Thomass

Compared to the rest of the World we have far tougher 'bleeders' rules... So that should be changed... Do you know of any trainers using LASIX here then Freda?

Look I'm really sorry I pointed out how ridiculous your "2yo form is their peak" stuff... That deffy should be cause for sanctioning... The background to all of this is when there was a post on Kotare Chief...I said "I hate to put a dampener on this but KC tested positive after that Cup" Bazz then said I should dampen my head with petrol...in other words suicide...then hardened even further when I complained.. So excuse me for taking umbridge at that then mate... A number including Pete then said I was a "wallflower, a sulker...". Hesi decided he didn't want to find Barry's post...it was up to me to go back through them... So something against the law...turns into you wanting me sanctioned... So you're a piece of shit

Yes and you called me a "sulker" for not posting after that suicide proposal... Get this into your head...Im a professional punter who makes a living solely on NZ Racing... You're entitled to think what you think though...I don't care... But all of the above is totally out of proportion to ANY argument...

A runaway racehorse caused a stir this afternoon after it was spotted hoofing it down Fenton St without a rider, closely followed by a horse and jockey chasing it. Thomas Sears was just minding his business standing outside the bank on Fenton St, when he heard something unusual. "I heard a galloping noise, so I turned around and had a look and I saw this completely jet-black horse come flying down the road in the oncoming lane towards traffic," Sears said. "In the other lane was a cop car with his lights on coming after him." ADVERTISEMENT Advertise with NZME. Sears went back to getting money out of the ATM when he heard a second galloping noise behind him. "I looked up and there was a second horse, with a rider on it, chasing after the first one." The horse was running north from the Fenton St and Hinemoa St intersection, towards the Government Gardens, he said. Sears said he believed that due to the second rider chasing after it, the runaway horse must have come from the racecourse not too far away. Races were being held at the racecourse this evening. A police spokeswoman confirmed police had been called to reports of a horse on the loose at 3.26pm.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/rotorua-daily-post/video/news/video.cfm?c_id=1503430&gal_cid=1503430&gallery_id=214533 Well it wasn't really lucky escaping yesterday...cleaning out a solid 2M Iron fence...through the car Park and out onto the main road down Fenton Street....off to the Polynesian Pools for a swim... Anyway you look at it...LAURAMIA was VERY lucky to survive...

Pfffft..."fine gentlemen" like Barry who encouraged me to suicide...rubber stamped by Hesi....grasi calling me a "low life scum" when I suggested Blinkers work? get a grip son...

