Chief Stipe

I don't hero worship Te Akau at all. A few were quick to say that their strike rate would fall away with the departure of Richards. That hasn't been the case and Walker is doing very very well. Seems some are quick to degrade his achievement with little basis to their argument.

Does that include expert nutritional analysis and advice?

You said "no drugs at all".... Now you are saying drugs without withholding periods. Do you remember the Bjorn Baker drug positve case in NZ where he used omeprazole on a horse to treat stomach ulcers? That's probably in your bathroom cabinet with the name Losec on it.

Stewards Report MOGUL - hampered shortly after the start and had to be steadied. Paced roughly from the 1500m. Weakened leaving the final bend and was pulled up shortly after the finish line. Transported from the track by the Horse Ambulance. A post-race veterinary examination revealed a suspected fracture to the right front sesamoid bone. Stood down pending a veterinary clearance prior to resuming. Stewards opened and adjourned an investigation into the reason driver W House did not retire the gelding from the race through the middle stages when the horse became uneven in its gait.

Who has "rolled over"? Interesting how "everyone" ignored the recent positives by other trainers but because it's Te Akau.....?!

Still doing it. Everyone else has the opportunity to do it. Do you have a historical beef with Te Akau?

Pennyweka dominant in Australian Oaks loveracing.nz The Jim Wallace-trained Pennyweka stamped herself as a superior stayer when she scored a comfortable 1¾ length victory in the Gr.1 Australian Oaks (2400m) at Randwick on Saturday. The daughter of Satono Aladdin won the Gr.1 New Zealand Oaks (2400m) last month in emphatic fashion and despite sitting three-wide throughout, powered away from her rivals to win the Australian Oaks under Damian Lane. New Zealand bred horses have been the dominant force at The Championships - winning all four Group One races on the opening day - and the (NZ) suffix was beside the first three horses past the post in the Australian Oaks as So Dazzling and Premise filled the minor placings. Opaki trainer Wallace had considered sending the filly for a spell following her New Zealand Oaks triumph, but Pennyweka thrived in the days following, forcing a re-think and a late nomination for the Australian Oaks. “She told me, I was convinced that after the New Zealand Oaks she’d be ready for a spell. She came out on the Monday, trotted up and the girl who rides her all the time said to me, ‘she feels better today than she did on Friday’,” Wallace said. “She carried on that week and did nothing wrong so we thought, ‘oh well, we’ll roll the dice’ and here we are. “It’s her first time away from home and she travelled like an old toff.” Wallace wasn’t perturbed by the wide trip throughout, with the filly jumping from barrier 11 in the 15-horse field. “We talked about it before with Damian (Lane) and I said as long as you’ve got a back to follow, she’ll be right, I think she’ll stay the trip,” Wallace said. “She will go to the paddock now for six weeks and then we’ll think about what we do in the spring.” Randwick was treated to a sea of green as a huge contingent of the Galloping Wekas Jazweka Syndicate cheered home their pride and joy, who carried the green ‘weka’ silks. “My sister-in-law and my brother run a little syndication company,” Wallace said. “There are 70 people in Pennyweka and 40 of them are here today having the time of their lives. “A lot of them have only got one percent, two percent but they can walk into the pub on a Saturday night and say ‘my horse won the Oaks’ which is great.” Winning Jockey Damien Lane was delighted to link once again with another star Kiwi galloper. “Well done to Mr Wallace, she was exceptional,” he said. “Obviously she was well prepared, she’s been going great over the ditch. I was the only horse travelling on the corner and we put them to the sword in the straight. “She’s so tough. When I was doing her form, she started racing in September, had a short six week let-up through December and she’s raced all the way since January. For Jim to have her up that long it was a great effort. To be able to sustain her condition all the way through, this far into her prep.” Lane admitted Pennyweka was not the most physically imposing type in the mounting yard, but the high-class hoop knew not to judge a book by its cover. “I’ve ridden enough New Zealand horses and had enough success on them to know that what you see is not always what you get. What she is is just tough, big heart. She has a heart bigger than herself.” Wallace bred Pennyweka in partnership with his brother Les and the filly comes from a family cultivated by their father Jim Senior, an esteemed veterinarian who established Ardsley Stud on the outskirts of Masterton in 1973 with his sons. Among the foundation mares of the stud was an Agricola mare named Agree, with Pennyweka a great great granddaughter. The victory provided Rich Hill Stud stallion Satono Aladdin with his first Group One winner in Australia after Tokyo Tycoon and Pennyweka had triumphed at the elite level in New Zealand for the exciting young stallion, whose eldest are three. A son of phenomenal Japanese stallion Deep Impact, Satono Aladdin was a top-flight racehorse who won eight races including the Gr.1 Yasuda Kinen (1600m) in the head-turning time of 1:31.5. Pennyweka is out of a Pentire half-sister to Gr.1 Auckland Cup (3200m) winner Titch, bred and raced by Jim Wallace snr.

