Chief Stipe

I'll try not to comment on the rest of your post as it is rose tinted glass nonsense looking in the wrong direction. But I do take issue with your comment that that the "hundreds and thousands who attend once a year with their chilly bins of food and booze contribute very little*. Many are owners and racing enthusiasts who are on holiday and take their families along for a day out from the beach or the Bach. Or locals that get their once a year close up experience of racing that they remember all year again with the family in tow. They also bring their mates and their families some who may never have been to a race meeting before. What other sport offers such an enjoyable introduction? You don't need to be able to hold a tennis racquet or a golf club and sip Chardonnay between swings. Don't forget the local enthusiast volunteer club members who put on the show. Most who have a share in a horse. If the future of racing doesn't come from the seeds that are sown from what is largely a very enjoyable summer day out where does it come from? BTW you don't write like a TAB or racing administrator although you appear to promote their misguided marketing strategies. You write more like a cost accountant.

Oncourse turnover is less relevant nowadays however having people oncourse experiencing racing first hand and up close is very important. Otherwise what distinguishes horse racing from buying lotto? Where do you build the social license that the woke go on about if you don't have people experience what racing is truly about. I doubt my interest would have been the same if it wasn't for my early childhood experiences on course at the Westland Racing Club summer meeting. Learning the form with a race book in one hand with one of Percy Hurren's pies in the other.

Marketing is a big issue. MacKenzie pushed it out to the codes taking it off the TAB profit and loss. Thus it had to be paid out of the code funding. Of course we then get THREE separate marketing groups created for each code. It's a mess. Then add the likes of Twentyman into the mix and the whole marketing promotional side of things is a Heavy 10.

You really are new to this game aren't you @holy ravioli !! Commentators don't always get it right and how is listening to a commentator going to work with a drone when he is describing the race from side on and the drone is above? Stupid? Lift ya game. What would you do to encourage punters? Even new punters? Positively speaking (for @TAB For Ever) I tell you what I'd do in the short term. Fix the dam weight allowances/overweight disappearing online and improve the form presentation so the punter doesn't have to go to other sites to look at it! Which invariably leads to seeing better odds elsewhere!!!

You're on fire @Freda - the post of the year.

So you didn't watch that particular report?

Why should it have anything to do with luck? Then why close good tracks?

Don't bother. If it is the same approach that decided Counties was the second best racetrack in NZ you'd be wasting both our time.

What hold the microphone so the Judge can say "the official placings are....."...

So what does a Judge's Assistant actually do?

Or used his wife's account on his phone? 🤔

Will it? Which ones? How will they be chosen? What criteria will be used?

No he's not. He is raising a legitimate concern that could easily be addressed by using the TAB and club infrastructure. God forbid that they even think about facilitating good customer service. You missed @Newmarket point - he bet less! He saved money by keeping his money in his account BUT the industry didn't get any of that losing revenue!!!! As for Brodie he has a valid gripe that unfortunately most us don't experience because unlike him when we bet we lose more than we win. I was sitting next to someone yesterday and every bet he tried to make went through an approval process. Only because he is generally a successful punter.

Because a lot of things including rules in racing are poorly written. A lot of rules are about perception rather than any real reason. For example waiting until half an hour after the last race is probably to stop anyone from the general public seen a horse receive a saline drip or being tubed with an alkaline substance to alleviate lactic acid build up. Let's face it there is no logical reason to prevent a trainer who has run a horse in the first race, taken it home and is looking after its welfare from giving it any treatment. Having to wait another 5+ hours is ludicrous.

We all know that. One of the advantages of not closing down good race tracks. Although Counties will be forever a work in progress. Will the AJC help fund further development of it? They'll need something to stand in when the regular maintenance work is done for the StrathAyr. Yes but at the expense of those two tracks. Te Rapa is very tired turf and I doubt you can put anymore sand in it. When they upgrade I hope the AJC returns the favour. By whom? The committee in the Presidents room after the last?

No not grumpy however I don't see the benefit of drone footage during a race. The Australians only screen an overhead shot for the first 100 to 200m. It's best use is after a race when analysing what happened to horses during the running. I'm all for innovation but when there are still plenty of things to fix for the punter I think it is a waste of resources. As for fillies at Karaka - fill your boots. But not all the good colts and fillies are eligible for the Karaka Millions. Already signs that it screws up our age group pattern. Just like all the novelty races. You do that and eventually it will screw our breeding industry.

Right so you could pick Soulcombe out from the other horse wearing the same colours AND cap by...let me guess...the horse was a lighter colour? Yeah Na. Drone footage has limited value during live racing but great for post race analysis. Good for you @holy ravioli as you'd find more excuses for why your bets lost! Case in point next race at Tauranga. Two Te Akau runners one has a quartered cap - good luck picking that out in drone footage!

The bookies weren't so complimentary:

Wouldn't take much to piggyback off the connection they have to have anyway. Could even restrict access to the TABNZ site and app.

You are misinterpreting the rule. In my opinion the one clear day rule is open to misinterpretation. I would say at this time of year that giving a horse a saline as soon as they got home after a race was very good practice and in the welfare interests of the horse. The rule probably is to stop horses being treated on course during the raceday after their race but allowing to them to be treated on course 30 minutes after the last race. Some horses at this time of year are on tour and so will be stabled on course.

Turnovers on recent meetings (race # in brackets). Alex Pk 31/12 - $761,952 (8) Reef 30/12 - $1,149,997 (10) Mot 29/12 - $1,846,938 (12) Camb 29/12 - $471,005 (7) West 28/12 - $1,119,780 (11) Gore 27/12 - $1,266,617 (11) West 26/12 - $1,481,247 (12) Camb 24/12 - $653,801 (8)

Yeah looking at that video he was dead stiff. Took a couple of looks to sort him out as another horse had the same colours.

Follow the run of Soulcombe. Really unlucky having to change ground at least 4 times.

Yeah right that'll work in the Karaka Millions when half the field is from one stable. Good luck identifying every horse in the Melbourne Cup as well.

During a live race? A replay is interesting but I'm not sure apart from the start and first 200m where you know which gate your horse is in might be useful bit after that it doesn't help. Unless the put numbers on the horses rump or the jockeys backs.