Murray Fish

lol re the watering? wow, he had many sleepless night 'worrying; about nature watering! rather scary, sigh to think how he would handle the current 'best practice!', sigh, $1.01 not that well! ps, can you share some insight into how he is Not in the Hall of Fame? especially so when you see how many 'famer$' are there solely because the have brought their way in!!!

tick, you said that way more elegantly that I could!

Who has had any dealing with him? For me, nothing directly for me, but I did get to observe how he dealt with some jockeys I knew well. I was impressed by the ethical way he went about dealing with 'those problems". Noel McCutcheon has been appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the thoroughbred and harness racing industries. Photo: Race Images McCutcheon recognised in King’s Birthday Honours Joshua Smith, LOVERACING.NZ News Desk 4 June 2024 Noel McCutcheon’s lifelong dedication to the racing industry was recognised in the King’s Birthday Honours on Monday where he was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the thoroughbred and harness racing industries. McCutcheon didn’t have any family involvement in racing when growing up, but it was as a fresh-faced 10-year-old that he got hooked on the sport, which has led to several career paths, including jockey, harness racing trainer and driver, chief stipendiary steward, and JCA race day committee member. “I was in Greenmeadows, Hawke’s Bay, as a child and there used to be races at Napier Park,” he said. “I used to sit on the top of a macrocarpa hedge when I was a wee lad and when they raced past me, I thought ‘that is what I want to be, I want to be a jockey’. “I didn’t have any family involvement in racing, I just had a pony from as far back as I can remember.” The enthusiastic youngster didn’t waste any time in following his chosen career path. “I started off as a 10-year-old lad in a stable,” McCutcheon said. “I had my first ride as an apprentice jockey when I was 15 and completed my apprenticeship when I was 19. I was based in Hawera at the time, and then I moved to Otaki where I rode for another 10 years.” McCutcheon spent 14 years in the saddle and tasted success at the highest level on both sides of the Tasman. “I rode three Derby winners – Mission in the South Australian Derby in 1965, a New Zealand Derby on Royal Duty in 1963 and another New Zealand Derby with Pep in 1968. I also won the Hawke’s Bay Cup and Awapuni Cup on Royal Duty,” he said. “I finished riding when I was about 28 or 29, but I had periods off with injury.” When McCutcheon called time on his riding career, he decided to shift codes and take out his harness racing trainer’s and driver’s license. He became interested in harness racing during his time in Hawera and thought it was an opportune time to try his hand with standardbreds. “When I was an apprentice jockey in Hawera I became friendly with John Butcher, who is the father of David and Phillip Butcher, who have been very successful harness drivers,” McCutcheon said. “I remained friends with him until he sadly passed away. I used to drive work for him when I was based in Hawera when he came down for the Easter circuit. “I trained a few harness horses and drove them for a while. I drove and trained about 20 winners. I was in Otaki at the time, and it wasn’t a viable proposition as there weren’t many harness meetings. I decided to sell my property and move to Cambridge, which was the home of harness racing in the North Island.” In his shift north, McCutcheon was approached to follow a different career path. “In the interim, I was approached by the then chief stipendiary steward, Mr Phil Reid, and he asked if I was interested in becoming a stipendiary steward,” he said. “I attended about three race meetings and he said he was going to recommend to the then Racing Conference Board that I be put on as an assistant stipendiary steward. That was in May 1980 and at the end of 1982 I was appointed a full stipendiary steward. “In November 1989, they approached me and said they wanted me to be the next chief stipendiary steward. I commenced those duties on January 1, 1990, and I remained in that role until 2006.” McCutcheon spent a few years away from racing before the pull became too strong, and he was asked to assist the Judicial Control Authority, which he has continued to do to this day. “For three years I didn’t have a lot of interest in racing, I just travelled and did things that I wanted to do,” he said. “I was then approached by the Judicial Control Authority to see if I was interested in training some people in the finer points of race reading. “I did that for a short period of time and then I was asked if I would sit on race day judicial committees, and I have been doing that for about 14 years. I finished the race day work last July and I only do the appeals judge panel now.” McCutcheon was delighted to be recognised for his contribution to thoroughbred and harness racing in New Zealand, and said there is one formula for success – “Hard work, grind and determination. If you want something bad enough you can get it,” he said.

