Murray Fish

Propaganda rules! more so that ever! For ownership, I recon, that approach is rather 'doubled edge sword!' The propagator pleases a select few, others, either gets brutalized by 'the reality of racing', get lucky, mostly though, get burnt and leave... rather hard to due diligence in this industry! Of course, 'the punter' can go f themselves with large rip of take out!

lol, I think I might be of help! "The Sandman is a mythical character in European folklore who puts people to sleep and encourages and inspires beautiful dreams by sprinkling magical sand onto their eyes." and just like that we have a world class race track... sprinkle sprinkle

As a photographer, he was always easy to deal with. A life well lived!

A very senor old school trainer, once told me that he thought that each horse finds a weight where it doesn't stretch out to it best advantage. He was a master at placing them.

how many 'colours' can you name?

yes, the one and only.. I once got a ride to and back from the races one day, he spoke about 5 words on each journey...

How many riders can you name?

that be me on DCB, a old union saying... re your 25%.. is that factoring in all the Tax Rebates that certain owners enjoy? ps, as always, 'caveat emptor'.

I have a real photo of that sort of thing... delivered by one of the strongest whip riders ever... MC

Well spotted, one of Mr Eales fav horse's at that time.. CH had muscles other horses didn't have

One correct there...

shouldn't 'local knowledge' add some value? 🤑

Go any stories about Mr Eales, I have Here is one of the few shots of him with Hat Off.. A quiz: where? when? what win? who be next to him?

re track conditions, I do recall, pre watering (<-overwatering) the tracks days, about a hour before the first, a couple of stipes would wonder out onto the track by the winning post and kick the ground a few times.... Talking trainers and getting true track conditions, Mr Eales was rather big on knowing that sort of thing, some amusing stories could be told...

speaking as a punter who prides themselves at being a winning punter! that track was a instance NO BET MEETNG, sadly quite a few Group race meetings seem to fall into that cat agree...

did you feel your nose grow a little when you typed that?

toughen up man! rule 101 of Net Warlording... when the going gets tough! the tough get going....

Interesting to see you say 'don't play the man', it was my perception of you doing so that that encouraged me to post... I will now throw in a few comments.. Re reading the likes of the M report, You can champion it, cool, but surely you can not support the way M and his acolytes played procedural games around the whole process, that approach disgusted many 'in the south'. So much so that it encouraged disinvestment, which continues... More, re reading, You will be happy to know that in a pervious life I gained sponsorship from (then Racing Con) to 'study' Race Horse Ownership in NZ, read Every Royal Commission etc. The conclusion being Sun Set Industry, 'whistles and bells and propaganda' don't change that sort of thing! heard of Dead Cat Bounce. Ps. Anyway, Good to hear that you stand up to bullies, you recon there are a few in the Industry? Shell we share stories about Labour Court cases involving key players....

pardon,.. you talk about Keyboard warriors, how well do you stand up in person!

Brought some of that mongrel tough ozzie ness to the table... acting as a bit of a blunt force person Out front! 'owned' a near champion race horse... otherwise, par for the course, took the money (and keen to take others as well) and ran.... ps. Never meet him so am lacking that insight

Others would say "you don't know the truth..." ps. TAB For Ever, by Mark Twain out of Ms Propaganda, by Party Line, from the Head Office family

you live in a shallow pond eh! 🙄

I think to glean insights into that, one has to have a understanding a Social Class in NZ, especially since the rise of the TAB. While/when the WC were doing well in the 50/60, racing could just 'click the ticket' and divide the pie up! With the economy slowing down into the '70's, leading to the mid 80's and the introduction of the 'neo-liberal' period. If you were to look at decline in the disposable income of say the bottom 50% in the last named period then you will find the % of DI has shrunk rather seriously for those deciles. Of course there have been the reality of other gaming products coming into the market as well. Those smaller clubs of course done well while the WC were doing well, as the WC disposable income has declined, so have the smaller clubs. This has brought into play 'racing politics' which has of course played in the hands of the bigger clubs. Reality suggest that these Clubs will not be giving up their power base! All that will be coming from them is more and more Propaganda. I come from a family that hasn't been afraid to have a gamble, but drummed into us was that 'betting on racing is a mugs game'. That was brought home brutally to me via Ken Lush, (Photopress) On my first day of working for him, (Boxing Day '83) after the last race he took me inside the Main Tote and made me stand there while the counted up the $$ and put them in rather large boxes. WOW! I think that might have been on a 'take out rate of 18% It would be interesting to know what the rate taken out now. Talking family again, over the say last ten years I have ask 100's of young rallies and their friend what do they think about a day at the races, just about to a person they say 'good for a piss up' but the racing side of things is 'ring fenced off from them', much like the 'members stands' etc.. Where to them all the see from their side of the fence is bourgeois elitism. I'm sure with $50 entrance fees to the likes of the Wgtn Cup they will not be flocking back any time soon! Here is current gambling pie, I would like to have a social class break down of which decile brackets the losses come from?

meaning the 'technocrats' that run the software and hardware?

I believe he throws back to the great Wanker family line...