....Jockey in their stable? Theyre getting a reputation as good as Sth African riding schools now...interesting article Want a star international jockey of the future? This is first the place to look Katherine Ford | AUGUST 15, 2016 | 3 Comments SHARE The apprentices’ school yard resembles a cross between a children’s playpark and an army training session - but it gets great results. Photo: Katherine Ford Even without the eyes of the world glued on the Rio Olympics, Brazil is renowned as a world sporting reference. Legends like Pele and Ayrton Senna, both widely considered the best ever in their respective activities, are merely the tip of an iceberg more than half a century old. Its racing heroes receive little recognition domestically, yet the nation’s jockeys are among the most sought-after in weighing rooms around the world. Joao Moreira has taken international racing by storm in recent years, blowing away records in Hong Kong and winning at the highest level across Asia and in Australia. Brought up in poverty near the provincial city of Curitiba, today’s ‘Magic Man’ first came to prominence in Singapore, where his place at the top of the statistics has been filled since his departure by fellow countryman Manuel Nunes. Dubai World Cup-winning rider Silvestre de Sousa was champion apprentice in Sao Paolo before trying his luck in Europe. After a tough start, he was rewarded for his hard work and strength in the saddle by a first British jockeys’ championship last season, when his most memorable performance was a superb tactical ride to secure victory for Arabian Queen at the expense of Golden Horn in the Juddmonte International Stakes at York’s Ebor Festival. This trio are well known and respected back home in Latin American racing circles, but the real star in that part of the world is Argentina-based Jorge Ricardo. Famous for his long-standing battle with Russell Baze to become the world’s winningmost jockey, the Brazilian-born 54-year-old looks certain to regain the lead as his North American rival retired earlier this summer on a dizzying total of 12,842 successes. Ricardo is around 150 adrift but has declared his intention to continue riding as long as his health holds strong. With nearly 100 winners so far in 2016, the record looks attainable within a couple of seasons. The latest prodigy So where do these Brazilian riding phenomenons come from? What’s the secret? How do they learn their trade? Leandro Henrique: the first apprentice to be champion at Gávea racecourse in Rio de Janeiro. Photo: Jockey Club Brasileiro Leandro Henrique is the latest Brazilian prodigy. Aged just 17 and still an apprentice, he was champion jockey at Brazil’s main racecourse, Gávea, for the 2015-16 season with 202 wins. Mayra Frederico, director of racing at Gávea and also of the on-site apprentice school, says: “Leandro is the first apprentice in South America to win the [title] and I’m very proud.” One of the honours that accompanies champion status is a reserved parking space at the Rio de Janeiro track for the coming season, but Henrique is not yet old enough to take his driving test - so instead he will have the honour of flinging down his bicycle in pole position in the professionals’ parking lot. Henrique attributed his success to hard work, and he dedicated the premiership to his family and the ‘Escola de Profissionais do Turf’, where he learnt his trade. Hard work is something of a religion at the apprentice school. Riding instructor Marcello Cardoso, himself a former top jockey with 2,800 wins to his name, explains the success of the country’s top riding exports: “I think a lot of it is down to hard work. Here in Brazil, we know that it is very difficult to be successful. Of course, talent is important too, but jockeys need to have discipline and be prepared to work hard. In Brazil, this is something we are very aware of.” The young apprentices do just that, as they dream of climbing the same heights as their idols. The alarms sound at 4.30am and the more experienced riders head to the backstretch, the darkness broken by floodlights on the track and those illuminating Rio’s most famous landmark, Christ the Redeemer, which towers over the racecourse. Learning the basics The youngsters have no time to admire the scenery and they gallop up to 20 horses for local trainers in a whirl of activity that only winds down between 9am and 10am as temperatures begin to reach 30 degrees C (86 F). Mayra Frederico: “The school represents the future of the industry.” Photo: Godolphinflyingstart.com Those with less experience remain in the apprentice school to learn the basics of riding, with Marcello Cardoso placing a large emphasis on balance through exercises more commonly seen in pony clubs and children’s riding schools. First-year students learn to feel at one with their mounts as they perform ‘around-the-world’ exercises while circling, trotting and cantering sitting sideways, and riding with no reins. True to South American tradition, much of the riding is done bareback, with just a thick pad strapped onto the horse’s back, but saddles are worn for serious canters and gallop. “The students need to gain confidence on horseback, and