Chief Stipe

If you look closely you will see the sunglasses do too! To think there are people out there who think men can't look after children! The following photos are from when I took her to Derby Day at Ellerslie so I upped the glam a bit. Again I bought the entire outfit. I was lucky to have a horse racing that day. We had Owner's tickets and so were up in the members stand and were allowed into the birdcage before our race. I must say I felt awkward if not uneasy. Some of the looks we got in the members stand weren't good. It was like we were out of place and shouldn't have been there.

But what criteria have they used to determine what is "strategically necessary"? The criteria must be flawed when we view which tracks are the first to be raced on after the relaxation of the Covid-19 rules. We've been given an insight into their strategic thinking. For example Ascot Park gets a meeting but not Wingatui nor Riverton. They can't have made that decision based on what is best for the horse, the trainers, the owners or even on-course attendance. Certainly not based on the horse population. From what my investigations have discovered it is solely based on the fact that Ascot Park has the new rolls royce fibre and network connection. Also I guess because it is a tri-code venue. But is that really strategic thinking or dubious operational decisions wagging the strategic tail? For the life of me I can't understand how tri-code venues are good for the industry. Certainly from an on-course viewer perspective they are a dog. Excuse the pun. It is a bit like having a Rugby test match at a cricketing venue like Eden Park. the Cake TIn or the MCG (I've watched Rugby test "on-course" at all three) it isn't the same spectacle as a ground that is a dedicated Rugby/League venue. If I ever attended a Greyhound meeting it wouldn't be at Ascot Park. NO I disagree with that. Many of the clubs designated for closure have built their assets up through support and financial assistance from their local communities. These assets AREN'T the Racing Industry's. In fact most of these clubs have been subsidising the so called "strategic clubs" with inequitable support from the NZRB/RITA for years. I applaud the Westland Racing Club for gifting their assets and cash in the bank back to the community of Hokitika.

There was an inquiry into the race. The RIU breathalysed the winning jockey and his steed. Still waiting on the results.

Note the stable isn't up to Ellerslie standards but it is functional! Oh and you were still allowed to walk down around them then.

But mostly functional and it doesn't seem to worry those who attend. For viewing the races the Hokitika grandstand was one of the best and you didn't have to pay to use it! At least the flies were dead! Exactly even if the beer was dripping with water from the ice in the chilly bin and handed to you by a hairy legged prop forward from the local rugby club who are splitting the profits with the racing club. Or Percy "Pie" Hurrens tin shed at the back of stand where you could get pies made early on the morning of race day. Again spot on. Plus the smaller communities all know someone who knows someone to fix things. Yes RITA want to close it and grab that cash in the bank and sell the assets to fund their largesse. Really? All from ONE race meeting a year? As I've said many times before it was Hokitika where as a kid I was first introduced to racing. Which reminds me of our family's annual trip to Nelson for the trots in January each year. We did that pilgrimage from Hokitika to Nelson for what must have been 15 years in a row. Only stopped when my parents moved there. Well the pilgrimage didn't stop rather the journey was cut down from 320 km to 10 km! I had the pleasure of taking my young daughter to the same meeting a couple of times. A very large group of friends and families from Canterbury used to converge on the Mapua camping ground every summer (20km from the Richmond race track). Two of the families had harness racing connections - one had a son who is a very good harness driver and myself who had relatives that have trained in the Nelson region since harness racing started there. A great holiday where we took over a large corner of the camping ground. A large number of children in the party ranging from babies through to teenagers who fortunately came from big families and didn't mind baby sitting. So one of the regular events was to get everyone glammed up (well just a notch or two up from camping ground standard we weren't fashion in the field types!) and head to the races. Now the Richmond Race track facilities would be viewed by some as rustic but from memory similar to Ruakaka. We didn't care given we were camping. Technically I was operating as a solo dad (some would call it rent-a-kid) and I took great pride in dressing my daughter (never had a doll as a child!). Below is a picture of her touching her first harness racing horse at the Nelson trots. OK it is a miniature version of the real thing but she got to meet children gearing these horses up and wearing silks and to her there was no difference to the real thing. The point is she made a connection with racing. She even helped me pick out bets and I gave her a couple of dollars a race as part of her maths education. I'm convinced that such tutorials have been influential in her being very very good at College. What pisses me off is the lot in charge DON'T understand NZ racing and what made it great. What's more over the years they have pissed away OUR reserves and made us insolvent. Thankfully they didn't get their hands of Westland Racing's $500,000!

No pictures on the website. Now there's a marketing opportunity.

If clubs could raise their own stakes AND get a fair cut of turnover why couldn't they be TAB races?

You've asked me to post what I would have done "as PM". Can you give me a start date for my actions? I'm conscious of not using the benefit of hindsight so I need to make sure I align what I said at the time with the relevant timeline.

