Chief Stipe

Punted from $19 into $7 on the day.

Xtravagant Star big win in the Inglis Millinium at Randwick. That will boost her sires credentials. https://www.newhavenpark.com.au/stallions/xtravagant/

Sheep don't have wrists.

They'll be a bit nervous about Tauranga tomorrow too. Forecast is for heavy rain tomorrow. Currently a D5.

RaceInfo Meetings Meeting News Tauherenikau and Feature Taranaki Races MEETING NEWS Tauherenikau and Feature Taranaki Races Tauherenikau and Feature Taranaki Races A severe rain front is currently crossing the lower North Island. It is the intention for there to be an inspection of the Tauherenikau track early tomorrow afternoon. Confirmation of the Tauherenikau races and any relocation of the black-type races lost from Taranaki will be made at that point.

Bit bizarre really the track was a D5 at 6:30am. Downgraded to a D6 after only 2mm of rain. The heavy rain started to arrive around Race 1. Why couldn't they have delayed an hour? Then reinspected?

The last time the Grp3 Taranaki Cup was "Iconic" was 2006 when my horse won it. Although @Reefton would probably say it was when Consensus won it.

I knew you would mention Gammalite!!!! To be fair Cox probably did go a tad quick but the rest were held up by one going a tad slow. So two tads added together equals quite a few lengths.

Go ask the Red Queen.

Why couldn't they postpone for an hour as it is pissing down and let the water soak a bit more?

Been pissing down since early morning. Already over 25mm. Forecast 80 - to 120mm!!

Look at this race yesterday at Hawera which is just down the road from New Plymouth! What's it going to be like after another Trot meeting tomorrow!

They did irrigate earlier in the week but given the forecast may be not enough. That's the problem with not keeping up with the irrigation at this time of year on soils that are stuffed. I watched some races from Hawera yesterday and it was a dust bowl. Hawera is one of the better tracks in the CD with a peat profile. I'm picking that the second day of trots there will be a mud bath and well and truly root Hawera!

Video of Race 1.

Taranaki RI - Abandoned Following a slip in the first and a subsequent inspection, the track has been deemed unsafe for racing.

Yep it is. But if you have scanned in at any one of the outlets in the mall and one of those hundreds returns a positive test then you are staying at home for the next 7 days at least. But you are not essential to run a race meeting. So yes you could attend the race meeting but the prudent thing (because of the rules) is to not allow you any contact with anyone that has contact with a Trainer or Driver on the day.

Come on @Gammalite you've hunted your horse out of the gate to get the lead, the momentum over the first 200m sees you out by a few lengths and YOU want to pull up on the reins! You better than anyone knows the risk of that. The horse is bowling along relaxed on the bit and doing roughly 30.5 second sectionals. Why hand up the momentum advantage you got? But every other horse ran a faster 400m at some stage during the race. So you expect Cox to be looking around to see how far out in front he is? You know that can unbalance a horse. The horse was on the bit, not on a loose rein and the whip not shown. You see this all the time in Ozzie races. All said and done it did go a bit quick for the first half but not by much.

LOL actually Buena Vista is one of those horses that you would try and get a share in and get it to Woodend Beach and build some stamina into it. Nicely gaited and can run a sectional.

Disagree with that. Maybe only one horse slightly held up. If you have a look at the Stridemaster reports you will see it wasn't going all that quicker than 15 second 200m sectionals. https://www.addington.co.nz/stridemaster/fri-04-02-22/ The only 200m that was a bit fast was the second 200m. It looked worse than it was because the second and third horses weren't keeping the field up. @Gammalite and @Forbury I'm not an expert on sectionals but from a mobile start drawn the outside of the front line is 29.64 all that quick for the first 400m? 60.12 for the first 800m? Every other horse in the race ran a faster 200m and 400m sectional at some stage during the race. See attached document. 2022-02-04_32_HRNZ_Stridemaster-details-simple.pdf

I don't think you can lay all the blame for this with HRNZ. The issue is the Government's stupid and unworkable Red Light Rules. Yes I agree HRNZ should be able to organise for Owner's to attend meetings where their horses are racing. BUT... It is technically a work place and I can't see any way of forestalling a complete close down of racing than by separating the workers (Drivers and Trainers) from the Owners and Public. What happens when ONE driver returns a positive test? Are all the other drivers considered close contacts and have to self-isolate? If that happens there goes racing. I'm not sure what HRNZ's policy is regarding Rapid Antigen Testing but NZTR are getting Jockey's to RAT test before entering a meeting. But that only forestalls the inevitable which is up to 24 days quarantine for all contacts of that Jockey. Many small and medium size business owners are not going to test so their businesses survive. So I wouldn't like to be HRNZ trying to work their way through this Labour Government mess of a system. Once the virus hits high numbers I'm picking you will see more and more non-compliance. Racing doesn't have enough street cred to lead that charge!

Not all of them.

Eh?