to become horsemen before being a jockey,” says Cardoso. “Balance is very important, both in training and when riding in races. The smallest detail can make a difference and, above all, the centre of gravity must always be perfectly positioned on the horse’s back.” After four or five hours of riding on the track, “the real hard work starts”, Victoria Dias, a rare female apprentice, smiles wryly. Her father is a jockey and her mother, a former trainer, now splits her time between presenting on the Jockey Club Brasileiro racing channel and helping out with academic lessons at the apprentice school. In line with the economic state of the country, and its racing industry, the apprentice school is short of funds. But Cardoso does not require hi-tech equipment and facilities to prepare his enthusiastic students for the demands of race riding. Makeshift mechanical horse “The exercises we do are exercises I developed for myself after watching myself ride,” he says. “When I didn’t get the right results, I identified the problem and then developed an exercise to correct my position, or to get stronger.” Marcello Cardoso instructs Victoria Dias: “We can’t afford a real mechanical horse, so a friend made one for us,” says director Mayra Frederico. Photo: Katherine Ford The school yard resembles a cross between a children’s playpark and an army training session, as the riders cling to the railings in jockey position, sitting one behind another on an elongated concrete vaulting horse, or line up military-style, lead weight in one hand, whip in the other, as they repeat the movements of riding a finish. “We would love to have a real mechanical horse for them to train on,” admits Mayra Frederico, “but we can’t afford it, so a friend of the school made one for us and it serves the purpose.” Victoria Dias is to be found perched aboard this makeshift covered wooden frame under the watchful eye of Cardoso, who weighs down the right rein with a concrete-filled paint pot as he asks her to wield her whip with her left hand. “It is very hard for a girl. But every day, I try to put in my mind and other people’s minds that I can do this. It’s difficult. I don’t have the strength that the boys do, but I can do this. Riding horses isn’t just about strength but we need to be able to control them …” Meanwhile, Mateos, a 16-year-old from a favela (shanty town) community on the outskirts of Rio, is crouched on an inflatable half-sphere trying to pinpoint his centre of gravity to stop wobbling as he simulates a ding-dong battle to the line. “His parents are so pleased that he’s here,” says Mayra Frederico. “Where he comes from there’s not much opportunity to find a job, and he was starting to get himself into trouble. He’s adapted well to life here at the school, but the strict rules were a shock at first.” Leading the way on nutrition There may be no cardiometer, treadmill or state-of-the-art mechanical horse at the apprentice school of Rio de Janeiro, but the academy is at the cutting edge in one vital area of jockeys’ lives. Frederico says: “The main problem we have here, like everywhere in the world, is that the jockeys don’t maintain weight, they ‘do their weight’. All about balance: young Mateos simulates a ding-dong battle to the line. Photo: Katherine Ford “What I wanted when I started working here at the school is for them to learn how to eat properly. We tell them, this is a sport, they are athletes, so they have to have a life like an athlete. They can’t go partying every week, eat what they want, have McDonald’s and maintain a stable weight.” The apprentices have regular lectures from the in-house nutritionist, who closely surveys their food intake. Each youngster eats six meals per day, with quantities carefully calculated for each individual, depending upon their needs. Saturday night is the one time they are allowed to indulge, and it is the task on the nutritionist on Sunday to compensate for their excesses with a specially-adapted lunch. Frederico continues: “I am proud that my apprentices have breakfast and lunch before coming to the races and riding. And it’s a proper lunch of beans and rice, while some of the older jockeys spend two days with just a tiny piece of cheese.” A Darley Flying Start graduate who has had the opportunity to discover the best of international racing, Frederico has high hopes for the role that the apprentice school of Gávea can play in the future of Brazilian racing. “The school represents the future of the industry,” she says. “Jockeys can often become trainers once they finish riding, so if we can raise very good jockeys, provide excellent professional training from when they are young, they are going to be great professionals when they are older too.” In the meantime, the apprentices have more immediate ambitions - as one hopeful reflects: “Joao Moreira is one of the greatest stories I have ever heard; he came from nowhere and now he is at the top. It is my favourite dream to do as he has done, to travel the world riding horses. And, as for Jorge Ricardo, we all wish to have 13,000 winners like him.” João Moreira Silvestre de Sousa Jorge Ricardo Manuel Nunes Leandro Henrique Gávea racecourse 3 COMMENTS

