Chief Stipe

What would that have achieved? He wouldn't have got under the leader until well up the straight and the leader was dictating the slow pace. Would have been better in a small field to have pulled back to last and made a run on the home turn and at least made it a longer sprint home for the four of them. Seeing the Roger James interview after the race I think he was genuinely disappointed in the effort and he was searching for something positive to say or rather excuses. But as you know @Thomass weight stops trains and the 60kg is a fair amount of lead to cart around! Hardly a waste. I'm sure the first two placegetters are very happy.

Was it Eddie Gray the runner? If so he is a West Coast Athletic legend. Was third at the World Cross Country Championships. In the same era as Dave McKenzie and Coleman Creagh all horse followers with Coleman being the starter on the Coast racing circuit for a long time. https://athletics.org.nz/legends/eddie-gray/

That's nothing new.

FFS you are as bad as @Yankiwi !! I think this is least of Greyhound Racing problems not that it's actually a problem. The Thoroughbred online database is exactly the same. They keep the information online for breeding and performance tracking purposes. For example I know of a horse that went to the knackers yard about 38 years ago. Probably fed a few Greyhounds. The NZTR database has it as being 47 years old. Tracking horses from the service to the grave is a complete and utter waste of time. Just as it is for Greyhounds done to appease a bunch of woke muppets who say they actually care. Which I doubt they do care. Instead of using a slug gun to shoot yourselves in the feet why not be done with it and use an elephant gun!!

Agree with that assessment regarding the 3yr olds. The 2yr olds are a fairly good bunch.

I'd be interested to know what metric you base that assertion on?

Dave McCarthy wrote a story about it and had Bill Craddock as a part owner of 13 of his wins. In those days racing lease arrangements were common practice and might be where the confusion arises. My understanding was Bill sold the horse at some stage during his race career in NZ. Although that is a moot point too as often it was Bill's wife Marie who owned the horses. As for living in Westort my Grandparents lived in Derby Street just across the road from Patterson Park Raceway. Back to Bill though. Bill was a very big punter and from time to time got into arrears. I'm not speaking ill of the man as his punting was well known folklore. I remember on a number of occasions standing beside my father in the $10 window queue watching Bill emerge from inside the oncourse Tote building after having offloaded on something. Those were the days when you could set a horse for a good punt.

Actually I might have got my horses mixed up which is not surprising when a trotter is written about on the galloping forum. Durban Chief was bred amd raced by W. E. Craddock (Bill) of Westport. Bill was the Mayor of Westport, President of the Westport Trotting Cup and the longest serving councillor of the NZ Rugby Union. Bill often stayed at my childhood home when coming back from overseas Rugby Trips. One in particular was he returned from managing the All Blacks on tour in South Africa. He did have part ownership of Durban Chief. http://www.hof.co.nz/Timeline.asp?Case=6&ItemId=45&AlphaId=3&CategoryId=3 I'm now not sure what the famous horse I saw herding cattle on the road near Hari Hari was. I thought it might have been a famous West Coast owned thoroughbred named Dalray. He won the 1952 Melbourne Cup. He also won his maiden race at Westport. But it can't have been him because he went to stud in Australia unless he retired back in NZ. https://westcoast.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/23149 So the horse with a name that started with D escapes me at the moment.

What's your point? I think it's time you got another hobby obsession!

I met him just north of Hari Hari. Owned by my Uncle Bill. Who has another claim to fame.

Yeah. The track is a bit off.

It'll be sold out.

I met Durban Chief. On a road herding cattle.

Doesn't matter Orchestral was never going to win that.

Excellent. Nothing to see here. Thanks Chazza.

Told @Thomass to save your dollars as there was no way Orchestral was a race course certainty.

Has anyone Trainer asked for them?

There isn't one Government Agency database that is 100% accurate yet they all express confidence in their accuracy and integrity. I'm sure GRNZ would love you to volunteer and trawl through 40 years of records and find any errors. The fact is the 38 year old dog is dead. End of story.

Been like that for at least 10 years before ENTAIN turned up.

FFS @Yankiwi you are really struggling now. Trawl any database back 30+ years and you'll find errors. 3% data entry error is about the going rate for that era. It gets to the point where it isn't cost effective to fix those errors. What GRNZ should do is not provide the facility to go back more than 12 years other than for breeding and race performances.

Any centralisation ideas are driven by the black hole 🕳 of cost that Riccarton has become. A turf track that needs massive renovation and an AWT that doesn't pay its way. Any decline in racing further South is more likely to be driven by declining horse numbers and economics which has come before any conspiracy.

Then if they don't try they can expect no change. The Southern Programming Committee has been problematic for a very long time and there has been no collaborative effort by Trainers to fix it. You reap what you sow and if you sow nothing you get a mostly bare paddock full of weeds. But you stick to your Mafia stories and conspiracies @Huey as they are impossible to prove and much more exciting explanations than the truth. Not that you appear to have any skin in the game anyway.

That's a bit naive @curious saying it had nothing to do with ENTAIN. Wasn't a key part of the ENTAIN deal the promised legislation? TABNZ who were doing the negotiation did a trade deal with the Government with the Pokie revenue and the legislation.

It's written in the rules that there is a difference.

Then where are the South Island Trainers screaming from the rooftops? The SI Leading Trainers seem to to have lost their tongues. I guess they get what they wish for.