Doomed

One thing that appears obvious to me with all the problems at Riccarton and Wingatui is how crucial Timaru is to SI racing. There must be more horses trained within a 3 hour radius of Timaru than any other SI track. I think an indication of how genuine NZTR is at wanting to fix SI racing would be whether they are big enough to come out and say "we have totally stuffed up about Timaru, and Messara was wrong. We need to spend money to make the Timaru track first class." I get the impression that the powers that be think SI racing was totally sorted once they built the AWT. Just as they think the CD is all good now that the Awapuni AWT is up and going.

So many firsts. Imagine what odds you would have got a week or so ago that Pam would train as many winners as Te Akau on Cup Day, that she would train more winners than the Pitmans for the week. That she would probably be the top strike rate trainer for the week. Also, could $126 be CWJ's highest priced winner? I don't recall many at those odds for him. And could it be the highest priced Cup Week winner for a very long time. I can't think of any that have paid more than that.

Looked like a Timaru Cup type to me. I have watched the replay and he was travelling all the way, never really looked like being headed.

Bloody hell. Looking at the price I would guess Pam hasn't dressed for the occasion to throw them off again. The female Dummy. Very cunning.

Six horses going around in the $40,000 race at HB today that they desperately had to reschedule because it was so crucial to all the superstars summer campaigns. It will be interesting to follow the progress of those six as they contest all the group races in coming weeks. Five yesterday in a $30,000 rating 65 at Tauranga. Not much accountability or consideration of profit and loss when it comes to pouring money into the favoured clubs.

I have mentioned this a few times. No $30,000 races in Canterbury now until the end of January. Unbelievable. Heaps of racing at Wingatui, if Canty trainers want to take the chance of travelling 5 hours south and hoping the meeting isn't abandoned. SI racing is so badly run. I think the next 2yo race is at the end of January as well. It really is hard to believe this is a multi million dollar industry. It is basically run on similar lines to someone running the weekly quiz night at the old peoples home. The only difference being the person running the quiz night would get run out of town if they stuffed up.

I notice all the scratchings have been reinstated for Monday. Could lead to some interesting situations. Pam's horse was first ballot on Saturday but got a start because there was one scratching out of the field. That horse is now back in the field, for now, and Pam is balloted again. Could be interesting if the originally scratched horse has come right and wants to start. You imagine some people could potentially be a bit pissed off.

Well, that was pretty inevitable wasn't it. I went to bed seeing one jockey had ridden the first three and woke up to see he had ridden the whole card. Perhaps they should have been decisive on Friday and moved the whole meeting to Timaru.

I have often thought you one of the more PC types on here, you would let go and tell us what you really think occasionally.

Probably a very under rated rider when you think back on it.

I remember Ali well, a man of indeterminable age. Used to ride the Dennis Brothers horses didn't he. Must have won some big races in his time.

And on the road down to the racecourse a couple of workers with a truck tar-sealing a bit of road. All they did was park the truck on one side of the road and put out two road cones and get to work. In NZ, without a word of a lie, that would have been a 50 road cone job with stop/go men at each end., And further down the road a couple of other workers chopping up old metal light posts with a flash saw on the side of the road with no cones at all. Its a different world. NZ must be world leading with the number of ancillary workers we allocate to any road job. Money no object really. At least we get brilliant roads at the end of it.

Very good point. They could easily build 4 or 5 thousand social housing units around the York racecourse. The Poms really have no idea. NZ could teach the rest of the world a lot.

I have just been to the York racecourse. Stupid bloody Poms. They obviously have no idea how much money they could make selling off excess land. They have a hill down the back that would fetch millions, and heaps of land at either end. They could reduce the home straight to about 350m and have nice houses built right up against the running rail most of the way around. For those who don't know York, the racecourse is within walking distance of the town centre and must be worth hundreds of millions. All it needs is for one or two of the numerous failed NZ racing administrators to make their way to the UK and they could revolutionise British racing. Interesting when you think about it that none of the many administrators we have churned through have ever made it to the UK, or to anywhere significant really. Incidentally, York is about half the size of Christchurch and the racecourse has numerous massive grandstands. Quite enlightening when ChCh is desperate to pull down their grandstand and not replace it because there is no need for it. You do wonder whether we have lost our way compared to elsewhere, and why. Perhaps the theory that on course attendance isn't important may not have been correct after all. It wouldn't be the only failed theory of course.

