Chief Stipe

Well the rest of NZ Racing has been subsidising them for decades. Time to reverse the flow?

Race day horse positives? Or workplace testing?

Well there is no testing evidence to suggest that there is a doping issue.

Having a spell before starting its Cup build-up.

Did CJ "belt the shit out of his horse"? His case wasn't about the number of strikes but his wrist action. Daft rule too that you have to keep both hands on the reins at all times.

Easy to forensically test still.

Yeah right and then change how the reins are used and then ban the bit then the cropper then putting nails in their hooves then freeze branding blah blah blah.

It's not tiddlywinks.

Ditto. What I was inferring is that she wasn't pleading guilty to drugging the dog but presenting a dog to race that had ingested a prohibited substance. Any criminal charge will be focussed on finding who drugged the dog. Which at the end of the day will probably be the end result I.e. the same as the RIU investigation. Zip Nada. The dog could have even been nobbled somewhere between Foxton and Christchurch. Was it the only dog being shipped? If there was another dog was it tested? I'm picking that all that will happen is more opportunity for SAFE to grandstand.

What's the point of having 6 balloted out horses? Are they expecting scratchings if there is a change in track conditions? What impact does that have on Fixed Odds?

She took a publicly announced break. So no need to ask her. Precisely. Now we are getting somewhere at last. So you cannot say that the Purdon/Cullen stable is doing worse than a couple of seasons ago by measuring UDR alone unless you adjust for a number of factors. If you do that you will find that my assertion that they aren't doing worse than a couple of seasons or indeed their average season would hold up.

Which is what I've been saying from the beginning. It would be helpful if we could see the business cases that were done that show's nirvana is sustainable. All I see is the introduction of a much higher cost model of operation without a corresponding uplift in revenue. Which may possibly be one of the reasons Racing Victoria has limited AWT's racing tracks to two for the entire State. Strangely we think we are smarter and have three for a population that same size as Melbourne!

Turnwald voluntarily was tested for methamphetamine and negative results were returned. The RIU did do a thorough investigation including visiting the training property. All that aside if animal welfare criminal charges are laid who would they be laid against? They can only be laid against the person who gave the Greyhound the drug. From the evidence provided and agreed by the RIU/JCA it couldn't have been Turnwald. Tunwald pleaded guilty and didn't mount a defence after it was clearly established that the dog ingested the drug before the race not after or by environmental contamination. Under the JCA system you don't really have much choice unless you want to spend thousands of dollars defending yourself. It becomes a war of attrition and the RIU/JCA have endless buckets of industry dosh to play with. In any event it was clear that the dog presented to race after having ingested a prohibited substance. As the trainer of the dog the bucks stops with you. However that guilty plea doesn't reach the threshold for a criminal charge under the Animal Welfare Act. Now a full blown Police investigation may find who did give the drug to the dog. Ironically if they do it will exonerate Turnwald unless they can find evidence that she knew about it before hand. All in all it will be a difficult investigation and MPI alone don't have the skills or the resources to do it - they would have less than the RIU! SAFE have one objective and that is to end all forms of racing. Laying a complaint to MPI gives the case more oxygen, feeds the rabid journo's (who don't know what they are talking about) and keeps a negative case in the public eye while a review is going on. A good chess move by SAFE. Sure you could argue that someone close to the industry provided the source material but don't be naive to think that SAFE won't play this for as long and as hard as they can. Of course we haven't seen the Industry Administrators go on the front foot over this pointing out that a positive such as this is very very rare especially when you consider the thousands of tests that are done each year.

Right so when they improve it is only because of the driver they use. Who happens to be the same driver that they have used in past seasons. What are the other tools?

Pitty is in dreamland thinking that nirvana is going to come to him.

A waste of tax payers money. If the RIU/JCA with a far lower burden of proof couldn't pin the administration of the methamphetamine on any one individual what chance has MPI? MPI is a Government Department of 3,000 highly paid (Average salary $120k) underachievers. Just ask any farmer in New Zealand!

Rule Number(s): 638(1)(d)JUDICIAL COMMITTEE RACEDAY DECISION Informant: Mr M Williamson, Stipendiary Steward Respondent: Mr C Johnson, Jockey (Class A) Information No: A14458 Meeting: Wanganui ... (Feed generated with FetchRSS)View the full article

Rule Number(s): 638(1)(d)JUDICIAL COMMITTEE RACEDAY DECISION Informant: Mr M Williamson, Stipendiary Steward Respondent: Mr R Elliot, Jockey (Class A) Information No: A14559 Meeting: ... (Feed generated with FetchRSS)View the full article

WHERE IS THE BUSINESS CASE? WHEN WILL THE RICCARTON TURF TRACK BE COMPLETELY RENOVATED?

