Chief Stipe

Yeah I had to watch it five times to work out where it came from. The Jockey has black cap red sleeves and is inside the horse in the green colours turning for home. Gets laid on and held up and the Jockey ducks down closer to the rail late in the race. Top effort.

Emotional King Charles on verge of tears after first Royal Ascot winner – and knocks over trophy Tom Cary 07:16, Jun 23 2023 An emotional King Charles was on the verge of tears and knocked over the winner’s trophy in excitement as he celebrated his first ever winner at Royal Ascot. Desert Hero, an 18-1 shot, won a thrilling King George V Stakes on Thursday (local time), sending the 60,000-plus capacity crowd at Ascot into raptures and getting His Majesty off the mark at the famous festival. Niece Zara Tindall described the moment as “bittersweet but incredible” for the Royal family, imagining how excited her grandmother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, would have been. The King and Queen were visibly moved by the occasion as Queen Camilla wiped away tears of joy, with King Charles pictured displaying his emotion. Located in the royal box, they celebrated with gusto before descending to the winners’ enclosure to congratulate jockey Tom Marquand and thank trainer William Haggas. The King then knocked over the trophy, which was standing on the plinth, before grinning and picking it back up with assistance from the Duke of Kent. It was the King’s first winner of the week, having come up short in three races so far on Tuesday and Wednesday.Marquand, wearing the now familiar purple, gold braid and scarlet colours, had to do it the hard way, frequently finding his path blocked and having to force his way through numerous gaps. But he timed his run perfectly, pipping Valiant King on the line. King Charles III and Queen Camilla celebrate after the King's horse, Desert Hero, ridden by Tom Marquand wins the King George V Stakes on day three of Royal Ascot. The Princess Royal, and Zara and Mike Tindall, were also in attendance, with Zara describing the moment as “bittersweet” for the Royal family given her grandmother’s famous passion for horse racing. “It’s bittersweet, isn’t it?” she said. “To think how proud and excited our grandmother, the Queen, would have been. “But to have a winner for Charles and Camilla, and keep that dream alive, was incredible. And what a race. Besides all that. What a race. I was standing with Sheikh Fahad and the horses were either side, bullying their way up to the line. It was incredible. “Like all those owners who come here and have a horse win, having that dream, that hope, and actually fulfilling it, is incredible. The horses are the main game, really. That’s why we get involved and love them, and the competition. That adrenalin. It’s indescribable.” Courage Mon Ami ridden by Frankie Dettori, left on their way to winning the Gold Cup, with Coltrane ridden by Oisin Murphy placing second, on day three of Royal Ascot. ‘My proudest moment in the saddle’ There was a neat bit of symmetry in the timing of the win. Queen Elizabeth II was crowned in Westminster Abbey on June 2, 1953 and landed her first winner at Royal Ascot two weeks and four days later, on June 17, courtesy of Choir Boy, trained by Cecil Boyd-Rochfort and ridden by Doug Smith, in the Royal Hunt Cup. The King’s win came six weeks and five days after his coronation on May 6. Marquand, a 25-year-old who is married to fellow jockey Holly Doyle, told ITV Racing it was his proudest moment in the saddle. “Genuinely probably my proudest moment in the saddle so far. I grew up watching horses winning for Her Majesty the Queen so to win for the King is dreamworld... Royal Ascot is the pinnacle and riding a royal winner at a royal meeting is great.” The King knocked over the trophy, which was standing on the plinth, before grinning and picking it back up with assistance from the Duke of Kent. The King, who five days earlier rode on horseback during Trooping of the Colour, marking the first time the reigning monarch has done so since 1986, when Queen Elizabeth II last rode, will have two more chances for a winner this week. © 2023 Stuff Limited

Fields seem to have held up.

S & A Telfer & H Cullen training partnership now only S & A Telfer. Have a look at fields for Addington tomorrow night.

Mmmmmm will trainers put their horses first?

So effectively NZTR are doubling down in subsidising the unprofitable Breeders day.

The point is it isn't going to make Grp stars regardless of the stake level. You could put up $300k and get the same field. Does the fact it is worth $1m make it more appealing to punters? No. Will it produce enough revenue to fund itself? Not likely. Meanwhile NZ struggles to get a decent high quality Open field. Why would it be any different for a 4yr old race with $1m? Sure trainers will chase the big dosh although it only takes one or two good horses for the rest to run and hide.

