Chief Stipe

I had probably walked the course the day it broke down. One of the problem tracks.

So you didn't pay directly but presumably as a stakeholder. What performance metrics did you have in place that all those you "paid to walk the track" did and to your level of expectation? Did you ask them the questions you raised above? For example it would appear that most Stewards don't walk the track before hand and then rely on the advice of the Jockeys. Is that satisfactory? Are regular inspections of tracks carried out during the season by the national track manager? For example how did the current situation at Te Aroha arise? Were instructions given? Were they not followed? At the end of the day there is only one job for clubs and the central administration - provide a safe and fair track for horses to compete on.

What did you instruct the people you told us you paid to do it?

Obviously legal performance enhancers.

Even more surreal when you can't see the horses in the chute from the grandstands!

That might well be the case @Gammalite but for @TAB For Ever to suggest that very few saw a problem on Karaka Night with the track is just bullshit. From the Stewards report: Following this race comment was made by some riders that their mounts were shifting in the ground. Films from Race 3 were also further reviewed where it was apparent that TEVERE had lost its footing rounding the final turn. Stewards convened a meeting with all riders and after viewing available film footage it was agreed that the meeting should continue. Amazing what they agree to when the money is up! Not a lot of thought for horse welfare eh @Thomass! After race 5: Following further comment from riders regarding the footing including W Kennedy who reported that his mount lost its footing passing the 600 metres, a further meeting was convened with all riders. After reviewing film footage and considering submissions from all riders present the decision was made to run the last race as scheduled. Lucky it wasn't a 10 race programme! Not to mention that the report is littered with comments about horses not handling the "shifty conditions". Nor the casualites found on arriving back at the stables. Also don't forget the abandonment of Trentham on the same day/night: Following the running of this race, riders expressed concern regarding an area of the track near the 600 metres, where ZACKERY (K Asano) lost its footing and slipped. A Lawson-Carroll also reported his mount REDANA also slipped. A track Safety Review Panel consisting of Stewards, Senior Jockeys and Club Officials was convened. Following a track inspection, which clearly identified a slip, a subsequent meeting with riders and club officials was convened and the remainder of the race meeting was abandoned.

Well the reality is it favours big stables - they can organise their own jumpouts because they have the numbers. Of course that doesn't help the punters. Are there any rules against fast working with more than two or three horses?

26 entries versus 194 that ran around at Taupo last week.

MEETING NEWS Cambridge Trials Cancelled The Cambridge Trials scheduled for tomorrow (19/3) have been cancelled due to insufficient entries. (26 entries)

Really. How silly. Well one problem is very few actually do walk the track. Hence we use crash test dummies and come up with a plethora of excuses when the track turns to shyte like it did on Karaka Millions night.

Yes I guess a Grp 1 is more important than weddings and a funeral.

‘Been a long week': Jockey fined after falling asleep Tyler Schiller was caught sleeping five minutes before a race he was set to ride in. Jeremy Ng/Getty Images By Jett Hatton 08:26pm • 16 March 2024 Top jockey Tyler Schiller was fined by stewards at Rosehill on Saturday after he failed to make the pre-race parade for the Maurice McCarten Stakes (1100m) because he was asleep in the jockeys room. Schiller, who didn't have a ride in the previous race, had fallen asleep in the rest room and left the connections of Rich Fortune scratching their heads when their rider was a no show prior to the race. "I was just going in there to sit on something and I had a lay down but I wasn't expecting to fall asleep," Schiller told stewards. "It's been a long week." Schiller woken up by an official five minutes before the race was scheduled to jump. Rich Fortune was well backed from $26 into $7.50 and a late arrival at the barriers before failing to beat a runner home in the feature sprint won by Godolphin's Red Card. "Can you see where it sits in respect to your professionalism," acting chief steward Tom Moxon told Schiller during an inquiry into his nap. "You're riding on a feature day, Group 3 race, connections have booked a Group 1-winning rider and there you are fast asleep five minutes before a race. "It doesn't paint yourself in a good light in regard to your professionalism." He pleaded guilty to "failing to present himself in the mounting yard in a timely manner" and stewards issued a $500 fine. Last week the young rider rode his second Group 1 winner when booting home Lady Laguna to win the Canterbury Stakes (1300m).

I bet you I have walked more tracks than @TAB For Ever !!!

I hear @holy ravioli got the DCM on Kerre Woodhams talk back show for making extravagant claims without any proof! Who would have thought?

More interested in how ENTAIN are going to get 40%+ year on year.

Well I hope ENTAIN gets the new app going soon. Half the horses at Townsville don't have Jockeys!

I think that's what @Huey means by parasites. Hangers-on.

Well they haven't been achieving much considering all the money they have spent. Rubbish. You obviously don't have a clue about the relationship between climate and turf production. NZ is actually blessed with favourable conditions. Compare that with some overseas jurisdictions. Messara didn't actually say that. Another 3 tracks that don't work. Cancelled trials at Cambridge versus 29 trials at Taupo yesterday. Trainers in two centres didn't want the AWT's and have the stopped abandonments? Nope!

Not fake news nor gossip. There were injuries to horses at the Karaka Millions and if it had been a low key provincial meeting it would have been abandoned. You see that's where despite your appare t years of experience in the industry you are still ignorant of what harms horses. It wasn't the hardness of the track (was the penetrometer reading bullshit?) it was the slippery shifty surface. Sheer causes most problems to horses not the hardness. Yes many have and still do. Many have been mothballed. Never as long as poor tracks are produced.

Obviously. You are much like the previous administrators all hat and fascinator and no cattle. Nero fiddles why Rome burns. You might want to walk the tracks that your syndicate horses are forced to race on. They don't have much choice but you do and so do the punters.

All you see is fleas of no consequence.

Ok what odds are you offering? I'll take a $100.

Haven't you seen the photos of her in cars recently? Just like a number of your conspiracy theories they have fundamental flaws. What would prevent the public being told that she had died? The Royal Family can't over turn legislation or ignore it so authorities would have had to report the death. Have the children been taken out of school? Hell you talk some nonsense at times.

It happens when you get near to 100 years of age. 75 years of age...probably has a dodgy prostate like every elderly male. Not missing.

The problem is those things that really affect key stakeholders are beyond their control. Very very frustrating to pitch up to a racetrack that is unsafe to gallop a horse on or is in such poor condition that its performance will be adversely affected. If you are as connected as you suggest you are then you would know that many of the top stables had hurt horses after Karaka Millions night but in the "interests of the industry" bit their tongues from making comment.