Chief Stipe

Tragic. 4 children aged under 4.

Popular jockey Dean Holland dies after shocking fall Dean Holland tragically died after falling from a horse at Donald. By Brad Waters 07:53pm • 24 April 2023 40 Comments Newmarket Handicap-winning jockey and father of four Dean Holland has died tragically after a shocking fall in Victoria on Monday. Holland, 34, crashed to the turf when his mount Headingley ducked in sharply and fell as the field entered the straight in the opening race at Donald. Jockey Alana Kelly fell from Time To Rumble after the gelding was brought down by the fallen Headingley. Kelly walked back to scale while Holland remained on the track where he was treated by paramedics, who subsequently called for the air ambulance for the jockey. Holland, however, could not be saved despite the valiant efforts of paramedics. Victoria Police said: "(Holland) was worked on by paramedics but sadly died at the scene". Dean Holland. "Work Safe have been notified and will investigate. The death is not being treated as suspicious." Police will also prepare a report for the coroner. Racing Victoria CEO Andrew Jones said: "On behalf of the Victorian racing industry, I would like to extend our prayers and heartfelt condolences to Dean's partner Lucy, his children, his family, friends and colleagues on the incredibly sad news of his passing." "It was a tragic accident at Donald today and we are all are deeply shocked and saddened that Dean has passed away as a result of injuries sustained in the fall. Victorian Jockeys' Association chief executive Matt Hyland said: "The VJA and our members are incredibly saddened by the loss of our colleague and friend Dean Holland and extend our heartfelt condolences to his partner Lucy, his four children and his wider family." "Dean was a much-loved member of the riding group here in Victoria and when he travelled interstate, and his fellow riders will all be shattered at the shock news of his passing as we at the VJA are," Hyland said. Dean Holland wins the Newmarket on In Secret. Out of respect, the Anzac Day meetings scheduled for Flemington and Moe on Tuesday will not go ahead. "Racing Victoria, following consultation with the VJA, has determined that (Tuesday's) Anzac Day race meetings at Flemington and Moe will not proceed as programmed out of respect to Dean and the Holland family," the statement said. "A further update on the re-programming of any races will follow in due course." In Sydney, jockeys will wear black armbands for the entirety of the Anzac Day meeting at Randwick-Kensington in a sign of respect to the fallen jockey. Racing NSW boss Peter V'Landys confirmed the organisation would start the ball rolling to raise $20,000 for Holland's family. Holland leaves behind a partner Lucy, and tragically, four children under four years of age — Harley, Luca, Frankie and Lily. Trainers Tony and Calvin McEvoy, who Holland did a bulk of his riding for, said: "Vale Dean Holland. The whole McEvoy Mitchell Racing team are sending our love and thoughts to Deans family. Lucy, their 4 kids, Darren and Belinda. "Dean was a huge part of the McEvoy Mitchell Racing team and always bought a smile to everyone's face at work. Rest easy Deano." Holland posted the biggest win of his career when he steered In Secret to victory for the international Godolphin operation in the Group 1 Newmarket Handicap (1200m) at Flemington in March. His fellow riders celebrated with Holland as the lightweight jockey was universally popular across the racing industry with gentle demeanour and hard-working approach endearing him to his peers and trainers. Those same riders along with the state's trainers now had to begin their own grieving process for their comrade with social media tributes to Holland. Holland won more than 1100 races in a career that started on a dusty circuit at Ceduna in SA in December 2005 with his first winner coming at that venue in January 2006. Holland is part of one of South Australia's most respected racing families with his father Darren riding more than 600 winners in his career. Holland was apprenticed to South Australian trainer Jon O'Connor while he also spent time with Hall of Fame trainer David Hayes. Donald is 280km northwest of Melbourne. Both horses involved in Monday's fall were understood to have avoided injury. Stewards abandoned the remaining races of Monday's meeting. Dean Holland with James Cummings after winning the Newmarket Handicap on In Secret last month. It is the latest in a series of shocking falls in Victoria in recent weeks which seriously injured jockeys including Jamie Kah, Ethan Brown, Craig Williams and Teo Nugent. Holland had his biggest day in the saddle only a few weeks ago when he picked up the last-minute winning ride on In Secret in the Newmarket Handicap at Flemington. Dean Holland after winning on Way Up High at Ararat on Thursday. Holland landed the ride after Kah was injured in a fall earlier in the day. After winning the Newmarket, Holland said: "First of all, what I didn't want to do was carry on, win, lose or draw with what happened with Jamie (Kah) and Willo (Craig Williams)." "My thoughts go out to them," he said at the time. "I'm just the lucky one that was able to ride light today and picked up the ride on one of Australia's best sprinters." Dean Holland after winning the 2019 Adelaide Cup on Surprise Baby. Holland, originally from Adelaide, was having a breakout season with 82 winners in Victoria, and was sitting fourth on the Victorian jockeys' premiership table. Prior to Monday, he last rode at Morphettville on Saturday where he finished an unlucky fourth on Seradess in the Group 3 Irwin Stakes. Dean Holland (right) with his dad Darren in 2004. One of his greatest wins on the track was the 2019 Adelaide Cup on Surprise Baby. His last winner was on a horse called Way Up High at Ararat on Thursday. Dean Holland with his wife Lucy and two of their children in 2020. Dean Holland's parents are making their way from Carpenters Rocks in South Australia to Victoria.