Yes. Seriously though with so many of our Open Grp Races under notice how the hell is this race ever going to be a Grp 1 race?!

https://click.email.tab.co.nz/?qs=f238e39ceecf00ef165e2b2881ebf47f82f0816b0c591b3b35fa443e6c56ed669ae685f3e8c8336c7f67c6e0c04b8f08f23f3ce643a61c7c

https://click.email.tab.co.nz/?qs=f238e39ceecf00ef165e2b2881ebf47f82f0816b0c591b3b35fa443e6c56ed669ae685f3e8c8336c7f67c6e0c04b8f08f23f3ce643a61c7c

Point 2 following on from Point 1: The NZ $1m race for 4 yr olds WON'T be a Grp One race. Regardless of the conditions of entry the race will struggle to attain Grp One status unless high class OZ horses enter. Which is unlikely.

Point 1: Can NZ afford a $1m race for one age group? Here are the Grp 1 races this season in Victoria: (Note the following races have been REDUCED from $1m to $750k for next season) The following Group 1 races have been reduced from $1 million to the Group 1 minimum of $750,000: Memsie Stakes (1400m) – Saturday, 2 September 2023, Caulfield Makybe Diva Stakes (1600m) – Saturday, 16 September 2023, Flemington Underwood Stakes (1800m) – Saturday, 23 September 2023, Caulfield Moir Stakes (1000m) – Friday, 29 September 2023, The Valley Turnbull Stakes (2000m) – Saturday, 7 October 2023, Flemington Date( Venue Race Name Distance Prizemoney 27-Aug-22 CAUL MEMSIE STAKES 1400 1,000,000 10-Sep-22 FLEM MAKYBE DIVA STAKES 1600 1,000,000 17-Sep-22 CAUL SIR RUPERT CLARKE STAKES 1400 1,000,000 23-Sep-22 MVRC MOIR STAKES 1000 1,000,000 25-Sep-22 SANH UNDERWOOD STAKES 1800 1,000,000 01-Oct-22 FLEM TURNBULL STAKES 2000 1,000,000 08-Oct-22 CAUL CAULFIELD GUINEAS 1600 3,000,000 08-Oct-22 CAUL MIGHT AND POWER STAKES 2000 1,000,000 08-Oct-22 CAUL TOORAK HANDICAP 1600 1,000,000 12-Oct-22 CAUL THOUSAND GUINEAS 1600 1,000,000 15-Oct-22 CAUL CAULFIELD CUP 2400 5,000,000 21-Oct-22 MVRC MANIKATO STAKES 1200 2,000,000 22-Oct-22 MVRC COX PLATE 2040 5,000,000 29-Oct-22 FLEM VICTORIA DERBY 2500 2,000,000 29-Oct-22 FLEM COOLMORE STUD STAKES 1200 2,000,000 29-Oct-22 FLEM EMPIRE ROSE STAKES 1600 1,000,000 01-Nov-22 FLEM MELBOURNE CUP 3200 8,000,000 03-Nov-22 FLEM VRC OAKS 2500 1,000,000 05-Nov-22 FLEM CHAMPIONS STAKES (MACKINNON) 2000 3,000,000 05-Nov-22 FLEM CHAMPIONS SPRINT 1200 3,000,000 05-Nov-22 FLEM CHAMPIONS MILE (CANTALA) 1600 3,000,000 11-Feb-23 CAUL C.F. ORR STAKES 1400 750,000 18-Feb-23 FLEM BLACK CAVIAR LIGHTNING STAKES 1000 1,000,000 25-Feb-23 CAUL BLUE DIAMOND STAKES 1200 1,500,000 25-Feb-23 CAUL FUTURITY STAKES 1400 750,000 25-Feb-23 CAUL OAKLEIGH PLATE 1100 750,000 04-Mar-23 FLEM AUSTRALIAN GUINEAS 1600 1,000,000 11-Mar-23 FLEM NEWMARKET HANDICAP 1200 1,500,000 24-Mar-23 MVRC WILLIAM REID STAKES 1200 1,000,000 25-Mar-23 VRC AUSTRALIAN CUP 2000 3,000,000

Just to be negative has any administrator actually thought this through and assessed the unintended consequences?