As I have said before, I doubt the NZ Cup will be the worst Group 3 we will see going around in NZ this season. As Pam said the whole pattern needs to be looked at. There seem to be endless feature meetings at Wingatui. Pouring money into their meetings seems to be no problem, but north of Dunedin, where most of the horses are, after Cup Week there is no feature meeting until 28 January. So any Canty horse that finds a bit of form this week then has almost a 3 month break before it can race for $30,000 again. Likewise, it is months until there is any more 2yo racing, so it is hardly surprising very few Southerners bother with the Welcome Stakes. I do think SI racing could tick away quite well, but the stakes and the dates are allocated poorly. Sadly, no one seems to have the ability or inclination to look at such things.

And good luck with your filly today Pam.

Yes, I imagine someone else might want them. I presume Auckland would be the logical location so they might be safe in Canterbury for another year while Auckland gets its track sorted. It is quite sad really. And to be honest this years fields can't be totally blamed on the CJC, we probably have the worst crop of 3yos racing in NZ at the moment that I can ever remember.

At least "The Cup" will get a full field. Not many other feature staying races in recent times have attracted full fields. The 2,500m race is a time honoured event, always used to be the last race of cup week. Used to be the Otaio Plate I think. As you say though, times are changing, although it has attracted a decent sized field, most of whom wouldn't have wanted to race in the Cup.. The CJC don't really like to change things. Swapping the Welcome stakes and Stewards must have given them sleepless nights. They are probably most proud about having four maidens during Cup Week and getting reasonably full fields for them. As mentioned above, the bigger worry is actually the 1,000 Guineas. It is going to be a shocker. I would say the worst ever. A Group 3 at best. And this after the biggest stake increase the race has ever had. Only two SI trainers interested, which is probably not totally surprising as there is only one 3yo fillies race as a lead up, and nothing in the deep South, and no real 2yo racing in the SI so you can hardly expect there to be early season 3yos. You could hardly say the 2,000 Guineas was flash either. It can't be long before those two classics are history. I have probably had my most successful Melbourne Cup Week and NZ Cup week ever. Been in France and not able to have a bet on the NZ TAB. In the UK now, where I can access the TAB, but it is very easy to get out of the habit when you have a few weeks off.

Good to see two racing items on 3 news last night, coverage of the Caulfield Cup and an interview with Waller, then a story about what a great day Andrew Forsman had. A day or two previous they had a big story about the Everest. Good for Racing to get mainstream coverage, and good for 3 to show some variety; not everyone is into women's rugby.

That's enough for a whole race. Perhaps there could be a race just for suspended jockeys. Bit like an amateur race, no riding fees or percentages. Perhaps all wear the same coloured prison like silks, with different coloured caps.

Justifying their wage probably.

It certainly looked bad, I did wonder what he would get. With all the suspended and injured jockeys after today the ranks are getting thin.

Yes they did. Good to see it come back to good. Such a pity Ashburton and Timaru aren't considered relevant anymore now that Riccarton has its AWT.

Isn't it good to see a firm track at Ashburton. If the SI could get their programming right leading into Cup Week it could become a viable option for NI trainers. As it is, it is only really Te Akau and a few Marsh horses that venture south in search of good tracks, which is a bit surprising. You would have to think those $60,000 stakes are a bit wasted at HB. If the track was good horses would probably have gone there for $40,000 and on a heavy track the $60,000 stakes have made no difference for lower grade horses. Only 2 races out of 8 with more than 10 starters. You do feel sorry for the odd wet tracker who may have missed out on the original fields and now only 8 starters in some races.

Look at the way those Aussie tracks come back after rain: heavy 8 Caulfield and soft 7 Randwick. And probably improve during the day if no more rain. Probably the only NZ track that could bounce back that quickly would be Te Rapa. I know Ruakaka might, but that is hardly metropolitan. Riccarton and Trentham would take weeks to dry out.