Chief Stipe

I can't understand why they made it pure sand and contrary to some people insisting that it isn't pure sand - it is and I've seen the cores taken down to a considerable depth. In fact they are online posted by Ellerslie themselves. What I can't understand is why didn't they fix the home bend with a decent camber leading into the straight. Many of the problems experienced in the early meetings may have been avoided if they had. They could have shifted the 2400m shute over and made the bend better. They can still do that but I gather there are buildings going up in that space. The other thing I don't get is they still have a crossing while having the underpass at the opposite end. Why? Irrigation will be a problem and a big cost in dry years. That pond if it ever gets full won't supply all the needs.

Building new tracks more often than not don't go smoothly either here or in Australia. Unfortunately the one thing you can't control is the very thing that impacts it the most - the weather. A shame they didn't maintain and renovate regularly the tracks they did have BEFORE they were stuffed. They've been pouring sand into Te Rapa for years but eventually it all finds its way into the drains. They would be better coring compost into it than sand.

Well a bit pointless stopping like most ex Jockeys you wouldn't fit through the door.

Very good point. At the end of the day is the difference better or worse between a solely local tote and or local fixed odds vs Hong Kong pool?

She has far enough to go but it f#@k's with their brains. The good ones get keyed up to race and know the routine. It's a bit like having a hot date and she misses the bus!

Groundhog day. Travelled the same road the same time last year. Pity any fillies aiming for the 1000 Guineas as they had an extra week last year. The third time Captured By Love has travelled to a meeting and not raced!!

Well @curious misses a few others including his own at times. @curious is becoming as sad as you slouching there in your cynical PJ's in the Lazy Boy playing races back and forth five times counting whip strikes.

So how did you miss that one? Or are you just selective? The taps were light anyway and I have no idea why it is a crime to tap a horse on the shoulder. Best way to keep them straight. But I guess your crusade to destroy racing as we know it doesn't take into consideration horsemanship or practicalities. Anyway it highlights were the US rules are way more down the rabbit hole than ours.

LOL can you tell your Pre-cambrian lifeform the @Comic Dog that as far as non-de-plumes go he has a shyte load of imposters over there with more than one alias!!! LOL. As for your crusade @curious I know a few people who think you have lost the plot counting whip strikes. I see your mate is too lazy to do it himself. Seriously you had to look really hard for your recent examples of supposed rule breaches. Someone should hide the remote on you.

I see neither @curious or @Comic Dog called out Erin Leighton today. I can understand that with @Comic Dog as he wouldn't know how to take a snapshot of the TV. Anyway you can't expect anything less on NZ's Anti-Racing Site.

It's not abuse unless you define it as such and you can tell your mercernary buddy @Comic Dog I don't live in the past I live in the now!! If he wants to sit on the couch with you and slow mo Jockey's doing the job he wasn't particularly good at and call them out them perhaps he should move his arse and get down to the birdcage and call them out directly. The criticism of Jockeys is a bit rich coming from Leigh McKenzie aka @Comic Dog from what I've heard he could barely hold a whip let alone get it past the saddle cloth! Tell him there is a Tiddly Winks game in the mail and some soft toys that he can post on his lost and found Facebook page.

@Comic Dog I'm not upset. Just pointing out the inconsistency. But I guess you would sell your soul for traffic!!

So what motivated you to take a screen shot of a random whip strike and add it to the Anti-Racing Forum's purile WANTED lineup?

Much to @Pitman 's angst. However they did alright at Ellerslie as well.

A happy horse, happy owners and trainers. But an unhappy @curious.

@curious if you are going to be the self appointed conscious of the racing industry can you step up and be more consistent as an amateur bunker steward. Thanks in anticipation.

Well it is eligible for the Karaka Million AND the Kiwi B. She has proven she can handle Ellerslie.

Surely you'd negotiate for the sale to occur in 14 days time. She's ready for the 1000 Guineas and obviously the money is coming from Australia. So what target would you have in the next three weeks in OZ?