Yep the same Fairy Flash group that obviously has no idea about yield management or sunk costs. The operator gets paid for being behind the window oncourse regardless of how many bets they take or the amount of each bet.

Then there is the group that has says "oh well lets be positive and hope for the best"! I've given up counting how often that strategy hasn't worked.

Regarding those reports I haven't seen any legislation rushed through to say they can't produce them. Also there must be legislative changes to occur to accommodate the Entain deal.

Does anyone know what Entains exit clauses are from the TABNZ deal? I'm sure there must be some conditions.

How NZTR has failed the racing industry by Brian de Lore Published 14 June 2023 The worst case of administrative incompetence in the history of New Zealand racing. That’s my view on the performance of the New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing Board (NZTR) over the past three years. The board has failed big time to serve the best interests of thoroughbred racing, and if they had any semblance of self-judgement and conscience they would all resign and refund their directors’ fees. In simple terms, they have failed to use advantageous legislation written into the Racing Act of 2020. The board’s failure to understand the Messara Review, relate it to the legislation, and lead all three codes through the process of a commercial agreement to devolve the decision-making for self-determination, displays a blatant lack of leadership, attention to the legislation, and doubt they even read it. No excuse for failing to act The NZTR board has performed poorly through its lack of action; there’s no other way to look at it. Five years ago when John Messara wrote his ‘Review of New Zealand Racing,’ he recommended a change in the structure of racing with a separation of wagering and racing functions and a devolvement of decision-making power to the codes. In Part 1 – Structure, Finances & Legislation on page 13, it states: “…it appears obvious that the industry is in need of an overhaul. The racing and wagering functions of the NZRB (TAB NZ) should again be separated with all racing regulatory functions devolving to the three Codes and NZRB being renamed and solely responsible for wagering on racing and sports…” The then Minister of Racing Winston Peters at least took notice of that part of the Review and had the DIA write into the Racing Act of 2020 a provision for the codes to convene and put together a commercial agreement (or more than one) to govern themselves and stop the tail wagging the dog. The relevant Racing Act of 2020 Clauses 15 and 58 appear at the bottom of this blog. Codes failed to seize the opportunity In summary, it opened the door for the codes to empower themselves for regulatory decision-making and leave the TAB with the simpler role of collecting the TAB profits from betting, gaming, racefields (Betting Information User Charges), Point of Consumption tax, excise duty rebate, etc, to fund the racing industry and sport from sports betting. A commercial agreement would surely have insisted on involvement in forthcoming negotiations for partnering or outsourcing TAB NZ, but they failed to seize the opportunity. Did they not even read the Messara Review and therefore failed to relate it to the legislation, or did they not read either, or are they just dumb? – take your pick. Or did NZTR’s focus get distracted because of a COVID relocation to Australia which didn’t deter drawing down the directors’ fees? Whatever the reason, it’s an appalling lack of judgement and opportunity that calls for the resignation of the entire board, particularly Chairman Cameron George, as well as CEO Bruce Sharrock. No accountability Where is the accountability for such a damaging oversight? Of the 17 recommendations Messara made in his review, he even allowed for the establishment of Racing NZ as a forum to adjudicate on matters of commercial agreements with the TAB. Racing NZ came into existence through the legislation but NZTR has never used it for the purpose intended. Recommendation 2 stated: “Establish Racing NZ as a consultative forum for the three Codes to agree on issues such as entering into commercial agreements with TAB NZ…” Recommendation 1 said, “Change the governance structure with racing responsibilities devolving to the individual codes. This will sharpen the commercial focus of TAB and improve the decision-making and accountability of the codes.” It didn’t happen. Legislation should have put NZTR into driving seat The legislation allowed for it, but no, NZTR sat on its hands and failed to move in the best interests of the stakeholders. It failed to carry out a straightforward legislative instruction that should have placed it in the driving seat. The Members’ Council has two tasks: appointing the board and reviewing its performance. It does a poor job in the first instance and apparently sits on its hands for the second. NZTR’s failure to act meant the codes had no say in the TAB NZ-Entain partnership deal which is appalling when you consider the TAB has signed the industry up for 25 years and the man who did the deal, Mike Tod, has resigned and scarpered with his massive bonus after only 14 months in the job. NZTR also had no say in TAB NZ retaining $40 million of the upfront $150 million, which is in addition to the $90 million of retained cash and equity at the end of last season. A commercial agreement could have prevented this from happening and rightfully sent it down to benefit the codes. We still don’t know enough about the fine print of the Entain deal to know how good it is, and not enough about Entain to feel at ease with a 25-year marriage when 10 years with a right of renewal might have provided more comfort. Stakes announcement increase of 30% to 35% expected On Thursday this week at Karaka, NZTR will announce stakes levels for the 2023-24 season, but it will not be the game-changing doubling of stakes the Messara Review envisaged five years ago. Too many blackbirds have pecked the pie before the codes arrived. Based on the figures released by the dealmakers so far, my prediction is the NZTR stakes will go up by $20 million, from $61 million to $81 million, a rise of around 33 percent with the minimum stake rising from $14,000 to perhaps $17,500. I’m guessing. Any rise is better than nothing considering the massive inflationary period racing has endured since COVID arrived, but when you have a $900 million deal with another $100 million contingent on geo-blocking, and it’s a one-off 25-year deal, and you need to shock this industry back into life, a 30 to 35 percent increase won’t be enough in June 2023 to cause recent industry defectors to rejoin. The decline of our industry on a graph needs the line to bottom out and begin to rise again, but this deal falls short of that happening in either this or next season. Slashing the TAB operating expenses A glimmer of hope comes in the knowledge that Entain will take the slasher to TAB operating expenses. This season they will reach a record-high figure in the vicinity of $130 million. However, we know the wage bill will continue for two more years. And without the Entain deal, the betting downturn this season would almost certainly have resulted in a reduction in stakes for 2023-24. TAB NZ is anything but transparent. Management stopped producing the Monthly Trading Updates after February because I pounced on them each month and reported how poorly they had traded for the first six months of the season – down $9.4 million at the halfway mark on last season and heading for a non-sustainable industry result by July’s end. TAB NZ has since changed its website and removed all previous Monthly Trading Updates. They did not hold an AGM after the late production of the Annual Report (January), and no half-year report has surfaced, and probably won’t, for the current season. Opaque is more appropriate than transparent, and could anyone be confident it will improve with Entain steering the ship? We are sailing into the unknown but the alternative painted a very bleak picture. Excerpt from the Racing Act of 2020: 15 Functions of racing codes (1) The functions of each racing code are— (h) to enter into commercial agreements with TAB NZ: (i) to collaborate with the other racing codes to achieve the objectives of the racing industry as a whole: (j) to carry out any other functions that are necessary or desirable to assist the code in achieving its objectives. (2) Each racing code has and may exercise all the powers that may be reasonably necessary for carrying out its functions. 58 Functions of TAB NZ (f) to enter into commercial agreements with each or all of the racing codes or Racing New Zealand (acting on behalf of the racing codes):

