Chief Stipe

Overkill. Since when has anyone seen more than 5 people in a NZ TAB Agency let alone 25!!

That was the Derby our horse raced in. Dunhill. Got into a speed duel with Borana early in the race.

Nope. When you had learnt to drive on that road you knew all the short cuts. 240km. So you only needed to average about 110km/hr. The Avenger could do 160km/hr.

Why does it have to be legally disclosed? Depends on the ownership contract. The going rate is 10%. Could be anywhere between 0% and 10%.

My Dad hired a Hilman Avenger from Avis in Hokitika and left the family car with mum so he and I could go to Cup week. He let me drive and I scared the shit out of him going from Hokitika to Riccarton in 2 hours 20 mins. Great week at the races. Hands Down won the Cup and backed up to win the FFA. Koiro Trelay the Galloping Cup.

Was there that day.

I think he did that on Show Day in the Pacers FFA.

The 15 win streak was broken at Rangiora on 21 December 1974 - Commissioner beat him again on Boxing Day at Ashburton 5 days later.

15 in a row and it was Commissioner but at Rangiora.

42 starts, 28 wins, 6 seconds, 2 thirds, Lt $74,778 W $53,728

Well you haven't provided any rationale or evidence to support your hypothesis.

Medina Spirit Collapses, Dies After Santa Anita Workout Kentucky Derby (G1) winner died after a five-furlong move Dec. 6 at Santa Anita. By Eric Mitchell , Frank Angst and Byron King Today, 12:16 PM Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) winner Medina Spirit died after a Dec. 6 workout at Santa Anita Park, according to California Horse Racing Board equine medical director Jeff Blea and Dionne Benson, chief veterinary officer for The Stronach Group, which owns the racetrack. Blea characterized Medina Spirit's passing as a sudden death. After watching video of the incident he said it looked like a "classic case of a heart attack." The incident occurred on the track, just after the 3-year-old son of Protonico completed a five-furlong move in a handy 1:01 2/5 Monday at Santa Anita. Medina Spirit is owned by Amr Zedan's Zedan Racing Stables and trained by Bob Baffert. "We don't know the cause and sometimes even after the necropsy, we don't know," Benson told BloodHorse. Blea said the CHRB has a necropsy program in place to determine cause of death but acknowledged that such sudden death incidents sometimes prove elusive, with about half remaining a mystery even after further study. In watching video of the incident, Blea said Medina Spirit completes the workout, is pulled up, then lies down on the track as the rider dismounts. As is typical of any horse death, the CHRB has pulled samples—blood, hair, urine, tissue—that will be sent to the lab at the University of California-Davis for testing. A statement from Santa Anita Park said that the samples were immediately taken by the track's veterinary team, led by senior veterinarian Dr. Laurie Bohannon, and sent to the CHRB. A comprehensive necropsy, as is protocol in California, also will be performed in an effort to determine the cause of death. Sudden deaths are more rare than catastrophic injury associated with serious limb injuries. Santa Anita's statement also said that the results of the necropsy and toxicology studies will be released by the CHRB as part of their inquiry into the cause of death. "Sudden deaths take longer than normal necropsy because they are so in depth," Blea said. "It can be—I'm not going to give you a number—but I've had some deaths that are well out of 60 days. It just depends on how the forensics and toxicology program is working, especially with the holidays. It's hard to predict a date." Among equine racing deaths in Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse racing in California in which a cause of death has been assigned by the CHRB since Jan. 1, 2020, 13% have been cases of sudden death. While those efforts move forward to determine a cause of death, racing has lost a standout horse who also made headlines after failing a post-race test after the Derby. "It is with great sadness that I am reporting Medina Spirit passed away today from a heart attack at Santa Anita following a workout," read a statement from Baffert. "My entire barn is devastated by this news. Medina Spirit was a great champion, a member of our family who was loved by all, and we are deeply mourning his loss. I will always cherish the proud and personal memories of Medina Spirit and his tremendous spirit. Our most sincere condolences go out to Mr. Amr Zedan and the entire Zedan Racing Stables family. They are in our thoughts and prayers as we go through this difficult time." Medina Spirit won the May 1 Derby at Churchill Downs but that victory is in question after the horse failed a post-race drug test when he tested positive for betamethasone. Attorneys for Baffert and Zedan have argued that the positive was a result of an application from an ointment rather than in injection of the corticosteroid. They said Friday further testing of the sample in New York provides evidence of that assertion, which they believe should be exculpatory or mitigating. Kentucky stewards have not yet conducted a hearing. While that controversy has surrounded the horse, he had continued to run well. Medina Spirit most recently finished second in the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) Nov. 6 at Del Mar. Besides that Breeders' Cup finish, Medina Spirit won the Awesome Again Stakes (G1) at Santa Anita in the fall and the Shared Belief Stakes in the summer at Del Mar. Medina Spirit finished third in the Preakness Stakes (G1). Baffert said the horse was improving in the summer and fall. "I'm very proud of him," Baffert said after the Awesome Again. "This is the time of year the 3-year-olds catch up to the older horses. I'm happy for Zedan and what we have had to deal with. We stayed focused on the horses. "The fans came out to see this horse and they are rooting for him. I could tell by the crowd noise. They are all pulling for him. It's an emotional win for us. (Jockey John Velazquez) can do whatever with the horse. He can wait, stalk, whatever. This horse keeps getting better and better." Before this year's classics, Medina Spirit won the Robert B. Lewis Stakes (G3) and finished second in the Runhappy Santa Anita Derby (G1).

