Chief Stipe

Although the 20th to the 24th isn't exactly a full week - Marketers!

New Zealand to Launch National Thoroughbred Week in November New Zealand is set to open its stable doors this November with the launch of the inaugural National Thoroughbred Week—a five-day initiative aimed at giving the public an inside look at the care, passion, and people behind the country’s thoroughbred racing industry. Running from November 20–24, racing stables, stud farms, and aftercare facilities across New Zealand will welcome visitors for a hands-on experience—offering everything from observing morning trackwork to learning about equine welfare and life after racing. The initiative comes at a time of growing public interest in animal welfare and industry transparency. By offering direct access to the inner workings of the sport, organisers hope to foster trust and understanding, helping Kiwis form informed views about the industry. Aligned with Together for Racing International, the event takes inspiration from the UK’s successful National Racehorse Week and is tailored specifically for New Zealand’s racing landscape. The week coincides with our friends across the Tasman, who will also host National Thoroughbred Week, in an initiative designed to bring the public closer to the thoroughbred racing industry through real, hands-on experiences. Justine Sclater, Head of Welfare and Sustainability at New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing, has seen first-hand the concept successfully executed at New Zealand’s Open Farms week. “It was so uplifting and rewarding to have conversations with visitors and see them leave with an insight into the dedicated care our thoroughbreds receive,” Sclater said. “I'd really like to encourage anyone with the capacity to take part in National Thoroughbred Week to support the concept and we're here to make sure the process is as easy and stress free as possible.” Sclater highlights the event’s potential to unite the racing community on a national and Trans-Tasman scale. “National Thoroughbred Week is about unity. This is an opportunity for the entire industry across two countries - trainers, breeders, owners, aftercare facilities, and community groups - to come together and showcase the true heart of racing. “From trainers to breeding operations, everyone has a role to play. Whether it’s a local country stable or a major stud farm, we want every part of the industry involved. This is about full participation, and we’re here to bring it all together.” Vicky Leonard, the driving force behind the initiative, believes it is a critical evolution for the next step in improving the industry’s perception. Leonard heads Kick Up, which provides a balanced view to false claims that have been made about horseracing. “Kick Up has been focused on tackling perception challenges online and through education, but change marketing also needs real-world action,” Leonard said. “National Thoroughbred Week is the next step - opening stable doors, creating hands-on moments, and showing people the reality of racing, up close and personal. “Trust is built through experience and when an industry isn’t open people believe it has something to hide. We’re giving people a direct and special experience.” More information can be found at thoroughbredweek.co.nz Corporate Communications New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing Contact: Catlyn Calder +64 27 252 2803 nztrcommunications@nztr.co.nz

b. Maiden Races As all Maiden races are conducted set weight races, Maiden horses are rated for balloting purposes only. Maiden horses that are rated above 53 and start in a Ratings race will be weighted based on their Rating. Maiden horses start with a Rating 45. Ratings are then adjusted based on race performances: • Winners of a Maiden race will be re-rated between 61-64 depending on the strength of the performance which will be determined by the Handicapper having regard to the advertised prizemoney for the race and the relative strength of the field. • Maiden horses who have placed in Group or Listed races may have a rating higher than 64 • Raceday 2 nd add 2 points – minimum 7 points, maximum 9 points • Raceday 3 rd add 1 point – minimum 6 points, maximum 9 points • Raceday 4 th minimum 5 points, if presently higher stays as is • Raceday 5th minimum 2 points – if presently higher stays as is • Raceday 6 th in one of a horse’s first 3 starts can accrue 1 point. This is not accumulative. Subsequent second placed performances will result in a horse being given an extra two rating points, subject to the condition that a horse having run second at its most recent start will not be rated below 52 or above 54. Subsequent third placed performances will result in a horse being given an extra one rating point, subject to the condition that a horse having run third at its most recent start will not be rated below 51 or above 54. Subsequent fourth or fifth placed performances will not result in any change to a horse’s rating subject to the condition that a horse having run fourth at its most recent start will not be rated below 50 and a horse having run fifth at its most recent start will not be rated below 47. Maiden horses will lose a point for an unplaced effort (sixth or worse) and after three unplaced performances will revert to 45, which is the minimum rating a horse can receive in New Zealand. Horses with a rating of 45 that finish sixth at any of their first three career race starts will be re-rated to 46. That Rating reverts to 45 after one start unless the horse again finishes sixth or better. Trial winners with a rating of 47 that finish sixth at any of their first three career race starts will remain on 47. That rating reverts to 45 after one start unless the horse again finishes sixth or better. Handicappers can apply discretion in maiden races in fields of (8) or less, for beaten margins. Unplaced runs in Group or Listed races are usually ignored for Maiden horse, however the handicapper may apply judgement or discretion in determining if a reduction in rating is warranted. Examples: Form Rating 0287………………………………… Rating 50 8202………………………………… Rating 53 4522………………………………… Rating 54 3908………………………………… Rating 45 796…………………………………. Rating 46 769……………………………………Rating 45 500………………………………… Rating 45