All I suggested was to try a different approach and I would have offered assistance.

Agreed. Would it be fair to say the low to middle grades if strengthened in terms of quality would improve wagering? That would then flow onto improved quality in higher grades and a more attractive betting product. At the moment we are striving to pay Metro Stakes for the equivalent of OZ Bush quality racing. We should be targeting improved quality NZ racing to take revenue away from the lower quality OZ races.

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Your approach is not working. I've suggested an alternative. Why don't you try it?

They haven't "got it" for the last 30 years. I'd admit I didn't "get it" for the first 10 of those. I didn't "get it" until I got a horse that cost me practically nothing to breed (we won the service in a raffle and bought the mare off the knackers truck) - wins five races only once out of the stakes in two seasons and still behind on the balance sheet. Should have taken the $200k Hong Kong money damn it after its first win.

Are you saying all maiden winners are mediocre? Every horse that races is at first a maiden. The problem is we have declining participation and are losing more and more of the crop overseas. Wouldn't it be great to retain some more? These special condition races that favour the selected few are not going to do that. Haven't you noticed that we struggle to have a true Open Rated race anywhere.

Yes it is a sweepstake race and should be funded 100% by the breeders, vendors and buyers i.e. not subsidised by the industry pot. Now they are making that worse by not only taking $1m out of the pot for the 2yr old and 3yr old races but adding another $1m of industry money to create a race for 4yr olds.