Oh Ok you are a hypocrite as well? What does "come from money mean"? Can you explain?

I assure you they weren't TRIALS and TRIBULATIONS - they were fun times! I guess you don't understand what trials and tribulations actually mean. As for being "blue thru and thru" - more apt to call me sky blue - the intensity changes relative to what is required to do the right thing. Aside from being a Left Wing Communist fanatic can you tell us a bit more about yourself?

Yeah well she paved the way for Jacinda. Ruth was caring for TWO young children while Minister of Finance.

The first time I've met a horse and smelt horse pooh. What about this photo from Ruakaka's January 5 meeting 2019. The Kids Open Handicap Sprint.

That's cool Huey. The point I was making was, granted not very well, we need places like Ruakaka. If RITA continues with its current strategy then Ruakaka goes. When I first visited the course on race day I was actually impressed. Barryb's birdshit and dead flies aside. It took me back to my Hokitika days. Actually attending the race meeting for the first time at Hokitika was the first time I ever patted a horse. Been a curse ever since. The January 5th 2019 race day which I posted a link to had a foot race for children down the home straight - well not the entire straight. There looks like 50 kids lined up! I'm picking that for many that would be their first day at the races. When was the last time we saw something like that at Ellerslie or Trentham?

If you stopped to think instead of playing the man then you'd understand that what was revealed late this week has a bit more to play out.

Firstly, and I don't want to divert the discussion, I supported the tour because I valued the freedom of being able to associate and watch the sport I loved. I did NOT support apartheid. I, perhaps naively at that time, believed that politics and sport should not be mixed. The 1981 Springbok Tour at University was my "Vietnam War." It was what going to University was all about. Growing up and fighting for causes. I could do what I wanted to do. Maybe Covid-19 is this generations "cause." BUT what I firmly believe is that my view and actions were as important as the other side in bringing about change. Secondly I'm not "name dropping" as you call it to justify ANY argument that I may have (your comment though hints at your age - so maybe you are not naive because of your age) but to validate that I'm not partisan purely because of red or blue or left or right. Duncan McIntyre's (McIntyre was the Minister of Agriculture and for a time the Deputy Prime Minister during Muldoons government for those who are too young to remember) son was Angus. Angus was a Senior Lecturer in Resource Management at Lincoln College when I attended. As was Rodney Hide. Both were well respected academics in their fields. Now Angus had long hair, a beard and wore sandals. Rodney was always in a suit. Angus's father was a Cabinet Minister at the time and attending lectures I could never reconcile the two. BUT Angus was a brilliant lecturer and academic and lecturer and I learnt heaps about public policy. Rodney was the same. Neither Angus or Rodney would have made successful politicians - too many brains and not political. Sadly and I guess given the current situation Angus died from an asthma attack while on an academic transfer in the USA. As for Duncan McIntyre - I was chairman of the Selwyn Young Nationals at the time his was Minister of Agriculture. Lincoln University (College) was in the Selwyn Electorate - Ruth Richardson was our MP. We went from not existing to being the largest Young Nationals branch in New Zealand inside a year. Our focus was entirely political it wasn't social. We held political forums where we invited Ministers and Industry Leaders and other protagonists to speak to a particular topic. One forum was "The Meat Industry Reform." Believe me in 1981/82 reforming the meat industry was one of the big political issues. We had speakers from across the political spectrum. I still have vivid memories of the day my Vice Chairman and I went to the Meat Workers Union office to talk to and invite the President to our forum. There was the Russian flag on the wall behind his desk and Fidel Castro tapes sitting on his desk. LOL my vice and I couldn't believe it but we talked to him and he agreed to come and speak representing the workers. Derek Quigley was another and represented the Cabinet. We had reps from the processing plants and so on. Anyway to cut a long story short. Late that night after the forum I got a call from a reporter from RNZ Morning Report asking me what had happened at the forum. I just told it the way it was. I didn't realise that the phone conversation was being recorded. Anyway a week later at the local National Party Committee meeting Ruth Richardson is giving her monthly report on the state of the nation and she says how proud she was to hear the chairman of her Young Nationals Branch on RNZ Radio Report. Being a politician she was turing a positive light on what I had said for the electorate committee. Because what I had said was, in a nutshell, that the National Government's Meat Industry Reform "was a waste of time." There were members, cabinet ministers and others saying to Ruth - "Can't you control your Young Nationals?" So my name is in Hansard where a Labour Minister asks the Right Honourable Duncan MacIntyre "what does the Minister of Agriculture have to say about the Chairman of the Selwyn Young Nationals comment on Morning Report that the Meat Industry Taskforce is a complete waste of time?" The thing is Holy I'm not driven by ideology or (quotes) but by what I think is right based on facts and logic. I'm the first in a team to stand up and say "I agree" but also the first to stand up if - "I disagree."