I think you called them "clueless" when they changed... I could have sworn I saw one win TWINKLING being rated "highly" after his Derby 2nd... ...the connections complaining...then rubber stamping the form recently... ...and btw that "ability" is in our Handicapper's brief...not surprising really seeing as we arrived from the 'Motherland' and inherited their love of Thoroughbreds... Wow it is "odd"...you mean they're not all born on Aug 1? Who'd have thought?

Wow, what an incredible life you must have.... Travelling the World with your loving partner and Daughter in tow living it up at Ass Kit with a tip top hat on and Grey flannels... ...in Punce Pee Doh Andrew's closeted box next year after an invite perhaps? Its a real shame you can't encorporate KPI races into your amazing stats, or unlucky, or Course Specialsts, esp. at HQ though.. ...or 3yo against older horses after strengthening...in line with our Handicapping philosophy of diminishing allowances... When you're at Ass Kit next...You should book a meeting with the Brit Handicappers and tell them what they're doing wrong... But that Shrew Herman says we need to show some respect to you... ..because you're DA MAN... yea

But he thinks it's the ONLY way to win long term... ...clearly you and your boyfriend have encouraged him into having no life, locked up in his room all day...entering data ...when there's other alternatives... Thats right 'Maidens in da States' was it.... You agree with your bf and Bazz that Whangas 11 is best value on the rail uh? No wonder you can't win here...

https://mobile.twitter.com/Abbeighx/status/1199772419998670848

How good are live twitter questions? This is gold #NorfolkNChance 0:27 37K views From Russell Marlin 8:30 AM · Nov 28, 2019·Twitter for iPhone 36 Retweets 110 Likes

One of the old adages is... ...'when they're in form..keep racing them because you never know what can happen to them' Being so fragile and all...like This filly has clearly strengthened up as well now... some look like they need longer distances early on but are too immature... Her unlucky run against the best at HQ not only signalled she's back.... ...but she likes HQ...and that's what you want over Xmas...seasoned, strengthened 3 yos...even before Xmas....5 days later after Xmas,..even stronger ...so obvious

I subscribe to numerous Veterinary Journals so I'm certainly up to date with the latest... That article was in this weeks TDN, so I thought you could LEARN something... Trainers can do whatever they like to produce 'best performance'...but if they're on Drugs... Punters are ENTITLED to know about it...ask HK punters They have access to ALL Vet and Drug admins...and so they should... Just as WE SHOULD...and that's coming here...paste that In your top hat Fred

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Don't you and you boyfriend feel massively guilty for encouraging the likes of LFV into arising at 5 am every morning.. working the whole day on the 'shangri la' of 'systems' then losing his part time job... ...oh and you telling us you're only a "part timer"? ...'investing' only maidens here...because you ain't got a f in clue?

