Pete Lane

Interesting though that people were making an issue about the lack of Te Akau runners at Ellerslie but they’ve nominated 5 at Awapuni.

I think you'll find he stood at Chequers Stud.

He may have owned a huge amount of horses but very few have come to 'prominence'. Those of us who've been around for a while remember this bloke well. I'm entitled to an opinion about him and it does cloud my view of this expose.

It's a bit of a stretch to call him a prominent owner. He did stand the legendary stallion Painted Black for a while.

Yeah I wondered that. Especially after they came out and said they'd only be declaring Good 4 tracks. Confusing...

Interestingly a Soft 5 this morning.

No lives lost and Berry The Cash only has a minor laceration to its leg. Very relieved to read that.

We are very sad today to announce the passing of Zed. He suffered a bout of colic which our vets advised would require surgical intervention. At 22 years of age, I just couldn’t see him suffer and the tough decision was made not to put him through surgery and he was euthanised. Zed was a massive part of our family. He was loved by all staff at Grangewilliam, past and present. Zed has been such an easy horse and a real character on the farm. He has become a bit of a cult-hero and his story resonates with everyone; coming back from being sacked and sent away serving Clydesdales on the hills of Erewhon Station, to ending up at Grangewilliam Stud and siring World Champion Mare and Melbourne Cup heroine, Verry Elleegant. Zed is the epitome of the dream of racing, the underdog, unfashionable working-class horse who beat the world’s best despite the riches thrown at achieving that success. When we acquired Zed, we were in a tough spot without a stallion of any significance to draw in the mares, and Zed pulled us through that hole and kept the mares coming in the gate. He has literally paid our bills and put our children through school. Today we have a fantastic stallion line-up: The Bold One, Derryn and our exciting new boy, Hilal, thanks in no small part to the deeds of Zed. Zed has left us with many special memories. My family and local friends will all fondly remember sharing the excitement we had in our garden during Covid cheering Verry Elleegant home to win the Melbourne Cup. Zed garnered a loyal fan base throughout his career. The progeny of Zed have won just about every major cups and jumps race in New Zealand. He passed on his sire Zabeel’s toughness and staying prowess. Thanks to out vet, Jo Gibbs for her dedication and efforts in the care of Zed. I would like to thank all our loyal clients and Zed fans over the years for supporting Zed and making him what he became. A big thanks to Sam Williams, LA Stud and the Zed Syndicate for allowing us the privilege of standing Zed. He has given us a great deal of excitement and enjoyment following his progeny and we look forward to his continuing success on the racetracks in the years to come. Mark Corcoran Studmaster Grangewilliam Stud

I still remember Kevin Myers starting C'Est La Guerre at Wairoa as a lead up to his Derby win.

Yesterday Ellerslie hosted a successful set of jumpouts for Auckland-trained horses, with 70 horses running against the rail and 28 outside cones on the course proper. This event marks another significant milestone in Auckland Thoroughbred Racing’s (ATR) preparation for their upcoming racing season. Feedback from stakeholders, including the Racing Integrity Board (RIB), was positive regarding the track’s performance. ATR management remains confident that the track is on the right path for an exciting and successful season. In a further commitment to ensuring top track conditions, ATR and New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing (NZTR) flew in Flemington track manager Liam O’Keefe for a detailed review. After his inspection yesterday afternoon and this morning, O’Keefe commented, “It’s very pleasing to see the progress the track has made since my last visit in May. While I was here, we developed a maintenance plan aimed at improving traction for horses. It is clear, after observing the track following the jumpouts, that the maintenance plan is working effectively, allowing horses to penetrate the profile and thus providing safe racing conditions.” ATR CEO Paul Wilcox echoed these sentiments, stating, “We are naturally pleased with the renovation work that’s been done, and the feedback we’ve received indicates we are right on track. The expertise and guidance provided by Liam, alongside Chris Hay of Tasmania, have been invaluable in achieving these results.” Looking ahead, trials are scheduled for Tuesday, 10 September, with jumpouts for Open horses (outside cones) set to commence immediately after the trials.

Yeah agreed. I have a feeling he may have been away (maybe back in Oz) because the He's Lucid ride was a late confirmation.

He's riding He's Lucid in the Guineas at Wanganui. That's his only ride.

I'm told it's aiming at a different market. I think there are some differences but I haven't found any yet apart from the fact that there's no tote betting.

Well I got verified and got a $25 bonus bet for doing it and then a $100 deposit bonus. Easy money.

Did you manage to get your ID verified? I failed to get past that step.

From Darin Balcombe. You'd have to ask what on earth are the point of AWTs. The synthetic tracks at Cambridge, Riccarton and Awapuni were developed for such weather-related meeting abandonments, however, Balcombe said transferring the turf meetings to the polytracks still requires time and would also come at a detriment to field sizes. “Logistically, it isn’t quite as easy as changing the track, there are a lot of contractors and other things that need to be in place to do that,” he said. “We can do that (transfer) with about 24 hours’ notice. A lot of the time it hasn’t started raining until that point, so you would be making a decision before the weather hits. You are never going to get that 100 percent right, so it is very hard to predict that. “Especially for Saturday race meetings, when you go to the synthetic you will pretty much be decimated with scratchings. I have spoken with two or three people this morning who said they wouldn’t have run on the synthetic. I just looked at Ballarat the other day over in Australia that moved their turf meeting to their synthetic track on the Saturday, which was to be run on the Sunday, which were fields of 15 to 18, and they ended up with five to seven going around. “The horses that go around on the synthetic go on them because they like the synthetic, and the other ones are generally looking for a heavy track, and they don’t tend to mix between each other.”

Totally agree. I'm not sure though that these people are very interested in the views of the hoi polloi.

Your phone must be red hot with all these calls you get from trainers and administrators. Forgive me if "I assure you" engenders a minimal lack of confidence in what you're saying.

My point was that they are highly unlikely to look at any of these sites. Trust you to construe it as an attack.

If you think anyone from NZTR actually looks at this site you're delusional.

No.

Don't want to be negative but there will come a point when Entain take a look at what they're doing in NZ and decide it's not commercially viable. At the moment they're spraying money around but it won't last.

Take a look in the mirror bud.

You can stick with arguing with yourself in this echo chamber. I've got a thriving site to run.

I'm not sure what Chief Stipe is suggesting actually. It's lost in a cloud of obfuscation.