Watch this space Curious.

Yes and I'm proud of it. A science degree. I also took classes on the side in Resource Management Policy - these were taught by Duncan McIntryre's son and Rodney Hide at Lincoln. With regard to my Science Degree I had to do 36 weeks of practical work before I was eligible for graduation. That practical work was actually getting out onto properties in the industry and doing hard graft. I'm also proud of the fact that my first year at University was 1981 and that Lincoln was the only University that supported the Springbok Tour of that year. Am I proud because I supported Apartheid - no because I didn't. I'm proud because we stood for what we believed in.

I was asking you to translate it so we can all understand. But all I get is another quote. What does Parker say mean to you?

Nup. Addington doesn't have fibre.

Pot Kettle Holy! Your regurgitation of tired phraseology is verging on a continuous stream of vomit! When I was at University I used to love meeting people like you at parties. I went to Lincoln College (University) and your types went to Canterbury University. Occasionally we would cross pollinate. I remember one party where I discovered the young lady (she went to Lincoln) I was pursuing was being pursued by a guy from Canterbury. I was studying Horticultural Science - turns out the other guy was doing a Bachelor of Arts in Political History. Never being one to retire into the corner I started talking to him. He turned out to be an arde(r)nt communist. Now I've never been one to remember quotes nor long passages of political doctrine but that's what I started hearing from this dude. By the way he had a pony tale and was wearing sandals. Nowadays he would be a Green supporter but then there wasn't many of them around - they were fringe types you invited to a party because they had a good supply of dope. My approach in situations like this is - what do you believe in? Out roll the quotes. Hmm Ok what does that mean - out rolls another quote. Hmm Ok help me understand in your words. He tries. But very hard for him when he couldn't transfer the quote philosophy to practical examples. So I start transferring for him - using examples from our everyday life. Things like - Have you ever picked strawberries to make money during the holidays? Yeah man course I have. So I have a strawberry farm and according to your quotes you are saying I should pay all the pickers the same regardless of how hard they work?.....you see where this is going. I keep doing this and he starts repeating his quotes - he has run out of new ones and has somehow lost the ability to think. He starts getting angrier and angrier. Starts shouting - "when the revolution happens you will be the first against wall" - another quote! People intervene to take him outside. Well that was easy I thought. Now where is that chick? Shyte she's hooked up with someone else! So Holy it is only because of lock down and I'm bored that I spend time debating with someone who rolls out quote after quote. She had really nice breasts..........?

You see where you and I differ is I'm somewhat apolitical when it comes to doing what is right. It isn't a Labour - National thing. Sure philosophically I lean to the right of the political spectrum. Possibly only because it is the right that consistently applies the economic theory that I think is best and consistently lets people get on with business and the freedoms associated with that. I believe the compass of Governments should be limited to those things where the market fails. My first memory of being politically aware dates back to 1972. I ran for Parliament as a National candidate in 1984. In 1987 I voted for Roger Douglas and his team to continue the reform that they were undertaking. I respect our Parliamentary Democracy and the Westminster System it is based on. I object vehemently when I see the principles enshrined in our system of Government overridden or abused. That is one of my biggest objections to the way Adern has managed Covid-19. She dissolved Parliament and instituted a system of Totalitarianism.

Parker would get an A+ for that effort in tautology and obfuscation. Holy can you translate what it means to we mere minions? Bridges point is that advice should have been available to ALL especially now. But how could it when Adern closed Parliament! Mind you that is probably acceptable to you as that is how the Communist Politburo operates. Adern and Parker are doing a sloppy cover up. The reason they are facing legal action is because they acted ILLEGALLY! They had the time and unfortunately the power to make it legal! They are so inept that they didn't do that! THEY opened the Crown up to legal action. I'm not particularly a fan of Bridges but Labour has gifted him a lifeline.

Sounds like the Viaduct. I think you are exaggerating somewhat. People keep going back. Accept if for what it is - a popular country race track, has had nothing like the subsidies the big tracks have had and one that has the full support of its local and regional community.

You do need to get out more Holy. Put Das Kapital down and broaden your horizons. Ever heard of the NZ Pandemic Management Plan? The one John Key used during the 2009-2010 Swine Flu pandemic? You must know it - the one Adern threw out the window causing you to duck.

Don't understand what you mean. As a politician? You have to admire and respect his mastery of the political art. He is a Maori Muldoon. He has been the consistently the most dominant NZ politician in the last 35 years. His run has finally come to an end - father time has caught up with him. Don't be surprised when he leaves Parliament that he doesn't remain amongst the living for very long. Do I like his policies? NO. Do I like him as a person? NO. I've met him several times and found him to be an arrogant unsociable loner.