Chief Stipe

Awapuni's grass track is nearing a return to racing following a positive set of trials on Tuesday. Photo: Peter Rubery (Race Images Palmerston North)https://bitofayarn.com Awapuni grass track passes first test Joshua Smith, LOVERACING.NZ News Desk 12 August 2025 A return to racing on Awapuni’s grass track is inching ever closer, and it passed its first test for that return following a successful set of trials on the surface on Tuesday. 30 horses line-up over five heats at the track and RACE’s General Manager of Racing Brad Taylor received positive reports at the conclusion of the trial meeting. “The feedback was very positive from the riders,” he said. “As expected with the surface we have, there was a little bit of the sand kick back, but all-in-all it was very positive today.” Awapuni’s grass track was initially out of commission for 19 months as it underwent an extensive renovation, and it was set to commence racing on ANZAC Day, however, that meeting was abandoned following a slip in the opening race. The track has subsequently undergone further remedial work, and the club has called upon the expertise of Flemington track manager Liam O’Keefe to assist in that process. “We have had Liam O’Keefe, the track manager at Flemington, who has been a big part of the project over the past eight months,” Taylor said. “We have what they would call core and swept the tracks. We have put another sand carpet on top and there has been a lot of verti-draining and a bit more coring. “We had to reseed some of the track because there were a couple of bare patches, which is expected with the works we did. We are now just waiting for the grass to grow.” As part of their return to racing protocol, RACE is set to have one final set of trials on the surface, which will determine whether they can proceed with the planned return to racing on September 6. “It has been a long, slow process and it is just nice to tick that next step off,” Taylor said. “It is tracking in the right direction. At this time of year, the grass growth is minimal and that will only improve as we get into the next month, and further. “We have had just over 100 horses gallop on the course proper over the last four weeks. We had 30 horses trial this morning and then we will have a bigger set of trials of roughly 80-90 horses in a fortnight. We will get that tick of approval and then we will be ready for September 6.” It has been a frustrating process for the club, local trainers, owners and punters, and Taylor is hoping they will be rewarded for their patience in the coming weeks. “A credit to the whole, team, especially the track team, they have put in a lot of hard work to that surface and to see it coming to fruition now is pleasing and exciting for everyone,” he said. “The local trainers have been extremely patient, having to float to every meeting and go elsewhere to trial and gallop. They have done an incredible job and to see the results they have had over that time has been incredible. “It is only going to improve for them over the next wee while and having the course proper back for them on a weekly basis is a positive for everyone.” Mike Breslin was one of the local trainers to utilise the grass trials at Awapuni on Tuesday, and he is looking forward to racing’s return to the surface next month.https://bitofayarn.com “We have all got our fingers crossed to get racing back on the grass at Awapuni, it is essential for our businesses,” he said. “I think the track will be superb, but in my opinion, it is just going to have to be gently-gently until they get some decent spring (grass) growth.”

I suggest you get out more. The Crusaders are still the most successful sporting franchise of the modern era.

Bullshit. Geez you can spin a yarn. When was "a while back"? They didn't import "dozens of great players" either. The did select players that had potential that no one else wanted and turned them into great players. Norm Berryman, Caleb Ralph, Norm Maxwell were the early ones. Auckland and Canterbury both went through periods of being unbeatable - neither held a mortgage on it. Auckland Rugby lost its way when they abandoned club rugby and focussed on senior school rugby. Canterbury focussed on both as well as drawing in the rest of the Crusader franchise. Auckland abandoned their neighbouring Unions as well. Canterbury didn't. I guess in that respect there are parallels with what has happened at Alexandra Park and the ATC. Why bail Auckland out?

I don't know. @Huey tends to write riddles.

I see Erin Leighton rode a couple for Royden Bergerson at the Awapuni trials yesterday. Is she coming back to race riding?

Not sure what you mean "+ or -2"? Perhaps the resident wagering expert @Newmarket can explain for you.

When? What was it last season?

No takers.

Why isn't the "Aus thing" not working? The NZ "thing" is working and the "South Island thing" is working.

Dare I say it harness racing in NZ needs at least two Te Akau's.

Geez keep up. That was posted here at least two days ago. BTW are you matching my bet?

You're a gambling man. I willing to bet $50 that their strike rate will be better this season in NZ than last. Actually we could run a Betfair type exchange. @Huey and yourself put the money up and we'll see if people match it.

