Chief Stipe

Well I did punt on it today.

No I'm not bashing JMac. Just doing a comparison. You are bashing Parr. Scary ran faster sectionals than Parr's horse. He was on its back and couldn't keep up.

So did the winner and the second horse finish at a great rate. Some said the winner went too early. He sat one out and got a drag into the race - presented at the right time on a very long straight. Perhaps those in front of him were better. Or are you talking about JMac's ride? Suggest you rewatch the race and watch the run of Scary. Parr's horse was on its back turning for home and couldn't go with it. https://www.racing.com/form/2024-11-02/flemington/race/7 At no stage did Parr have the option of going to the inside.

How was it woeful? JMac's wasn't very good. His horse drew 1. Parr's horse drew 16 in a 16 horse field. What was he supposed to do press on forward four wide early?

Note Flemington has a Moisture meter reading of 37.3% and a track rating of a Good 4.

Here's what Flemington have produced for today:

How can a track be a Good 4 with a moisture reading of 30.9% yet on raceday a Soft 5 with a moisture reading of 30.6%? According to the moisture meter data the track got drier yet the rating is softer? Did the grass grow two inches or something? No penetromer numbers either.

Meeting News ATR @ Ellerslie | Tuesday 5 November RACE DAY RACE DAY Weather: Overcast Track: Soft 5 Moisture Meter: 30.6% Rail: True Rainfall: No Rain Last 24 Hours Irrigation: 15mm Applied Last 24 Hours Weather and Track updated at 6.30am Tuesday 5 November Monday Afternoon Weather: Fine Track: Good 4 Moisture Meter: 22.2% Rail: True Rainfall: No Rain Last 24 Hours Irrigation: Irrigation to be applied overnight Weather and Track updated at 3.30pm Monday 4 November Monday Morning Weather: Fine Track: Good 4 Moisture Meter: 26.2% Rail: True Rainfall: No Rain Last 24 Hours Irrigation: 15mm Irrigation Applied Overnight Weather and Track updated at 8.30am Monday 4 November Sunday Afternoon Weather: Fine Track: Good 4 Moisture Meter: 22.6% Rail: True Rainfall: No Rain Last 24 Hours Irrigation: 15mm Irrigation To Be Applied Overnight Weather and Track updated at 3.33pm Sunday 3 November Withdrawal Morning Weather: Cloudy Track: Good 4 Moisture Meter: 30.9% Rail: True Rainfall: No Rain Last 24 Hours Irrigation: 10mm Irrigation Applied Overnight Weather and Track updated at 8.33am Saturday 2 November Nomination Morning Weather: Fine Track: Good 4 Moisture Meter: 29.9% Rail: True Rainfall: 19mm Rain Last 7 Days Irrigation: 15mm Last 24 Hours Weather and Track updated at 8.14am Friday 1 November

I think whoever is in the Col's Old Boy's Club do actuaIlly care about animal welfare. Unfortunately I think they are as disconnected as the rest of us with regard to what is happening at the coal face. For a number of reasons. Yes they are Old School. They still believe that what needs to happen to provide safe surfaces for racing on are being prepared. They won't criticise. The irony is those that are tasked with providing those surfaces also believe they are doing the right thing. With limited resources they are doing their best. BUT the administrators that are supposed to be checking are not doing their job. They think they are but they aren't.