You entirely miss the point. What evidence was there that Meth was deliberately administered by the trainer? What is your view on environmental contamination?

The easiest way to find out would be to ask a local trainer if they've seen any maintenance work done on the Steeplechase course. Second thoughts maybe not.....they haven't done much on it for a while!

Is his appointment yet another one in a long line of stuff ups? These last two are only serving to make Purcell look really good. I give full credit to Purcell his communication to stakeholders was light years ahead of Sharrock and Saundry.

Reported that he negotiated the transfer of Tuivasa-Sheck from Rugby back to the Warriors.

Particularly given what seems her exemplary record prior to this charge. Will be interesting to hear @Yankiwi viewpoint.

Seems the NZTR CEO role is a job share part time one. Still had 10+ players on the books. https://wassermanrugby.teamwass.com/team/

I watched two races at Riccarton yesterday and decided the riding standard was too poor to risk having a bet. Plus the silly trackside presenter talking about her shopping all the time turned me off.

Dispute over exhumation of superstar horse Cardigan Bay heading to court Tony Wall05:00, Apr 23 2023 Hollywood seductress Jayne Mansfield sneaks Cardigan Bay some carrots in the late 1960s. There are moves to exhume the champion's remains. A High Court fight is brewing over the remains of New Zealand’s most famous racehorse – Cardigan Bay – and his final resting place could be paved over for a car park. The NZ Trotting Hall of Fame wants to exhume Cardigan Bay’s remains from Auckland’s Alexandra Park, where they were interred on his death in 1988 aged 31, and take them to its new home in Cambridge, saying it would be a fitting tribute to the champion affectionately known as “Cardy”. Hall of Fame committee members say the Auckland Trotting Club (ATC) plans to pave over the grave site. “People will be up in arms at the thought he is just going to be forgotten and covered over,” said committee member and racing journalist Barry Lichter. He said a High Court determination would be sought on the ownership of Cardigan Bay’s remains. ADVERTISEMENT ATC president Jamie MacKinnon said the Hall of Fame had no ownership rights to the remains and “no right to exhume [them].” He said the late Audrey Dean, Cardigan Bay’s owner before she sold him to American interests, wanted him buried at his “rightful home”, Alexandra Park, and that’s where he should stay. RICKY WILSON/STUFF Cardigan Bay's grave at Alexandra Park is under threat. MacKinnon confirmed the club planned to develop Cardigan Bay’s gravesite, and it could become a road or car park, but a final decision hadn’t been made. “We don’t know at this point, there’s a lot of options.” The club had no plans to move the grave to another site on its Epsom land. The Hall of Fame, the only one of its kind in Australasia, is moving to Cambridge after the ATC evicted it to make way for car parking. The club is in financial strife, having lost more than $100m in a disastrous apartment development at Alexandra Park, and has been forced to sell chunks of its land to pay off debt. Cardigan Bay won several big races in New Zealand – including the 1963 Auckland Cup off a big handicap – before Dean sold him to a group headed by the famous American trainer/driver Stanley Dancer the following year. The sale agreement stipulated that on his retirement from racing, Cardigan Bay would be returned to New Zealand. He lived out his days