Chief Stipe

I believe some states have changed that. A Jockey can't be legged up now they have to do it themselves. That's why our leaders should be lobbying like crazy saying - "we can do this with positividdy."

These travel restrictions are a nonsense. 40-50% (at least) of the population is still working. The rest are still going to the supermarket and joining unmanaged queues. What's worse 2-300 people in a supermarket queue that isn't managed? Or 100 people working within strict protocols at their normal place of work being policed by the industry black boots? The Covid-19 alert levels are a nonsense too. Their definitions keep changing. If you don't define black and white you can't manage the grey!

Bosson considering family move to Sydney in wake of COVID-19 Article Author AAP 5:00PM19 April 2020 3 Comments Leading New Zealand jockey Opie Bosson is to consider moving his family to Australia amid uncertainty when racing across the Tasman will resume. Bosson ended the Sydney autumn carnival as the leading Group I rider with four elite victories aboard Probabeel (Surround Stakes), Te Akau Shark (Chipping Norton) Quick Thinker (Australian Derby) and Tofane (All Aged Stakes). The carnival went ahead under strict biosecurity protocols because of the coronavirus pandemic. New Zealand racing is shut down and importantly, so is training under the Alert 4 lockdown meaning it will take weeks to get the horses back to full fitness before racing can start. Bosson left New Zealand primarily to ride for Te Akau Racing with the flagship horses - Melody Belle, Probabeel and Te Akau Shark - still in Australia and likely to be prepared for spring racing in Sydney and Melbourne. The jockey will return to New Zealand on Tuesday for 14-days self isolation and will discuss the possibility of another trans-Tasman relocation with his wife Emily and Te Akau boss David Ellis. Emily Bosson works in racing media in New Zealand but has spent the past few weeks looking after the couple's young son Max and their farm. "I've been at an apartment for the majority of the time and have only been out to go to trackwork on a Tuesday and ride on race day," Bosson said. "On race day I had a room to myself but the last two weeks I've been with English rider Tom Marquand. "When you get on track you get your temperature taken and then you are in the room for the rest of the day with all of the jockeys isolated in different areas. "The set-up was really good and luckily I've been getting quite a few rides each day. "Emily has been doing a great job at home but she has told me there are plenty of jobs waiting for me when I get back. "We have to have a good chat about things and a lot will depend upon what is happening in New Zealand. "It is something (moving to Australia) that we have to look into but nothing has been set in stone and there are a lot of factors to consider. "I will have to talk to David Ellis and people like that so there is a lot of things that would need to fall into place before anything was decided. "A few people have approached me about giving me rides which is quite encouraging while there might be some media opportunities available for Emily. "I've probably had the best season I have ever had so I have no complaints and riding Group One winners in Australia is something you dream about."

You may well find that if our NZ industry leadership doesn't lead with decisiveness then our elite jockeys, few that they are, will travel West instead of South.

Unless I've missed something I don't believe Mardigras said that. He has advocated not running them if there are restrictions on horse transportation. His rationale is similar to why he believes the Karaka Millions shouldn't be Group races as entry is not available to all in the age group. I concur.

I thought we were arguing about WHERE they would be run. BTW I won't have a horse racing in the Melbourne Cup this year but it is important to me that it is run in Melbourne this year.

Aside from the fact most of the purchasers don't end up the sole owners of the horses what the purchasers want is raffle ticket in the Karaka Millions sweepstake!!!!!! A million dollar race funded from raffle tickets and strangely enough by NZTR.

Would have weighed in light!

So basically your whole argument is based on "there are mostly North Island horses in the Guineas races therefore they should be run in the North Island." You are probably going to take that one step further using your logic and say they should be held in the Waikato. Frankly it is that approach that has stuffed NZ racing.

True. But if MPI won't let us fast work there is hardly any point in transporting horses! As for other trainers helping each other. That happens a lot now so increasing the support should be achievable.

That's why our industry leaders should be hammering MPI real hard.

No the "Normal" is the NZ racing industry in all three codes converges on a week of great racing in Christchurch in the second week of November. Maybe they should shift the Melbourne Cup to the northern hemisphere after all they seem to dominate the field numbers. What's wrong with tradition? Isn't that what builds up interest, connections through time? I know someone who lives in Whangarei who has gone to Cup week in Christchurch for 38 years in a row. In fact I know a lot of people like that. Before the BGP came along I knew punters clubs in Wellington who put money away each week to have their annual trip to Cup week. Take away the class horses and what do you have for these followers? I haven't been to Cup week for quite some time. Circumstances haven't allowed it. BUT just like my interest in racing started in my home town (Hokitika) with the Westland Racing Club my enthusiasm for the game was enhanced by my many visits to Cup Week with the old man which continued when I went to University in Christchurch and when I lived there for 20 years. The Guineas, the New Zealand Galloping and Trotting Cups and the NZ Free For All, The Dominion are all engraved in my brain. Chip them away and I become disenfranchised - disillusioned. Why does it matter? If those races are shifted to Te Rapa will the public be able to attend? That isn't the point. The point is if our industry takes the easy options now where will it stop? When we have a rich man's exclusive club racing at a track in the Waikato vis a vis Hong Kong Jockey Club?

