Chief Stipe

Sometimes under that sort of pressure the local teams go into head in the sand mode and don't reach out for assistance. For example if there were pump problems why didn't they call NZTR for assistance financially or logistically? That serves two purposes - one it puts notice on NZTR to do something and two it covers the locals if problems occur. I'm not suggesting they didn't do this but can understand if they didn't reach out. Te Aroha for example were offered assistance from Matamata when their track renovation had issues but I'm told they essentially said no thanks.

I'm a bit disappointed to see Timaru have these problems. Given their previous successful meetings I thought they didn't have the same issues as everyone else. Clearly there are soil compaction issues and the track moisture content got away on them because of the drought. What is the long term forecast for the Spring? If it is a traditional hot Nor-West November then they could have the same issues to keep on top of at Riccarton.

Wouldn't have made a difference as heavy dews and fogs will soften the top 20mm but irrigation is required to soften the lower layer. So there will be a slip zone just below the surface. Are water pumps in short supply?

On the basis that there has been a drought I would say the issue has been caused by a LACK of irrigation not too much. It is similar to the issue that was discussed on BOAY a while back where the Steeple course was dangerous and slippery due to the grass dying off. In what video we can see it appears there has been a lot of browning off of the grass. The drought caused the maintenance of the track to get away on them. I suspect that like a lot of tracks they don't expect to irrigate much and the cost of doing so is avoided.

Mick on Monday: Warren Kennedy laments wasted opportunity at abandoned Timaru meeting www.nzherald.co.nz A wasted opportunity annoyed superstar jockey Warren Kennedy more than wasted time after yesterday’s abandoned Timaru meeting. The premiership leader flew all the way from Auckland to Timaru but never sat on a horse as the meeting was called off after two races, with a horse slipping in the second race of the day. No horses fell and no rider nor horse was injured in the split-second incident. Kennedy missed both the races that were held because his flight was delayed by fog, so was back at the airport soon after he left it. AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME. Kennedy would have dearly loved for the meeting to go ahead as he chases the premiership, having edged back to three wins clear of defending champion Michael McNab after a double at Ruakākā on Saturday. McNab went winless at Ruakaka and wasn’t riding at Timaru yesterday, so Kennedy saw the abandoned meeting as a missed opportunity. “I was on a couple of favourites and would have loved to get a few wins to stretch the margin back out to five,” he told the Herald.
“But I can’t argue with the decision. I went out and inspected the track, and there was a very significant slip mark and smaller slips around it. “The track was actually very firm underneath, about 2cm down, but with a little rain this morning [Sunday] and the fog, the top got soft but the underneath didn’t get that moisture, so it created a slippery surface. AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME. “It was the right decision, even though it makes for a wasted day.” Kennedy said frustrating experiences like yesterday’s are all part of the year-long battle for his first premiership here and after winning two in his native South Africa. “You have ups and downs over the course of a season, but I got that double yesterday [Saturday], so that helps. “I’d love to get back up to a lead of 10 or something so I can feel more comfortable, but Nabba has shown he won’t go away, so I think we are in for a good battle.” A further unexpected curveball was thrown with regard to that battle last night when NZTR announced a new synthetic track meeting at Riccarton on Wednesday, which clashes with the Cambridge meeting on the same day. Riccarton will then race again on Thursday, and that could mean decision-making for both Kennedy and McNab, who both originally intended to ride at the Cambridge synthetic meeting on Wednesday and Riccarton on Thursday before heading to Te Rapa on Saturday. They will both still be at the Riccarton meeting on Thursday and Te Rapa on Saturday but will have to choose where they ride on Wednesday. As it stands, Kennedy leads their personal battle for the premiership 118-115. That has seen Kennedy return to favouritism with the TAB to win the title, paying $1.80 to McNab’s $1.90 as their odds continue to seesaw. Kennedy’s win on Saturday came with the impressive Love Affirmations, who relished the better ground, and Sterling Express in a R65 over 1200m. As good as Kennedy was on Saturday, the riding star of the meeting was Jasmine Fawcett, who rode a treble, including an effortless debut victory on a smart 3-year-old Dan Vegas, brother to talented Australian galloper Gringotts. AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME. Fawcett continues to be one of the big improvers in the jockey’s ranks, Saturday’s treble taking her to a personal best 60 wins for the season and with seven weeks still to go. Three of those have been in black-type races and she sits ninth on the premiership, the same spot she filled at the end of last season, but with $1,758,488 in stakes earnings, with her tally making her the third-highest female jockey in the premiership. The jockeys’ premiership continues to throw up some incredible stats, with 40 more meetings of the thoroughbred season left before the Waverley fixture on July 31 brings the season to an end. Joe Doyle looks the next jockey set to break the once-unthinkable $5 million in domestic stakes for the season mark, while Opie Bosson currently has the best strike rate of his career at this stage of the season, riding a winner every 3.86 rides, better than his 3.88 strike rate of two years ago.