on Sir Henry Kelliher’s estate on Puketutu Island in the Manukau Harbour. A copy of the sale and purchase agreement for racehorse Cardigan Bay Lichter, former Sunday Star-Times racing editor, argues ownership didn’t change hands at that point. “There was never any change of ownership and why would there be, he was retired, you don’t change ownership on a horse who’s retired.” But MacKinnon said Lichter’s argument “doesn’t have any weight” and the club was satisfied it had a claim to the remains and not the Hall of Fame. “In the sale and purchase agreement ... it’s clearly stated when the horse has finished its racing it is returned to the Deans. And the Dancers, who had purchased the horse, also had to pay for the freighting of the horse back [to New Zealand].” But Lichter has an email from Harness Racing NZ saying no change of ownership for Cardigan Bay was received on the horse’s return, and wouldn’t have been required as he was retired. Cardigan Bay in full flight in the US. He became the first horse to win $1m. He has found documents from the US Trotting Association showing the American group who bought Cardigan Bay still owned him when he was exported home in 1969. Lichter also tracked down Dancer’s widow, Jody Dancer, the last surviving member of the Cardigan Bay Syndicate, who by email gave her “wholehearted” support to the exhumation of the horse, so that he could be “eternally memorialised” at a site of the Hall of Fame’s choosing. Any court action would be taken in Jody Dancer's name, Lichter said. He said a team of archaeologists from Auckland University would lead the exhumation, and an even better memorial would be built at the new site in Cambridge. But Fred Tong, who was a trustee for Audrey Dean’s estate, said he felt Dean was the true owner of Cardigan Bay when he died, as the sale agreement clearly said he would be given back to her on his retirement. “If I give you a present, doesn’t the present belong to you?” He said Dean wouldn’t have wanted the horse to be dug up. “She was very traditional, she was a great believer that once something is buried, it stays buried.” Lichter said Dean’s views might have changed if she knew “a car park was going to be built over the top of him”. He said the Hall of Fame would be happy if the grave was moved elsewhere in Alexandra Park, but the ATC was blocking all attempts at moving it. RICKY WILSON/STUFF Cardigan Bay's grave is next to the NZ Trotting Hall of Fame. “I would have thought this would be a great PR exercise for them, doing something to preserve the memory of New Zealand’s greatest racehorse.” Cardigan Bay won 29 of 47 races in New Zealand and Australia, before going on to more success in the US. By the time of his retirement in 1968, he had become the first harness racing horse in the world to win $1m. That year he appeared on the Ed Sullivan show, just before the Beach Boys sang Good Vibrations. He was immortalised on biscuit tins and became the first horse on a New Zealand postage stamp. R

BEFORE THE HONOURABLE JUSTICE HARLAND 9:00 am CIV-2022-409-307 HARRIS, PAUL DAVID JOSEPH v THE RACING INTEGRITY (S Grieve KC) BOARD (B Dickey) First Conference In Christchurch District Court tomorrow 24 April. Busy week for the RIB - INCA is back in the same Court.

But what has he specifically "pushed for recently and in 2003"? How many trainers in NZ have collectively pushed back on training and racing facilities over the last two decades? Blind Freddy could see that the Riccarton track was stuffed yet what was done about it?

