Chief Stipe

I've told a couple of key people in the industry that if I had a good two year old at the moment that was a potential 2000 Guineas competitor I would not want it to travel to Riccarton come November UNLESS there was a clear plan NOW to resolve the issues that the track has. If it was good enough to win then I would be looking to Australia as I don't have a lot of confidence in Te Rapa, Awapuni or Trentham either. I've been a long term critic of Ellerslie however that track seems to be racing better now but will leave judgement until after I have walked it. Te Rapa has had some renovation work done recently which was mentioned by the Track Manager in a preview for this weekends meeting. The rail is out 2m because the inside has not recovered to the same level as further out. Will be interesting to see how it plays.

I disagree. There has been a resurgence in some areas in Club rugby. Why? Because some unions have recognised that a strong club network results in a strong professional team e.g. Canterbury. Canterbury has also invested in their feeder Unions - e.g. West Coast, Tasman, etc. The Crusaders don't always play their homes games in Christchurch. In Auckland high school rugby is very very strong. Literally thousands will turn up to games with next to no facilities that would make any racing club in NZ envious. Where Auckland falls down is in the next level between school and the professional teams. They are slowly starting to recognise this. Unfortunately the value of our provincial and small town racing clubs has not been recognised. Racing Clubs that provide good racing surfaces and at low cost. The central administrators think they need to have better and better facilities and lots of peripheral entertainment to attract people oncourse but neglect or disenfranchise those that feed into the network.

Wrong Gammalite. You miss the point and I'm surprised so many other people are missing it as well. Two scenario's could be resolved by HRNZ maintaining and keeping up to date a central registry accessible by every owner who had a pecuniary interest in a Standardbred be it a racehorse, yearling or breeding proposition. We do it with damn motor cars and other motor vehicle assets why is it so hard for HRNZ to do it for the asset that drives the industry the bloody horse. So every owner signs an ownership form that details what % share they have of an identified horse that is already registered in the system - i.e. it has a freeze brand. HRNZ's system checks that the % of those who have signed an ownership form is not greater than 100%. Any owner then able to sign in online and check that the % they signed up to equals what is in the system!!!!! Get it? If an owner is charged for insurance of the horse they have a share in i.e. the horse is insured then that interest is again registered with HRNZ. Both the owner AND the insurance company have a pecuniary interest in the horse. Both the Owner and the Insurance Company can sign in and check online. HOW BLOODY HARD IS THAT TO DO? If it was done then Kerr couldn't have committed at least two of the examples of fraud that he has been charged for. If HRNZ aren't charged with protecting the interests of stakeholders WTF are they there for?! It really pisses me off no end that supposed industry fans are really quick to double down on ANYONE that is caught doing something wrong (minor or major) yet let the HRNZ administration just keep blithely going along spending millions of dollars doing Sweet Fanny Adams!

Riccarton?

What the hell does it have to do with the DIA? I'm not proposing that HRNZ manage syndicates but just that they register ownership and financial interest data centrally and readily available to all participating owners. How hard is that? When an owner gets a bill and it says 5% of training fees at $90 a day and that 5% matches the central register then all is good. But it appears currently we have a system where shares can be oversold and horses sales and transfers are not registered promptly.

More chance of two $15k races paying their way than a $30k one. Probably better to have a $20k race.

But what has INCA actually achieved? Other than cost millions which could have been spent better spent elsewhere. The best you can come up with is it was some form of marketing exercise signalling to all those supposedly cheating that the RIU is doing something. All it did do is show that they are expensively incompetent. They have to score any direct goals! You could spin a positive by saying "well the fact that after having spent millions they found nothing is a good indicator there was nothing to find!" Yes I put a large part of the blame on him and his ilk who have been paid risk free salaries for years and have done NOTHING but drive the industry into the ground. To the point where it is hard for any but a handful of harness trainers to make a professional living from racing. I also expect more positive action from administrators than simply saying glib marketing spin. Is it any wonder the industry is in free fall? A lot of the recent fall out that we are seeing is symptomatic of the fundamental issues NOT the cause.

That's head in the sand though and under the new model where more costs have been devolved to the codes the day of reckoning might be only a season away.

I realise Basil you are in the baying for blood carrion eating vulture mob BUT shouldn't there be systems in place to protect owners AND trainers? What has that to do with victim-blaming? I guess you adhere to the Jacinda Arden model of kindness - let's slam the front-line MIQ worker that didn't get tested for 6 months and call for his blood to hide the fact that the systems in place failed. Isn't it the role of HRNZ to have systems in place? Sure if you try hard enough I guess any system can be rorted particularly it is a shyte system but that is NO excuse to have NO system in place. How hard would it be to have an ownership system where an owner can check centrally who owns how much of the horse they have invested in? How hard would it be to register on file centrally a copy of the insurance policy and premium payments made? You have register centrally all the interests in a $5,000 motor car but you don't have to do that for a $50,000 standardbred yearling? Come on Basil! Other jurisdictions have had the same issues as the Kerr case highlights and are doing something to address them. Why the hell can't our own HRNZ do the same? Or at least go on the front foot and say that they are instituting administrative changes to make these things harder to do. The fact is everyone bangs on about it being a professional sport but it sure is run by a bunch of amateurs. So Basil once you get over your blood lust why don't you direct your energy to bringing about some positive change?

I haven't done an analysis of the data but there seems to be a consistent trend emerging. Are the race meetings starting to have less races and smaller fields?