Blame D Walsh, I think he was the first to head down that track. At Trentham one day!

ummm, what was that saying about 'Stats and lies" A few years back I was in discussion with a Prof of Economics (Paul Dalziel, Lincoln Uni) around the 'so called' average wage, He had worked in Stats Dept (or hand some relationship with them for years and had fought to get that stat being counting. I think I recall that then 70% of wage earners Didn't get the average! I'm sure that most that say do earn 70k put in a work week of 40 hours to be earning that wage? How many hours a week would be needed to run that organisation? Not counting time in the sponsor tent!!!! ps. https://researchers.lincoln.ac.nz/paul.dalziel

@Chief Stipe anyway to get pit up? https://fb.watch/svn_RZHIey/

Even the old blind man can see the Massive Contradictions that flow from them being lumped together! Very much like the reality of 'company unions'. Pat Lush (Father of Ken) set up the Trainers assoc, and ran it!! He was a rather steeled fella! Never afraid to 'speak up to power!' A spade was a spade! And a igit was a.... I know for 100% he would be shocked to see it today! Some rather amusing irony! to see it very much now appearing to have morphed in a 'patsy' organisation!!!

Another example of 'precordial politics', have a very hierarchical structure, Paid the head way above the norm! You then totally have their voice! and part of their role then becomes to say "please don't be negative'!!!

I mention previously about how to me there were very little meat to been seen in that latest propaganda. report into 'the industry', especially around wages etc? (or did I miss it? I ask, how many hours would be put in to 'earn' that wage? how does that compare to the average or mean wage?

how does that jingle go? "You know the odd$! Now beat them" Or will it be another case of? "The cue goes back in the rack!" sigh...

In a previous life, I had access to those sorts (80's 90's), perhaps a average mark would have been given. Jump to now! wow! So many would struggle to be rated Light Weights! Perhaps mirroring the depth of open class and group racing currently in NZ!

As years have gone on, my % of bets have moved more and more into the nz G1's, based on the logic of better exposed form leading in to them! Because of the state of the tracks I've almost not been betting, admittedly this season, there has been some crap weather leading into them, but there it seems now the ever problem of the Over watering to get to some x stated reading... I believe Grey Way has been turning in his grave!

LOL, but wait there is more... You will recall all the great TV1 coverage of Horse racing. 1000's of hours. NZ Racing never got the copyright and if you want to use any then it will cost you are arm and a leg to ever use!!!! Hence it is never used on Trackside! or even by the Hall of Fame. There is a small amount put up on Youtube that hasn't been ordered to be taken down!

Brian Rudman: Fairfax's photo nightmare - I told you so By Brian Rudman 15 Apr, 2015 09:28 AM4 mins to read Fairfax Media's decision to ship up to eight million historic New Zealand news photographs and negatives to Little Rock, Arkansas, for "digitising" has proved perilous. Two years on, the digital archiving is yet to be completed, an unknown number of the photographs have turned up on eBay.com for sale and Rogers Photo Archive (RPA), the company involved, is now in receivership facing at least 10 lawsuits totalling more than $94 million. Fairfax Media has gone to court to recover the archives - which also include the photographic records of the Sydney Morning Herald, the Age, and other Australian publications. Observing from the sidelines is the Ministry of Culture and Heritage which allowed the export of this taonga, even though, under the Protected Objects Act, it had the power to refuse the export of photos more than 50 years old. In documents filed in the Circuit Court, Arkansas on December 19, Fairfax argues that from the time the agreement was signed in May 2013, "there were numerous issues raising concern for Fairfax that RPA could not or would not perform". Under the deal, Fairfax agreed to sell the photographs and negatives to RPA for no charge, and in return RPA would provide separate digital libraries for both Australia and New Zealand. After the Herald revealed Fairfax's plans in May 2013, the ministry intervened and RPA and Fairfax agreed that no item created prior to 1973 could be sold or disposed of without the ministry's approval. However, it issued "a temporary export certificate" for the whole archive saying it would check for "protected objects" once the collection was digitised. After months of "concern" for Fairfax, including RPA being raided by the FBI in January 2014 as part of an ongoing probe into fraud in sports memorabilia trading - another of Rogers' interests - the media company wrote to RPA in late November, terminating the contract - and demanding the return of the archives before December 4. Instead, Fairfax told the court, the New Zealand archive had been transferred to another organisation in Newport, Arkansas. Fairfax spokeswoman Emma Carter says the archive is now "in the possession of the court-appointed receiver" and that "work continues to digitise the archive". She says "the majority of New Zealand images have already been scanned". Also, the court has ordered no further Fairfax images be sold or transferred, and she says Fairfax is "exploring our recovery options" for those already sold. Two years ago, when the Herald first revealed Fairfax's plans to ship the photographic archives of 72 New Zealand publications overseas, I expressed my disquiet about exporting such a huge part of our cultural heritage. The disquiet has turned into a scary nightmare. This massive pictorial heritage stretching back into the 1800s and illustrating the lives of 72 New Zealand cities and towns, is now in the hands of a receiver, while a horde of creditors clamour for any penny they can claw back. We can only pray that Fairfax's claim to ongoing ownership holds up in court. Defending the deal in May 2013, then Fairfax group executive editor Paul Thompson argued it was the only way to rescue newspaper archives suffering from years of neglect and decay. He said it would have cost $2 to $4 an image to have them digitised in New Zealand, which added up to a possible bill of $32 million. "It was just prohibitive," he told the Marlborough Express - one of the papers whose historic photos are now trapped in Arkansas. At the time, Mr Thompson said it wasn't the original image or "artefact" that was as important as the usability and accessibility of an image. "The real benefit is being able to search and find and retrieve and use them. It's no good having millions of photographs that are impossible to access, poorly stored and scattered to the four winds." Or in Arkansas. Related articles

