Chief Stipe

@jess it really isn't that hard. At the end of the day just give it a go. The only advice is don't leave your money in the machine. Do you have a TAB account?

To be fair there are a zillion options available on Fixed Odds. I'm not sure what they will do going forward but a tote selling window is becoming redundant for lots of reasons. The new pods are good. Lots of payment options. LOL would be interesting to a tote operator reaction at the races if you turned up with $1,000 in cash and 20 people behind you with 2 mins to the balloon going up.

Well I didn't start it.

So was he a Cantab?

Aren't they called Racecourse Inspectors? The old Racecourse D was really an anachronism of the past and a product of the old Racing Act. Basically according to the rules then you had to be a saint to be allowed entry on a Racecourse.

The number might be wrong as it is a Canterbury one. But not a common name is it?

Might be the wrong one. But this recent article might be a lead. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/stratford-press/news/egmont-racing-club-nonagenarian-stalwarts-long-running-contribution-to-racing

Are there any left? If there are I assume the RIU. I remember my father knew most of them and when I was a kid tagging along met a few of them. Not that he ever did anything wrong except maybe sell his winning tickets for a premium to a guy in a long overcoat and low brimmed hat behind the tote one day. Was one called Muirhead? Or Butterfield?

You can bet on a phone on Tote Odds. But can you see the issue from a Tote Staff perspective? The customer doesn't say what they want and then get issued a ticket and they turn around and say "NO I wanted a Fixed Odds ticket". The tote staff then need to cancel and reissue. By which time the fixed odds have probably changed! I imagine some new customers don't even know what the tote is!!! Perhaps some signage over the tote window! But let's face it - it would probably be cheaper to have transportable betting pods for oncourse and a tote person standing beside helping customers.

Sent you a phone number.

Don't the Yaxley's come from Springfield? I'll PM you some details.

I hear Wightman aka @Transparency is on the warpath on a particular Facebook group site. As usual is only antagonising people. Talks about democracy when that site is hardly the epitome of it. @Bird Cage Bill

Who's "camped in whose head" @nomates, @Pete Lane and @Comic Dog ? LOL

Is there much difference per 1 tenth of a point? E.g. 5.2 vs 5.3?

Where is the evidence they are pushing it? Perhaps they are just assuming that people want Fixed Odds as that is the most popular option. Either way the punter needs to specify otherwise how does the Tote operator know? Then again how many people don't use their phone app to make a bet? What proportion of oncourse punters don't know to specify the bet type? Does it matter to new punters who are just there for a day out? LOL in many respects they are likely to get a bargain if they bet early as often the Fixed Odds meander towards the tote odds. In many respects wouldn't it be in ENTAIN's interest to promote the tote? A bigger tote pool gives them more opportunity to lay off closer to start time.

Probably both us but the difference is I don't really care as much as you do obviously.

LOL here we go again your fall back - psycho-analysing! I thought you would be all across this as a partner in the site and your extensive IT background. Quick to poke the borax like a prat when it suits your agenda but when the boot is on the other foot...keep spinning.

I'm looking silly? @Comic Dog has you on full Spin!

It's not an "argument". Track ratings are important for a number of reasons. For example if I'm a trainer and I've set my horse for a R65 1200m at Trentham but I know it will have issues on a very firm track. On raceday morning the track is rated a Soft 7 and I say "great perfect". The horse lines up and they run 1:07.4 (after adjusting for the hand timing). My horse feels the track badly and can't keep up. I now have a sore horse to take home and its upcoming programme screwed. Isn't that a bigger problem than the track being a holding or puggy Heavy 10? BTW that example I used is based on fact.

Oh dear @Pete Lane surely you can do better than that. Really "a portion of our hardware infrastructure" "caused a major technical issue throughout the South Pacific" ?! LOL.

What's your hypothesis? Do you think that Trainers have gone through a learning curve with how to use the AWT in their training regimes? If there is a variation in fatality or injury rates between Cambridge and Awapuni and Cambridge has a lower rate what would you suspect is the cause?

But neither of those subjective terms are measures of firmness. In terms of firmness a Heavy 10 is very very soft. You didn't read what I wrote. I acknowledged variation between tracks and but that you can calibrate the measurement per track to deliver consistent ratings where in terms of firmness a Soft 6 at Riccarton is a Soft 6 at Riverton. Most of us know that the ratings at Riccarton and Trentham are suspect regardless of any variation in the respective tracks.

I don't think anyone is suggesting it is a new practice just that the science supports the practice of stressing horses at an early age to prolong their racing. However that is where the stats presented by Massey may be skewed e.g. what was the training history of the fatalities reported?

Who in the industry asked for a report the largest part of which is a Literature Review probably done by a graduate student! It is not impossible to calibrate your measurement systems to ensure that when a Soft 5.5 is published it is the same as any other track. With a single measure being the result of multi-factor measures. Variability in the measure doesn't help trainers or punters alike. As W Edwards Deming said - to paraphrase: "If you can't remove the variation then you can't shift the mean". That is if you don't reduce the variation then you can't improve things.