Thanks Gammalite. Name the next big Harness Meeting in NZ and we might just have some prizes to compete for.

Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy than the trainer Jim Wallace from Opaki. His best horse was probably Cent Home. Jim trained the best horse I've ever had Madame Shinko. As @Gammalite said I believe there are a large number in the syndicate and a lot of followers. The NZ Oaks last start and now the Ozzie Oaks.

Mark Walker breaks the record of most wins in a season. Still 3 months to go.

Nothing will substitute a horses ability and very few drugs will enhance its performance. But a healthy horse is a happy horse and to do away completely with modern therapeutic medicine would be detrimental to a very inbred species that has been developed using every available bit of pharmaceutical science over decades.

Of course. We can than have the Parasitised Horse Maiden Stakes or the Ulcerated High Energy Diet Open Handicap or maybe the Mung Bean Paddock Trained High Weight.

I've got this. Race 1/ 11 - 7 Race 2/ 13 - 1 Race 3/ 11 - 14 Race 4/ 6 - 5 Race 5/ 6 - 4 Race 6/ 4 - 3 Race 7/ 3 - 7 Race 8/ 9 - 2 Race 9/ 18 - 8 Race 10/ 4 - 12 Race 11/ 12 - 4

That brings back memories. 1973 my dad and mum went on a tour of the CD with their horse trainer and a team of horses including some of dads. They stayed at the White Hart in Hawera. Horses such has Johnny Rich, High Chaparral, Single Girl (the dam of a very good pacer in Single Lord). The won some races on the trip and cleaned up on the tote a few times. Johnny Rich ran second in the Hawera Cup on the first day 16/16 in the betting. Memory is a bit vague but I think he backed up on the second day and won. I realise it is harness racing but they were heady days in the industry for both codes. How many meetings this Easter in NZ? There are 12 galloping meetings in Queensland alone today let alone the other States in OZ. 7 in NSW. 4 in VIC. Then NT, SA, WA. 25+ racw meetings!

So it WAS an error. Except you are saying someone can't count to 72? Or 3 days? Yes Meloxicam is in common use but we don't know if Tokyo Tycoon was prescribed it at any stage. I guess the RIB investigation will enlighten us all.

Well said.

I don't see any evidence of that. Why watch the opposition when you are a good trainer in your own right?

What the one where they tell of assisting the RIB in their inquiries and providing the CCTV video of the staff member committing the error? Very far from an "outcry of innocence"!

Uh? Doesn't that apply to ALL the trainers?

Interesting article starting off by saying Richards has had a slow start. Wasn't there for his last two wins at Sha Tin. As I said earlier he will be doing a lot more managerial/purchasing stuff than he ever did at Te Akau.

