Chief Stipe

I thought your negativity would have been all over it.

Right so you'd be happy to lose a million a year as long as you could have big bets?

Congratulations to our regional winners of the 2024-25 Stablehand of the Year Award – sponsored by Saddlery Warehouse Cambridge & Tauranga! 😍 https://bitofayarn.com NORTHERN: Stephanie Hyde-Richards (Autridge Racing) CENTRAL: Lucinda Aitken (Sharrock Racing) SOUTHERN: Gee Saejorhor (Champagne Racing Stables) Now in its ninth year, the high calibre of nominations is once again a true reflection of the dedication and passion shown by our devoted stable staff throughout the country. A sincere thank you to all trainers who put their stable superstars forward for this award. Each of our three regional winners will receive $2,500 in prize money, plus travel, accommodation, and two tickets to the Awards evening. The overall winner will be announced at the New Zealand Thoroughbred Horse of the Year Awards on Sunday, 7 September, and will receive an additional $2,500 in prize money.https://bitofayarn.com For the full list of finalists, and to purchase your tickets 👉 nztr.co.nz/awards

Why? Stakes are better than ever. Owners don't need to worry as much about winning on the punt.

Stallion Danehill has one mare left at stud in Australia www.racenet.com.au https://bitofayarn.com And then there was one. Thirty years after his first mare went to stud, breed-shaper Danehill has only one active daughter left at stud in Australia. Numbering literally in their hundreds for season after season, time has finally had the last say on an era that reshaped Australian breeding and racing. The Danehill-era. A nine-times Champion Australian Sire, Danehill also won the Broodmare title on nine occasions. For the longest time, every breeder wanted one and every stud needed one. Now there is only one left and it belongs to New South Wales breeders John and Karen Sheather. The mare's name is Starspangled and on August 1, she turned 23. It is only fitting that Danehill's last surviving broodmare is one of the best bred of all the Danehills. Her dam is User Friendly. "User Friendly, you don't have to say anymore,'' John Sheather told Racenet. "Have a look at her record. She won all the Oaks over there; the English Oaks, the Irish Oaks and then she had the audacity to come out and run a brilliant effort in the greatest race in the world some would say, the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe." User Friendly was purpose-built to win ‘a Classic'. Incredibly, her sire Slip Anchor, grandsire Shirley Heights and great grandsire Mill Reef all won an Epsom Derby. Sheather's role in the Starspangled story started at the old Newmarket complex at Randwick in 2014. "I had a couple of foals here at the farm but I wanted to have a really good go at it, as far as the commercial aspect was concerned,'' Sheather explained. "So we were there at the sale and John North from Bowness Stud gave us a hand with it all. "I saw her page, I can't remember what lot she was now, but I folded it and I thought if I could only afford it. "But when we got her for $30,000 I couldn't believe it and while being in foal to High Chaparral which was Youngstar." https://bitofayarn.com Youngstar (right, red cap, ridden by Craig Williams) chases home Winx in the Group 1 Turnbull Stakes at Flemington in 2018. Picture: Scott Barbour / Getty Images Two years after Youngstar was foaled, in the southern New South Wales town of Young as it happened, along came another soon-to-be Chris Waller star, this one called Funstar. She was a daughter of Adelaide – a Cox Plate winning son of Galileo, yes, but a stallion who some, well actually most, commercial breeders would consider ‘unfashionable'. It's a riposte which still irks Sheather today when it's directed his way. "The Galileo/Danehill cross was the greatest in the world at that time and probably still is,'' he argued. "At the when Karen analysed it a bit more, I think there were 31 Group winners bred on that cross which you cannot find today so I don't see why it was unfashionable." For the record, one of those Group winners was Frankel. The Starspangled story sounds like a never-ending sequence of fame and fortune for the Sheathers but not so. "We almost lost her twice,'' Sheather revealed. Once from complications arising from a paddock accident, followed soon after by a critical hoof issue. Thankfully she made it through each time with Sheather there as a devoted, and sometimes exhausted, carer. "For months and months,'' he recalled. "It was a real chore to look after her. "We had to keep her stabled and she was getting sour because she is a handful at the best of times. "I had to go and pick her milk thistle because she loves it, most horses do. I used to cut a little bit of lucerne out of pasture with a hedge-trimmer. "Honestly it was a full-time job just looking after her." Starspangled's next scheduled foal to race will be her 12th foal, a filly by Yes Yes Yes named Rising Queen who is trained, unsurprisingly, by Waller. She has an Adelaide yearling colt to follow and remarkably given her age, went in foal last season to Ghaiyyath, a stallion chosen by Sheather primarily owing to his broodmare sire, Galileo. So, will there be a Danehill mare registered in 2026 or is this the end of the line? "To answer that question, a lot of people on the street would think we would be doing it just wholly and solely to extract the financial gains out of her but in all sincerity, and honestly, yes I would. "If all goes well, I probably will put her back into foal because like I said she is just a happy, happy horse when she is in foal. "She is 23 so we'll take one step at a time. It will be whatever is best for the mare. We'll be guided by that. "She has been so good to us."

