Huey

Agree , shows a complete misunderstanding of the fundamentals of placing horses, the race is a joke this year.

Have to agree, unfortunately the Thorndon has thinned out, do like the look of the Desert Gold field.

They are the future of the industry and have to be treated as such we should all be bending over backwards to have them in the game, you just have to listen to them to know how important they are to the sport. Don't you know us oldies are lucky to have them around. If they don't get treated well they might take their toys and go play on the polo circuit.

In my price bracket its hard to find fault with any of those.

That first Sav. Looks very nice and lot 207 if only .

Has NZ Racing ever been in such a poor state though Freda? not diminishing achievements at all. But the state of the game here makes it a trifle easier for massive entity like that to dominate?

Well I'm not as convinced as CS ( but as he pointed out he has got an eye for these sort of things) but 11 Savabeels sold , of which 4 sold for 120k or less , hardly exciting given his fee. You'd have to say most of the Almanzor vendors would be happy though , some pretty good prices off a 30k fee to date. Congrats to who ever stole lot 39 , has Diesis head and looks like Pippie !

Especially for a $1mill race , surely? It just looks as NM says hicksville.

But thats what they intend to create.

Raise you an Almanzor

I take your bid and raise you a Zoustar and Written Tycoon!

Haha that might be true, only problem is most people be racing there soon enough don't you think?

No, getting outbid would explain why they purchased 3 of the top 5 lots at last years yearling sales and paid the highest price for a R2R horse last year. As for too big , well we will have to disagree on that, watch what happens over the next few years to racing in this country.

Exactly my point , we are very amateur.

Wouldn't the real mark of guy be him going out on his own? As it is he is likely to attract a lot of lovely bloodstock due to his performances with TA. Have any other trainers that have left TA continued to perform at the same level consistently? I also believe NZ is in such a sad state racing wise the way TA are set up there not much chance of whoever is in charge not performing. Take the sales today , they will buy whatever they want, will there be another NZ trainer(s) to challenge them? I highly doubt it. In fact one could argue they are getting too big for NZ. Having said that he comes across as a 1st class guy and I wish him every success.

You make a very good point JB, one would also think given possible positive a stable has had that testing would be undertaken in a more detail manner. But this is NZ racing we are talking about. The one thing that caught my eye yesterday also was the TV reporter carrying a saddle to the stables for one of the runners in a 2yo race for TA, a bit amateurish?

Not to mention the quality of the horse over there, probably 25 Levantes in Aus at the moment. But Aegon might measure up, he really shouldn't have been able to win that , didn't get the best breaks imo (fresh up over the mile, great training performance) but looks like he has a will to win and the gears to back it up. Also a stable that really knows how to get them going for Aus.

No argument from me, but this gift price is no different than the top up is it?

Agree with NM the crowd look a bit weaker than previous years, maybe unbeknown to us all 100s of Aussies have been coming along to the night?

Yep thats a bit long in the bow of them. As I say these guys have become very powerful and get their own way on a lot of things.

TAB no different to any of the other entities that bend over backwards for this group. The industry needs to be a bit more careful about managing groups like this , as an owner they appear to get very well treated no matter where they go. One would expect its their way of advertising the new product available soon.

This does explain a lot. What was most exciting about last night is that I think we saw 3 absolute bonafide stars last night in Levante,Aegon and Entriviere. Aegon performance in particular was something to behold imho.

The concern is what damage they will cause to the industry in the meantime, we are only a small industry in nz.

Automated billing, perhaps it integrates with the studbook or the Racing Bureau or something like that?

I'm surprised to hear that, as I'd have thought the jocks would kick up a stink. One area of the sport that has a considerable amount of power to alter things are the jocks. NZTR simply do not know what they are doing, they are a copy paste organisation at best. BS will cause considerable damage to the local industry before he goes back to Aus, unfortunately alot of it will be irreparable by then. Your line of thinking may be correct about the injured jocks fund, but I can see a time when certain stables argue that there isn't a suitable enough rider around to ride their horse , so they get to pay the fine and have the rider available. Today would have been a prime example of that I'm sure.