Asian Racing Report Richards stable to benefit from Easter buys Hong Kong buyers were active at Inglis this week, among them Jamie Richards who is finding his feet in his new sphere after a slow start, and his five Easter purchases signal valuable support from his owners. Jamie Richards' first season training in Hong Kong is continuing to gather momentum. (Photo by HKJC) Jamie Richards has enjoyed a buoyant few days down in Sydney for the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale. After spending Sunday, the eve of the auction, running his eyes over yearlings at Riverside Stables, he watched with friends in a bar as, back in Hong Kong, Romantic Laos and Alacrity gave him his first Sha Tin double; two days later, he had acquired five exciting prospects destined, he hopes, to one day add to his growing tally of wins. “It was good to celebrate that (double) among friends, and hopefully the next one won’t be too far away,” Richards told Asian Racing Report. The way his stable is performing at present, another two-timer seems likely: from the past two fixtures Richards has had seven runners for three wins, taking his debut season’s running total to 23. That is a smart return given the slow start to his Hong Kong career, and the performance of his Olympic Stables string in recent months appears to have instilled confidence in his owners. Richards – in tandem with agent Andrew Williams – was among 11 Hong Kong buyers that picked up 22 yearlings between them at a total cost of AU$7.28 million (US$4.9 million). That total included five purchased by Asian Bloodstock Services for a combined AU$2.135 million (US$1.4 million), and a trio acquired for the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s international sale at a cost of AU$2.13 million (US$1.4 million). And, as if to emphasise the intent of Hong Kong buyers seeking a quality prospect in and around the middle market, Maurice Koo, a client of Magus Equine’s Willie Leung, pushed his spend to AU$500,000 (US$337,500) for the sale’s one son of the Shadai to Arrowfield shuttler Maurice. That transaction came in the aftermath of Maurice’s Jack D’Or’s Osaka Hai success, which gave the burgeoning stallion his third JRA Group 1 triumph. Jack D'Or, a son of Maurice, makes all in the G1 Osaka Hai. (Photo by JRA) Richards’ spend was AU$1.28 million (US$864,000) for his quintet and he sees his active participation at the high-quality auction as being an important element to establishing his stable as a strong force, allied of course to the kind of relationship-building essential to attracting and keeping Hong Kong owners. He and his partner Danielle Johnson have been busy the past several months forming those connections. “If I don’t go and put myself out there at sales like this and try to increase the quality in my stable, then it’s going to be very hard for me to work my way up the ladder,” Richards noted. “Danielle and myself have been going out and having plenty of lunches and plenty of dinners, and trying to meet as many people as we can. That’s been going really well and thankfully we were given really good support to come down here and try and buy some really nice horses. “I was very fortunate when I was training at Te Akau to go around and spend a lot of time inspecting yearlings, and I believe I’ve worked hard at trying to develop my eye. Andy Williams is a good friend and a good judge, and between the two of us we’re doing our best to try and buy some nice horses for my owners.” Richards’ average spend on his five buys was AU$256,000 (US$172,000), with a top price paid of AU$310,000 (US$209,000) for a Toronado colt from a speedy family, offered by Vinery Stud. His ability to buy within that bracket showed that the yearling sales offer Hong Kong buyers with PPG permits an opportunity to perhaps pick up some untapped quality at a price that fits. “The Easter Sale is a very strong sale, the top of the market is incredibly competitive with the guys with the money to buy the colt funds and the filly pedigrees, but below that you can buy some nice colts that are going to be good racehorses, by good sires that are good types,” he said. “We just tried to buy a bit of value in that sort of AU$200-350,000 bracket and we believe we’ve bought some nice horses. We got beaten up on some horses but I’m really pleased with what we’ve come away with and I’m very thankful to the owners that have given us the opportunity to come down here and back our judgement.” The New Zealander’s first dip into his pocket was for Lot 19, a colt by the Darley shuttler Too Darn Hot – a star juvenile and two-time G1 winner at three in Europe – out of a High Chaparral mare, a half-sister to the late