Untangling the Fairfax archive saga as more found scattered in North Island 9:38 pm on 26 January 2024 Share this Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Share via email Share on Reddit Share on Linked In Peter de Graaf About 1.4 million historic photos from leading New Zealand newspapers were shipped to the US as part of an ill-fated digitisation project. Photo: Duncan Miller Gallery It is one of the great debacles of New Zealand history-keeping - an irreplaceable collection of more than a million photos capturing key events and people in the nation's history almost ended up in a rubbish dump in America. The photos were part of the Fairfax archive shipped to the US in 2013 in an ill-fated plan to digitise the media company's vast image collection. They included pictures from leading newspapers such as The Press, The Dominion and The Waikato Times. However, not long after the prints arrived in the US, the company contracted to digitise the photos, Rogers Photo Archive, ran into financial and legal strife. The firm was placed in receivership while the photos were left to moulder and almost taken to the tip. Eventually, a photo gallery specialising in historic images bought them from the receiver, and now they're being sold, bit by bit, back to New Zealand. But it turns out not all of Fairfax's photos were shipped to the US. For reasons unknown, part of the collection never left Aotearoa and instead ended up scattered around the country. One such case is The Northern News archive, a treasure trove of photographic prints, negatives and newspapers dating back to the Kaikohe newspaper's first edition in 1919. Although still published once a week by Stuff, its current owner, The Northern News has not had an office or staff of its own since 2015. None of its last three editors knew where the archive had ended up. At least one feared it had been lost forever, most likely at the bottom of a landfill. Enquiries by RNZ have, however, revealed much of the newspaper's archive survives, split between Kerikeri and Auckland. Diana, Princess of Wales, hongis a young woman at Eden Park during a royal visit in 1983. Photo: Duncan Miller Gallery The saga goes back to 2012 when Kaikohe photographer Debbie Beadle had a verbal agreement to digitise The Northern News photo archive. Beadle did not charge for her work but was allowed to retain, sell and display digital copies. The negatives were returned to The Northern News after scanning. That was in contrast to the deal struck between the then-Australian-owned Fairfax and Rogers Photo Archive, in which the US company retained and was permitted to sell the original prints - in fact, some photos started turning up on Ebay even before digitisation was finished. Beadle said she was motivated by a fear the photos would be lost as the newspaper downsized, and a desire to preserve local history and make it available to Northlanders. Many of the photos lacked caption information so she set up a Facebook page where the public could identity people or events. She had scanned 43,000 negatives, starting from 1972 and working her way towards the present, when she was contacted by Fairfax's then general manager for Northland and ordered to "cease and desist". Beadle was told the images had been sold overseas and that a staff member would arrive within half an hour to collect the negatives and her scans. She believed the Northland photos were to have been sent to the US in a second shipment but that never happened. It is not clear if that was due to controversy about the plan or because Rogers Photo Archive was by then already in financial trouble. Surf lifesavers march during the national championships at Ōakura Beach, near New Plymouth, in 1981. Photo: Duncan Miller Gallery When Northern News editor Malcolm McMillan retired in 2012, Fairfax management told him the archive would be looked after. As well as folders of negatives and boxes of sports photos, his office held bound copies of every edition of the newspaper dating back to 1919. "I was given an assurance the archive was going to be well taken care of, because it was so unique … But then the whole lot just disappeared," he said. At one point Shaun Reilly, a former Northern News photographer, took the photo collection to the Pioneer Village, a local history museum, because he believed that was the safest place. He also wanted the images to stay in Kaikohe if the newspaper closed down. He was, however, over-ridden and the images were returned. The Northern News office closed down in 2015, with the newspaper subsequently run from the office of its sister paper in Kerikeri, The Bay Chronicle. The Northern News archive was reportedly shifted to Kerikeri but Keri Molloy, The Bay Chronicle's editor at the time, said she had not seen it since the Kaikohe office closed. Fairfax, by then rebranded as Stuff, shut the Kerikeri office and laid off its remaining Far North staff in 2018. RNZ contacted Daniel Miller, the gallery owner in Los Angeles who now owns the Fairfax archive, to ask if he had The Northern News' missing photos. Miller said newspapers included in the collection were The Press, Sunday Star Times, Manawatu Standard, Southland Times, Taranaki Daily News, Timaru Herald, Waikato Times, The Dominion and The Evening Post. As far as he knew, no Northland photos were shipped to the US, but it was possible some were mixed up with images from bigger papers. RNZ did, however, find part of