Where are you getting the videos from? Source please.

@Yankiwi please teach yourself how to copy the race Youtube links rather than downloading .wmv files on your pc then uploading them on BOAY. Thanks.

Viewing the TV only tells you where the Jockeys have chosen to steer and/or where the horse ends up due to luck or lack thereof. Given very few Jockeys walk the track before racing they use the first two races to suss it out. It is also harder to detect viewing the video if the surface in places is rough or shifty. Some horses just won't go in that type of ground.

The video for race 2 is still consipicuously missing.

They an two 2 yr old trials before the meeting started. Obiviously no problem with them. https://loveracing.nz/raceinfo/53597/meeting-overview.aspx

Well you are a better judge than most Trainers or Jockeys. I make a judgement initially on the form of horses racing on the track. If there is a pattern of form reversals then that raises suspicion. I then follow up by talking to Trainers or Owners that I may meet over time. If I have an interest in a horse racing then I will always try to walk the track before racetime and/or seek opinions oncourse from those with real skin in the game. So if your inference is that I have a vendetta and have based my opinions on no information then you would be wrong.

Cutting out and shifty isn't normally slippery is it?

I don't have any vendetta - why would I have one? Is this what you mean by "having a fair idea"? I'm just noting my observations and passing on comments that I have heard from trainers and owners that I have asked about the conditions. Te Aroha didn't produce something similar. On what basis do you say that? Sitting in front of the TV?

I was just thinking today looking at the past and future calendar that the Riccarton AWT doesn't seem to get much use to pay its way!

Guess what! The video has been taken down!!!! If it was a soft 6 or even a 5 I can't see how irrigation if it had been done would have made a difference one way or another.

Race 1 WAIMATE RC ANNUAL RACEDAY MILE 1600m CATALINA BAY (K Williams) - Slow away. KING OF THE DANCE (S Toolooa) - Slow away. ELANIA (R Muniandy) - Restrained to obtain cover after jumping from a wide barrier. JETHRO (D Tait) - Over raced in the early stages when attempting to obtain cover and raced three wide without cover throughout. SAILING AWAY (N Parmar) - Lay out under pressure in the straight The track was downgraded to Soft 6 retrospective to Race 1. Race 2 GM ACCOUNTING & CONSULTING MAIDEN 1200m SKYLARK (L Hemi) - Declared a late scratching at 12.10pm after bucking during the preliminary dislodging its rider who was uninjured. Trainer N Mitchell was advised that SKYLARK is required to trial to the satisfaction of a Stipendiary Steward prior to racing next. CLASSIC COUNTRY (C Campbell) - Slow away. Raced greenly throughout, running wide going into the bend passing the 1000 metres. BEACH BOY (A Goindasamy) - Slow away. DUJOUR (C Barnes) - Slow away. STORMY BELLE (L Callaway) - Slow away then being ridden with urgency to recover. Raced three wide without cover. UGET WHAT YOU GIVE (N Parmar) - Lost its footing and blundered going into the bend near the 1000 metres. Inconvenienced near the 150 metres when LISE PAREE shifted inwards under pressure. Following this race it was reported that UGET WHAT YOU GIVE (N Parmar) had lost its footing going into the bend near the 1000 metres. Video footage confirmed a significant slip when the filly was racing free of interference. After meeting with riders, an inspection committee comprising Stipendiary Stewards, Jockey and Club representatives, and the Jockey Mentor, undertook a track inspection which revealed a significant slip mark at the commencement of the bend along with numerous other areas of concern. Following a further meeting of riders the remainder of the meeting was abandoned due to track safety concerns.