Good luck with filing criminal charges against Turnwald for the Greyhound positive. They would have to identify who administered the methamphetamine to lay a charge against someone and there is no evidence that Turnwald did it. The Alford case is different but I doubt that you could lay a criminal charge for the administration of bicarbonate of soda as it is commonly used as a therapeutic treatment. The formalin administration may be a possibility for a criminal charge but I doubt if it would stick (excuse the pun). The investigation would have to prove that the administration of the formalin in the concentration it was administered was harmful to the horse's welfare. Now that would hinge on what the concentration of formalin was. Formaldehyde is a naturally occurring chemical in all mammals performing and important biochemical function. If I recall correctly it is produced naturally by the liver.

Tubing is NOT an illegal process!!!! It is a common veterinary technique to administer therapeutic substances to a horse. FFS if it isn't obvious to you all now what the true agenda of these two journalists is then you deserve what you get.

MPI launches investigations into drugging of horses and greyhound Sam Sherwood and Martin Van Beynen12:32, May 14 2021 SUPPLIED Horse Jimmy Cannon had eight podium finishes in 36 starts. The horse has since been put down. Separate Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) investigations have been launched into a trainer who injected two horses with a banned substance, as well as a greyhound that won a premier race on methamphetamine. On Friday an MPI spokeswoman confirmed to Stuff investigations were under way into two high-profile drugging cases. One is in relation to disgraced harness racing trainer Jesse Alford, recently banned for seven years after he was caught in a covert sting operation injecting two horses with a prohibited substance on race day. The other involves Foxton greyhound trainer Angela Turnwald, who was fined $3500 and disqualified for four months after her dog Zipping Sarah tested positive for methamphetamine after a race on November 12 in Christchurch. It was the third doping case in the greyhound racing industry in six months. Alford’s charges come after animal rights advocacy group SAFE called for MPI to pursue criminal charges under the Animal Welfare Act. CHRIS SKELTON/STUFF Jesse Alford injected horses he trained with formalin, a banned substance. “MPI should not be leaving the racing industry to police themselves. The mistreatment of animals is a serious offence under the Animal Welfare Act, and MPI should be pursuing criminal charges in cases like this,” a SAFE spokesman said. Alford was caught red-handed on February 25 as he injected two horses, Johnny Nevits and Jimmy Cannon, with a substance and tried to tube one of them – two hours before they were due to race at the NZ Metropolitan Trotting Club meet at Addington Raceway. Tubing is an illegal process that allows a chemical solution to be administered to a horse to improve its stamina. 123RF Animal welfare in greyhound racing is under review in New Zealand. (Stock image) MPI compliance director Gary Orr earlier said because the case was not reported to the ministry at the time of the incident, it was appropriate for it to be dealt with by the Judicial Control Authority – the primary body for investigating substance misuse. “MPI is engaging an independent expert to provide additional advice regarding the application of methamphetamine to a greyhound as well as formalin/formaldehyde and bicarbonate of soda to a horse.” In its decision on the Zipping Sarah case, the JCA said it could not establish who administered the drug or how it was administered, but it had to impose a sentence to ensure trainers were vigilant and took precautions to ensure their greyhounds did not consume prohibited substances before a race. The authority heard Zipping Sarah was driven to Christchurch by Turnwald’s partner, a licensed kennel hand, who stopped for a few hours at a friend’s house in Kaiapoi where the dog got some exercise. Turnwald initially claimed the meth could have come from syndicate members who patted the dog after the race, but abandoned the defence after the Racing Integrity Unit (RIU) brought scientific evidence to show Zipping Sarah must have ingested the meth before the race. Racing Minister Grant Robertson has launched a review into greyhound racing, warning he was not satisfied with the industry's work on animal welfare.

Yep doing my best to influence opinion, get answers and action on the big problems that still face NZ Racing. Why? Because I still have some passion for the industry. Meanwhile those that can actually get some action are busily working in their own self interest banging the tambourines and blithely turning a blind eye away from the big picture. I've seen the tambourine marketing bullshit for decades now and nothing has changed. WHERE IS THE BUSINESS CASE FOR THE AWT? WHEN WILL THE RICCARTON TURF TRACK BE RENOVATED? PS: I noticed last week that the grass leading up to the Steeplechase hedges hasn't grown yet. Bugger when you let it die for lack of irrigation.

WOW look at the improvement in UDR in a week. @the galah will be rapidly refreshing his analytics spreadsheet! Gone from 0.4060 to 0.4198 in a week. Statistics are funny things aren't they Galah?

If you were a Harness enthusiast and an expert race driver who actually liked the race day thrill of winning why wouldn't you pitch up for some drives on the best horses in circulation? Plus not have the responsibility of training, gearing or dunging out? I'm sure the Driver's fees and stakes % more than compensates them. Natalie last night picked up $680 in drivers fees and 5% of $130,000 in stakes which is $6,500 for a grand total of: $7,200. Not a bad night at the office - not as good as your punting Brodie but geez I'd put on an extra merino vest and another pair of gloves to go round in the cold for $7,200.