Chief Stipe

Road rules are a classic. If speed limits were enforced then every car would be speed limited at manufacture. The point is this Rule is farcical. As I said earlier no one is questioning the fact that Wigg was caught under the rule. However it is head in the sand material to not debate the efficacy of the rule, its effectiveness and efficiency. Is it a poor rule that needs review? Is it a rule that encourages incompetence? We see a glaring example of that in the Wigg case. Could limited resources be better directed elsewhere in achieving the goal of PED free racing? Those who suggest that Wigg was attempting to gain an advantage by using Turmeric and Black Pepper are in la la land and a broadening of the term performance enhancing beyond what is practical. Indeed if one broadened the definition to the extent some of you are then the health and welfare of racehorse would be in jeopardy. For example if Tumeric and Black Pepper are performance enhancing then administering orally via a spoon should be banned as well as adding to the feed bin. Hell why not ban water and feed on raceday as they are performance enhancing by broad definition. The fact is the RIB mounted an expensive operation, found nothing in terms of PED's, failed to do standard testing and had to fall back on a catch all Rule.

Your comment dripped with sanctimony (unless of course your were genuine in your sentiment) and now that I've thought about it hypocrisy. You haven't been as compassionate about other recent cases e.g. Anderson. Will you say the same for Cam Jones?

How to deworm your horse using Ivermectin.

What a sanctimonious comment!

The rule MAY be necessary but it definitely ISN'T effective or efficient in its application. It fails the effective and efficient tests on a number of grounds. It relies on third party informants to alert authorities to a possible breach This is open to abuse by those in the industry that have a snitch for whatever reason. No doubt it leads to a wealth of false information that must be reviewed and acted on in some way. That results in more costs for little return; Any resultant action has a high cost as it involves the diversion of a large number of RIB staff to "raid" the suspect stable. The resources required versus those available means that on any one race day only one stable in a region can be raided on race day. What about the other stables?; The objective is to eliminate the use of illegal Performance Enhancing Drugs that give an unfair advantage to those using them and or may be detrimental to animal health. The most cost effective and efficient means of doing that is via testing. In the Wigg case they were so focused on finding a syringe that they stuffed up the testing! There in lies a big problem. The rule is an inefficient catch all that encourages incompetence. Trainers and Vets using tubing for the administration of medication and other animal health products on a regular basis. It ISN'T illegal outside race day. The irony is if a horse is suffering heat stress and or severe lactic acid build up after a race the remedy is to tube them as quickly as possible! The RIB is extremely strapped for funding. Old school methods of investigation and policing are costly. The RIB should be directing their limited resources to those methods that are most cost effective. Finding someone giving Turmeric and Black Pepper to a horse on race day looks farcical especially when they stuff up the testing. It is Keystone Cops at its worst! Note in this case if it wasn't for the requests of Molloy testing wouldn't have occurred. Why? As it is they passed on as much of the requested testing costs as they could on to Wigg. Now that is another debate that has two sides. The RIB side is that under Rule 1004 we had Wigg nailed and we didn't have to test what it was that she was administering. When they were forced to do the testing it is inferred in the decision that it was too late for TCO2 levels to be checked. Wigg was expected to take the cheaper option and plead guilty on the syringe administration WITHOUT any investigation into what was being administered. It should also be noted that the horses would not have returned positives to illegal drugs if they had been tested. Turmeric and Black Pepper are not illegal and they should never be. The Rule has been around for decades. It hasn't stopped people contravening it. You have no evidence that "the playing field is more level". Your inference is that using a syringe to administer the legal substances of Turmeric and Black Pepper is an advantage to those doing it. Meanwhile bigger issues of animal health and welfare are looming. Some "wokesters" are arguing that products that reduce inflammation and repair tissues, cartilage and bone damage in humans shouldn't be used in horses because it gives those using them an advantage!

Yes I picked that up. It is extremely doubtful that the level of raised pH in the paste would have been sufficient to raise the blood pH of the horses. It would have been a simple calculation to work out if the amount present in the paste by volume would indeed raise the levels. Irrelevant anyway when TCO2 levels weren't tested. Seems they mucked up that part of the sampling hence that charge being dropped. Contrary to what you are saying I don't think anyone posting here condones Wigg's actions. However many are of the opinion that the rule is not a good one.