@Yankiwi can I suggest you look at the facts of the whole Meth positive case again perhaps you may view things differently if you do. The dog Opawa Pip returned a positive to Meth after winning Race 8 at Addington on the 21st of April 2022; Although the exact level of Meth detected has never been published (to my knowledge) it was described in the RIB descision as being "very very low"; It would appear that the positive was not the result of administration by the trainer (Lisa Waretini) or its handler (Alysha Waretini) but was probably the result of environmental contamination; Meth was detected on swabs taken from forensic swabs of the vehicle in which the dog was transported. The levels were so low as to not be determined to be positives for legal purposes; Both Lisa and Alysha Waretini voluntarily agreed to have urine and hair samples taken for testing. Those tests were negative for both confirming that neither had used Meth in the previous few months; Lisa Waretini requested that the dogs "B" sample be tested at the RIB's expense. This was refused; Lisa Waretini rather than contest the positive pleaded guilty to the charge of presenting a dog to the races with a prohibited substance; Lisa Waretini in 20 years of training has had no previous charges before the JCA or RIB i.e. her record was clean. Waretini was disqualified for 15 months - Greyhound training being her sole source of income. She had 20 Greyhounds in work for racing at the time of the disqualification. She has a property that I understand is suitable for housing 60 dogs. Her disqualification ends in June 2024 after which there should be no reason no to grant her a permit to train. Personally I don't see any problem in utilising her facilities as part of the process to re-home retired Greyhounds if that is indeed true. Particularly after reviewing all the details of the case. @Yankiwi I could take you around a few bars in any town or city in New Zealand and it is likely afterwards that your clothing would return a positive to at least one banned substance caused by environmental contamination.

You are stretching things a bit here Yankiwi. Why would you waste drugs on a retired Greyhound?

Nice spin Tim. When are you fixing (or even managing) the Turf Track? Can you also post the net profit from the Polytrack assuming that maintenance is up to date and a reserve is being created to pay for its recommended periodic renovation.

MEDIA RELEASE RICCARTON PARK RACING RESUMES Racing resumes on the Riccarton Park Polytrack for the second year on Thursday 4 May 2023. This is the start of a run of eleven racemeetings on the Polytrack from May through to September. Effectively there is a racemeeting on the synthetic surface every fortnight. Notable aspects from the first Polytrack season in 2022 included: • From 1 May to 9 September 2022 nine midweek South Island meetings on the Turf averaged $103,399 betting per race whilst the average of the Riccarton Park Polytrack meetings was $105,140. • The average field size was 9.84, not too far behind the national average. It was impacted by low average on the very first meeting and the meeting on Thursday 25 August which was a new meeting added to the calendar. • The national average field size was exceeded at five of the 11 meetings. • The Polytrack evolved to be kind to punters with favourites winning 31.3% of the races which is ahead of the national average of 28-30%. • BUOYANT won on the Polytrack on Friday 3 June 2022. In five subsequent starts on the turf he won three and ran two seconds. Wins included the Group 3 Lindauer Stewards Stakes and the Listed Property Brokers Hazlett Stakes. • CAMPIONESSA won on the Polytrack on 1 September 2022. She raced on to win two races including the Listed Nautical Boat Insurance Metropolitan Trophy and the Group 2 Rich Hill Mile. CAMPIONESSA was also Group 1 second in both the Herbie Dyke Stakes and Bonecrusher NZ Stakes. • On Wednesday 10 August LIGHT UP won on the Polytrack and three months later won a $60,000 race on the support card of New Zealand Cup Day. • JUNE BUG also won a similar race on New Zealand Cup Day after having raced four times on the Polytrack for placings. • In September ILLICIT MISS won a double on the Polytrack going on to win a $60,000 race over 2500 metres at the NZ Cup Meeting. • Champion trainer Mark Walker won with BELLE OF THE BALL on the final Polytrack meeting of 2022. She continued racing to win two more races and run second in Group 3 company. • MEGALOMANIAC raced at six of the Polytrack meetings winning on three occasions. • GLOBAL BEAUTY won on the Polytrack and has gone on to win two more races on the turf. • In June and July FRANKIE THE FOX won consecutive open ‘metric mile’ handicaps on the turf and the Polytrack. • Michael and Matthew Pitman have trained most winners on the Polytrack with 10. • Michael McNab with the same number holds the most wins amongst the jockeys. The racemeeting on Thursday 4 May is an Industry day but is followed two weeks later Thursday 18 May 2023 with a feature meeting. The full list of dates for the 2023 Polytrack season is as follows: 1. Thu 4 May 2023 Synthetic Racing Season 1st Day Industry meeting 2. Thu 18 May 2023 Synthetic Racing Season 2nd Day Feature meeting 3. Fri 2 June 2023 Synthetic Racing Season 3rd Day Industry meeting 4. Thu 15 June 2023 Synthetic Racing Season 4th Day Industry meeting 5. Thu 29 June 2023 Synthetic Racing Season 5 th Day Industry meeting 6. Wed 12 July 2023 Synthetic Racing Season 6th Day Industry meeting added stakes 7. Fri 28 July 2023 Synthetic Racing Season 7th Day Industry meeting 8. Wed 9 August 2023 GNF 2nd Day, Synthetic Season 8th Day Feature meeting 9. Thu 24 August 2023 Synthetic Racing Season 9th Day Industry meeting 10. Thu 31 August 2023 Synthetic Racing Season 10th Day Industry meeting 11. Wed 13 September 2023 Synthetic Racing Season 11th Day Industry meeting For further information please contact Canterbury Jockey Club Chief Executive Tim Mills 027 430 0208

