Chief Stipe

So @TAB For Ever what do your inside sources say the chances are that the February 17 Meeting will go ahead?

When it came out and I found it extremely flawed as were the subsequent actions of Dean Mckenzie. Many would agree with me.

In your opinion. But you are constantly inferring you are "in the know"...and have "contacts"... What's being there got to do with anything? The Stipes viewed all the vision - did you have access to that? Arguably being able to watch in HD from the lounge and pause/rewind after the race would give those of us NOT there a greater appreciation of what was happening. The Stipes report clearly states there was problems - if there weren't why the hell bother meeting with the Jockey's? "Exactly as (you) thought it would" - really and on what did you base that "thought" - the trials went OK did they not? Many trainers weren't happy with the shifty nature of the track - that's a fact. Don't know who you were talking to. Then why was Trentham abandoned? One horse slipped when tiring under pressure. I gather consistency isn't one of your strong points. But it's pleasing that you had such a great time drinking all the Koolaid. Of course you don't realise that you are debating with yourself just for the sake of it as you admit that the track was off! But it was to be expected in your words. I don't know anyone that expected the new multi-million dollar track to play the way it did. But then obviously I don't move in the rarified air that you do!

Where did you hear that piece of news?

Go easy on that sort of comment HJ. By all reports you aren't exactly a Greek Adonis yourself. Unlike myself of course.

Correct. However many question the integrity of the RIB so don't accept any explanation. Beside the fact that as the decision pointed out the RIB's (RIU at the time) investigation showed there were any of readily available feed supplements that could have given a reading greater than 200. There was millions spent on court cases in OZ on related issues.

I believe so. Not an uncommon practice to give horses in training time off in a day paddock. Stops them from getting bored and as an old trainer told me last night there is nothing better than grass to replenish any depleted trace elements or minerals incurred during training. Also conceivable that cattle went through those same day paddocks to keep the grass down and fresh - from what I learnt horses don't like eating tall grass. Plus why waste good grass when you can mow with dry stock. I realise I'm extremely naive according to @Huey but the way the stipes in NZ and in some states in OZ handled the cobalt issue was scientifically very flawed. Don't bother giving you horse any Vitamin B.

It's OK @Huey I realise most of your generation haven't kept up with horse training science in terms of treatments and nutrition but that's cool you just keep looking for spiders under troughs...

An interesting number - 96%. That doesn't quite equate with what I thought the field capacity would be of the new soil system.

Your cynicism knows no bounds @Huey - what traumatic experience in the industry brought it on?

Does it matter where the trough's were? At least you agree that the trough explanation is feasible as a source of the Cobalt. Hasn't it been put to bed i.e. the RIB laid charges it the Judiciary dealt to it EIGHT years ago. There was a bigger issue which caused a lot of controversy in OZ i.e. false cobalt positives. The cobalt limit of 200 was a nonsense - conceivably a Vitamen B complex injection could acheive a positive with no performance enhancement. RIU general manager Mike Godber says while that may raise some eyebrows in racing circles he is comfortable with no loss of licence for the training partners. "We conducted a lot of tests involving what the horses eat and drink and we found there were circumstances where they could raise the horses' cobalt level past the 200 limit," said Godber. "We can only work on what we can prove and their explanation that the cobalt could have got into the horses through other means was plausible. "Which means they haven't been charged with administering anything to these horses but with presenting them to the races with cobalt in their system.

Is it fully functional? From your earlier comment inconsistent irrigation was suggested by officials as part of the problem (not the weather). What size is the stormwater reticulation pond? How many thousand litres? A lot of water doesn't go very far. 250,000 litres to put 25mm of irrigation on 1 hectare. An 8 lane 400m track is 0.5 hectares.

Stop making excuses. It is a state of the art track that has been many years in planning, design and implementation. I'm sure even the Club Management wouldn't be happy with how it performed. As long as the party was good stuff the horses that have to run on it! In my opinion that is the single biggest reason why racing is struggling in this country - lack of investment in good tracks and good management of them. As for the sunshine hours BS I suggest you stick to cost accouting rather than horticultural or agricultural science!!! The farmers I've talked to have had a great season grass wise therefore their stock have done well. THE TRACK ON KM DAY AT ELLERSLIE WAS OFF - I guess you admit that but blame the weather!