So let's put this nonsense to bed once and for all....from a neddys mouth... Not only race day..but IN TRAINING as well...as happens in HK... why should Punters have to put up with totally inaccurate training times? HK Punters said na...the Suits said..ok... ‘Bleeding in horses is not a problem that requires fixing’ In fact it is worse than that. It actually only really provides an advantage to the trainer who brings the horse to the race in a poor condition. That horse’s performance will benefit more from pre-race painkillers than one brought sound and feeling well. How is that good? But still, they all run a bit harder, further increasing their chances of a sudden injury. And they come back often sorer than they would have been if they hadn’t been treated, if they hadn’t pushed themselves quite so hard. Lasix is a diuretic used to lessen the severity of bleeding. It eliminates water in the horse, lowers its weight and, whether through that mechanism or another unknown one, studies suggest it can increase a horse’s racing time by one second (around seven lengths). See previous paragraph as to why that is a problem. I have said before that bleeding in horses is not a problem that requires fixing. I trained a horse that first bled as a 3-year old. It won a Graded stakes as an 8-year-old. He ran 69 races for me. He is 26 now. I never medicated him for bleeding, for racing or training. He is grazing in a paddock in Kentucky now. He has cost us an arm and a leg and remains in rude health. Minor bleeds are not a serious health or welfare issue. If the horse bleeds to an extent it negatively impacts performance, tough. That animal is not fit for purpose. Retire it, find it another life. Do not breed from it. The old adage is breed the best to the best and hope for the best - not breed the unsound bleeder to the unsound bleeder and find some stronger meds. The combination of Bute and Lasix treatment has another consequence, - ironically one they were introduced to combat. They were brought in to keep horses racing more regularly and so help maintain field sizes. Lasix dehydrates the horse, and both drugs tend to enable the horse to run harder and faster than it would without those drugs. Add in the often very hot conditions horses run in the USA and it is perhaps not surprising that starts per year per horse have declined ever since pre-race medication was introduced. It takes horses longer to recover from their races, because they have run harder on a tough surface and are dehydrated. And the public looks on with mistrust and distaste, and now I have to say, to the Stronach Group, to Churchill Downs Inc, to CHRB (California Horse Racing Board), to KHRC (Kentucky Horse Racing Commission), to NYRA (New York Racing Association), what don’t you get? Race-day medications should have gone long ago. For the perception of the sport. For the short-term welfare of horse and rider. For the long-term integrity of the Thoroughbred breed.

Revealed: Phoenix racing fund was never regulated - and is now in liquidation Amer Abdulaziz: one of the most high-profile figures in international racing Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos) 1 of 1 By Peter Scargill and Scott BurtonUPDATED 7:57AM, NOV 26 2019 Amer Abdulaziz Salman’s Phoenix Luxembourg Fund, lauded by its founder as “the world’s first regulated thoroughbred fund”, has been placed into voluntary liquidation and never operated as a functioning investment fund at all. Abdulaziz, 56, launched Phoenix Thoroughbreds in 2017 and on several occasions talked about how his decision to register his fund in Luxembourg provided greater transparency to his operation. He told the Racing Post in April 2018: "We've been working on the project for four years getting the structure and investors in place and we're going to be fully regulated by the authorities in Luxembourg within the next two to three weeks. Phoenix Thoroughbreds founder accused of stealing €100m from global Ponzi scam "We have fund managers to report back to, and transparency has to be 200 per cent being regulated in Luxembourg. We like the transparency." He added in a Racing Post interview in July: "Our legal structure is very unique. We're the only regulated [thoroughbred] fund worldwide, which for me is a huge achievement. “To come up with a legal structure like that wasn't easy and took a lot of effort. We're unique and very proud of that." However, Phoenix Luxembourg Fund SICAV-RAIF, the fund created by Abdulaziz's Dubai-based Phoenix Fund Investment LLC, was never regulated in Luxembourg, simply registered there - taking it outside of the governance and scrutiny of the CSSF, the country’s financial services regulator. Application to place this fund in voluntary liquidation was made last month, according to the Luxembourg business register. Furthermore, the type of fund established by Abdulaziz when setting up Phoenix Luxembourg Fund requires by law an outside fund manager, known as an Alternative Investment Fund Manager (AIFM), to operate in the first place. An AIFM was approached by Phoenix but is understood to have walked away from the role during the due diligence process, meaning the fund never started and never traded despite Phoenix acquiring more than 300 horses, including stallions and broodmares, since its inception. A source with knowledge of the situation said: "This fund never got off the ground. It never did business and wasn’t approved for any assets. "Imagine someone built a warehouse, hired a manager. That manager never showed up for work, nothing ever went into the warehouse or went out of the warehouse." Abdulaziz was named in a US court this month by a witness in a money-laundering trial relating to the international cryptocurrency scam OneCoin. The witness alleged Abdulaziz acted as a key money launderer for the operation before stealing €100 million from the scheme to fund his ownership vehicle. Everything you need to know about the OneCoin court case The claim was made by convicted fraudster Konstantin Ignatov, co-founder of fake cryptocurrency OneCoin with his sister Dr Ruja Ignatova, during the trial of former US lawyer Mark Scott, who was convicted last week of fraud and money laundering. Testifying under oath, Ignatov said: “Amer Abdulaziz, after he stole €100m from OneCoin, he started buying racehorses for, like, €25m. [He was] one of the main money-launderers for Ruja.” Abdulaziz has not responded to numerous attempts for comment from the Racing Post, but a statement released on Monday by Phoenix Thoroughbreds said: “Phoenix Fund Investments LLC categorically denies all allegations made against it, and its owner, Mr Amer Abdulaziz, in legal proceedings against OneCoin and its conspirators in the US. “Phoenix Fund Investments LLC believes that the firm and Mr Amer Abdulaziz have acted according to the law at all times, and will vigorously contest all allegations of wrongdoing. Phoenix Fund Investments LLC will fully cooperate with relevant authorities should they require any assistance.”

