Chief Stipe

I don't know how many times I get the email from the TAB telling me that my "Favourites" are racing today when in fact they are scratched. Probably more than 50% of the time. Today's takes the cake though as not only is the horse not running but the entire meeting has been "scratched"! The Fun stopped long ago!

Is the new COO Sharrock and the new $2m computer system not working yet?

Mills could cut one of his long lunches short and do that during lunchtime.

The vaxed won't get tested as testing is voluntary. Therefore the stats will be skewed towards the unvaxxed in terms of number of infections.

Assuming you are not being sarcastic then the AWT stood up well to the downpour. So if they can run "Official" Trials what is the hold up to Racing?

No one have a can of red paint? Or are they specially made and on a slow boat from China? I guess it would be too much to ask if they installed the capability for electronic sectional timing?

How can you train on it or run trials without marker posts? No wonder the jockeys down there can't pace work to time!

Much water on the AWT?

MEETING NEWS Ashburton Postponed Until Tuesday The Ashburton Races scheduled for tomorrow have been postponed until Tuesday 21 December. The RIB inspected the track at 3.30pm Wednesday along with the track manager and there is currently some water pooling. There has been approximately 30mm of rain today. The forecast through to mid-morning tomorrow is for a further 50mm – 70mm of rain. Based on this information and talking to both the club CEO and South Island trainer representative it is considered prudent to postpone the meeting for safety reasons. The fields will remain the same and all scratchings re-instated.

MEETING NEWS Ashburton Postponed Until Tuesday The Ashburton Races scheduled for tomorrow have been postponed until Tuesday 21 December. The RIB inspected the track at 3.30pm Wednesday along with the track manager and there is currently some water pooling. There has been approximately 30mm of rain today. The forecast through to mid-morning tomorrow is for a further 50mm – 70mm of rain. Based on this information and talking to both the club CEO and South Island trainer representative it is considered prudent to postpone the meeting for safety reasons. The fields will remain the same and all scratchings re-instated.

There are no commercially viable deposits in NZ.

I understand Hughie has turned the hoses on Canterbury.

Actually I've noticed several times over the last year that they have pre-empted track issues in Victoria, NSW and Queensland by announcing early a plan B. For example if I recall correctly a recent Echuca meeting was transferred BEFORE raceday. I'm sure that the new NZTR COO is working now on Plan B and has identified the prerequisite conditions that will activate it. They'll know by midday tomorrow if the forecast will be realised. Of course they have one big problem with shifting to the AWT - field size limits and distances. Now there is some irony that South Canterbury may miss getting any rain!

I learnt today listening to the Associate Minister of Health that there are two classes of people in NZ - Maori and Non-Maori.

What I don't get is that the new RIB was touted as being a new broom, a new era of transparency, openess and clarity. Yet there have been no new press releases on their website since the announcement of the ex-Deputy Police Commissioner Clement as the new CEO in June. Sure we see the publication of the JCA judgements but nothing more. How frigging hard is it for them to post a press release on their site that clarifies what has happened, what happens next and how long it will take? That simple step would stop a whole lot of speculation. Although it appears they do talk directly to the odd journalist or three.

Going on past rumours it is probably the NZ Feds that are feeding him or rather a very small group of them.

Don't you mean Maori Law?

@Reefton Forecast is for it to fall in a period closer to 24 hours than 48 hours. If it was Omoto they'd race on Saturday. That said, what is Plan B if they are unable to race on Thursday? Perhaps the NZTR CEO and the COO could advise NOW of an alternative? If the predicted rainfall does occur I doubt that even the AWT will cope. @Freda I'm interested to hear your observations especially if you see carpet fibres, wax and sand floating towards the Avon. If Ashburton is affected will that make the lower class race logjam even worse?

Peter Profit aka Archie Butterfly is a scumbag idiot. He's inferring that Epogen (human EPO) is the drug of choice at Woodend and then talks about Jones being caught with a syringe ready to inject presumably Johnny Nevits. Well a quick search on the internet shows it takes 2 to 6 weeks for Epogen to generate any extra red blood cells. Johnny Nevits must be physiologically a very unique horse! @Joe Bloggs is this Peter Proft way off grid or does he have a body guard?

Don't be surprised if it is a Heavy 11 or abandoned on Thursday. 8inches (200mm) of rain predicted Wednesay through Thursday.

Imagine the picturesque imagery of horses galloping into the sunset! But what are they actually "trialling"? Aren't the key metrics what returns the best wagering revenue and what Trainers and Owners want?

That was three years later. You are too fixated on Gammalite types.

I disagree in Noodlum's case. He ran time - NZ records, track and race records. He often won easily even after overcoming handicaps. 15 straight wins was/is a very rare achievement. Don't forget that there were some very tidy animals running around then and some depth yet he often simply outclassed them.

But doesn't the minimal statements from the RIB and the Stewards and the total lack of any comment of substance from HRNZ fuel the conjecture? I thought the statement from Fitzgerald was good but surely that could have been backed up by HRNZ or even a statement reinforcing that it only concerns Jones, Johnny Nevits and the stable inspection and that anything else was false? I realise it is now a well abused meaningless phrase but wouldn't it help if the RIB were more "open and transparent"? Seems to me that the clean up and change of culture at the RIB either hasn't started yet or isn't going to happen.

Harness racing in Westport had a strong local training contingent. In my opinion this is a key to the continued survival of any Club be it gallops or harness. In Westport there was the Craddocks, Keithy Powell, Reedy(?), and others that don't readily come to mind. Eventually as trainers either move on or pass away so does a club. Although the Westport Trotting Club is still functional. https://m.facebook.com/Westporttrottingclub/