the archive at Kerikeri's Procter Library. Far North Libraries local history specialist Fiona Jenkins with part of the Fairfax archive which has ended up at Kerikeri's Procter Library. Photo: RNZ / Peter de Graaf Fiona Jenkins, local history specialist for Far North Libraries, said she was offered copies of The Northern News going back to 1919 when the Kerikeri office closed down. "We would've dearly loved to take them, but we just don't have the room," she said. What she could take was about 10 boxes of photos - mostly of sporting events with little identifying information - as well as negatives in paper bags and indexed contact sheets. Jenkins said she was gradually digitising the photos and sharing some on the Procter Library's Facebook page in an effort to identity them. The most significant photos were posted on library's history portal, Recollect. Picture of Phil Tataurangi from the Fairfax Archives, which was among the collection shipped to the US. Photo: Fairfax Archive / NZ Golf Jenkins said she accepted the photos because she wanted them to stay in the region. "There are so few places in Northland now where you can access local history because it gets sent away to the big cities. It's sad." The Procter Library, however, has only a fraction of the collection. Shaun Reilly, the former Northern News photographer, believed the rest had been sent to Auckland Museum. Museum staff told RNZ said they had received a donation of negatives from Fairfax's Auckland-based newspapers in 2016, but they didn't have any images from Northland. They suggested RNZ try Auckland Libraries instead. There, principal photographs librarian Keith Giles told RNZ he had been contacted in 2018 by a Stuff employee about a folder of historic photographs. He was told the folder was part of The Northern News archive transferred to Kerikeri when the Kaikohe office shut down. The staff member was concerned the heritage photos, along with negatives and vintage newspapers, would be dumped if the Kerikeri office could not find a home for them. Auckland Libraries staff made three trips to Kerikeri, picking up three filing cabinets full of prints, a large number of negatives dating back to the 1970s, copies of The Northern News from 1919 to the 1940s, and a handful of glass-plate negatives. "We thought it was important to preserve these items rather than see them disposed of," Giles said. The folder of historic photos could not be found. A Fairfax Archive photo of Stephen Scahill and Michael Campbell, which NZ Golf bought from the Duncan Miller Gallery. Photo: Fairfax Archive / NZ Golf Giles said Auckland Libraries planned to catalogue and digitise the images, as resourcing allowed, but the immediate priority at the time was to ensure they were saved. While The Northern News archive did not end up in the US, many photos of prominent Northlanders did, via the collections of larger newspapers - including photos of land rights campaigner and "Mother of the Nation" Dame Whina Cooper. They are among more than 5000 images of Māori purchased by the National Library from the Los Angeles-based Duncan Miller Gallery and now back in New Zealand. The images are currently being sorted through and catalogued. Dame Whina's daughter, Hinerangi Cooper-Puru, of Panguru, said she was pleased the photos had been returned, and was looking forward to seeing pictures of her mother that had come so close to being lost forever. She was, however, concerned they had been sent overseas in the first place, without permission from iwi or whānau. "I'm concerned that they ever left our country, Aotearoa … This must not happen again," she said. Prominent historian Vincent O'Malley said the Ministry for Culture and Heritage should never have allowed the photos to be sent overseas. "This is 1.4 million photos that constitute an incredible photographic record of New Zealand's history, and it's really tragic that it's been lost to the country in this way," he said. At the time, Fairfax executive editor Paul Thompson - now chief executive of RNZ - said digitising the collection in New Zealand would have been prohibitively expensive, and the photos were deteriorating because they could not be stored properly. Some had already been lost in the Christchurch earthquakes. Each image would have cost $2-$4 to digitise locally, resulting in an overall cost of millions of dollars. At the time he said the key thing was not the physical photos themselves but having access to digital versions that could be searched for in a database and used. However, O'Malley said the physical photos themselves were historic artefacts of great significance. "That's obvious from the fact they are being sold off, piece by piece. It's wonderful the National Library has secured 5300 images but that's less than 1 percent of the total collection. It still represents a vast loss of our cultural heritage." Fairfax Media obtained much of the photo archive when it bought Independent Newspapers Ltd in 2003. Sending the archive to the US was part of a bigger project by the Australian-owned company to digitise its image collections on both sides of the Tasman. Millions more prints were sent to Rogers Photo Archive from leading Australian newspapers such as The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. Stuff said digitisation of the New Zealand archive had eventually been completed in the US, as directed by the receiver, and electronic versions had been returned.

The Centaur wrote "Also did you notice at some tracks photos would come out far clearer with more depth. e.g. Matamata and Foxton.?" Good question! Its were the sun is shining from. SUN brings out the best results for horses photos, 100%. The key to that is to have Strong sun coming over your right shoulder for a left handed track! and over left shoulder for right handed track. Hence Trentham is the BEST track to take photos at by 100 miles and that is why more 'historical shots' have been taken there and printed and used for publications. The worse track to take photos at on sunny day is Wingatui, I was there on Monday (I've put some up on my facebook page f you want to have a look), the sun in coming from inside of the track. Its way better now using digital cameras and you can then twink them way better that the old school film. Hence very few historical photo used from that track, Riccarton is the same, sun from the inside. and of course there are changes depending on what time of the year, The arc changes as the season change. Re up North, it was that long ago that I worked there and didn't really work long enough up there to make a proper comment. My Fav Track by a Million miles be Trentham!

The Cetur wrote "Perhaps you might have the answers. How far back do photographing operators (not photofinish) keep their negatives or prints for reproduction if connections of winners etc. wish to place an order. ? " Hi, it really depends on which district you are talking about. The best collection that is held together is the one now in in the hands of Peter (the wanker) Rubry (as two face as you get) at Race Images in PN. That collection was started by Ken Lush, originally Photopress, then ken sold out to a bloke in Chch, Kennard, who brought out Colin Berry in the Chch, and Grant Peters in North, Race Images was formed. Then he sold them back. Sitting here now, doh, cant recall the date Ken started, kens father Pat started Friday Flash and the Trainers Assoc. After that, it gets a bit complicated! as in each district people came and went. You had Clarry (doh forgot is last name) who use to take photos in CD and produced a monthly? Tipping Booklet. When he retired, he burnt his lot (lol, that what I think about doing one day with my lot) If you go to the dep south, just this century, about 5 photographers have come and gone... all using the wrong business model! all folded. Talking NZ Newspapers and photos, different papers have collections. And of course there was the scandal around the Fairfax Collection that was sent to USA to be scanned and the company went bankrupt! and the collection was sold off in their ligation sale! that lot have been slowly auctioning off various historic photos, charging a arm and a leg. I will post more on that later. There are some photos in the late (great) Peter Bush collection, one of his daughters manages those now a days. And of course there was the scandal around the vandalism of the great collection at the ARC!!! bad storage! sigh.. Hope that is of help, am slightly tire here just now, If more come to mind I will post.

yip, and recently I was in contact with a key worker there, I ask what sort of feed back they had be getting around running all the successful trials etc! Lots of positive comments and support from jockeys and trainers and owners. 0% from 'head office'. Just another example of 'procedural politics', just pretend that they don't exist...

@Chief Stipe thanks for that! in one post it so shares why some of us have such passion for the great horses and the people behind them!

'cookie' as in the 'iceman' Or in more general intellectual skills? as in intelligence quotient? Or jockey specious 'skills, intellectual capital that they posses' that each has to fall back on?

i did note that horses from another track with lots of sand, Foxton, had some success.

A flood of tread encompassed me when my mind flashed back to my first go at photography at that track. (blush) I had been transferred to the northern branch of RI, the goal being to firm up that branch! My first meeting was at this track! My first go and driving the cameras with the horse running to the line from the Right! (this was the days of 'no motor drives, one camera on a tripod for the action shot, another camera in the other had for the finish shot) A very nervous wait for the negatives to come back from the processor! OH NO! Oh dear me! (blush! blush!)the actions shots were ok! but I so didn't transfer over that well to the Finish camera! all over the place! as if I had be drunk! Very humbling! Thankfully I did find some form!

yip, it was that early spring race where lots of good horses were early in their campaigns and you could get some of the better winter horses being kept in work playing on a wet spring!

Again, interesting to see people close up on the inside rail, never allowed in nz

its always been a 'horses for courses' track, sand based. nice to know prerace that your horse can...