Which as you know have gone on for years. Where is the protection for the Owners? Come on Woodham - make a positive statement to the press that HRNZ is putting systems in place to stop the over selling of syndicates and the selling of non-existent insurance policies!!! For example does HRNZ still pay the Stakes won to the Syndicate Manager? Why not pay it directly to each of the owners in the syndicate? They can split it for Trainers and Drivers how hard is it to go a step further? WTF does HRNZ do for the $6m a year they spend? Note that that $6m will increase this year due to the devolving of functions from NZRB/RITA/TAB-NZ. Also note that the published 5 year business plan ended in 2020. When is the next one coming?

Yet you say NOTHING, ZIP, NADA about HRNZ improving their systems and administration to prevent the fraud committed in the Kerr case. Most if not all of his crimes could have been protected if administration procedures had been put in place to PROTECT owners. Sometimes I wonder if you are an ex cop and focused on the kill and the score board. That's probably why INCA was an abject failure yet you class it as a positive because it caught people for things other than what it was investigating. What do we get from Woodham - nothing to close the loop holes and make positive changes to the administration of harness racing but a naive nothing statement saying "I expect all participants to act with integrity and honesty"! FFS easy for him to say while sitting in his over paid ivory tower doing SFA now and previously at the TAB. Meanwhile the average training can barely scrape a living from the game.

Rule Number(s): 638(3)(b)(ii)RACEDAY JUDICIAL COMMITTEE DECISION Informant: Mr A Coles – Senior Stipendiary Steward Respondent: Mr M Hashizume – Apprentice Rider of TAVI WITH ME Information ... (Feed generated with FetchRSS)View the full article

There is another article where the Trainer says something similar.

The SAFE woman wouldn't have known anything about it! It took Sherwood and Van Beynen to tell her! Their agenda is clear. To the point it now looks more like a vendetta! Nothing to do with being clever.

Yep - 11 years old and 317 starts! Lucky Brodie is restricted as I'm sure it wouldn't have paid $33 if he wasn't!

Addeybb to wear blinkers in Queen Elizabeth Jockey Tom Marquand drives Addeybb to a decisive victory in the 2020 Queen Elizabeth Stakes. Photo: AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts Ray Thomas3:55PM13 April 2021 14 Comments Addeybb will wear blinkers for the first time in an endeavour to find the extra edge he needs to win a second successive $4 million Longines Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m) at Royal Randwick on Saturday. English jockey Tom Marquand conceded Addeybb was “a touch below par” when beaten by arch rival Verry Elleegant in the Ranvet Stakes which has prompted the gear change. “I couldn’t help but think he didn’t quite hit the last 100m like he normally does,’’ Marquand said. “So, we have whacked the blinkers on, that is something we haven’t had on before. He has had cheek pieces on the last three or four years so it won’t be a big shock to him. “He won’t grow a spectacular pair of wings and do something he has never done before but it might help him travel and put a bit of spark back into him.’’ Addeybb has a roll after trackwork. Photo: Mark Evans/Getty Images The Queen Elizabeth Stakes has been billed as a match race between Addeybb and Verry Elleegant for some weeks but the jockeys of Sir Dragonet and Mugatoo don’t see it that way. Glen Boss, the rider of Sir Dragonet, said the horse gone to another level since his dominant Tancred Stakes win. “Verry Elleegant is the main danger, she’s world class,’’ Boss said after riding Sir Dragonet in an impressive gallop at Royal Randwick’s Trackwork with the Stars on Tuesday morning. “But this is going to be a spectacular race – classic distance, one of the best tracks, three great riders on three good horses – hopefully we can make it a good spectacle for everyone.’’ Bowman rides Mugatoo who is coming off his close fourth in the Doncaster Mile last Saturday. “I might remind Glen there are eight in the race, not three,’’ Bowman said. “But it is a very good race, high quality, and Mutagoo deserves his place in the line-up. “He ran below expectations in the Doncaster, I won’t beat around the bush there, but if he can bounce off that and get back to the form he showed winning the All Star Mile a month ago he will make his presence felt. We know 2000m is his best distance.’’ James McDonald put Verry Elleegant through her paces at Rosehill trackwork before going back to Randwick for the big-race barrier draw. “She is in really good order and did a lovely piece of work (yesterday morning),’’ McDonald said. “I’m looking forward to the big clash.’’

I'm a bit confused about the donation bit..... Donation to who? I thought there might be a bit of skill involved and a chance to take the TAB on!

But where in the rules does it say that?

Quote ONE post I made that supported Kerr? Forbury people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. Geez you are really excelling yourself tonight two posts on the same topic under two different accounts!

But that is part of the racing horse's. Is a horse any different to a dairy cow that has been milked for 8 years and is then sent to the works or put down the hole? Both in terms of the animal activists are deemed to have been "exploited" for profit. In my opinion the article is muck raking. Squeezing as much as they can out of the lemon. Why do trainers need to be "clever" in their disposal of livestock?

Geez Forbs you are on a roll tonight! Posting in the same hour on TWO different accounts! Have A Go at the Spitfire!

I haven't seen anyone on BOAY in support of Kerr. I have seen some display some compassion though. But that shouldn't be confused with support.

All processed Karrots. However I'm not sure why you are so concerned about your privacy but I guess living in Beverley Hills there are a lot of Paparazzi around. I maintain a very strong privacy policy here at BOAY. I'll be in.....not that I understand the rules you have set! Can you PM me those so I can add to the subscription details? We could set up a harness punters club and help Brodie get around his restrictions!

https://bitofayarn.com/subscriptions/5/