Colin Wightman said: “Take 4” of the NZ Polytrack saga as it comes down to the OBC versus the good folk in racing, those who truly care for the welfare of our horses. Without a shadow of a doubt, NZ’s polytracks are a disaster. A $50 million cock-up. Darren Balcombe the track man for NZTR tried to convince me that Cambridge had been “sorted” but clear evidence since is proving that it is no better than the cheap shod polytracks we have at both Awapuni and Riccarton. Horses injured & euthanised alongside a growing list of riders who have fallen victim to it as well at a far higher rate than turf. The OBC, I shouldn’t need to tell you, don’t care for animal welfare. They are primarily social climbers who only care for themselves. Wine swilling, self serving, selfish, bludging, queer speaking unfortunates who use our beautiful horses to promote their social climbing careers. Many with funny handshakes … I’m sure you’ve got the picture. Sadly, many of them have infiltrated our racing administration. Heavily subsidised city clubs the nesting ground for most, gravy running down their chins with their heads in the pigs trough as it’s known. Okay .. enough of who the OBC is (most of you should know) but I’m going to take my hat back off to an amazing chap I refer to as Mr Z who has been trying to alert racing authorities here in NZ to the horrific substandard nature of our polytracks. He is so passionate about our horses welfare that he has suffered at the hands of NZTR and the arrogant sods at RACE consortium who have set out to victimise him for blowing the whistle. Yep, NZTR not renewing his stable hands licence and then 3 of the hand picked Board members from NZTR giving it back to him with so many conditions attached that it’s not worth having. His wife who holds the trainers licence booted off Awapuni track because of the good work of her husband. Fortunately, in reverse, it doesn’t end there. Mr Z to his credit has just visited the super dooper poly track at Santa Anita (their 2nd attempt to get it right) and he visited the number one poly track in Ireland (Dundalk) to get the latest intelligence on why these polytracks work in both countries and not here. NZTR, as often they do, will hate being told that they are guilty of a big cover-up on the dangers of the polytracks here because Mr Z has filed an amazing report to the heads of this industry calling on an urgent reconsideration of what they are subjecting our horses and riders to. In short .. I see this as a showdown between those who love the Thoroughbred racehorse and care for our riders .. and those who don’t. Sadly, Darin Balcombe’s share price on this one is not looking good. Nor is the Board of NZTR in terms of their complicity in the horrific treatment dished out to Mr Z who has acted “for the good of racing” here in NZ.

New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing [NZTR] would like to confirm the 'Return to Racing' for Te Rapa Racecourse. Following the Club's abandonment on Monday 28 October, a great deal of work has been undertaken to ensure the track is ready for racing this Saturday including: Verti-draining the entire circumference of the track Irrigation throughout the week Dragging a mesh gate on the inside 18m to stand up any prone grass which was then mowed Rail to be moved out to 6m for Saturday’s meeting Following this work, 14 horses were galloped over the course proper on Monday 4 November, ridden by senior riders Joe Doyle, Ryan Elliot, Michael McNab, George Rooke, Courtney Barnes, Masa Hashizume and Donovan Mansour, to ensure the track was fit to return to racing this Saturday 9 November. NZTR COO Darin Balcombe was in attendance this morning alongside the RIB and Club officials to inspect the surface and collect feedback from the senior riders. "All representative in attendance this morning were pleased with how the track performed, including the senior riders who were all very happy with the surface." Balcombe said. "The Club has completed several measures over the past week and there were no issues with the surface this morning, giving us full confidence in the track and their ability to race successfully this weekend." Corporate Communications New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing Contact: Catlyn Calder +64 27 263 0276 nztrcommunications@nztr.co.nz

I disagree. I have a lower end broadband connection and the majority of programmes I watch are streamed on demand.

I assume you mean Duke on Freeview. I was talking about the Duke channel delivered via Sky. It is possible that the channel is being streamed via the Skybox data link and not via sattelite. At the end of the day the quality via channel 504 on Sky is very low.

The Duke channel is owned by TVNZ. I must check if the definition quality is better going through the TVNZ app on a Smart TV. However you then get into issues with delays and over time you can get quite a bit behind real time. Which is a hassle for those who like to chase the last second odds changes.

There is a link between TVNZ and the network provider for Trackside which is Spark. Trackside 1 and 2 are broadcast through SKY aren't they? I suspect TVNZ and Spark are compromising on bandwidth. Typical Spark.

I agree. Certainly not deserving of the title "Premier"!