So yea na, I posted the actual headline from the article here...but it's not allowed apparently How so many things in U.S. racing seem designed to harm the horse Patrick Gilligan | NOVEMBER 25, 2019 | 25 Comments SHARE Safer surface? Newcastle’s Tapeta racetrack in North-East England is the largest synthetic racecourse in the world (a mile-and-seven-furlong oval). It stages up to 90 days’ racing each year. Photo: Tapeta Footings Patrick Gilligan, a former Newmarket racehorse trainer who moved to Kentucky five years ago, reflects on the state of American racing as he sees it. Gilligan (left), who was a ‘small-time’ trainer in the UK for 15 years, moved to the U.S. so his son could pursue his goal of becoming a jockey. He wrote a book - Around Kentucky with the Bug - about their first year in the U.S. It was a 2019 finalist for the Dr Tony Ryan Award for the Castleton Lyons racing book of the year. Gilligan, 54, who has an honors degree in equine studies, has just spent two years working as an assistant to Kentucky trainer Kenny McPeek. Meanwhile, son Jack, 23, who served his apprentice year with Sir Mark Prescott in Newmarket, is beginning to make a mark on the U.S. Midwest circuit, with 35 winners this year and prize money over $1.6 million. He is currently in New Orleans preparing for the coming meet at Fair Grounds. In some ways, 2019 has been an ‘annus horribilis’ for North American racing. The New Year brought a spate of racing and training fatalities at Santa Anita, and unfortunately the Breeders’ Cup there ended with another. The Kentucky Derby winner was disqualified, and the Triple Crown never got going. But sometimes, when things have not gone well, it gives us pause to reflect, to reconsider, perhaps even to question ourselves. I didn’t understand when we first moved to the U.S. from Britain why people would ask me how I felt about my son doing such a dangerous job. We don’t think of being a flat jockey in Europe as a dangerous occupation. Jump jockey yes. Flat rider no. We know they can get hurt, we know it can be bad, but it is so rare that the risk seems remote. Within a few months of being here, a 16-year-old boy was killed at a meet Jack was riding at. I have been in North America for five years now, and I have known of jockeys being killed or paralyzed, of exercise riders being killed. In those five years, getting on for 3,000 horses will have died too - on the racetrack. And well over a 1,000 would die during training in the mornings. Now I know what people are talking about when they ask me how I feel about my son doing this job. Why is the injury rate in North America anywhere up to five times higher than where I came from in the UK? Having spent the past couple of years working as assistant to a Kentucky-based trainer, I have some thoughts on the matter. Horses ‘likely to be harmed’ I don’t really know how to put this, so I will be blunt. There is hardly anything done, either in the training or racing of the young Thoroughbred here, that is not seemingly designed to harm the horse in some way. I have to start with the track - the strict diet of left-hand galloping, day after day, after day. You don’t need to be an expert in equine biomechanics to understand that horses – who are designed to run more or less in straight lines - are likely to be harmed by the repetitive, unrelenting galloping left-handed on a daily basis. And then they start breezing left-handed, flat out around a turn, placing more torsional stress on the pastern and cannon bone. Studies done suggest up to 90 percent of catastrophic fractures showed evidence of pre-existing repetitive stress injury. And they do all this left-hand galloping on dirt. Dirt is an early 19th-century innovation, and the horses who first raced on dirt tracks would undoubtedly have been coarser, more common, sturdier, slower and more mature animals than the evolved sleek modern 2-year-old Thoroughbreds being asked to race and train on it today. ‘The horse has evolved to run on grass’ The dirt surface is at odds with the design of the Thoroughbred’s lower limb. The horse has evolved to run on grass. To escape its predators through swift flight over grassy plains. Turf has a degree of elasticity, of recoil. As the horse’s foot hits the turf at a full gallop, the turf gives, the hoof spreads fractionally, and the horse’s fetlock lowers, almost touching the ground. The flexor tendons are extended and taut. And then the turf springs back, the hoof contracting, and the fetlock spring back aided by the tendons, the stored mechanical energy in the extended tendons suddenly released. There is no bounce from a dirt surface, the horse’s leg just hits it, time after time, two and a half times a second when breezing or racing, and the dirt does nothing to help the horse spring forward into its next stride at all. I never had a single 2-year old tear a tendon in 15 years training in the UK. Serious tendon injuries in 2-year olds in Europe are virtually unheard of. I have seen plenty of really nice unraced or hardly raced 2-year-olds finished due to tendon injuries in America. Finished before they ever even got going. I have seen more fractures also, and more serious fractures. More fatal fractures. I am sure there will be considerable variability in injury rates across different trainers. Some seem better than others at spotting the early-warning signs of a horse possibly brewing up for a catastrophic injury. But I also have little doubt that it is the dirt surface they train and race on that causes most of the harm. The production of dirt horses I wonder what professional sports trainers in other disciplines would make of the mucky, waterlogged sludge the horses gallop through on a wet morning, what they would think when they saw what these million-dollar athletes train on. There is an argument that the North American Thoroughbred breeding industry is predicated on the production of dirt horses. Well, aside from the fact the U.S. turf program is growing rapidly anyway, the last two Triple Crown winners, American Pharoah and Justify, have been covering mares in Australia, where there are no dirt races. Kentucky Derby winner Northern Dancer is the most influential turf sire of modern times. American Pharoah is the sire of one of the UK’s top turf 2-year olds this year. In short, dirt sires are perfectly capable of producing quality turf runners. So many dangers Let’s move on. Toe grabs. They are unnecessary and dangerous if horses clip heels – quite probably the cause of that 16-year-old rider’s death. And studies and common sense say they probably predispose to injury. Claiming races - there is moral hazard there. There is temptation for an unscrupulous trainer to run a horse with some injury as a means to try to sell it. Nowhere else does this temptation really exist. There is little incentive in any other racing arena I can think of to run an injured horse. Race-day medication, specifically Bute and Lasix. Horses are trained left-handed day after day on an unforgiving surface, and there is sometimes incentive to run them even if they are so