Star galloper Incentivise out for foreseeable future The future of brilliant stayer Incentivise is up in the air. Picture: Scott Barbour–Racing Photos via Getty Images By Trenton Akers 04:04pm • 06 December 2021 3 Comments Caulfield Cup winner Incentivise will not race for the foreseeable future with new scans revealing the tough-as-nails stayer suffered serious injuries during his gallant second placing behind Verry Elleegant in the Melbourne Cup. The Darling Downs-bred gelding has returned to Queensland to spell but was sent to the world-class University of Queensland Vet Hospital at Gatton recently for a check up, which revealed injuries to both his front suspensory ligaments. When contacted, managing owner Steve Tregea confirmed the injuries, saying the three-time Group 1 winner could miss the Queensland winter carnival as a result. “He has had exhaustive scans along with an MRI at the University of Queensland Vet Hospital at Gatton and it found damage to his fetlocks,” Tregea said. “He has to be re-scanned in February to see where it is at then. The report says it takes three to six months to heal and they will advise from there. “There is a chance he doesn’t make the winter carnival as a result.” Incentivise will undergo significant treatment at Tregea’s Windermere Stud property near Toowoomba as he attempts to get him back to the races in full health. Incentivise ridden by Brett Prebble wins the Caulfield Cup. Picture: Scott Barbour — Racing Photos via Getty Images. “He is up here at the moment recovering, he has substantial follow-up treatment to come including PRP (Plasma-Rich Protein) and he has to have shockwave treatment every week,” Tregea said. It caps off what has been a rollercoaster few months for connections of Incentivise, who reeled off nine consecutive wins which took him from a Sunshine Coast maiden over 1600m to winning the Group 1 Makybe Diva Stakes (1600m), Turnbull Stakes (2000m) and Caulfield Cup (2400m) in the space of six months. The five-year-old was then found by stewards to be lame following his second placing in the Melbourne Cup on November 2 before trainer Peter Moody’s vets gave him the all clear two days later. On top of that, Incentivise’s trip back to Queensland was momentarily halted when police got involved with his flight home, throwing plans into chaos. His incredible run of form has seen him net $5.7m in prizemoney in just 13 starts to date. Tregea sold a 50 per cent share in the son of Shamus Award to leviathan owners Brae Sokolski and Ozzie Kheir following his incredible nine-length win at Eagle Farm in June.

No she doesn't "get it" nor do you. Nor it appears do any of the successful Clubs in OZ appear to "get it". According to you they must be doing it wrong by providing excellent state of the art training facilities. What's more there is ample actual evidence to show that your hypothesis of diversifying away from the core business doesn't work. If you dont provide facilities to train horses then you have no horses to race and provide wagering income. If you can't provide a decent racing surface then you also have no quality product to sell. If the CJC had focused on their core business and invested in that then they may have found that their core business was profitable and sustainable.