Doesn't necessarily mean it was an alkalising agent nor of sufficient quantity to elevate the pH of the horses blood. Irrelevant anyway when TCO2 levels weren't tested. Seems they mucked up that part of the sampling in any case.

Probably not as the substance wasn't a prohibited substance and Rule 1004 doesn't mention spoons.

There seemed to be a lot more withdrawals than normal. 36 out of 216 lots. Is that due to the later sale date? Did some of those get sold overseas in other sales or directly?

Million Dollar Moment on Day One 7 March 2022 Lot 161 (Savabeel x Chandelier) was purchased for $1,000,000 by Kacy Fogden. New Zealand Bloodstock saw an exhilarating start to its 96th National Yearling Sales Series, with a strong buying bench welcomed both on the grounds and online, at the Karaka Sales Centre. At the close of trading for the opening session of Book 1 at Karaka 2022, 126 yearlings sold for a total turnover of $20,042,500, with most key Sale indicators climbing significantly on 2021’s results. Day One saw an 18% increase in total aggregate, while the average increased by 22% and the median climbed significantly by 25%. NZB’s Director of Sales, Danny Rolston, was pleased with the increase in statistics. “To have nearly every statistic up is fantastic, we would like a higher clearance rate obviously, but the turnover has been great and the push on the proven sires was there.” “We have seen a really good day for the New Zealand breeding and racing industry. A million dollars is great, we don’t get a million dollar yearling every year and Savabeel has done that for us this year. “The confidence level is really high and once the lots get above $400,000 or $500,000, what it takes is competition. You certainly need people to value them that highly, which is what we saw. “A lot of the Australian-based New Zealanders that have come home have been so strong today. It was a huge advantage to have them here and is great to have that flavour added back into the Sale. This, coupled with the strength of our domestic buying bench, sees us anticipate another great five days of trading,” Rolston said. The highlight on day one came during the afternoon, when Lot 161, a full brother to Group One-winner Mo’unga (NZ) was knocked down for $1,000,000 to Kacy Fogden on behalf of Mr T Fung and Annabel Neasham Racing. The colt by New Zealand’s Champion sire Savabeel is out of prominent Waikato Stud broodmare Chandelier. Fogden, who was in a bidding dual against New Zealand industry titan David Ellis to secure the colt, commented on the monumental purchase. “It helps when you have a nice judge underbidding, but it probably isn’t a match I would like to do again in a hurry.” ”I think with Aquis owning Mo’unga he’s obviously a pretty special horse to us. We were prepared for it, we would have liked him to be not as much, but that is the colt he is, he’s a quality colt so you’ve got to buy the one you want.” “We love New Zealand, obviously I’m a little bit biased but it’s a beautiful Sale to come to and the stock is always fantastic. There’s horses that come out of here and perform on the world stage so we love it,” she said. Kiwi expat Andrew Williams, in partnership with trainer Andrew Forsman and agent Bevan Smith, purchased the second highlight lot late in the session, after securing Lot 217 for $600,000 from Blandford Lodge’s draft. Lot 217 (Snitzel x Eleonora) was purchased for $600,000 by Andrew Williams, Andrew Forsman and Bevan Smith. The filly by Snitzel out of Group One placed and Group Three-winning mare Eleonora (NZ) (Makfi) heralds from Sir Peter Vela’s blue-blooded Romanee Conti family. Forsman knows the family well having trained Eleonora and explained what it is that drew him to her daughter. “She was actually very similar to her mother so obviously that’s a nice trait because she was a very good racehorse and a horse we’ve had a lot to do with. Being by Snitzel with the pedigree behind, her she’s got a lot of residual value heading forward anyway.” “We’re just wrapped to have secured her, we missed out of couple earlier today and that was the number we had settled on, so we were lucky to get her,” he said. Still maintaining his throne as leading purchaser by aggregate, David Ellis of Te Akau Racing purchased 16 yearlings for a total spend of $4,020,000, averaging $251,250. Ellis was elated to be a part of the ringside action during the opening of Karaka 2022. “We have seen an incredible day given the circumstances and I’m proud to be a part of this great industry.” “I just look at the horses and if I really want to train them, then I just have to buy them and we’ve purchased some excellent horses today. “After looking at the quality of athletes in the Sale, I knew that it would achieve good results, but you have just got to take your hat off to NZB given the way that they run it,” Ellis said. To enquire about Passed Lots contact Regan Donnison on +64 21 512 466 or email regan.donnison@nzb.co.nz or Kane Jones on +64 27 274 4985 or email kane.jones@nzb.co.nz. Catch the highlights and Lot-by-Lot footage from Day One online. View the full of Book 1 Day One results here.