Last year Captured By Love won the NZ 1000 Guineas with a pedigree stacked with sprinting blood. By Written Tycoon out of a Snitzel mare. Impressive winner last week Well Written, the current short priced favourite for this year's 1000 Guineas is also by Written Tycoon. Any doubts about being by a sprinting sire can be ameliorated by the fact that she is out of a Sebring mare. Sebring has left multiple Guineas, Oaks and Derby winners.

You were right @Gammalite.

I must be missing something. According to today's Trackside - Mail Run the Ellerslie track is a beautiful surface and gives every horse a fair chance. Says: Mark Stafford Craig Baker George Simon Matt Cameron Not once but repeatedly. Although Matt Cameron did say it was fair if you knew when to improve your position between the 800m and 600m.

Isn't it the only deal?

Racing ahead with repairs at Hastings racecourse www.nzherald.co.nz Multimedia Journalist·Hawkes Bay Today· 24 Oct, 2025 11:03 AM3 mins to read https://bitofayarn.com Upgrading of the racecourse track in Hastings started earlier this month and was well under way this week. Photo / Michaela Gower. The rebuilding of the Hastings racecourse’s troublesome Southland Rd end bend is expected to be finished by the end of the year. But it will still be several months before any equine action will be seen on the track as Hawke’s Bay Racing (HBR) and New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing (NZTR) work towards having it ready for the three-day Spring Racing Carnival in September-October next year. https://bitofayarn.com Racing ended abruptly because of safety concerns after a horse slipped entering the bend just past the finishing post at the end of the first (and ultimately only) race on September 28 last year, the second day of the 2024 carnival. NZTR Central Districts general manager of special projects and former HBR CEO Darin Balcombe said the work on about two furlongs of the course is being done in four stages of about 100 metres each, from just past the winning post to the 1400m shute at the entrance to the back straight. Starting with the vicinity of the shute, the turf is being excavated and re-turfed up to 18 metres out. https://bitofayarn.com The work is being carried out by TW Group under the management of Australian racetrack and sports grounds specialists Evergreen Turf. Balcombe said that once the replacement turf is laid, a turf settlement process before horses can be worked on the bend and jump-outs can be held to test the condition of the track before racing can restart. It will enable racing for approximately three seasons until a new racing facility is established on a new site on the southern fringes of Flaxmere. The major Spring Carnival races have, since the sudden cancellation last year, been run at other tracks, including $550,000 Group 1 feature the 2025 Livamol Classic, which was run at Ellerslie, in Auckland, last Saturday. Problems for racing in the Central Districts and Hawke’s Bay-Gisborne, including the shutting down of racing at Waipukurau, Wairoa and Gisborne five years ago, have been exacerbated by the troubled reopening of premier Palmerston North track Awapuni. It’s recommissioning after a closure of 19 months for reconstruction lasted just one race and one slip of a horse in April. Meanwhile, racing will return to Hawke’s Bay on November 16 with the first of three cup meetings on the Waipukurau track, which has not seen the gallops since the track’s licence to race was cancelled in 2020. It has continued being used for training and jumpouts, but the licence is being reinstated as a temporary measure for the upcoming $35,000 Waipukurau Cup meeting, the Wairoa Cup meeting on February 15, and the Hawke’s Bay Cup meeting on April 26. Doug Laing has been a newspaper reporter for more than 50 years, most if it in Hawke’s Bay covering most aspects of news, sports, and, occasionally racing.

Whats the "nonsense" and what do I "believe". Cynicism doesn't c9ne with much detail does it @Huey ?

Well the discussion came about because a friend had just got back from the Caulfield Cup. He backed the winner and then asked where was Janie Kah?!!! He then asked what was the breeding of the winner and we uncovered the NZ connection. The same guy was the proud owner of an Auckland Cup winner ridden by an apprentice.