injured the trainer knows they cannot win. Strong painkillers complete this toxic fatal cocktail. And these are strong painkillers. I have been surprised, shocked even, at what effect pre-race administration of anti-inflammatories has on many horses. How good it makes them feel. How they now really want to run. That is not good. It is not good at all to add a nitrous oxide injection to a $5,000 car with a wonky chassis. It may briefly hit 130mph on the highway. But, by the time it gets back to the garage, it will be a smoking wreck with its wheels hanging off. More than one trainer has told me bute “steps them up”. You don’t want them to step up. There is no competitive advantage, because every horse in the race is treated the same. ‘Bleeding in horses is not a problem that requires fixing’ In fact it is worse than that. It actually only really provides an advantage to the trainer who brings the horse to the race in a poor condition. That horse’s performance will benefit more from pre-race painkillers than one brought sound and feeling well. How is that good? But still, they all run a bit harder, further increasing their chances of a sudden injury. And they come back often sorer than they would have been if they hadn’t been treated, if they hadn’t pushed themselves quite so hard. Lasix is a diuretic used to lessen the severity of bleeding. It eliminates water in the horse, lowers its weight and, whether through that mechanism or another unknown one, studies suggest it can increase a horse’s racing time by one second (around seven lengths). See previous paragraph as to why that is a problem. I have said before that bleeding in horses is not a problem that requires fixing. I trained a horse that first bled as a 3-year old. It won a Graded stakes as an 8-year-old. He ran 69 races for me. He is 26 now. I never medicated him for bleeding, for racing or training. He is grazing in a paddock in Kentucky now. He has cost us an arm and a leg and remains in rude health. Minor bleeds are not a serious health or welfare issue. If the horse bleeds to an extent it negatively impacts performance, tough. That animal is not fit for purpose. Retire it, find it another life. Do not breed from it. The old adage is breed the best to the best and hope for the best - not breed the unsound bleeder to the unsound bleeder and find some stronger meds. The combination of Bute and Lasix treatment has another consequence, - ironically one they were introduced to combat. They were brought in to keep horses racing more regularly and so help maintain field sizes. Lasix dehydrates the horse, and both drugs tend to enable the horse to run harder and faster than it would without those drugs. Add in the often very hot conditions horses run in the USA and it is perhaps not surprising that starts per year per horse have declined ever since pre-race medication was introduced. It takes horses longer to recover from their races, because they have run harder on a tough surface and are dehydrated. And the public looks on with mistrust and distaste, and now I have to say, to the Stronach Group, to Churchill Downs Inc, to CHRB (California Horse Racing Board), to KHRC (Kentucky Horse Racing Commission), to NYRA (New York Racing Association), what don’t you get? Race-day medications should have gone long ago. For the perception of the sport. For the short-term welfare of horse and rider. For the long-term integrity of the Thoroughbred breed. Racing’s duty of care Tapeta is becoming recognized as perhaps the safest of all racing and training surfaces. When technology comes along that can make something dangerous a lot safer, it should be adopted. Tapeta was developed by a lifelong horseman; Michael Dickinson was a champion jump jockey and trainer in Europe who went on to become a Breeders’ Cup-winning trainer in North America. He is a compulsive man who has made it his mission to develop the safest and best racing surface possible, a man who exports his surface to racetracks and training centres around the world. He is here, in our backyard, and is virtually ignored. It was just over a year ago when exercise rider Odanis Acuna was killed along with the horse he was riding at Churchill Downs. This will be his children’s second Christmas without their father, his wife’s second Christmas without her husband. All their Christmases to come will be without him. In my opinion, he would probably be alive now if Churchill Downs had a synthetic surface then. I don’t know how badly that weighs on the mind of Churchill execs. I hope it does. It should, if for no other reason than there is nothing to say that something like that can’t happen in the Kentucky Derby. And that, as they say, would be pretty much that. Racehorses are big, strong animals with very small brains. We have a duty to watch out for the welfare of these creatures we ask to do so much for us. We have a duty to watch out for the riders too. Let the new coalition not be merely a PR exercise I hope, for all these reasons that the recently formed Thoroughbred Safety Coalition is more than the public relations exercise some are concerned it is. I genuinely hope it is going to be a determined force for good. But I worry. All the statistics show synthetic is vastly safer than dirt, and studies and common sense tell us to eliminate pre-race medication. Anyone with a basic knowledge of the horse’s anatomy should be able to work out that running around in circles on dirt will harm them. Yet there are rumblings already from top horsemen in Californian racing that this is what they want to keep doing, in spite of being in the heart of the storm, watching horses, trainers and jockeys leaving California, watching field sizes and purse money and attendances dwindle. I understand concerns regarding previous issues with synthetics in the California heat, but they are safe, and they are better now. And I know in one sense I am committing heresy even suggesting dirt racing could be abolished in North America. Suggesting slavery should end started a war. You would be surprised at the changes that people will rail against. It doesn’t mean they shouldn’t happen. The reintroduction of racing on the newer improved synthetic surfaces and the elimination of race-day medication could cut catastrophic injury rates by two thirds, studies and statistics suggest (and possibly more than that - the latest Tapeta tracks installed in the UK are recording catastrophic injury rates that are virtually zero). Fewer injured horses and fewer exhausted horses means more horses in trainers’ barns, more training fees, fuller fields, more gambling, more money to purses. And fewer dead horses. It also means jockeys and exercise riders are kept safer. With all the purse money that can be won by good horses in the U.S., I don’t see why any owner would want to risk their elite athletes on an inferior surface when a superior, safer alternative exists. Yes, all this would change North American racing. It would be slightly different, but it would be modernized, more progressive, more sanitized, and more virtuous than it is now. Tapeta

