to upgrading and downgrading stakes races were implemented. It proved to be a major obstacle for the respective PRA delegates on the Racing Australia board, who so far have been unable to reach an agreement, continuing the years-long impasse involving the future direction of the Pattern.

@Huey will you provide us with your erudite analysis on how the Australian Breeding Industry is saving New Zealand Racing as you have asserted?

I did. I said ALL of them! Doesn't that align with your view of the state of NZ Racing?

Let's make it easier for you - why don't you name one that is? As I said in an earlier post from the large number of Clubs financial reports I've read none of them have enough revenue to maintain their infrastructure.

I assure you I'm not delusional. What I do know is your negativity has reached a point of no return. You fit a well defined profile and sub-tribe of Grumpy Old Men. As for delusional I suggest you try some mirror gazing - you think moaning online and being negative about everything will change anything while making promises with an unused paint brush. LOL and you say I'm delusional?

We are all starting to worry about your state of mind @Huey. It seems to be getting more and depressed and irrational. Now you are backing Australian racing when they do everything you despise at level 10 times above NZ. I gather you have had a bad experience in NZ racing and you havent got over it. Please share with us your specific issues so we can all work to help get you to move on.

Their own land that they can't afford to maintain properly.

The Australian races driving a surge in Kiwi turnover for Entain – The Straight thestraight.com.au New Zealand punters’ thirst for Australia’s feature races continues to grow with The Everest easily surpassing the Cox Plate as the second most bet on race, but still well behind the Melbourne Cup.https://bitofayarn.com Entain, which now has a legislated monopoly in New Zealand, reported record Melbourne Cup turnover of $13.6 million in 2025, with more than 20,000 additional active customers compared to 2024.https://bitofayarn.com That had a knock-on impact for the local Ellerslie meeting that same day, which broke the $5 million mark, a 37 per cent increase on 2024. The data was confirmed by Entain’s New Zealand managing director Sam Moncur in his monthly update and backs up what Australasian chief Andrew Vouris revealed to The Guerin Report this week.https://bitofayarn.com He confirmed that on Melbourne Cup Day, there were over ,000 active customers who had never placed a bet on racing before. That comes off the back of the overall active customers in October increasing from 105,600 in 2024 to 117,400 this year. https://bitofayarn.com The Everest was Entain NZ’s biggest turnover race anywhere in October, generating $1.49 million across the TAB and betcha digital channels. The Cox Plate generated $1.02 million and the Caulfield Cup $937,000. The Windsor Park Stud Soliloquy Stakes was the leading local event for October at $741,000. Overall, thoroughbred racing turnover for Entain fell in October by 4.8 per cent compared to 2024. Sports turnover spiked by 72 per cent in October to reach $120.9 million, while turnover across all three NZ racing codes, including overseas, was $180.3 million. It wasn’t just the Melbourne Cup driving additional engagement. In early November, New Zealand Cup day turnover defied a massive storm which hit the track mid-meeting, reaching $7.7 million, an increase of 9 per cent on 2024. The previous Saturday, which featured the 1000 Guineas, saw turnover up by 30 per cent year on year. https://bitofayarn.com

St Jean’s tragic end - Half Yours’ sire dies after paddock accident – The Straight thestraight.com.au St Jean, the sire of Melbourne Cup hero Half Yours, has died in a tragic paddock accident just three weeks after the stallion entered Australian racing folklore via his son’s stunning spring crescendo. https://bitofayarn.com Brackley Park’s Grant Dwyer, who runs the Victorian farm which was home to St Jean since 2017, is mourning the loss of his prized stallion after the horse suffered a fatal leg injury. Despite providing the best possible veterinary care to St Jean, the studmaster revealed that the 16-year-old was euthanised on Tuesday. https://bitofayarn.com “After covering a mare, Memory Lane, on Monday the 24th of November, St Jean was returned to be fed in his paddock where he had lived happily and safely since the autumn of 2017,” Dwyer said in a statement. “On the morning of 25th of November it was discovered that, for reasons unknown, St Jean had run into a fence post overnight, breaking it off at ground level and shattering his near side front leg around the elbow region.” St Jean, a European-bred son of Teofilo, began his racing career in Ireland in 2012 before being purchased in 2013 by Warrnambool-based trainer Aaron Purcell, who won four races with the stallion. https://bitofayarn.com He subsequently ended up in New Zealand with trainer Donna Logan, who won a Group 3 City Of Auckland Cup on New Year’s Day 2017 in what would be his second last start. He retired from racing soon after and returned to Australia. Half Yours was bred by Janice McKenna, the wife of the late Colin McKenna, and was initially trained by co-owner Ciaron Maher. When McKenna died last year, a number of his horses were sold, including Half Yours, who was bought by trainers Tony and Calvin McEvoy for $305,000 via Inglis Digital last November. https://bitofayarn.com At the time of the sale, he was the winner of two races, a maiden and a Benchmark 64, but in the 12 months since, the McEvoys won six races with him, progressing from a Seymour Benchmark 64 victory to the coveted Caulfield Cup-Melbourne Cup double in the spring. He was ridden by Jamie Melham in both Cups. “St Jean was the first Victorian stallion to sire a Melbourne Cup winner since 1973 and his achievement created a real buzz around the Victorian breeding industry,” Dwyer said. https://bitofayarn.com “His death was very untimely as breeders were only starting to recognise what an incredible pedigree this stallion had. Bookings had started to pick up and he was due to cover a mare by Desert King that afternoon, which would have given the same cross as Half Yours. “He was due to cover five mares by Desert King this season and had bookings of 35 mares in total. “I lament the fact that more breeders did not take the opportunity to breed to this stallion in the first few seasons at stud at an incredibly low price when the opportunity was afforded to them.” https://bitofayarn.com St Jean, who has two foals and three yearlings as well as five two-year-olds on the ground, had stood for a fee of $3300 (inc GST) in his first eight years at stud until it was increased to $11,000 this year on the back of Half Yours’ rise through the ranks.

