With A Dream

The ATC put out an update yesterday on the property sale to Mt Hope. Apparently Mt Hope have the money but are not sure if they can move it out of China in order to settle. I must say I’m not impressed with the tone of the statement by Jamie MacKinnon, in these situations it is better to stick to the facts & not indulge in sarcasm.

Jamie MacKinnon stated clearly in an interview with Paul Campbell that the club had received a $10m deposit from the buyer. It appears that if they pull out they will forfeit that payment. I assume the broker & the lawyers have taken their cut & would estimate if the buyer pulls out the ATC would pocket around $6.5million and would then put the property back on the market.

I wonder if the developers don’t settle on time at what stage could the ATC pull the plug on the sale, pocket the deposit & re list? As I write this it just occurred to me that the listing agent for the sale would pocket a fair wack of the deposit.

Very good point. It leads me to ask how many people at HRNZ are employed in the marketing/ social media department and what are they actually achieving? HRNZ would be better contracting Nigel to do more & then have a serious look at how much they are spending on wages in marketing. We don’t want to end up like Victoria.

Completely agree. After Addington they cut away to a greyhound race, undercutting their whole premise that Harness owns Friday nights. Let’s see the fun winning owners are having on Trackside.

Westview & other syndicator get people into ownership who otherwise wouldn’t be involved, that in itself promotes betting. Absolutely needs to happen, though doesn’t necessarily need to be restricted to on course only.

Did anyone else read a while back that DSD was going to Hayden Cullen. I thought I read it somewhere but I see he’s still with All Stars

Another thing I have noticed lately is that Bruce Negus has ownership in a couple of horses trained by other trainers.

I think we’re all agreed on that. Amazing that it hasn’t happened.

Just won a race at The Meadowlands today.

I don’t like the idea of races shorter than a mile. There’s very frw mile races at the moment. All mile racing will never come in because there are only a few tracks mile racing is suitable for. I would like to see a few on every card at Ashburton & Nelson & Winton. I agree one of the strengths of NZ Harness is the variety of distances.

I like mile racing personally. Especially at Ashburton, Nelson & the bigger tracks in Southland. Addington is a no go.

Carter won today on a son of Lazarus at 11-1 on his first day of driving in actual races.

Either that or he was just finishing off the bottle of whiskey he had opened half an hour earlier.

Possibly the most absurd statement ever made on this site.

Carter has always showed talent, horses run for him & that can’t be argued. In the past I think he’s been a bit aggressive on occasions but watching him drive over the past couple of weeks & particularly tonight it occurred to me he is driving with a bit more patience and finesse. He’s already good but I think he’s gone too another level now.

No one has a problem with crooks being outed , it’s charging people that they have no evidence against that is the problem. Imagine for instance you had a horse that performed poorly in a race & as a result of someone over hearing you asking the trainer to get blood tests done you are accused & charged with race fixing. It’s pure nonsense but that’s what was going on. It’s not investigation people are against, it’s the charging of innocent people of crimes for which there is no evidence.

I like the way you think.

DSD led on a leaders bias track. Merlin sat parked for part of the race & then had to come 3 wide on the turn. Reverse the runs & Merlin wins by a couple of lengths. Right now you would have to say Merlin is number 1 in NZ

Carter drove Krug to win the Invercargill Cup in 2022 or 2023. It was the first year the Invercargill Cup had G1 status.

Absolutely right. 11 am and still not working. 😖

Dead right Brodie. The hard part is finding the right person. Is there anyone with the experience you describe that wants the job?

Canis Minor was another good one

I suspect it was the largest outsider in the history of the race

I know this doesn’t count, but Maurice Holmes I think was 22 or 23 when he won the NZ Cup.