Bet it was faster without the wind resistance to! So how have the rest of the Thoroughbred World got by without it young Fred?

Apart from the Yanks, the Poms, Irish, Frogs...yea Australasia know what's best in defacing a beautiful animal... Seriously though...you should get out more....NEVER seen anything other than an Australasian neddy uh?

Fair enough... She appears to be improving with racing though? And NEVER underestimate gear, Waller got hold of Very Elligent and sorted hers out...same ear cover regime now...and improved again with VB's The owner's not in good health..perhaps he's looking for FUN over Xmas and those 2 staying races? Say what you like about Rogie though...without his runners actually 'racing', field numbers would be way down....same as Myers...some trainers adjust training regimes to simply 'race' them into fitness then form don't they? Bill Sanders did the same...Tommy Smith...

Mate it's called a DEBATE... The premises of a debate are the other propositions that are either assumed or accepted to whence we come to a conclusion after both sides of the propositions are aired ...which I did So you want to keep the needless status quo...entailing pain, unsightlyness and free advertising... ..at the expense of BEAUTY? Have you no appreciation of BEAUTY? Ill send you a pik if you like?

Interesting article in TDN today.... And very interesting the remarks of Racing Vic. CEO.... Featured article 1 of 16 The Discussion: Whip Debate Written by Bren O'Brien Edition Article 9 min read With the whip debate again dominating discussion, TDN AusNZ takes an in-depth look at the complex issue and speaks to a current jockey and a former champion about the cases for and against change. The conversation over the desirability of the whip in racing is something that often rears its head and with so much focus on equine welfare this spring, it is hardly surprising to see the debate again front and centre. There have been a variety of opinions emerge from jockeys, trainers, owners, breeders and regulators, but the overwhelming trend is that more people than ever are in favour of banning the whip. The debate within the thoroughbred industry invariably focusses on the public perception issues of jockeys' use of the whip in the context of shifting community attitudes towards what constitutes the proper treatment of animals. While there are a broad range of perspectives from different stakeholders, it is the opinion of those who utilise it as a tool every day, the jockeys themselves, which should hold greatest weight. That is why Chris Symons' decision to raise the issue of the public’s perception of whip use on Melbourne radio last week was so significant. Symons may not be the highest profile jockey in the ranks, but the 37-year-old has a wealth of experience in the saddle and he believes it's time for a discussion about the whip. When TDN AusNZ spoke to Symons a few days after that interview, he was decidedly more cautious about the tone he struck. The whip issue is a vexed one in racing and he admitted had felt the heat of expressing his thoughts. Chris Symons "I got whacked on the head [regarding media comments] and it is what it is. But I didn't not think that that was going to happen. I knew that as soon as I said something, that there was potential backlash," he said. "I just know that based on where I sit at the moment, looking sometimes from the other side of the fence, that there seems to be an issue. We can bury our heads in the sand if we want, or we can rise up and say how do we get on top of it?" Symons' passion for racing and animal welfare can not be undersold. Through his animal theme park, The Funky Farm, he is exposed more than most to prevailing community attitudes about the treatment of animals. He says he is not an advocate for change but is an advocate for the ability to sit down and have a proper discussion. Michelle Payne was another supporter of banning the whip "Do I think (banning the whip) is the right direction to go in? I don’t know. But is the industry in a bit of a crisis at the moment when it comes to animal welfare? I'd say yes," he said. "We can keep saying, let’s keep telling everybody to nick off, or we can have a proper discussion." Symons' initial comments drew support from Melbourne Cup winning jockey Michelle Payne, while Victorian Jockeys Association Matt Hyland said it was something that would be discussed among the 180 members of his organisation, but that its position was to retain the use of the whip in races. Whip comments strike a chord across industry The prospect of a ban on the whip drew support from significant industry figures on social media, including Newgate's Henry Field, who urged the Australian industry to be world leaders in implementing change. Lloyd Williams, one of the most influential owners of the past 30 years in Australia and the winner of the Melbourne Cup on six occasions, was quoted last month of his desire to see an end to the use of whip in races. “Australia needs to be at the forefront and withdraw the whip,” Williams told the Herald-Sun. “If we are not proactive, the industry will be lucky to survive. “If the industry doesn’t do something, it will be done for them. The world has changed. I have seen some research. The whip has to go.” Willams (right) urged the industry to be proactive in order to survive Williams' opinion saw the whip debate bubble to the surface again and prompted a response from Racing Victoria CEO Giles Thompson which raised a few eyebrows across the industry. "This is a debate that has been around a long time and will continue until the whip is banned," Thompson told RSN. "I don’t see the whip being sustainable in the long term. The question for us in racing, is how do we make that inevitable transition and when do we make that inevitable transition." 'A sad day for racing ' The sense of inevitability around the whip discussion is something that worries former Champion jockey and now Hall Of Fame trainer Ron Quinton. "Unfortunately, the future for the whip is not looking too bright. A whip to a jockey, it's a tool of trade. It’s not so much about the aggressive whip riding or anything like that, it’s a guide for the jockey to use with that horse, particularly young horses," Quinton said. Quinton pointed out that whip use had continued to evolve with community standards and he doesn't see a compelling practical reason why a whip ban is required. "I'm all in favour of the horses not being hit too regularly, and there should be one blanket rule saying how many times you can hit that horse and not be worried how many times in certain parts of the race," he said. Ron Quinton believes there needs to be a blanket rule for number of hits to the horse "The racing bodies and the jockeys and the trainers have done everything in their power to provide a whip which has no ill effects on the horse. The horses have a thick hide, the whips of years gone by were much more severe and the racing authorities have provided jockeys with a whip now that is not too harsh. "I think that they have done everything in their powers to accommodate the people who have had concerns about it. I think it will be a sad day if a jockey wasn't able to carry a whip in a race." The public perception argument is not something that washes with Quinton, who said it is the opinion of those who work with horses every day which matters most. "The greater percentage of people outside the racing game really don’t understand. They don’t know. Our racehorses are the most pampered and well looked after animals that you've ever seen. The thing is that horses are bred to want to run and generally speaking, most of them do their level best," he said. "A whip is a tool of trade and it does teach the horse manners and it teaches them discipline. I think it’s an important tool." Jockeys must be at heart of discussion While there is a wealth of interested parties, both Quinton and Symons agree that the jockeys must be at the heart of any discussion. "The conversation needs to be had with the jockeys, it's their life," Symons said. "It’s what they do and they are the ones that may have to change to adapt. There's more to a whip than just making a horse find its best, which is important to know. It’s there as a safety tool. "They need to be part of that discussion and they need to make the call on it." Both Quinton and Symons agree that the jockeys must be at the heart of any discussion Quinton, who rode the winners of 46 Group 1 races and won Sydney's jockeys' premiership seven times in a 30-year career in the saddle, said in the eventuality that the whip is no longer available for jockeys to use, there will need to be significant adjustments made in how horses are ridden. "They will have to learn to ride differently. They will have to have a bit more control of the horse's head for guidance. If it eventually happened, they would find a way around it. They would have to," he said. It's a complex debate, something Symons understands well with his acknowledgement that the projected impacts on wagering also need to be considered. Impacts on wagering will also need to be considered But he is also adamant that the complexity or divisive nature of the debate shouldn't prevent it from occurring. "The answer may be to just move on with what we have now and I'm happy to ride within the rules if that is the case. Is it having a detrimental effect? That's the question I want to ask," he said. "Let’s not forget, I didn’t bring it up. It’s a discussion that has been had forever. It's been on the forefront of the industry's mind for the past couple of months. I was just answering a question." The prospects for change Even if there is a common view formed on the desirability of the whip, the next challenge would then be how to implement change. The regulatory framework around racing in Australia is not well designed for industry-wide reform, with individual states having the ability to determine how they police the Australian Rules Of Racing. There have been suggestions of conducting trials of whip-free racing to measure the public response There have also been suggestions of conducting trials of whip-free racing to measure the public response, but the comments of RV CEO Thompson last month provided an interesting insight into how that state may choose to proceed. "We are capable of making bold decisions when we need to, but it will remain a hot topic for quite a while," he said. "It’s something that we are very aware of and alert to at Racing Victoria. We talk about it a lot. At some point, we might have to say, we will make a bold decision about this and go for it."

And yours are much loved.. and I find yours VERY humorous let me tell ya... FFS...I said "we have the tech now"....including chips... Do you ACTUALLY read what I say? Alarmist...pfffft