Did you read the Stipes report? Are you making excuses? Report 2024-01-27 Ellerslie.pdf

Both Auckland and Wellington/Hutt Cities have water supply issues and high charges. Does it not follow that there may be a flow on effect to the management of a very large piece of turf?

I would say water supply and cost is an issue both at Ellerslie and Trentham. The type of issues that they are experiencing at Ellerslie has occurred in a few newly renovated or developed tracks in OZ. Some of those issues were the wrong grass mix and racing too soon.

Absolute bollocks. If they are "untouchable" how come they get charged? I'd actually venture to say that those big stables are under more scrutiny than Ma and Pa Kettle with one or two battlers. Certainly if the attention paid to them on online forums is anything to go by - no one posts about the positives returned by less significant trainers nor do they go on about it for 20+ years!!!

21 years ago. Geez you sure hold a flame for a long time! Scott's actions, which were observed by a swabbing steward, led to the mare's late scratching. Following an investigation which revealed that the susbstance contained no performamnce enhancing properties, Scott was informed that he had a case to answer under the Rules of Racing "serious racing offence" category.

Well maybe they should be sensible and work towards the big meeting first week of March.

Isn't the question can they remedy the issues identified in 17 days?

Shouldn't happen on a StrathAyr. Every other StrathAyr in the world struggles to get firmer than a G4 hence race times are never super fast. It isn't a football field. I would say that the irrigation has been inconsistent and mismanaged. Of course we'd never consider irrigating on raceday like they do in OZ. Anyway if your comments and those that you have heard from those close to the action are anything to go by then part of the problem is they haven't changed their track management processes to match the new track system. Rain during the day wasn't an unknown - it was forecast. My understanding is the Jockeys were divided in their opinions. Should they have relied on their opinions anyway when there was sufficient evidence on video of the slipping problem. More than was apparent at Trentham which WAS abandoned. I'm not making things up or lying. However I doubt you have as much inside information as you infer. So Pot Kettle Black. Perhaps you might want to listen/watch this:

Where is the report?

I explained my theory in an earlier post. It was a combination of inconsistent irrigation, grass too long and having not established a good root structure yet. I see the next Te Aroha meeting has been transferred due to patchy grass caused by disease. I hope the NZTR track experts washed their boots between track visits!

Alligator Blood unlikely to race again www.racing.com Champion galloper Alligator Blood is unlikely to race again according to connections after suffering a serious injury at trackwork. After trialing well at Rosehill last Thursday, the seven-time Group 1-winner was due to kick off in the CF Orr Stakes in February but owner Jeff Simpson says the seven-year-old may have run his last race. “I wouldn’t think that he’d come back, that’s my opinion,” Simpson said. “We are waiting for the vet report. I don’t know exactly what the injury is but it’s quite an unusual one they’re saying, it’s in his pastern. “It’s just one of those things, it happened at track work last Saturday morning.” Simpson said it would be a devastating blow to the entire ownership group and co-trainers Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott if Alligator Blood’s career was to end like this. “Gai is very upset about it, we are all really upset about it,” he said. “We are feeling pretty down and out, not the best, we don’t like to see them go out with an injury, you’d rather just retire them.” Connections had hinted an autumn campaign could be Alligator Blood’s last with the hope to retire the champion at the top of his game. Simpson says it’s remarkable what the horse has been able to achieve after being told he would never race again when diagnosed with kissing spine. “It’s amazing what we’ve been able to get out of him, we’ve done really, really well. We were looking forward to the next three races against Mr Brightside but anyway, that’s the way it happens,” Simpson said. “He will recover, and he will end up at Living Legends, that’s where we always wanted him to finish.” Trainer G.M.Waterhouse AO Age 7YO Sex Gelding Colour Bay Prize Money $8,125,525 Last 5 1133- Career 35-15-5-3 POS Jockey Track Date DIST Race WGT MRG Odds 3 – 7 T.Clark FLEM 11 NOV 2023 1600m CHAMPIONS MILE 59kg 2.5L $4.20 3 – 12 T.Clark M V 28 OCT 2023 2040m COX PLATE 59kg 0.3L $6 1 – 10 T.Clark CAUL 14 OCT 2023 2000m CAULFIELD STKS 59kg 2L $3.40 1 – 15 D.Oliver CAUL 23 SEP 2023 1800m UNDERWOOD 59kg 1L $3.60 2 – 7 D.Oliver FLEM 16 SEP 2023 1600m MAKYBE DIVA 59kg 1.5L $3.60