But you "can recall" now that Chittick is now asking the right questions. I would have thought that that would be supported rather than garner cynicism. There are many "big players" that have been silent then and certainly now. Some you see everyday. What's their opinion?

I just asked for proof that your accusation was correct. Do you have any?

Garry Chittick comment on TAB and Entain: On the subject we in NZ are most interested in, that is the new joint-ventured TAB, we are being fed little information but can only hope that the driver of Australia’s success is stakes, we need a rapid infusion. I met Peter V’Landys over the recent carnival. He is evidently a man who has a clear picture of where he wants to position Racing NSW. Straight to the point, takes no prisoners, he is exactly what we needed. If not him then a similar visionary. I don’t know our TAB Chief Executive or Chairman, but if they have a vision then share it. I return to one of my earlier Corners when I expressed my concerns about our betting agency’s emphasis on sports betting. When at Trentham I expressed my views to McNulty, our new Minister, my concerns were brushed aside, as was my concern at the composition of the current Board. Let’s return to my theme for the day: FACTS. The fact is, despite our current successes we have our smallest foal crop since I started breeding in 1975. FACT. what’s going to change that? Not sports betting. FACT. We, that is the Codes, have allowed our industry to morph into a Government Department. FACT. Will this result in a resurgence across the three Codes? I doubt it. Result, if nobody gets off their - - - - it will be too late. A good start would be to involve us, after all, no us no industry.

Do you have proof supporting this accusation?

A Club only holds a tote license if TABNZ grants one which is dependent on TABNZ and NZTR allocating a race date. If a race date is allocated then TABNZ MUST allocate a tote license.

Not so much weak arses but closer to incompetent troughers. Mackenzie was a classic and Birnie has his nose in many troughs.

There hasn't been as many as the perception that has been allowed to develop unchallenged. It just happens that the focus is on the Melbourne Cup as the sole advertisement for the social license supposedly granted by society to allow horse racing. Quite frankly it's bollocks and the industry lays down and perpetuates the nonsense.

Geez that @Archie Butterfly aka Peter Profit is a moron. His latest is that equine somatropin (a growth hormone) is just like EPO. They couldn't be more different.

To only look at fatalities instead of including hospitalisations and injuries to jockies and dare I say it injuries to horses.