Huey

Some promising fields for Saturday at both venues , particularly numbers wise. has the Otaki G1 move worked? Early days yet , but not sure they would have got that many?

Will they lose the churn punters and instead be better able to focus on those requiring more info,vision etc?

Exactly my point , but you put it more eloquently .

But where it is farcical is when handicapping just becomes a standard process like it has in NZ. i.e Horse X won a R65 gets 5 pts as does , horse Y who won an R75 or another R65 they don't appear to be getting merit based. In this instance why is a handicapper needed? Example , every single winning horse that wasn't in a maiden or a stakes race at Matamata last Saturday got 5 points, how is that handicapping? Don't get me started on where horses get points taken off from that is an absolute mess. How does a horse who finishes ahead of another horse and loses point(s) off a lower rating than the one it beat get to lose a point because they other horse performed well the start before. None of it makes any logical sense to me.

I have not heard a single non racing person talk about the race & what we are 3 weeks out. I like the Champions day concept if they have the horses to make it work, but this race or rather The Race just has too many holes in it to hold any real level of sustainable interest for mine. Still 4 slots not filled , surely by the end of this week you'd expect all of them to be filled?

It's all in how you present it, it's called "The Race" now and they can't stop talking about it, never heard more PR for a race in my entire life. Don't worry about the Derby or other races this plagiarized event is the be all end all of NZ racing. Drop the 3yo thing it won't work in this country not enough depth, make it for Open horses and at least there might get to be some stars involved .

For the top 1% horses , like everything else in the sport.

Wow just wow!

It's actually becoming ridiculous the amount of PR effort and analysis they are putting into this race, just because of the Prizemoney level. The field simply doesn't justify it to date.

I'm sure the owner has a bit to do with why that hasn't happened. I'd stay in the SI and win the other races available to it, going to Ellerslie is a big difference.

Wow seriously impressive, surely gets picked up for the slot race now. Would add some much needed interest to that race.

Trentham much better place for Sires anyway.

Not Black Type , my point exactly , do you think they would win that race?

Did you fall and knock your head on the kitchen counter last night CS? I said near $400k . Yes its the fields sizes they are pathetic for the $$$ being thrown around, how do you know the quality is good especially in the boys race as they are winning more weak small field sized 2yo races to get to this point , any of them win the Pierro Plate at Randwick this weekend any of them on the way to the real Slipper?

Telegraph to Foxton

What's that got to do with the field sizes and the $$ being thrown at them? I know your idols have huge participation in these races and the 2yo scene so it may be difficult for your to be partisan in your opinions , but at least try!

Well at least I can count , 3 of the 12 are by NZ sires SS & Sav. they are not all by Aus sires , have a look again and let me know if you need a hand to work that out. Absolute rubbish about new blood being introduced, any good fillies will likely be sold for large sums o'seas & the colts well we can only hope they stay colts on these shores.

Surely it is time to review the 2yo races? Nearly $400k in stakes getting thrown at 12 runners at Matamata this weekend , 5 in Slipper & 7 in the Breeders (the Breeders yeah right 6 are by Aus based Sires) . Not to mention the joke at Ellerslie a few weeks ago. Why do we do this? So syndicates can buy up Aus breed 2yos at the sales looking for a quick buck, how is this good for racing?

The worse one is "on my ratings" WTF absolute load of BS!

Good point. It feels a bit like they are keeping stakeholders in the dark until a certain point in time when they can do something, perhaps Geo Blocking?

Outside of KM night (which is obvious with the World Pools) I just don't see it, love to be proven wrong. The same will happen for Champions Day with the World Pools and that will be deemed a success. So many punters have lost interest in the bread and butter days, that has to be a concern.

Your concerns well founded , I can only see it getting worse. I see nothing in the new appointment that should give any hope that will not be the case.

Agree you need a site moderator with a sense of humour like CS 😁🤣😂... these days!

Only so many ponies to go around in this industry T4eva and on February tracks as well.

But they've moved some of the big races and things are going great!