With A Dream

I backed Borana for a place in that cup. If you look st his run in the Auckland cup the year before he was a very unlucky 4th and Peter Jones was very good at peaking him for big races. Loved Royden Glen also and bred a mare to him convinced he was the next big thing but apart from Lyall Creek he didn’t fire at all

The 1st time I ever went to a race meeting was Show Day 1970. Stella Frost won the FFA that day and it was her that got me hooked on the sport. She was a great horse and I was gutted when they sent her to the USA. She came back and was bred from but was a failure at stud. She will always be one of my favourites

I was a fan of Lunar Chance also but to be fair he was probably lucky to win the NZ Cup as Final Decision lost a hell of a lot of ground breaking at the start and still ran him close. I think from memory Robin Dundee may have won the first Miracle Mile at Harold Park, although I am glad to say it was before my time.

Well said

A grand name for a race with a $8,500 stake. Must the lowest stake for a cup race ever

6 meetings left so should do it but the win rate has slowed over the last couple of weeks.

Blair’s win on Friday at Addington took him past David Butchers record for highest stakes winnings in a single season. Great achievement.

That was still the most exciting race I have seen. I was there that night and remember the crowd rushing to the birdcage to watch him come back at the head of the field. It was the most spontaneous reception I have ever seen a horse receive.

Agree Brodie, but anyone who owns horses to make money is fooling themselves. Most people do it for the fun of it, in my case anyway. This is why we must not let the Health & Safety brigade take all the fun out of it by stopping owners standing beside their pride & joy for a photo, and goodness knows what other crazy ideas they are hatching. If you want people to race horses for the purposes of profit, stakes will need to quadruple, and that' s not going to happen, even in Auckland

There is always some risk in life. Getting in your car and driving to work exposes people to risk. The question is whether that risk is reasonable or not. Can you tell me Westview how many people have been injured in the last 20 years having their photo taken with their horse at Addington? What worries me is what comes next. The health and safety brigade are constantly trying to think up new ways to eliminate risk, even if that risk is miniscule. Once they have separated owners from standing beside their horse will they then look to other ways to further minimize the risk, perhaps banning horses from photo's with owners altogether. Will they then look to banning owners from the stables ? Every time we implement a policy that makes the horses more remote from the owners and the public (example removing the birdcage from Addington so the public can't see the horses parade up close) we are removing the product from the customer. This is a big mistake. Bottom line - If people don't feel engaged and part of the action they will go find something else to do.

I just wonder how come the guys in that last photo got to stand next to the horse? Is it a matter of choice whether you have your photo taken from the podium or not?

Just re read your post Longowner. I got it wrong thinking it was a barrier. Agree with you totally. Of course the owner wants the horse in the picture. I would not have been happy if our photo was just the owners and sponsors. Having your photo with the horse is the whole point of the photo.

Havn’t seen the new barrier but anything that makes the horses more remote from the public or the owners is a big mistake. I have been lucky enough to part own a winner at Addington earlier in the season and the previous set up was fine. Are you unable to talk to the driver now in the birdcage? If so this is not good. Trouble is these days the health & Safety brigade are getting totally carried away and are determined to remove the fun out of everything.