stallion Northern Meteor and the dam of Smart Missile, both of which are known to Hong Kong owners through their offspring. “That Too Darn Hot horse, okay, he’s by a first season sire, but he was nice and early in the sale, and I love High Chaparral in the pedigree. We bought him to be a nice staying sort of horse and hopefully he might be a Hong Kong Derby sort of horse,” he said. “We’re looking at a mixture of everything. You want to buy sires that have worked in Hong Kong but first and foremost we’re trying to buy nice athletic horses regardless of the sire, there’s obviously sires that don’t work because of the firmness of the ground, but we want athletic horses.” Richards, a four-time champion trainer in New Zealand until his relocation to Hong Kong last May, is sending the new purchases to his homeland to be prepared at the family farm before they head to Hong Kong if all goes as hoped. “They’ll all be broken in the next three months, and we’ll give them a bit of time then trial them up,” he said. “We’ll make plans depending on the owners’ permits, as to whether they come up to Hong Kong as PPGs or we need to race them first and qualify them as PPs. It’s a pretty long winded sort of exercise when you’re buying yearlings, but as long as the owners are patient it’s all good and means we’ve got time to work all of that out. “We’re certainly looking forward to the next two years, getting to know these horses and taking them through the system, and it’s nice to have some good quality stock that hopefully is going to ensure the stable’s success in years to come.” The handler, still only 33, is looking at the long game and that was shown in his patient start to the campaign. He had his first Hong Kong runner one month into the season, on October 5 at Happy Valley, and his first winner came one week after that. He had to wait until November 30 for a follow-up, a double at Happy Valley, and by the turn of the year he had just seven wins on the board. Handsome Rebel gives Jamie Richards his first Hong Kong winner on October 12, 2022. (Photo by Lo Chun Kit) But the wins have come more frequently in the past couple of months and Richards says he has learnt a lot in a short time as he has adapted to the Hong Kong way. “The horses gallop two days a week in Hong Kong and that’s usually a Monday and Thursday after the races on Sunday and Wednesday, when you’ve got your entries,” he said. “It’s a pretty routine sort of place, the horses get used to that and they thrive on a bit pf routine. “For us, it’s just about adjusting, like in New Zealand after a horse raced you might send the horse out to the paddock, or you might put them on the water walker for a week, or get them out of the stable for ten days, then run them again in a month. In Hong Kong you don’t have the luxury of doing that; you sort of swim them for a few days, help them get over their run, build them back in towards their next race and really try and keep the horses to a routine. You sort of can’t ease up on them too much because then they get fresh and they get a bit above themselves, so you’ve got to find a happy medium with them.” And he has observed what his peers do with their horses each day, logging what works best. “By the transparency of the Jockey Club website you can see what everyone is doing,” he said. “I’ve watched that very closely. And, I guess, another part we had to adjust to was how they trial them, they trial them quite hard: in New Zealand if a horse was going to race over 1200 metres you would never trial it over 1200 metres, but that’s something we’ve just had to get used to and get some decent gallops on them before they head off to the races. I feel like I’m starting to get a bit of a handle on it now.” As well as the Too Darn Hot and the Toronado, Richards and Williams left Inglis with a Savabeel colt from a good New Zealand family, a son of Hellbent from the family of Kermadec, and a colt by The Autumn Sun out of the G1 Galaxy winner Griante. Richards seems to be finding his groove but the road ahead will be relentless in its difficulty; he will need young stock like his Inglis Easter buys to make it through the system and succeed in his Asian base. If they do, his stable could be on its way to emerging as a force in the upper reaches of the Hong Kong ranks.

That's interesting. I knew some board members were pushing for it but didn't see anything official.

Where did they officially notify that change? It is quite significant as it is backtracking on the RIB legislation.

That's good to hear about the Appeals Board however shouldn't they be separated from the RIB? Also it would be interesting to know who at the RIB drove the decision to appeal.