From the Handicapping Policy: 4.6 Maiden Races All Maiden horses begin with a Rating of 45, unless they win a registered trial. Winners of a trial receive 2 points to take their initial rating to 47. Only the first trial win of a horse will apply to an increase in rating. When assessing trial performances for unraced maiden horses three years and older, two year old trial form is not taken into account. A Maiden horse will not receive a rating above 54 unless that horse performs meritoriously outside of Maiden company and in the opinion of the Handicapper a rating in excess of 54 is appropriate. A Maiden horse that is placed in a Group or Listed race will almost always (though there may be exceptions) receive a higher Rating than 54. As Maiden races are run at set weights, maiden horses are rated for balloting purposes only. Maiden horses that are rated above 54 and start in any rating, based Benchmark Handicap or a three year old Maiden in restricted age group race, will be weighted based on their rating.

Really good point. Actually looking at it again it is a Set Weight conditions race and the difference in Rating doesn't make a difference other than avoiding the ballot. But I thought the weights weren't set that high for the maximum weight?

The stalls and boxes have been like that for the last 25 years which was the first time I had a horse racing there. How they have got away with it from a Health and Safety perspective I have no idea.

Problem when you train you horse in swimming pool and they like it. Equine Health and Safety regulators have recommended 4 metre fences around all swimming pools. Swimming horses.mp4

Trentham has been lucky this summer with the weather but there is a lot of smoke and mirrors going on with the track especially if you look beyond the home straight. The track ratings are all over the place and variability in firmness is extreme. Now that Awapuni is back on line I'm just waiting to see what all the WRC blind propagandists are going to say when the club announces they are going to do a major rennovation to the track.

Green Light for Awapuni Racing After Positive Trials Yesterday New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing (NZTR) and RACE Inc. are delighted to announce the successful completion of the final phase of the Club’s ‘Return to Racing’ plan for the RACE Awapuni track, marked by a full day of trials held on the newly completed track proper. A total of 88 horses took to the track across 11 heats run over 1000m, 1200m, 1600m and 2000m distances. The trials were attended by senior Jockeys including Jonathan Riddell, Leah Hemi and Kate Hercock, who provided positive feedback on the track’s performance, especially in the face of challenging weather conditions. Senior Jockey Jonathan Riddell shared his enthusiasm following the trials. “The track is great, it’s really quite exciting. With the rain we’ve had, it just went straight through it and the footing is great. In the future here, we could have one of the best tracks in the country.” RACE Inc’s General Manager of Racing, Brad Taylor, echoed the optimism. “It is really pleasing to continue to get such positive feedback from the Jockeys today.” “The track faced its toughest test to date with extreme weather conditions and the largest number of horses on it. With this positive response, it gives us great confidence as we head toward our first meeting on ANZAC Day.” Jockey Leah Hemi, who participated in the Jump Outs last Monday, praised how the surface handled the heavy rain. “We are really excited with how the track held up with the rain. I was a little skeptical at first, but now I have no worries at all.” First-time rider on the track, Kate Hercock, was equally impressed. “The track is lovely, it’s very consistent all over.” Despite receiving 13mm of rain in the hour leading up to the first heat, the track was rated a Soft 5 at the start of the trials. As rain continued throughout the day, Jockeys noted it felt closer to a Soft 7 by the conclusion of proceedings. Following the running of the successful trials, the track is now cleared for racing to resume. Awapuni Racecourse will host its first race day on Friday 25 April, with the Listed $80,000 Manawatu ITM ANZAC 1600 as the feature event. NZTR Chief Operating Officer, Darin Balcombe, acknowledged the successful trials and the positive feedback from riders. "Completing the final phase of the ‘Return to Racing’ plan at RACE Awapuni is a great achievement.” “The track performed well despite challenging weather and the feedback from riders has been very encouraging. We’re now looking forward to getting back to racing on ANZAC Day,” he said. Corporate Communications New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing Contact: Catlyn Calder +64 27 252 2803 nztrcommunications@nztr.co.nz

