Doomed

Generally no idea about racing is considered an ideal qualification for most racing roles.

I don't think bickering over semantics is doing anyone any good. This industry is in a death dive and there is little point those few with some interest in trying to halt the dive arguing about minor details. It is becoming pretty obvious that there are only a few people out there who seem to realise the seriousness of the situation and who have any ideas about how to possibly mitigate the crash when it happens. There was a perfect case study into the industry's biggest problem with the Auckland trots. A CEO with no industry knowledge comes in, loses about $100m and pisses off without a care in the world. This example is replicated many times over throughout the rest of the industry at all levels. We are probably wasting over $10m a year just in salaries to useless administrators. And that is just their salaries, who knows how many hundreds of millions of damage they are doing. They will all just piss off without a care in the world when they are finished having their bit of fun. Probably never to earn such salaries again if previous experience is any indication, but they all managed to build up their own personal nest eggs for a few years.

A similar sized team to Pam and buying at similar prices so it will make for an interesting comparison.

I notice yesterday's Riccarton trials were cancelled. Is that because of just a general lack of horses or an unwillingness to use the AWT. Either way, it is a bit of a worry.

Most international punters can't access the NZ TAB from their own countries. Increasing profits by lower take out rates assumes we have a large punter base ready to increase their betting. Sadly we are not a big gambling country like Australia. A lot of people are still betting the same amounts they were 30 years ago.

Hard to argue with any of that.

Quite amazing if you find your way through their website and have a look at some of the jobs on offer at the TAB, mostly totally unnecessary, and I hate to think how much they get paid.

I don't think anyone has commented on Brian de Lore's latest piece. I assume people have given up caring. It's all a sad and sorry situation. Virtually criminal it has been allowed to happen. http://www.theoptimist.co.nz/

Sadly, we have to make do with the jockeys we have. It is not really an attractive profession anymore. You can probably draw parallels with the NZ women's cricket team. They are not flash, but they are all we have. I know nothing about riding horses, but I imagine it is something you either have a natural talent for or you don't. If someone can't judge pace and can't react quickly to changing circumstances they is probably unlikely in most cases to be able to learn those skills. As an amateur observer I would have said that was an awful ride on the 3yo that won the Dyke on the weekend, but it won easily, so what do I know. It's a pretty inexact science.

I never knew Pat Corby had anything to do with pacers. The other horse of his I remember was Clipper Run, a very good mare who had a great record at Riccarton if I recall correctly. I think she came along after Grey Way.

I was lucky enough to see his last four wins. Strangely enough the one I remember best was his last win at Rangiora when he beat Gretna Green. He was giving her a truck load of weight and she went up outside him and looked like winning easily when he switched into an extra gear as Muzenza mentioned. His Timaru Cup was also memorable. Great crowd response despite him paying one of his biggest ever winning divis.

Obviously you would like Philippa as Philippa means lover of horses, so she is clearly in the ideal career.

I was out of action all day Saturday so didn't see any races, but I thought I should watch some of the Riccarton races to see what Newmarket was talking about. I watched about 7 of the races and didn't see anything wrong at all, he must have made a mistake in one of the other 3 races that I didn't watch. I think Craig Rail does a great job, we are lucky to have him. He seems to be very accurate and looks like a good race analyst. He seems to spot which horses are going well during the race, which some can't. Surely the biggest mystery of the day was how Light Up could pay $9.50 a place. I thought he went massive last start. One of the great quinellas, just when I have a day off.

Yes, they have got it badly wrong in Canty. Quite a few Riccarton meetings there is no race further than 1,800m. Canty stayers have never been weaker and there is nothing coming through. They are lucky there are half a doz stayers in Southland who go around most weeks and occasionally top up Canty fields. People complain about stakes, but when you look at the quality of fields going around in races like the Marlborough Cup for $60,000 those owners have probably never had it better. It starts with 3yo racing. No race in the SI for 3yo males further than 1,600m, so never any SI noms for the Derby. Back in the days when the Derby used to be on Boxing Day there used to be SI contestants, but now it is in March they are never sighted. Southerners used to win the Oaks regularly, but that never happens anymore.

You do wonder how they could go two months without a single race for a certain type of horse in all of Canty. And then all the experts at head office will be saying "no horses coming through to rating 65 stayers races, no idea what's causing that." Then they will probably decide to scrap stayers races altogether. Riccarton would love that. I don't think the stayers ranks have ever been poorer in Canty. I do notice that virtually every week in the NI they suddenly discover they have stuffed up their programming and happily throw in extra races, usually $30,000 races. Never happens in the SI. This weekend at Riccarton 32 noms for the 65 mile, so 14 will miss a start. All good though there is another opportunity for that class and distance in a month's time, albeit for $14,000 next time.

I did notice Pam had made the long trek south. I presumed it was because there was no race for staying maidens anywhere in Canty for two months.

I just happened to be looking at the noms for the Derby and I notice it doesn't appear to have a sponsor this year. That's a bit sad less than a month out from the race. I suppose someone will step in at the last moment at a reduced rate, but they won't get much value out of it.

Maybe not altruism, but the consequences are massive for the ORC. Those three races must all be on the verge of being downgraded. And remember this is a meeting with a $40,000 maiden race, which is quite bizarre but that is a subject for another day, and enormous subsidy from the NZ racing industry as a whole. It might have been hard to justify all that industry money going forward if the meeting is reduced to one listed race at best.

Full credit to Te Akau for their willingness to travel their horses. I bet Dave Ellis and Mark Walker are both on the Christmas card list of the Otago RC. Those three listed and Group races at Dunedin today were all on their last legs and the Te Akau contribution may well save the status of all three races for another year or so. Trainers of higher rated horses have the power to make or break some of these races. I recall Roger James had a couple of higher rated mares a couple of years ago and almost single-handedly saved the status of several Northern stayers races.

I think sadly the people currently controlling NZ Racing don't really give a fuck about the future of the industry, they just want to wear down and hound out all of those who don't agree with them. A successful outcome for them will be to see off all opposition. When the Timaru's , Avondale's, Reefton's, Gore's, Marlborough's decide they can't be bothered anymore the industry will be stuffed. And some of them have already given up.

I love seeing Zed go well. It shows that the battlers can make an impact. And he is pretty well bred from memory. One of the great success stories of the NZ breeding industry.

I think there would be just too much embarrassment if they get a bigger crowd for a grass track meeting at Te Aroha with a $15,000 feature than at Cambridge with a $1m feature. It just doesn't fit with all the theories.

Surely none of those in the same league as the great West Australian San Simeon, winner of 29 in a row?

Hard to explain why, I obviously lead a boring life, but I was looking through the Messara report the other day, just for "fun?" I note three of the Coast tracks were going to be closed down and Kumara was going to hold four meetings in a row. How do you think that would have gone Reefton?

I did say there were literally 2 people sitting over on the public stand side, was one of them you?