Huey

Had there have been no scratchings(even without the scratchings it probably is) today in the Uncle Remus Stakes its arguable that race would have put together a better field than the NZB Kiwi appears to have and they are racing for $110k. As I said on another thread they have Wightman and Selangor TC to thank for adding at least a twist to the race.

3 more slots to go. Not sure what Cambridge Stud are waiting for perhaps one they bred? Wightman may have saved the race for them up till then it was looking awfully average.

Unfortunately it provides some of the most boring racing also.

The report can say what it likes, they are not popular with the majority of trainers and therefore will be the white elephant they were warned they would be. Never forget Rodley claiming they would be game changers (clueless mouthpieces) for the industry when Cambridge opened, they are an absolute waste of money and the $$$ would have been better spent revitalising one or many of the tracks they have deliberately mothballed.

Yep and they want to sell a lot of them , utter madness not utilsing the assets we have for the good of the industry.

During the running of Race 6 @ Wanganui JC Friday 21 February two horses lost their footing, After Stewards convened with Riders the decision was made to abandon the remaining 3 races due to safety concerns. Good luck with the meetings from here on in leading up to the big $$$ meeting in a couple of weeks.

Oh no what happened?

Exactly ride for big stable at small meet then get no ride on the big days . But like I say the Jocks put up with it.

I've been saying this for some time, one stable in particular are huge fans of this . You can't help those who won't help themselves.

Unfortunately they will lose the land , like a lot of smaller clubs around the country. It's disgusting how they and a lot of the smaller venues have been treated, consultation etc all a waste of time. What ever proceeds come from this the industry will find a way to waste nothing more certain.

Are they talking up the harness wagering?

They gave me no impression any of them knew what they were doing , Flash Harry versions of our past excessive attitude but with more money to throw around. The silence on wagering is oh so telling.

Malay slot. Well that brings some much needed interest to the race.

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.