Whatever @Newmarket racings Prince of Darkness. I haven't proven anything about the last 10 years. But I know one thing you aren't no professional punter! Really how many NZ punters worry about who is pitching in baseball in the USA?

Suggest you look at a map of the Riccarton Steeplechase course. Te Aroha is hardly tight turning. 1800m track with the longest straight in NZ. Not all. They are inventing new things every day. What recent events? I've already discussed your negative view of jumps racing. Ironically the falls at Te Aroha occurred on the straightest part of the track on the last round! Go figure! Well it is all about inexperienced Jockeys, inexperienced horses and tired horses not being retired. The uneven ground was another one of @Thomass BS anti-racing beat ups. Now you tell me what the differences were at Riccarton! But still know more than yourself.

@Brodie when did HRNZ ever pay its way? Remember we went through the era of Pokie rort payments. Then clipping the Sports income ticket. The industry still relies on imported racing to keep funding. The irony is for the moment it is paying its way because ENTAIN are willing to cover those previous subsidies and more. You benefited more than most from the previous decades of largesse.

So they are giving the money to Owners, Trainers and Drivers. Hardly blowing it. The only connection between the Stakes for a race and the level of punting is that the latter part or in full pays for the former. If Stakes were a dollar it wouldn't change the amount bet BUT very quickly there wouldn't be anyone providing any product to bet on. So the issue is providing a balance. If the windfall profits are going into OTD pockets them just maybe they'll hang in there a bit longer. You also assume that Owners and Trainers haven't had input into the racing programmes.

You'd struggle with only numbers.

Yet they were all North Island horses. The difference was the Jockeys electing to retire their horses when they were tired. Another difference was the size of the fields Nothing to do with the tracks.

I thought your negativity would have been all over it.

Right so you'd be happy to lose a million a year as long as you could have big bets?

Congratulations to our regional winners of the 2024-25 Stablehand of the Year Award – sponsored by Saddlery Warehouse Cambridge & Tauranga! 😍 https://bitofayarn.com NORTHERN: Stephanie Hyde-Richards (Autridge Racing) CENTRAL: Lucinda Aitken (Sharrock Racing) SOUTHERN: Gee Saejorhor (Champagne Racing Stables) Now in its ninth year, the high calibre of nominations is once again a true reflection of the dedication and passion shown by our devoted stable staff throughout the country. A sincere thank you to all trainers who put their stable superstars forward for this award. Each of our three regional winners will receive $2,500 in prize money, plus travel, accommodation, and two tickets to the Awards evening. The overall winner will be announced at the New Zealand Thoroughbred Horse of the Year Awards on Sunday, 7 September, and will receive an additional $2,500 in prize money.https://bitofayarn.com For the full list of finalists, and to purchase your tickets 👉 nztr.co.nz/awards

Why? Stakes are better than ever. Owners don't need to worry as much about winning on the punt.