MEETING NEWS Timaru Races Abandoned After Race 2 Due to a horse(s) slipping the meeting has been abandoned after Race 2. More information will follow.

Yep contrary to some pundits Swayzee has come back really well from his spell. Track Rating: GOOD Gross Time: 2:41:3 Mile Rate: 1:52:8 Lead Time: 48.3 First Quarter: 29.2 Second Quarter: 28.5 Third Quarter: 27.9 Fourth Quarter: 27.4 Margins: 10.6m x HFNK Track Rating: GOOD Gross Time: 1:53:0 Mile Rate: 1:53:0 First Quarter: 27.5 Second Quarter: 30.9 Third Quarter: 28.5 Fourth Quarter: 26.1 Margins: HD x 6.9m Seemed to be pacing smoothly. PCM08062411.mp4

Interesting Yulong were the anonymous online bidder for Imperatriz until the last bid when they bid from the floor. Apparently they do a similar thing with online auctions where they switch to another user account late in the auction.

Come on @the galah 90% of your opening posts are negative. The last topic you started was typical where you had a go at the favourites getting beaten and made all sorts of inferences. Nearly everyone in that thread disagreed with you. Pot kettle Galah. You won't respond to reasoned argument with logic or evidence. That's the biggest difference in our respective posts but you label mine negative. How is providing substantial evidence to support my claims negative? They are only negative in your view because they negate the conspiracy BS that you promote. You level of knowledge is as bad as the Stuff article around 2009 about a Levamisole positive that stated trainers were "loading their horses with P"! It was unintellgent ignorant BS based on someone connecting dots to arrive at a conclusion that supported their bias. It was nonsense. The journo had obvisiously been sent information or had Googled it and came up with research showing that Levamisole metabolised to an amphetamine LIKE chemical called aminorex. So yes I saw red when you started repeating the same crap. Actually Galah I ignore most of your juvenile swipes as its the BS you espouse on major issues that I take issue with. In my opinion it is those views that are killing the industry aided and abetted by the inaction of those administrators that could resolve things. The integrity of the industry is in trouble NOT because of its participants at the coalface but through the inaction of those making the rules and the negative culture of those enforcing them. You don't offer solutions you just point the finger and go "I told you so!"

But your points have no substance. You promote misinformation but I guess you can be excused because you have no understanding of the science. What's that got to do with Levamisole? Deflection? BTW I've always said that Gain of Function altered coronavirus leaked from a lab was the likely cause of the outbreak. Science shows that there is a considerable air gap between a wild virus and the one that infected Wuhan. Your drug testing arguments have a similar air gap. Your instincts have failed you in this instance. Science is about evidence based research NOT instinct. Occasionally you can get lucky on instinct but at the end of the day you need to provide evidence based fact to support your hypothesis. You fail constantly. The difference between you and I when it comes to the origin of Covid is I back up my hypothesis with solid science. You use gut instinct only. You display no logic and arguably your commonsense is lacking because you have formed the hypothesis that there is widespread abuse of performance enhancing dugs in racing without any evidence. When something remotely related to your argument surfaces you go - You cry wolf when you see a rabbit. The facts are: Your interpretation of what happened in the USA in the recent drug scandal is wrong and not supported by the facts. You have no evidence to support widespread misuse of unknown performance enhancing drugs in harness racing. A bit like your race analysis e.g. your bashing of Johnny Cox's drive.

Pull your head in and read the Act. BOAY has had a complaint before and I'm not looking for another.

Up to five trainers now that I've heard coment about the poor state of the Pukekohe track. Will be interesting to see the nominations for the 19 June meeting. Only 7 races scheduled again.

Pinch @the galah 's!

Continuing on in @the galah 's Chemistry education. Aminorex has amphetamine like properties but it isn't classed as an amphetamine. But looking at the chemical structure of amphetamine we can understand how testing works. Amphetamine variations all have the same chemical backbone which is what testing assays look for. If it doesn't have this back bone in a broad sense it isn't an amphetamine. Classes of drugs all have the same or very similar pharmcological effect which is caused by the common backbone. This is called a pharmacophore. For example: