Rusty

Hey hey hey hey!! Steady on mate. Some "bloody Gingers" (rungas) are average enough people. Regards, Rusty x

Back in the late 90's I knew a farmer, hobby trainer/owner type, that would take his slow racehorse to Addington all the time. With his wife. Well, the wife would get dropped off at the shopping mall just up the road from Addington, and then get picked up again sometime post race. So there you go Brodie. There is every chance, the trainer/owner of a 46 start maiden, isn't actually bringing the horse to win a race. He knows full well, there is no hope in winning. He is merely killing time whilst his good lady wife is getting a perm at the hairdressers in the mall, and he can have a beer with his mates and partake in his hobby.

I had the option to cash out my $2.50 bet (pre-race, and before the soft cocks cancelled it), at $2.63! But I didn't. So you're right. They win every time.

Bastards haha yeah slightly more than that. My bet of $2.50 was an account round down, so that the account balance was a nice round number. Does anybody else do that or is it just me?!

Spot on. And how much coin did this new damfangled system cost?!?!

You are 100% dead right Happy. I won't take another "winsurance" bet ever again. What is the point, if the NZ TAB can cancel the bet pre-race, and state, sorry there has been an error, and here is your refund? Oh by the way, you can still have a bet on this race, but the odds have been slashed. Nope, forget it. I'll stick to Neds and Ladbrokes. P.S the NZ TAB's liability for my bet was $13. As in thirteen dollars!!!

So in other words, they stuffed up setting the odds for this horse, so they refunded all bets placed on the horse at their "substantially wrong" odds. It was $6's with money back if it ran 2nd or 3rd, and my bet was literally loose change.

So just checked my emails and there was this message from the TAB regarding my bet...

Yeah mate, I was surprised. Did a double take. But they were out for this race at lunch time Thursday.

I tend to agree mate. And usually I wouldn't waste my time. Not when I usually go through the Aussie corporates. But at Thursday lunch time, Love N The Port was $11's for the win, and $6's with money back 2nd, or 3rd so I just had to have a dabble.

Just a quick heads up for all the good folk on here. I have been caught out, and I don't want you lot falling into the same trap. For some unknown reason, I backed a horse with the NZ TAB, trying out their "winsurance" bet. Nothing new. Aussie corporates have had it for years. The bet was placed on Thursday afternoon, for the Sunday (today's Addington) meeting. Snapped up pretty good odds, I think the horse was 4th favourite or something and I was looking forward to the race. Until, pre-race I realised that the bet had been REFUNDED, as there had been one horse scratched in the race. Note, there wasn't a deduction (in my horse's odds), but a full refund for the bet. I could cop a deduction, I get that, I understand that, and it is there in black and white under the terms and conditions, "deductions may apply". But a full refund, because another horse was scratched, is that fair?

I don't know if the NZ TAB could afford to run a million dollar Pick6 every week. I also don't know why they are reluctant to have regular, terminating Pick6's. Many punters love the terminating ones. The uptake of a terminating Pick6 is usually a lot higher than the stock standard ones. What I do know is that NZ TAB decision makers tend to not favour Pick6's as it "ties up money" during the Pick6 races, and they fear the "opportunity cost" of this.

The NZ TAB needs to have a minimum bet limit like most states/territories in Aussie. Some people in NZ can't even get a $30 bet on. It's ridiculous. And that's a problem.

This is brilliant mate. Made me laugh.

I don't want to bleat on about Lamb for too long so this will be my last post on this thread. But the other thing too, is the manner/tone he chooses to direct at drivers/horses. Barking out orders, along with general life advice in the (sometimes arrogant) fashion he does, it could be argued it's not conducive to a good, successful, harmonious and respectful team environment. I say team, because the starter, starter's assistants and drivers, all their work combined, should be a team effort, and not a "them and us" mentality. They all have their role to play. And then of course there are the horses, but one human seems to be the main issue here.

How many times has Lamb been roasted in the last few years? Seriously, Lamb needs to get the chop. He is the worst starter I have seen baa none. Last week at Addington just before the start he yelled out: "Not a good career move number three!" I'm not sure if he knows it or not, but horses don't understand his ramblings. I wish trackside would get rid of the microphone round at the start for his races. Cut costs. And sell that microphone. Do us all a favour.

Very good points Happy. RT May steered Go Davey to win the Kurow Cup for trainer Dean Taylor a few years back. It's so good seeing Ricky back driving at the races, I wish him all the very best for Addington on Sunday. Buckskin has a motor. Has to be one of the better maidens going around.

You are dead right. This is another reason as to why I don't often bet in final field markets through the NZ TAB... They bring a few horses in, yet don't lengthen others out at the same time. Money grabbing bastards.

What beats me is that often bets, or should I say, punters that are wishing to place a bet, go to put it on, and it is declined. The NZ TAB refuse it, because of the liability. Sometimes the liability is sweet FA. Like we are talking a $30 bet on a horse at something like $25s (or thereabouts) final field. Yet, almost on any given race, other punters are getting on 4-figure bets. Or reasonable sized 3-figure bets on favourites. Now it happens worldwide, betting agencies refusing to accept bets, I have no issue with that, but the liability amount in NZ seems to be bugger all and has to be the worst in the world, with the exception of perhaps North Korea and Nigeria. That combine with how often they do it, and treating customers differently, just makes no sense. And even less so, when the punter is attempting to place the bet at a TAB outlet, and not through their account i.e the TAB couldn't tell or not if the punter is restricted.

100% dead right. I think the majority of New World supermarkets in Christchurch sell the ODT. Only problem is, it is very popular, and they tend to sell out well before the end of the trading day. Blame all the oldies rushing down at sparrow's fart to get their copy! God bless them.

I haven't checked out a copy myself lately, but apparently the ODT (Otago Daily Times) are/have been printing race fields in their newspaper. Always a top quality, independent publication, the ODT. Well done to the team, and giving the punters what they want.

Unfortunately the old days, the good old days, are done. Well gone. Even oldies like me have to move with the times, that have been forced upon us. I do feel for the large sector of "mature" punters. It doesn't sit well with me that so many of the older generation (especially in rest homes) are no longer able to see the race fields in the newspaper, nor listen to the races on the radio. Many are computer illiterate. Stop and think how much coin they would have put through the tote in their lifetime (and the tax-take the government would have received) and now they have nothing, as in no races. It's bloody sad.

It was a ridiculous decision to hit Trackside Radio on the head and remove it from the airwaves. Madness. It's all very well to say "you can just listen to it via the website" etc but the thing is this... A large percentage (majority?) of people within the racing game live on rural properties, and wifi/mobile data can be a bit iffy at the best of times, especially down the back paddock etc. Personally, I have found the Rova app to be the best bet for playing Trackside Radio via a smartphone. One can turn the (phone) screen off, to save battery power/extend battery life, and it seems to be more reliable than the NZ TAB website, in that it won't cut out, or get the doomed circle of death. When crusing the mean streets in an automobile, one can turn on mobile data, and bluetooth on a smartphone and run Trackside radio (via TAB website) through the car's bluetooth stereo. Nowhere near as convenient as old school radio, but it's a possible option for some people.

Back in the day, I was responsible for recruitment for a large multinational company, so I.have seen a few cover letters and CVs. This is typical. The three sentences you quoted Noodlum, are typical bullsh!t meaningless statements dreamt up by someone within HR consultancy. Happy hit it on the head, with his interpretations! Nice work.

A bouquet (a cheap one, maybe from PaknSave or from Hagley Park, not roses or anything too expensive) has to be given to the Trackside TV crew for their coverage tonight at Addington harness. It helps not having wall to wall racing, with races coming in from Okinawa etc, so we have good 5-6-7+ minute lead-ins, with Mr O'Connor interviewing trainers, showing recent trial videos etc I can't actually fault it. The only thing I would add to enhance the coverage... would be some canned laughter, just like how Fox Sports add the fake crowd background noise, during the broadcast of the current NRL "fanless" games. Add the canned laughter when Greg O'Connor's suggested bets pop up on screen. Well done and thank you Trackside.