Stallion Danehill has one mare left at stud in Australia www.racenet.com.au https://bitofayarn.com And then there was one. Thirty years after his first mare went to stud, breed-shaper Danehill has only one active daughter left at stud in Australia. Numbering literally in their hundreds for season after season, time has finally had the last say on an era that reshaped Australian breeding and racing. The Danehill-era. A nine-times Champion Australian Sire, Danehill also won the Broodmare title on nine occasions. For the longest time, every breeder wanted one and every stud needed one. Now there is only one left and it belongs to New South Wales breeders John and Karen Sheather. The mare's name is Starspangled and on August 1, she turned 23. It is only fitting that Danehill's last surviving broodmare is one of the best bred of all the Danehills. Her dam is User Friendly. "User Friendly, you don't have to say anymore,'' John Sheather told Racenet. "Have a look at her record. She won all the Oaks over there; the English Oaks, the Irish Oaks and then she had the audacity to come out and run a brilliant effort in the greatest race in the world some would say, the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe." User Friendly was purpose-built to win ‘a Classic'. Incredibly, her sire Slip Anchor, grandsire Shirley Heights and great grandsire Mill Reef all won an Epsom Derby. Sheather's role in the Starspangled story started at the old Newmarket complex at Randwick in 2014. "I had a couple of foals here at the farm but I wanted to have a really good go at it, as far as the commercial aspect was concerned,'' Sheather explained. "So we were there at the sale and John North from Bowness Stud gave us a hand with it all. "I saw her page, I can't remember what lot she was now, but I folded it and I thought if I could only afford it. "But when we got her for $30,000 I couldn't believe it and while being in foal to High Chaparral which was Youngstar." https://bitofayarn.com Youngstar (right, red cap, ridden by Craig Williams) chases home Winx in the Group 1 Turnbull Stakes at Flemington in 2018. Picture: Scott Barbour / Getty Images Two years after Youngstar was foaled, in the southern New South Wales town of Young as it happened, along came another soon-to-be Chris Waller star, this one called Funstar. She was a daughter of Adelaide – a Cox Plate winning son of Galileo, yes, but a stallion who some, well actually most, commercial breeders would consider ‘unfashionable'. It's a riposte which still irks Sheather today when it's directed his way. "The Galileo/Danehill cross was the greatest in the world at that time and probably still is,'' he argued. "At the when Karen analysed it a bit more, I think there were 31 Group winners bred on that cross which you cannot find today so I don't see why it was unfashionable." For the record, one of those Group winners was Frankel. The Starspangled story sounds like a never-ending sequence of fame and fortune for the Sheathers but not so. "We almost lost her twice,'' Sheather revealed. Once from complications arising from a paddock accident, followed soon after by a critical hoof issue. Thankfully she made it through each time with Sheather there as a devoted, and sometimes exhausted, carer. "For months and months,'' he recalled. "It was a real chore to look after her. "We had to keep her stabled and she was getting sour because she is a handful at the best of times. "I had to go and pick her milk thistle because she loves it, most horses do. I used to cut a little bit of lucerne out of pasture with a hedge-trimmer. "Honestly it was a full-time job just looking after her." Starspangled's next scheduled foal to race will be her 12th foal, a filly by Yes Yes Yes named Rising Queen who is trained, unsurprisingly, by Waller. She has an Adelaide yearling colt to follow and remarkably given her age, went in foal last season to Ghaiyyath, a stallion chosen by Sheather primarily owing to his broodmare sire, Galileo. So, will there be a Danehill mare registered in 2026 or is this the end of the line? "To answer that question, a lot of people on the street would think we would be doing it just wholly and solely to extract the financial gains out of her but in all sincerity, and honestly, yes I would. "If all goes well, I probably will put her back into foal because like I said she is just a happy, happy horse when she is in foal. "She is 23 so we'll take one step at a time. It will be whatever is best for the mare. We'll be guided by that. "She has been so good to us."

Racing Industry Dogs' days numbered - Tasmanian government to pull rug out from greyhound racing https://bitofayarn.com By Bren O'Brien - August 09, 2025 Tasmania’s greyhound industry is set to fall victim to the state’s political crisis, with the Liberal government's backing for the sport to be withdrawn by 2029. Tasmanian Racing Minister Jane Howlett. (Photo: Linkedin) Reports emerged from several sources on Saturday that Premier Jeremy Rockliff had agreed to cut funding for the sport at the end of the current funding deed in order to secure the crossbench support to effectively govern the state.https://bitofayarn.com Rockliff’s Liberal Party only have 14 of the 35 lower house seats, leaving it well short of a majority and needs to enlist the ongoing support of crossbench members in order to continue in power. Several crossbenchers, as well as The Greens, which hold five lower house seats, campaigned on ending greyhound racing in Tasmania ahead of last month’s state election. The withdrawal of support from the government, which contributes around $7.5 million through the funding deed which emanated from the sale of the Tasmanian Tote in 2009, is a virtual death knell for the code. There are around 150 greyhound meetings held in Tasmania every year across two tracks, Hobart and Launceston, with over 1500 races, which generate $270 million in turnover. That is around 37.5 per cent of the annual turnover across all three codes. A loss of greyhound racing would have a significant impact on the $25 million in racing revenue Tasracing currently derives, primarily via wagering fees, as well as the $7.1 million it receives via the Point Of Consumption Tax agreement from the government. Animal welfare advocacy groups, seeking a greyhound racing ban, commissioned studies which have attacked the funding of the sport and questioned the economic benefit of the industry. The code has also had a spate of integrity issues, as well as the recent death of champion greyhound Raider’s Guide. Deed of uncertainty - Racing’s funding future under Tasmanian election spotlight Tasracing has maintained that the code contributes $54 million to the state’s economy. But its attempts to counter the political movement to ban greyhound racing appears to have run afoul of the fickle nature of state politics. While it has not been confirmed that the sport will be banned, as it has been in the ACT and will be in New Zealand, the withdrawal of the proceeds of the funding deed will make it almost impossible to continue past 2029. Neither Tasracing or the Tasmanian government has yet commented or made a formal announcement.