Doomed

Didn't people happily take $1.50 for a horse that didn't even start in the NZ Trotting Cup? A fool and his money very easily parted...

So here is a horse who has run a place in a group one and the owners are getting excited about some 'impressive black type" in a race that would be listed at best and shouldn't even be that. Interesting that the article didn't mention what happened to the runners up in the two Guineas races. They mustn't have been interested.

I noticed the new name myself, thought it a bit strange. Doesn't Auckland have a Mufasa race as well? He would hardly be the first horse that came to mind that deserved two races named after him. That race has certainly had some names and dates over the years. Wasn't it most recently the Captain Cook? Used to be in March when I first remember it. I was there when The Twinkle won it back in 1981 beating Mun Lee. I think it was the George Adams at one stage. Marlboro Mile, DB Mile, Penfolds mile. Hard to keep up with all its names and dates. Lots of South Island winners over the years. Might be time for another one.

Alex Milne trained Matai Dreamer as well, so he won the race two years in a row.

I think the $50m was contingent on him winning certain subsequent races, which of course he didn't. I haven't seen any mention of what the actual sale price was.

The magic millions races aren't group races of course. If they wanted to make him into a stallion they would need to target a decent group race somewhere.

I suppose its the same as when you get a slippery track and one horse falls over and they abandon the meeting. It only takes one.

I take it you are indicating that the 2,000 Guineas may well attract a stronger field than the Karaka and Slot this season, especially if Savaglee goes on to do well in Australia. Same might happen with the 2yo Karaka if that impressive Te Akau 2yo goes on to do well in group races.

I did notice during one race that the crossing was significantly raised above the rest of the track. I thought at the time it looked a bit suspect. I hadn't realised that was what caused the fall.

I just looked at the results of yesterday's Taranaki meeting and couldn't find any of those jockeys or horses. I must be living in a parallel universe.

I have only just had a chance to listen to the podcast. I thought it was really well done and some interesting thoughts.

We think alike Shad. I struggle with this concept of everyone being at ground level on the grass watching the big screen. It does nothing for me, might as well stay at home. I was lucky enough to enjoy Riccarton in the days when everyone could sit up high in the stand and view the races directly. It's a whole new world. A strange world. I acknowledge I'm not the target market though.

The 2,000 Guineas got moved to the first day when Winston made it a Million dollar race and they didn't want it run midweek. Didn't work all that well as a theory, waste of money really.

Maidens did use to be handicaps in NZ. It was actually quite hard for a really consistent horse to get out of maiden ranks as they were always giving weight to up and comers.

And of course Allan followed Haf Poland who was there for even longer. They don't hang around so long these days.

How on earth can they persuade the Govt to let them have a monopoly on betting when people can't get a bet on on the biggest raceday of the year?

I thought it might have just been me. They are only allowing fixed odds bets and I'm a tote better. At least it saved me heaps on the cup. What a bloody shambles.

I would doubt that is the case. Look how many beaten favs MacDonald rides. I'm not saying it is his fault, just that some of his mounts are at crazy low prices.

The 3yos raced on a heavy 10 at Riccarton on saturday.

Someone didn't cross their fingers.

If anything goes wrong at Te Aroha in a few days that won't leave many options left in the north. Te Rapa has been taking up a lot of the slack over the last couple of years.

I never really understood why they got rid of the Wgtn Derby. Famous for being Linda Jones first big win, on Holy Toledo, if I remember correctly.

I happened to watch a few minutes of the trots last night and they mentioned it was raining so it was lucky Riccarton had applied 56mm of irrigation over the last few days. I struggle to get my head around this idea that if its going to rain you have to make sure the track is really heavy.

Each to their own. I much prefer staying races myself, so my highlight for the day will be the Caulfield Cup. And I do tend to switch off totally when something is overhyped. Still, it obviously works for them, and I don't imagine I am their target market.

Yes, Ellerslie put in an extra $5,000 of their own money per race. I don't really see the point myself. Not sure how many extra horses and how much extra turnover you get for a $55,000 race compared to a $50,000 race. Hardly seems cost effective.