Chief Stipe

Did that include the Ellerslie $55m? I haven't met anyone yet that agreed with the plan.

Geez they sure have upped the wage bill today. Two presenters in the Studio and another on the other channel and two on course at each of the meetings! I might be being a bit picky but why do the two presenters hold their heads on an angle?

You are arguing over 0.02 of a dog i.e. 1 dog in 50,000 starts. Which just highlights how daft these KPI's are. A 10% improvement is 1 dog in 45,000 starts! In the absence of any international benchmark of the natural injury rate these targets are worthless particularly when there are confounding variables that GRNZ have very little control over.

In case you didn't know "setting a target" doesn't actually reduce injuries.

Perhaps they've realised that most of the injuries are caused by factors well beyond their control. One of the dangers if having a KPI that you can't manage the majority of the inputs. For example how many dogs turn up to race either with a minor undetected muscle issue or a genetic predisposition to injury? It would be impossible for GRNZ to either be responsible for or manage every training track in NZ.

It is clear from your narrow perspective and analysis dog welfare isn't your primary focus. Your primary focus is attacking GRNZ nothing more nothing less to the point of an unhealthy obsession.

Harrison Orange has dream start at Alexandra Park www.hrnz.co.nz Harrison Orange has dream start at Alexandra Park By Brigette Solomon Harrison Orange has kicked off his driving career in the best possible fashion, winning with his first ever race day drive. As the son of leading New Zealand driver Blair Orange and former driver Lisa Godsall, the 17-year-old clearly has natural talent, but he was surprised, and delighted, to get Ilsa's Son home in Race 5, the Franklin Vets Equine Handicap Trot for his employers Barry Purdon and Scott Phelan. “It was all pretty surreal but pretty exciting too and I actually didn’t know if I’d won it when I crossed the line,” said Orange Jnr, “I definitely wasn’t expecting to go out and win tonight at my first drive but it was good to get my first win on one of Barry and Scott’s horses because they have been very good to me and helped me a heap.” Starting from one on the front line, Orange stepped Ilsa’s Son away cleanly before settling into running three back on the markers. Enjoying the easy trip, Ilsa’s Son was travelling well rounding the final bend. Unable to shift out for a run, Orange quickly corrected and steered down to the passing lane where Ilsa’s Son dug deep to win by a nose over a fast-finishing Regal Girl. “I’ve had a heap of messages and calls to say well done which is pretty cool.” Meanwhile a "very proud" Blair Orange watched Harrison's debut from Addington and then just 15 minutes later got back to business, reining home the Cran and Chrissie Dalgety-trained Fernetti in the Cup Week Packages On Sale Now Mobile Pace. “We’re really proud of him, it’s a very special moment for myself, his mum Lisa, and all of the family,” said Blair Orange, “we’re really thankful to Barry and Scotty for everything they do for him up there, and hopefully it’s one of many to come for him.” “We’re in touch most days and he gets in touch with a few other senior drivers for advice but he’s got a good brain on him and he’s always loved the horses and spent a lot of time out at John and Jenna Dunn’s at Woodend when he was growing up.” While Harrison jumpstarted his career in the best possible way, Blair's win took him to 2761 - he's the fourth most successful driver in this country ever behind Tony Herlihy, Maurice McKendry and Ricky May. While the Oranges will be re-living the moment for some time Sunday will see another massive moment for the family. Harrison and his dad will go head to head in Race 5, the Krystal Williams Racing Mobile Pace at Addington. Harrison will drive Poetry In Motion while Blair will link up with Black Pearl for the Dalgetys. Harrison will also drive Ten Da Touch for Bob Butt in Race 4, the Mark Jones Thanks His Owners for their Support Pace.

What is the natural rate of "injury" of a racing Greyhound? The figures I've seen from other jurisdictions are comparable to NZ's which indicates that there IS a natural level of "injury". The KPI's are arbitrary and are probably unachievable. The danger with these types of statistics is that you probably can't account (or in Chazza's case refuses to) for confounding variables. You cannot achieve zero injury rate in a high performance sport - that's a fact. Measuring muscle strains or tears and setting a KPI to he assessed against is a nonsense. It is a nonsense because there is an inherent level of "injury" that you cant take any action to prevent.

Lure lost power.

Currently a Soft 7 after 66mm of rain for the week which is surprising in itself. Still raining heavily and forecast to continue all day. Rail Out 8m | 13mm Rain Last 24 Hours | 66mm Rain Last 7 Days

Agreed. Then there are other confounding variables to account for such as class of race, age of horses, frequency of individual horse races, season and so on.

Quite frankly I have better things to do. I disagree you have valid data.

Which begs the question - what was the point in inspecting the track? Are the RIB really that gun shy?

There is no evidence that you have presented that supports that statement.

Not hard when you are a senior experienced jockey who can ride light. We are short on those in NZ. Who said that? I would suggest Opie won the most $ for NZ owners. Nearly twice as much in fact. Opie competed and won against arguably the most concentrated group of world class Jockeys in OZ.

Again has that data accounted for confounding variables?

Has that data accounted for confounding variables?

Let's face it the RIB don't have much to do.

As per your Topic title... You just make shit up!

Yep. It is so hard to get the best horses ready for the spring.

But what type of Synthetic? Plus how much grooming is required? For example do we groom our AWT between races?

Nothing better than a Turf track.

I suspect there is something else going on. When did a horse slip at Te Aroha?

Yep. Until we sort that out we will be well behind OZ. The punters know that when the horses pitch up to race they are ready. I love Spring racing in OZ.

Yep low point in the share price cycle.