Flicking between channels to avoid the studio segues I noticed that Trackside 1 has considerably better picture quality than Trackside Premier. I suspect Trackside Premier is being streamed and after a much lower definition. As anyone else noticed a difference?

The only certainty is you will bag her and I don't think the size of your bets would have altered the price anyway. Anyway successful punters tend to look for value first and the horse quality.

6 actually or has there been a scratching? Regardless what is your point? James McDonald doesn't have a full book either with 7 rides. Jamie Mott has 4 Kerrin McEvoy 4 Luke Nolen, Craign Newitt, Zac Lloyd, Zac Purton and Mark Zahra 3 Daniel Stackhouse 5

Rubbish Look at the facts. I'm not going to post them again as you don't seem to want to comprehend them. For some unfathomable reason you are intent on bagging her. Kah is a very good rider in a very competitive racing state - Victoria Metro. $4m in stakes and second by strike rate at 18.5%. I.e she wins a race very 5 starts. So I suggest you look at the numbers rather than rely on your biased observations.

Melbourne Cup Day Form Guide20231107_flemington_252220 (1).pdf

Here is the field and barrier draw for the 2024 Melbourne Cup – Australian racing’s most famous prize. No Horse Trainer Jockey Barrier Weight 1 VAUBAN (FR) Willie Mullins William Buick 11 55.5kg 2 BUCKAROO (GB) Chris Waller Joao Moreira 21 54.5kg 3 CIRCLE OF FIRE (GB) Ciaron Maher Mark Zahra 24 54.5kg 4 WARP SPEED (JPN) Noboru Takagi Akira Sugawara 3 54.5kg 5 KOVALICA (NZ) Chris Waller Damian Lane 17 53.5kg 6 SHARP ‘N’ SMART (NZ) Graeme & Deborah Rogerson Michael Dee 15 53.5kg 7 JUST FINE (IRE) Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott Jye McNeil 13 53kg 8 LAND LEGEND (FR) Chris Waller Zac Purton 18 53kg 9 ABSURDE (FR) Willie Mullins Kerrin McEvoy 7 52.5kg 10 ATHABASCAN (FR) John O’Shea & Tom Charlton Zac Lloyd (a) 2 52kg 11 KNIGHT’S CHOICE John Symons & Sheila Laxon Robbie Dolan 6 51.5kg 12 OKITA SOUSHI (IRE) Ciaron Maher Ms Jamie Kah 10 51kg 13 ONESMOOTHOPERATOR (USA) Brian Ellison Craig Williams 12 51kg 14 ZARDOZI James Cummings Andrea Atzeni 4 51kg 15 SEA KING (GB) Harry Eustace Ms Hollie Doyle 1 50.5kg 16 VALIANT KING (GB) Chris Waller Craig Newitt 22 50.5kg 17 FANCY MAN (IRE) Annabel Neasham & Rob Archibald Ron Stewart 19 50kg 18 INTERPRETATION (IRE) Ciaron Maher Teo Nugent 14 50kg 19 MANZOICE Chris Waller Declan Bates 8 50kg 20 MOSTLY CLOUDY (IRE) Trent Busuttin & Natalie Young Karis Teetan 16 50kg 21 POSITIVITY (NZ) Andrew Forsman Ms Winona Costin 20 50kg 22 SAINT GEORGE (GB) Ciaron Maher TBA 9 50kg 23 THE MAP Dan Clarken & Oopy MacGillivray Ms Rachel King 23 50kg 24 TRUST IN YOU (NZ) Bruce Wallace & Grant Cooksley Mark Du Plessis 5 50kg

So if Kah loses it all her fault. If she rides perfectly it is all about the trainer and the horse. As I said stats don't lie. Kah has one of the third highest strike rate on the Metro Championship. You can't have it both ways. You've said many times that she doesn't get good horses to ride because she is such a poor rider in your opinion. Yet she does. If course she doesn't have the pick of the Waller barn that McDonald does!

Rubbish. Kah got her off the fence at the perfect time. McDonald started his run way before Kah did.