Doomed

Southland and Wingatui have swapped this year. Last year Otago went first with a 1,500m guineas followed by Southland at 1,600m. This year Southland 1,400m followed by Otago at 1,600m. Enormous amounts of money have been poured into the Otago meeting. I just hope it doesn't rain on the day.

A bit like the Timaru Cup then, just $4,420,000 more stake money. And obviously lower rated horses in the slot.

And if anyone from the general public is interested enough to ask why none of the countries top 3yos are in it I suppose they get told it is just a novelty race and not to be taken seriously.

I often wonder that myself. He looked a nice type. I think he went overseas, possibly HK.

Wow. I can hardly contain my excitement. Won an $18,500 maiden two starts back and a 5 horse race last start. The stars are certainly coming out to play.

I'm pretty sure LBJ had success in Australia. Was one a deadheat? And southern jumpers have done well. Bell Flight from memory. And Kelvin Tyler has had some wins over there more recently. Palmetto, the Southland Guineas winner, has been very competitive over there and I'm sure last year's Guineas winner will get one soon. Canterbury Belle of course.

You would have had a stressful weekend betting on some of the rugby games.

About Pinn not lasting too long at Te Akau.

Invercargill was never really a club that was highly regarded. I have had the impression over recent years that it has improved out of sight. And there looked to be a good crowd there yesterday. It does show the benefit of good management and a good committee.

I don't know the man at all, so I can't comment on the personality aspect of any of this. What I can say is that the industry many years ago used to have many people at club level who were highly critical of the way things were being run, largely in so much as it affected their own clubs. Clubs like Stratford, the West Coast and many other clubs that felt harshly treated. They did it because of a passion for Racing in their own regions. They weren't always right, or well informed. Those people are all gone now, given up, and left the industry, as have many of their clubs and tracks. Some may think the industry is better off for them giving up. I don't. Ironically, another club that often used to complain was the Auckland RC. They don't seem to complain anymore. Strange that.

It only won impressively a few hours ago. The horse won't be back home yet. At least wait until the morning before you give him a ring and offer Colin some tactical advice.

Doesn't have to beat much so far.

Yes, they might be able to pick up Domain Ace, or whatever its called, if it gets dropped by the CJC.

But would the northern stipes let Sam ride it at Ellerslie. Shades of Tito Poblete.

I was thinking of her Geraldine 3yo win (now the Canterbury Belle stakes) the start before the Guineas which I think she won by many lengths. I think she also won a Southland Guineas. It has been a good horses race over the years.

Shades of Powley I was thinking in the running.

To be fair, Timaru did virtually give the Timaru Stakes to Riccarton because they couldn't afford it. Those were the days when clubs had to fund their own stakes. The Marlborough Cup is a bit bizarre. Marlborough actually puts money into the race and provides a sponsor which does seem incredibly magnanimous on their part. The one I find a bit confusing is the Banks Peninsula Cup at Riccarton. That is the only instance all season of a Club racing away from their own track and not getting a $35,000 stake for their open class feature race. They do seem a bit hard done by. Perhaps no one has noticed. They must look on in bemusement at Waikouaiti who have had money lavished on them as a reward for racing at Wingatui. I'm not sure why Banks Pen is the poor relation to Waikouaiti.

This hasn't really got anything to do with the way Tauherenikau is run. It is about NZTR moving a meeting 5.5 hours away from its own track. Going to the well once too often at a track that is primarily a holiday venue. And most importantly, expecting trainers to travel to a distant track with low stakes that trainers never support anyhow. Especially when they have numerous opportunities much closer to home with similar or higher stakes. To be honest, its a bloody shambles. In any other industry heads would roll.

I noticed that myself, but decided not to say anything. NZTR keep putting up those shots with empty grandstands which is never a good look. Does anyone have any idea of turnovers? I saw someone mention somewhere that Tauherenikau on Waitangi Day always does more oncourse turnover than Te Rapa on Dyke day. I also saw a comment from the Oaks stud in the Savaglee article saying turnovers are booming and the industry is in a great place. If that is correct then all is good, but we never get to see turnover figures to decide for ourselves.

Not a flash dart board either.

There's a gap with no racing this Thurs, you do wonder how many horses they might have got if they gave Timaru a proper race-meeting instead. One thurs meeting in NZ over a five week period. Seems strange to me. Like the days when the TAB used to close on Thursdays.

I keep getting dragged into these debates. People always pick on the quiet ones.

It's a bit ironic when you consider the likes of Gisborne and Waimate where largely scrapped because they were too hard to service. That leads you to assume tracks like Otaki are easy and inexpensive to service. Doesn't look good when the favoured tracks in the brave new world have problems like this.

I admire your confidence.

I clicked on that link and apparently I'm now a member of the club. I take it all back. I can feel the excitement rising.