Well I've long argued that these very expensive Trackside Broadcast vans could work with their telco partner to provide a WiFi service oncourse. Wouldn't cost much.

That may have been the hidden agenda based on flawed logic which has now been proven. However the public agenda was to reduce the number of abandonments which has been an abject failure as well!

They can't if you turn the app setting off for geo-location which you can do speficilly for each app you use. I doubt they get information from the Telco's which IP addresses are being used on course nor the triangulation that would be required to precisely locate you! For example you could be in a bar a kilometer from the racecourse you are betting on. Hardly being oncourse. One of the reasons I've argued for TAB or Club provided free Wi-Fi on course.

You can turn geo location off for the TAB app on your phone and stil bet so finding where you are betting from is very limited.

Good to see an Open Trial over 2000m for jumpers as well.

How do you define oncourse betting with today's technology? LOL thinking about it a savvy club with a young techo geek could easily rort the system.

I assume when you say Traditionally you mean when there were no means of betting other than the oncourse Tote?

In my opinion you are now presenting a different issue. I don't think there is any disagreement that the availability or rather utilisation of turf tracks and programming of meetings in the South Island is stuffed. What they may be trying to do is force trainers to use the AWT at Riccarton to improve its utilisation and therefore increase revenue but what they are doing is the exact opposite. Creating more opportunities outside of the AWT would most likely increase the AWT utilisation. Effectively though we have a downward spiral in a flat spin! I must bump the debate we had on BOAY about the Riccarton AWT Business case. One of the main Riccarton protagonists and supporter of the AWT @Pitman posted figures that the AWT was going to produced hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue through training alone. It hasn't happened - what has happened maintenance wasn't kept up, a serious problem emerged and now we have NZTR subsidising the upkeep of the AWT's!!!

And looking at the trackwork reports which is just a snapshot of activity many trainers ARE using the AWT at Cambridge. My point is you can't lump the 3 AWT's together. There has been a disparity in maintenance at each of them that seems to correlate to resourcing and thus the outcome is in simplistic terms - the lower the resourcing, the less maintenance leading to less utilisation.

Are trainers training on the Riccarton AWT? Cambridge seems to be going gang busters. Is the Riccarton AWT being maintained properly?

There are a lot of errors on the website which in some cases seem to be residual from old development and no longer used. The website is a memory hog and they still use Cloudflare as a CDN probably via Spark so there are latency issues with some parts of the site. They haven't performance enhanced it at all.

Many of the owners of the horses mistreated are from the "who's who" of Racing. Some have made it to the races which I think is a reflection of the resilience of the horses involved.

It looks like the TAB website is using Google adserver to deliver banner advertising on the website and/or are using Google Tag Manager to record user activity e.g. when you click on a TAB ad that will be collected by the TAB's Google Analytics Account. The error you see may be a number of things. One could be your internet connection is a bit flakely or the bandwidth throttled down and so when the ads are served up from a different source the response times between your browser and the adserver aren't quick enough and throws an error.

