Doomed

Reminiscent of the famous Muldoon quote. Improves the average IQ of both Islands when he travels north.

Sharrock didn't really mention centralisation did he? If he did it was surely to say it clearly hasn't worked so far.

I just can't get my head around the number of jockeys that fly around the country to ride in $17,000 races. Some southern meetings have 70-80% of the horses in some races ridden by northern jockeys. It does show the very poor state of the industry.

I don't really recall farmers doing the track maintenance at Trentham, Ellerslie, Riccarton, HB etc.

Quite a few days off this week

Dunedin does appear to be the new Golden Child.

Who won Chief? I didn't enter. I wanted to give the battlers a chance.

No, do them on Sunday. The more the merrier.

Impeccable timing. Announced at the same time as two abandoned meetings. I suppose they were too busy organising this to spend any time on preventing abandonments. I wonder if they have any measurable criteria/data to justify this statement?: "Success of this summer's middle distance series." The CJC Stewards has really dropped down the pecking order. Misses out to some obscure listed races that even I have never heard of. I wonder if the CJC noticed? Or cares? All their own fault anyhow.

I thought NZTR was going to fund a few sets of new gates after one of the Trentham fiascos?

Freda! You know a $17,000 race at Puke is more important than a $40,000 raca at Oamaru. Some of those at NZTR would struggle to point out Oamaru on a map. Why could the meeting not be held this Friday which has no NZ gallop scheduled? I imagine Oamaru will be compensated for any reduction in income. I don't actually know if they get any commission on turnover these days. I wonder if there was any consideration given to transferring the meeting to Cambridge. I presume they have some gates.

You win Chief. Pukekohe gone so zero starters there.

I thought that was a press release the club put out. Only at the end did I realise it was a newspaper article. "Albeit most meetings went off without a hitch". How many was that exactly? In for a summer of such scale most are struggling to get their heads around it. I surely thought that was part of a press release, but it was actually written by the journalist. Comparing themselves to the likes of Sydney and Randwick. Do they realise those clubs race most weeks of the year and right through the winter?

I would love you to remind us of some of those. Show Gate of course left Sporting Show and Every Show who both did well, may have even won close to 10 each. I don't think Show Queen won much but went on to become a good broodmare. He would also have won with several other Honey Crepes. A Gate Keeper did win the Timaru Cup the year before Show Gate, but I can't remember who trained it and can't remember its exact name.

It shows a circling the wagons mentality. Which is very sad. The Alamo I suppose. Very sad state of affairs.

Hoi Polloi. Me?

Some interesting comments above. I'm surprised they think the current foal crop is optimal. NZ Racing did seem to be going much better 20 or 30 years ago when the foal crop was much higher. I agree with the comment that field sizes are an important metric. I am staggered there has been very little comment about all of these 5 and 6 horse fields over recent months. Thinking that everything will come right with a slot race seems short-sighted at best, incredibly thick at worst. Has anyone else noticed that there seems to be no correlation at all between stakes levels, field sizes, turnovers, profit margins and industry well being? I suppose stakes levels are a relatively easy thing to promote and measure, but when stakes are not related to profit margins in any sense like a normal business it is all a bit pointless really.

It's time I came out of the closet and admitted that I quite enjoy TAB's contributions. I think he provides a good balance to some of our prevailing views.

3 or 4 years ago I went to Wgtn Cup day and parked in the infield. When I crossed the track to get to the grandstand side I was amazed how rough the track was. We get quite a deceptive image on TV.

Surely it would be a bit sad if someone didn't? Surely at least one of them has some interest in racing?

Big weekend in the SI. July's 2yo race coming up at Oamaru. It might be a good pub quiz question to ask how many 2yo races there are in Canterbury during the winter. One would be the answer. Might trick a few people, especially north islanders who are used to at least two 2yo races every week. 13 2yos trialling at Riccarton, about 40% of the total starters, which is impressive considering they don't actually hold 2yo races on the AWT. I can't recall if they mentioned when the AWT was being advocated as the next big thing for Canterbury that it wouldn't be used for actual 2yo races.

On a slightly different subject Chief, but you might have an opinion. Those were pretty poor fields at Ruakaka on Saturday. Good track, big stakes, but only seven races, a couple with 5 starters and one with 7. Only one field of more than 10. Are there just no horses about or is Ruakaka not what they want? I suspect it might be too long a trip for many these days, despite the stakes on offer. I imagine locals would have made up a decent percentage of the starters. Along with the appalling flat fields at Trentham this most surely be a concern for those running the industry.

It was a hell of a long gap between Collett getting dislodged and the start being effected. The Stewards decision was probably the best outcome. It actually sets a precedent in case anything similar happens here. I don't remember a situation exactly like it in NZ.

The saddest thing is that NZTR think they got a win over Stratford, but really the club just gave up beating their head against a brick wall, which has also happened elsewhere. Gradually all those with a passion for racing are giving up and the fly by nighters will have their 5 minutes of glory and then piss off after they have ruined the industry as we know it.

Poor Mark, he must have had a hell of a shock when he purchased some young gallopers to race as 2yos down South and then realised the SI doesn't really encourage 2yo racing.