Huey

A guy murdered someone's daughter in the most despicable way and youre worried about upholding the law for his sake. FFS Chief Stipe , I have nothing to-do with the defendant or even know the guy like some of you do, but making a fuss out of this is a joke.

It's not only Weigh In its virtually all NZ racing media, it's a snorefest of self promotion, article after article on the same people, the same theme, same promo ,same interviews.

Process / Law yeah yeah depends who you are. This isn't about the Ego its about the process you're talking about. Its a joke that someone who names someone who did what this guy did gets dragged through the press, whether you like the Ego or not.

I know he isn't the most popular guy, but pretty sad to see a guy get a harder time for naming the murderer than the murderer himself appears to have.

I'm afraid you're mostly right

No as I said on average those figures are(so yes entire crop), but there is an argument to say that anything by him wouldn't be considered K1 outside of deformed or injured stock I guess but these are based on runners.

Certainly interesting isn't it. Look at the progeny of the most sought after stallion Savabeel, 63 in K1 I think , he gets around 11% stakewnrs/rnrs so about 7 will end up stakeswinners, 70% winners so 30% are non winners so about about 18 non winners out of those 63, of course all on average but it seems astonishing the prices(ave. $247k) they go for when a 1/3 of them will likely never win a race(and many will be racing for $10k or less ) let alone go on to higher honours.

Someone had a great idea a while back, why not put industry dates up for tender to clubs? Help revitalise the sport in community areas, have clubs meet certain metrics over a 3 year period, make allowances for weather etc. Perhaps provide a better product to punt on, maybe some racing with the rail in the true position for a change, some decent sized fields, a bit of a crowd and atmosphere on course, some local support etc. Reduced costs, less pressure on larger clubs, less FTE required by them Etc It cannot be worse than what is being served up at the moment which is just killing the game from the inside out.

The fools will let them do what they like under the Guise of the M Report and venue rationalisation.

The best track in NZ imho , usually provides a very fair competitive surface for all runners and my favourite for punting and watching races. Crowd on Saturday was disappointing(I thought Oaks day was bad this was much worse), no atmosphere, hospitality is appalling (both by club and food/ options for a venue of this significance), there is an air of arrogance about the place that doesn't befit what it is delivering if that makes sense.

C'mon racing is getting what its deserves , the way they have treatedmany stakeholders since the M report has been despicable! Industry participants not caring an iota for others in the industry for their own personal gain , like Pop ... racing will eat itself.

A good point about the Euro stayer, I'm not sure where we sit in the scheme of things anymore from a breeding perspective. If you look at Aus they seem to have a lot of staying blood at stud over there now that we used to perhaps provide, a brief perusal will show Fiorente,Amercain,PDL and a number of High Chap and Galileo sons that could provide that type of horse in the future . I think the major problem in NZ is there has never been any incentive to breed a horse, in fact its one of the most expensive challenging parts of this racing game and obviously its the core component in providing product to the industry and revitalising the sport in NZ if that has any chance of happening. But yet from the NZTR, through to NZTBA to NZB there is just no incentive to breed a horse in NZ unless you're lucky enough to have the dosh to go a few stallions in this country or youre well connected enough to have some presence at the sales. Bizarre really.

Good Post Mark. Not to mention some of the unbridled support by certain studs for the Messara Report , has alienated some of their customer base and will continue to do so in the future both directly and indirectly. I don't know where they think all of these horses are coming from in the future to keep racing afloat, when they are knocking out 25% of their supporter base, many I have spoken with are having a complete rethink about their involvement in racing and thats going to be reflected through to the breeding side as well over the next few years. I get the impression the big studs don't care and think they will be immune to it all, but they won't.

is this the garbage the genius's want to build here to stop all the abandoned meetings? Boring to the extreme and likely cruel.

I always get a chuckle out of all the moaners about this race, when most of you probably don't own a horse. What do you expect this field to be, The same as the Melbourne Cup for 5% of the prizemoney? There are so many opportunities for good horses these days especially in Australia couple that with the importation of stayers from Europe, tell me why you expect this field to compare to your version of the glory days? I enjoyed the race yesterday and the winner has shown plenty of form over a trip and some battlers with a great story had a good day yesterday and that's what makes this the greatest game of all!

Lexus MC maybe, definitely less interest but it's a racing thing in general.

I'm not on the TA hype train, but the Cox Plate field is the weakest in years, if ever a show it would have to be now.

Yep it's been a Clayton's stakes system since the loss of free racing, I don't understand why we don't stop kidding ourselves and revert to a stakes level/distribution whereby the owner does at least not have to fork out for noms and acceptances or pay down to 8th or 10th or whatever as it stands , you'd think this is at the very least the type of thinking NZTR could socialise. But perhaps it doesn't fall in line with sales prices or something?

Covered n Grey what a mare

No stats required Barry, you just have to read it. They have a leadership/structure that wants to inspire, elevate and invigorate racing. A prime example is their connection with grass roots racing they understand it's importance and realise nothing else happens without a decent base. Here we have a structure that wants to choke grassroots, rob grassroots and finally eleviate the sport of its significant base. We have bunch of people who go to Australia (or come from there -go figure) and think the top end can be replicated here, ignoring the fact it's all come about due to their attention to the grassroots over the years, they think they can bake a cake with just icing on it and then they'll have a really nice cake. We've got a team at NZTR whose mantra is to" manage decline " and we are supposed to get excited about racing in this country... What a joke!

Thank goodness we have a team here "managing decline"!

Can't they just back date the legislation, I'd have thought that will be the approach.

Agree but certainly appears to be planned all along, no money elsewhere so the only silver bullet. Look out Avondale and others an industry the has performed poorly through poor management and lack of stockholder involvement in managing the industry wants you to foot the bill for more absurd ill thought out strategy. As I said many a fool will welcome this.

I see all the comments about the Asset Grab have proved the smokescreen everyone knew they were and are set to fragment the industry even more: Latest RITA update Legislate to vest club assets to code regulatory bodies, Reduce the number of venues and Upgrade facilities and tracks of remaining venues with funds from closed venues. There has been an enormous amount of work done in the venue space in an attempt to give the industry the tools it needs to tackle the hard decisions and successfully resolve them. RITA has provided feedback to the DIA on the need to build on the existing work programme, and if any legislative changes are required they are subject to a clear and transparent process between Codes and Clubs, but we await Government’s direction on this matter. In the interim, RITA continues to work with the Codes on the Future Venue Plan with a meeting expected to be scheduled over the next few weeks.

That is sad to hear and worst still there are many thinking like you. But don't worry those running the industry think they can survive by having 5 TAs and forget about the owner,breeder,volunteer and they are dreaming. I have a few more young ones to get through then I'm out of the sport for good as well. I can cope with the poor levels of prize money,the ridiculous distribution of stakes, the absurd admin costs of racing a horse etc etc some how through my madness , but what I can't cope with is how this industry treats its participants! Particularly since the M report. The ridiculous say one thing and then do the other, the incredible outright favouritism shown to certain clubs,stables and individuals , the fact you're better treated as an owner being part of BGP than you are owning your own horse, they say they are managing decline , well that's simply not true they are encouraging it.