Unfortunately the state that NZ Racing is in and is ever reducing size leads to more and more people knocking those that are doing or have done well. The "bad" we see in NZ would hardly gain a mention in OZ. They call it fair dinkum colour! Of course in today's cancel culture it is worse. Shane Warne gets a State Funeral at the MCG - if he started out today he'd have been cancelled within months.

That wasn't the point I was making and you know that @the galah. I'll reiterate that in my view the administration of a substance on race day that ISN'T performance enhancing should be allowed. Especially when it is in the best interests of the welfare of the horse. I haven't disagreed with that point. She was syringing a paste of turmeric, pepper and glucose which she could have easily have put in the horses feed. It probably is put in the feed most of the week anyway. The only rule she broke was the administration of a substance via syringe on race day. It is a rule that is impossible to enforce evenly without costly covert surveillance. There were ZERO performance enhancing drugs detected in the samples taken. What if the day was a very hot day and trainers had requested permission from the Stipes to administer glucose, electrolytes and water via syringe to prevent heat stress? Should that be allowed in the interests of animal welfare? Is the administration of any substance that improves animal health and welfare "performance enhancing"?

Fair opinion. I do see La Crique being competitive in Australia - her turn of foot, her stamina and the fact that she obviously has some growing to do. After viewing the last two weeks of OZ racing I don't see Asterix being anywhere near as competitive. If La Crique had had the run Asterix had the result would have been reversed and in my opinion by quite some margin.

But rule regarding the use of a syringe on race day is an anachronism of the past is it not? The intent of the rule was to prevent the "bad look" of someone using a syringe in public view on the race course and because it was assumed that the substance someone was administering on raceday was an illegal performance enhancing drug that couldn't be detected. With the latter modern testing makes that assumption void. The fact with the Wigg case is that someone alerted the authorities to her using a syringe on race day and the RIB hid in the hedges again. Secondly there have been wind ups on social media focusing on Wigg's success with the suggestion that she has been using an illegal PED. The fact is she hasn't been. Doesn't anyone think that it looks silly in the media that a Harness trainer is disqualified for giving Tumeric and Black Pepper to a horse? Especially when half the human population has been taking the new wonder food - Tumeric.

Just mix it in the feed instead of using a syringe.

Arguably he had the run of the race. Soft first 600m, loped along at the rear of the field, gradually improved position then got a drag three wide into the race, on the best part of the ground turning for home and a clear run. Built into the race steadily with no energy expended changing ground or stop starting. It wasn't a capacity field with only 12 in it. So he was never that far away. Different story if you were last of 18.

So @Brodie another stable is using Tumeric?

La Crique ran her first 400m a second quicker than Asterix and she had the fastest last 200m sectional. Asterix was able to lope along at the back of the field maintaining and even pace. La Crique was having to chop and change her rhythm as the front runners stop and started. She also had to to go searching for a run in the straight changing direction several times. Surprising she even ran the fastest last 200m. Certainly her speed wasn't "nullified by the distance".

Have you seen the sectionals yet or are you going on eye balling it?

If Asterix is still sound after yesterday then the Queensland Derby would be the go.

He's not an Xcellent - he had only two starts and was unbeaten going into the Derby. Asterix is a Tavistock stayer with leg and feet issues - many like that don't go on.

Probably only one horse from the race going on to bigger things.

With 3 mins to go the win pool was $67k. I guess everyone bets Fixed Odds.