View From The Eighth Pole: An Obligation To Horse Racing - Paulick Report paulickreport.com He told you so. Thirty-one years ago, Thoroughbred owner and breeder, John Ed Anthony, predicted what would happen if racetracks joined up with casinos. “In the same location, under the same ownership and management, either casino gambling or live racing will die,” Anthony said, “and we know which it will be. “Casinos are our competition – poison to racing,” he added, calling them “the greatest threat to our industry in modern history.” Anthony made those remarks at the 1994 Jockey Club Round Table on Matters Pertaining to Racing in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. This was before casino gambling or slot machines became prevalent at many racetracks throughout North America. In the wake of efforts by Belinda Stronach and her 1/ST Racing company to pass a law in Florida allowing Gulfstream Park to end live racing while keeping their slot machine license, Anthony is frustrated that his prediction is beginning to come true. He worries that Florida will be just the first domino to fall if decoupling legislation passes in the Sunshine State. Companion Decoupling Bill Passes Florida Senate Committee 5-2 “Casinos have been wonderful for racing – the revenue sharing has been the lifeblood of purses – but it doesn't take a very smart fella to understand that racing is a whole lot more trouble than a casino and not nearly as lucrative,” he said. “And now we're being discarded. I can't think of how to combat it, other than to argue the point that they used racing to get their licenses, and now they're discarding racing. “The facts are that the tracks used pari-mutuel wagering and the logic of having gambling in the states as a catalyst to get their casinos,” he said. “And now, as projected, you're beginning to see the separation – now that they have the casino licenses, they don't need racing anymore.” Anthony worried in 1994 that many racetracks would add casinos with good intentions and then be bought out by casino companies. “How long will live racing exist when Vegas corporations own the tracks?” he said. Even if the tracks weren’t sold to gaming companies, Anthony said during his Round Table speech, racing would suffer. “Most available capital will be invested in the construction and development of casinos,” he predicted. “This will inevitably result in the decline of racing facilities.” While that may be true at many “racinos” in operation today, he said that is not the case at the Cella family’s Oaklawn Park in Anthony’s home state of Arkansas. “The Cellas are certainly the exception to the rule,” he said. “The writing is on the wall,” he said. “If Gulfstream can do what they want to do, the die is cast. I think there will be a surge of similar moves.” In his Round Table speech, Anthony said the move toward casinos would cause horse racing “significant grief,” forcing it to downsize and adjust. One comment from his talk that stood out was what Thoroughbred owners might have to do if racetracks close. “In some areas,” he said, “we may have to race in an open field and view the events from tailgates and the back-end of pickup trucks. But we will control our industry. And we will be free to go forward in ways we believe are in our best interest.” That comment is particularly relevant in connection with the potential closure of Gulfstream Park. Maybe future racing in Florida won’t take place in open fields with people watching from pickup trucks, but I can envision a more modest facility operated by a group led by horsepeople who are committed to the continuation of Thoroughbred racing. If it comes to pass that Belinda Stronach’s company succeeds in closing Gulfstream Park and keeping a casino that would have never existed without horse racing, she owes it to the sport and all who depend on it for their livelihoods to help fund and build a replacement track. And that should be the case in any other state that goes down a similar path. If horse racing played a part in getting someone a casino license, they have an obligation to horse racing. That’s my view from the eighth pole. Veteran horse racing journalist Ray Paulick launched the Paulick Report in 2008 after spending more than a quarter century covering the sport for daily and weekly publications, including Daily Racing Form, Thoroughbred Times, and Blood-Horse.

Many of the owners of the horses mistreated are from the "who's who" of Racing. Some have made it to the races which I think is a reflection of the resilience of the horses involved.

There are a few things that seem inconsistent with the testing procedures for example the variations between samples and then between times. One test decreasing then spiking 5 fold. Seems odd. But the catch all rule of zero tolerance means that very small levels represent a positive for presentation. The investigation seems to be the usual assume guilt and not investigate where the substance came from.