Racing Industry Dogs' days numbered - Tasmanian government to pull rug out from greyhound racing https://bitofayarn.com By Bren O'Brien - August 09, 2025 Tasmania’s greyhound industry is set to fall victim to the state’s political crisis, with the Liberal government's backing for the sport to be withdrawn by 2029. Tasmanian Racing Minister Jane Howlett. (Photo: Linkedin) Reports emerged from several sources on Saturday that Premier Jeremy Rockliff had agreed to cut funding for the sport at the end of the current funding deed in order to secure the crossbench support to effectively govern the state.https://bitofayarn.com Rockliff’s Liberal Party only have 14 of the 35 lower house seats, leaving it well short of a majority and needs to enlist the ongoing support of crossbench members in order to continue in power. Several crossbenchers, as well as The Greens, which hold five lower house seats, campaigned on ending greyhound racing in Tasmania ahead of last month’s state election. The withdrawal of support from the government, which contributes around $7.5 million through the funding deed which emanated from the sale of the Tasmanian Tote in 2009, is a virtual death knell for the code. There are around 150 greyhound meetings held in Tasmania every year across two tracks, Hobart and Launceston, with over 1500 races, which generate $270 million in turnover. That is around 37.5 per cent of the annual turnover across all three codes. A loss of greyhound racing would have a significant impact on the $25 million in racing revenue Tasracing currently derives, primarily via wagering fees, as well as the $7.1 million it receives via the Point Of Consumption Tax agreement from the government. Animal welfare advocacy groups, seeking a greyhound racing ban, commissioned studies which have attacked the funding of the sport and questioned the economic benefit of the industry. The code has also had a spate of integrity issues, as well as the recent death of champion greyhound Raider’s Guide. Deed of uncertainty - Racing’s funding future under Tasmanian election spotlight Tasracing has maintained that the code contributes $54 million to the state’s economy. But its attempts to counter the political movement to ban greyhound racing appears to have run afoul of the fickle nature of state politics. While it has not been confirmed that the sport will be banned, as it has been in the ACT and will be in New Zealand, the withdrawal of the proceeds of the funding deed will make it almost impossible to continue past 2029. Neither Tasracing or the Tasmanian government has yet commented or made a formal announcement.

I'd be interested to know what you mean by "getting good info". What "info" are you NOT getting?

Certainly not ENTAIN. But possibly TABNZ.

I think he means the committee aligned to TABNZ with Vela and co on it.

Racing IS a Sport funded by gambling. Which companies in the world would have been better?

@Brodie all well and good instincts theory but the fact is an insolvent business that has had to be bailed out by the taxpayer isn't actually worth that much. $900m paid up front then invested at 10% as you say returns $90m a year which would need to be spent on upgrading infrastructure, funding operational costs and what was left distributed in stakes. That would have been a significant drop in what was paid to the industry trainers, jockeys/drivers and owners. Then of course if you are using all your 10% you are not keeping up with inflation and your capital is losing value. Then of course no one would have paid $900m up front AND distribute profits from TAB revenue.

Do you really think that ENTAIN'S NZ revenue influences their share price?

Hint for @Huey World on Fire | Karaka 2023 - Book 1 https://share.google/mhq03EVhKVH8cEKKt

LOL yeah I backed it at good odds.

Which camp would you rather be in @Huey ? The one applauding achievement or the one crying a river for the alleged disadvantaged?

You've just written a lot of hyperbole without actually stating what they are doing wrong. A bit like @Huey 's riddles.

What assets has NZTR actually stolen as opposed to given to them (or squandered) by inept Club management?

Yet @Pitman has the resources to race in 120 more South Island races than Te Akau? BTW Te Akau's strike rate is significantly better than Chris Waller who spent more than DCE at the Magic Millions. The latter having the best purchases to Black Type win strike rate. They're not at that level. For example Gai Waterhouse spent AUD$17 million at the Magic Millions sale alone. That's nearly the entire budget of Te Akau. She could only finish 3rd last season on the NSW Premiership. Not me. That's your mythical perception. Not at all. I just applaud success as opposed to you denigrating it.

We await your game changing marketing plan. I imagine it won't take long to read. One sentence on each page.

This is an NZTR Fund. Has HRNZ established one too? Are they really doing that much wrong?

We all await your game changing marketing ideas.

95%+ of NZ punters don't have an OZ account with other providers. So now they only have one choice. The question is is the market big enough for the sports punter to find value. The other question is are ENTAIN able to lay off on other markets?

Well I agree in the sense that it is the same modus operandi that the industry administrators have followed for at least 3 decades. In those times it was called reserves and unfortunately when times got tough it was used on stakes and capital costs. Hopefully this new fund will be used for infrastructure maintenance and renewal. That said if you are saying it isn't enough then I agree with you.

NZTR SOI Document attached. NZTR SOI 2026-28.pdf

Sometimes @Gammalite I don't know if you or @the galah actually read what is posted. I'll say it again one more time. The quantum of the non-compliamce by ENTAIN is nowhere near the same as Star Entertainment. The quantum of any penalty will reflect that disparity. ENTAIN may very well get what SportsBet have got and that is enforceable action to remedy flaws in their monitoring systems. You have no idea whether they do or don't. However a public company finds it very hard to hide cash if not impossible. AUSTRAC have done a thorough investigation just as they have with every other organisation they have investigated. I just don't get why you want to slag ENTAIN. FFS read what I have said the penalty matches the quantum of the non-compliance. $45m is not a lot off the bottom line when your profit is AUD$2.1 billion!!! As I've said before ENTAIN may not even get a financial penalty. But it certainly will be less than $400m and close to $45m. TABCORP had 105 breaches (Entain 17) as well as credit card fraud. SportsBet had one individual whose turnover was more than the NZTAB annual turnover and the money was funnelled out of Hong Kong.