You miss the point entirely. They don’t need to be profitable on training alone as part of their core business. If training revenue covers marginal costs then that is OK. It isn't necessary to make a profit however it provides direct revenue to maintain HORSE RACING AND TRAINING ACTIVITY. If you don't have the product to fill your race fields then you have no wagering income. If horse numbers in training are in free fall then of course providing training facilities isn't going to be profitable. Building a high cost model of operation e.g. AWT's isn't going to improve the situation. Unless several hundred more horses come into work every week of the year.

I don't "enjoy going off tangent". However I've seen years of Racing Club administrators forgetting their Clubs reason for being and going "off tangent". They've neglected their core business and now the chickens are coming home to roost. I've seen Clubs "diversify" into conference centres and other entertainment venues. How many have been successful? How many have earnt sufficient profit to sustain the diversification let alone enough spare to provide safe and consistent race tracks and training facilities? Trentham is now a White Elephant because those that ran it forgot what their core business was. They now have a stuffed track, no horses trained on course and decaying facilities. When was there ever a business case for a sustainable hospitality and or conference venue at Trentham that could compete with Central Wellington? What have we got left? Ellerslie - track stuffed. Te Rapa - track stuffed and some say so much sand in it now that it's dangerous. Trentham - the track stuffed and can't sustain one shower on a Grp 1 day. Awapuni - stuffed. Riccarton - probably now the worst turf track in the country. But at least is still a training facility although with problems. I don't believe I'm going off tangent when I make the point that for a race track (Club) to be financially sustainable it needs to have training facilities. Trentham went off on a tangent which has turned out to be a dead end.

I know you don't understand as that is clearly evident in how you fudge the facts to suit your hypothesis. Take Doomben for example. It is less than 1km from Eagle Farm. The BRC which owns both courses centralised the stabling of horses at Eagle Farm yet Doomben still provides facilities for training. How many horses are in training at facilities owned by the BRC? You talk about diversifying but the club administrators in NZ struggle to run a racing venue let alone be successful at running hospitality or casino businesses. Their sole reason for being is to promote and provide horse racing! You mention Ballarat but overlook the fact that the Ballarat Racing Club provides and promotes HORSE TRAINING FACILITIES. As for using the USA as an exemplar on what to do with racing you really need to dive into the detail of what is happening there. The point is ALL the major clubs in OZ that are growing and are successful offer and promote training facilities. That's a strategic weakness with Ellerslie. Meanwhile in NZ we are intent on centralising and closing every decent training facility to centralise at shit holes. But they forget one thing - where are the horses coming from? Answer this question @Joe Bloggs - how many horses are trained within a 30km radius of Flemington?

Sure diversify but don't do it at the expense of your sole reason for being. If Trentham had spent as much money on its track and training facilities as it had on its now decaying conference facilities it might find it still could hold a race meeting without abandonment. The same applies to Awapuni. The rest of your post is nonsense.

@Joe Bloggs you are being either facetious and or sarcastic. Sandown did not survive on Horse Racing alone. As for horses not running on bitumen put 30cm of sand on it and call it an AWT and they can.

@The Centaur believes that Ellerslie will be the saviour of NZ Racing. In my opinion it will be the death knell. Auckland lacks a sense of community and the centralisation away from the smaller communities achieves the opposite of what is needed for Racing to survive.

Of course with Sandown @Joe Bloggs you overlook mentioning that it was a motorcar racing circuit as well.

You miss the point Joe and you live in the past. A facility dedicated to racing must remain a training facility to be financially viable and sustainable. If some effort had been put into promoting Training and facilities at Trentham it may not have become the substandard white elephant it is today.

Sandown is targeted for closure. Moonee Valley is set for a major suburban housing and facility development. Caulfield is set to receive a $500m transformation into a major sports and entertainment zone 10x the size of the MCG. Next point?

Better to shift to the Waikato. At least they still train horses there and the rent is cheaper. Unsustainable maintaining a racecourse that has no fulltime training facilities.

Fewer and fewer places to move on to. Sell Trentham and raise the swamp that is Awapuni.