Nothing like a bit of positive marketing.

Yes wonderful. The key metric how many new owners and investors from promotion? How many were encouraged to participate in some form going forward? Any data collected?

I'm really starting to think you don't understand the racing or breeding industry at all.

FFS @curious you are going down these rabbit holes more and more. They rebuilt the underlying track infrastructure - camber, drainage and irrigation. The pure swamp part is long gone. The top layer is definitely now sand. They sub-layer could be anything. What they are testing in OZ that they couldn't get tested in NZ is beyond me. Sand would have been used because it would have been the cheapest option. It would be interesting to know where they sourced it from and how it was treated before laying.

Yep - the answer lies in the soil! They would need special dispensation to get through Australian Customs I imagine.

Root cause of Awapuni racecourse woes eagerly anticipated George Heagney November 25, 2025 Once a highlight of the summer calender, it’s now been four years since Awapuni has hosted Boxing Day festivities.Warwick Smith / Manawatū Standard Bosses at Palmerston North’s Awapuni Racecourse are awaiting the results of soil testing to see what work needs to be done to restore the troubled track to action.https://bitofayarn.com The grass track has been closed for two years. It was shut for 19 months while extensive renovations were done to fix drainage problems, then meetings have been halted since a slip during the first race at an event in April, which was abandoned.https://bitofayarn.com New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing and the Racing Integrity Board announced in October that all trials and race meetings at Awapuni would be stopped for the rest of the year to work on the track’s long-term sustainability. Richard Simpson is the chairman of Race, which runs racing at Awapuni and Trentham in Wellington. He told the Manawatū Standard what happened next was up to the track experts as consultant Liam O’Keeffe and others from Australia inspected the track last week and took soil samples back. Once they had those results, likely in mid-December, then it would give them a clearer idea of what work the track needed and whether it would have to be renovated. The grass track at Awapuni Racecourse is closed while work is done to determine what is causing issues with it.Adele Rycroft / Manawatū Standard Simpson said they were in “limbo” until then and it was too early to make a call. It had been “extremely” frustrating to have faced repeated problems and lengthy delays.https://bitofayarn.com He said New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing was in control of the project and the track didn’t become Race’s again until after the first successful meeting was completed. But Simpson said the track’s drainage, irrigation and camber was perfect, it was getting the grass to settle and root development that was the issue. Race did maintenance work on the track over winter such as coring and sweeping, which was putting small holes into the track to allow air in and bring the track firmness down, and adding more sand to the track. Not being able to host its major race days such as the Manawatū Cup before Christmas, Boxing Day, and its biggest meeting, the Sires Produce Stakes in April, had been a big blow financially. Boxing Day in particular drew huge numbers of people on course. Simpson said the club had been doing what it had to do to survive. It remains unclear when horses’ hooves will again be allowed to touch the contentious turft at Awapuni.Warwick Smith / Manawatū Standard “Financially we’re surviving, but we’re under a bit of pressure. We thought we’d be back racing,” he said.https://bitofayarn.com “NZTR are supporting us. It’s certainly not easy.” Awapuni had been scheduled to host a return to racing on November 1 but that was put off. Recent meetings had already been shifted to other race tracks in the lower North Island and Simpson wasn’t sure where coming meetings would be held yet. NZ Thoroughbred Racing chief executive Matt Ballesty said the organisation was committed to Awapuni long term. “We are currently in the hands of the experts and are awaiting solo testing and sourcing options before we have a definite course of action. “The reality is these things take time and we like everyone are disappointed it's taken so long but we must make sure each step from here is the right one.”https://bitofayarn.com Soil samples have been taken from Awapuni Racecourse to determine what to do next with the troubled track.Warwick Smith / Manawatū Standard An update would be provided once they were clear what the next steps were, he said. Race held its annual meeting last week and Simpson said the track was the main thing on everyone’s minds. “They’re saying, ‘When can we go racing?’” Race chief executive Tim Savell announced in September he was resigning after four years in the role.https://bitofayarn.com Simpson said they hadn’t looked for a replacement yet while they dealt with the track.

So if you don't lower overheads who pays for the inflated costs?

Why don't you take up a new hobby like macrame. You're actually worse than @nomates and @Joe Bloggs except they have had more success in racing than you have. Hear me now - racing doesn't need you. Although now that Freddie Tibbles has gone I'm sure you could make a great Clerk of the Course!!!

So it's 50:50 @Huey. Wow you're the one talking shyte AND providing the proof.

Well @Huey I'm sure there is a Club out there that needs your executive experience and insight. Kumara needs you.

No it played worse.

But you havent watched any races.

Yes ENTAIN seems to be pissed off with NZ tracks too.

So basically you are agreeing 100% with me. Many of our tracks are shyte and lack consistency which turns off punters and frustrated Trainers and Owners.

Wrong again. Ellerslie DID have a meeting abandoned or was it two. But that was the new track and if you had been awake you would have read my posts about it.