I'm serious I read it in their annual report. You don't want to know what they were being paid!!!!

All good ideas. We should also start locally. As you say everyone is driven by self-interest. For example with the CJC we need to start co-ordinating members from the ground up THEN those above will start feeling the pressure. They'll start assessing their future!

He had THREE cadets working for him at one stage!

Yeah well apart from the death of the Westland Racing Club and the threat of shifting the Guineas from Riccarton the thing that has tipped me over the edge was the announcement yesterday - "Going back to school isn't voluntary, those children that don't have care at home have to go to school." FFS!

But no more than any other year! WE need to manage this based on what was normal! I for one am not giving away easily what my forebears built and fought for. Quite frankly I'd rather take the risk in getting the virus. After all something is going to get me at some stage!

I disagree. With regard to the horse population argument we shouldn't confound the issue by including "Iconic" races with the bread and butter races - the latter being the majority of races. The reason why the "South Island hasn't supported these races with entrants" is because they haven't had the cattle. Then again you will find that on a horse population % basis that they are probably over represented. Look at Australia - trainers are still sending horses interstate to compete. We have the same land mass as the state of Victoria yet can't work out a protocol to send horses across the Strait.

I wouldn't focus too much on fixed costs. Variable costs are the key and cost to stakeholders that provide the product e.g. trainers and owners.

De Lore's analysis: https://www.racenews.bitofayarn.com/crazy-stuff-381250-per-week-paid-to-top-135-rita-employees-and-we-have-no-racing/ $381,250 per week paid to the top 135 RITA employees!

I don't think that is a good guide. There are too many variants that would skew the data. Surely the best criteria is cost - cost to the industry as a whole but in particular to those who put on the show i.e. dog trainers, handlers and owners. Which tracks have the least cost to those groups?

Whether Covid-19 "escaped" from a lab or not is irrelevant. What is more relevant is was it genetically engineered - there is near universal agreement that it wasn't engineered in a lab. It's origins are natural. It is possible that the parent of the virus was circulating in human population for quite some time. It had to mutate to become infectious to humans. It is possible that this mutation or similar ones occurred in geographically dispersed populations at the same time. There are over 40 species of Coronavirus circulating in the animal and/or human population. Anyone of which could mutate at any time to become infectious to humans. There are numerous other types of viruses that are circulating that make the leap from the animal to human populations every year. That phenomena is increasing as our population grows and we expand closer to the wild animal population. It was only a matter of time before we had a pandemic such as the one we are experiencing now. https://www.newscientist.com/term/coronavirus-come-lab/ ...downloaded the publicly available sequences of all isolates from NCBI. As of today, there are a handful from China and the US, supposedly sequenced by different facilities in the different countries. All 2019-nCoV sequences are in perfect agreement, save for a few point mutations. These could be sequencing errors or genetic drift. There are no large scale discrepancies. So if the sequences are doctored, both the US and Chinese governments would have to be in collusion, and kept any scientists with integrity of character away from the project. This seems in my mind unlikely. But it's probably a possibility that the truth seeker should remain aware of. If the pandemic spreads much further, DIY isolation and sequencing by individuals would become a realistic option. https://www.researchgate.net/post/Is_nCoV-2019_bioenginnered_a_weapon_gone_rogue

Get on the phone. Organise the local trainers. If the majority of them said they would boycott the Cup meeting what would they do then? Lobby your local MP's. Fight them on the beaches, the hills, the fields, the stables, the tracks - never surrender! I think with a targeted Social Media campaign you would be surprised what support you would garner from across the country. Part of my racing heart died when the Westland Racing Club was shafted. Another part will die if the philistines and the faceless bureaucrats start pulling Cup week apart. DON'T get hooked into - "oh well there are bigger more important things to worry about at the moment." Fight close to home - put up resistance. Actively manage those things that you can - believe me you can do a lot more locally than you think you can. If you fight for things that are important to you you'll find they are important to others as well. If you don't then we will end up with some amorphous central government telling us what we can and can't do.

Well that can't continue can it. I mean how do you do those things when you have to maintain social distancing? Those north island stallions may have high virility but 2 metres? That's a bit of a stretch even for them.