nomates

Whilst i agree about how weak our racing is now , it has been so for longer than JR has been training , and he has certainly taken TA to another level , i don't believe even D Ellis was expecting the level of success that JR has taken them to . 3 months faster getting to 100 winners than ever before , now sitting on 40 G1's , already 8mil + in stakes for the season . There has been some big and very successful stables in NZ and they haven't achieved this level of success . Even when stakes were better . As for the having the " cattle " argument , well , Ellis doesn't get every horse he wants and in fact a large proportion of success is from the smaller purchases , Melody Belle , On The Bubbles . Even horses like Brando and Arhilamina weren't at the very top end of the market . Don't get me wrong , i think the TA business model works purely and simply for TA , and owners are just hoping/gambling they get into a good one , but aren't we all . TA has had a lot of spectacular failures from their sales purchases , and we don't really hear about those , but then that is the nature of the game . I know my list of failures is much longer than the successes , and i try not to think about them if i can . However as for JR , i do believe we are seeing a young man of extraordinary training ability and will be watching him being successful for many years to come . The only down side for him tho as my wife says , he's 31 looking 50 , but that comes with the territory i suppose .

Not sure on situation now , but when i was younger , mid 70's , i remember plenty of non stud book horses racing , and non stud book mares being bred from . Never seemed an issue . There are horses i used to follow that i can't find any information for now . I assume all mares have to be stud book registered now , perhaps some one can enlighten me .

There has been plenty of trainers who have had access to well bred horses and not been able achieve the sustained success you would expect with this level of " cattle " . Richards is setting records and achieving heights unseen in this country . I have no doubt that he will succeed when he moves on from TA . Which he will , he will want to challange himself . Having the cattle and fulfilling that potential is the key .

Will be very interesting to see the turnovers , on course and off , and compare them to last couple of years back home . There is no way the club did better on course than when at Wairoa . I would suggest that the racing industry is not financially better off because the meeting was at Hastings . I actually felt sorry for the people of Wairoa missing out on a day at the races , seeing the deserted stands yesterday , Hasting can't even fill them for their own big days .

Not sure they even bother with physical palpations now , not as i knew them . They just run the scanner over the overies , day after day till their experience tells them the mare is right on ovulation and can be covered , back in next day to ensure the mare has ovulated , if not repeat . If the mare doesn't catch then they will just go by the book as to when she should be back in heat and start the process again . That's where the money starts racking up because i'm sure each scan isn't cheap . None of this out with the teaser before breakfast to see which mares are in season . In fact there would be very few studs that still keep teasers .

I have noticed that Mrs Rogerson hasn't been as prominent in recent times , are they still running seperate barns ? .

There will come a time and we/they will look back and just go , WHY !! , Why , how did we get this so spectacularly wrong , but it will all be too late , we have already lost a generation or more , we are just making sure the next doesn't get a chance either .

Best week of racing i have been to was when they used to have 3 days , Sat , Wed , Sat , i think , long time ago . Had a ball , eating , drinking then stagger over the small hill to put a bet on , stagger back , what more can you ask of a raceday .

When you consider the the size of crowds they would get at Te Kupanga , this is disgraceful , but hey they have their finger on the pulse of NZ racing .

And they're racing for over 18k a race .

That's the man , Bill Stewart , never had to pay more than a couple of hundy for a seasons vet work , and they always got in foal . Wish a couple hadn't going on results , but it's a lottery , their all champions till they prove otherwise eh .

Most of which are probably happening in isolated cases all over the place .

Your story showed veterinarian intervention was used . I think this covers the understanding that veterinarian intervention was used . Be interesting when further details emerge .

Also tho , with that advanced technology comes the large vet bills because mares will be scanned day after day until primed to ovulate . Iv'e heard some instances where the vet bills have been more than a 4/5k service fee . Can't remember his name , but the old vet up Wanganui way stills does manual palpation , well was 6/7 years ago , those bills were great to get . And he didn't often get it wrong .

With those huge numbers there has been a huge technology boost that helps offset the work a stallion has to do . In the days when i was working on the studs the vets manually palpated and gave a best guess at when the mare was going to be ready to ovulate and serve , and often the stallion could do a covering only to find that the mare needs to be served again and again because she hasn't gone off and the vet was only making an experienced guess . With the tools they have now they can tell much more accurately when the mare is going to ovulate and be ready to cover , so the stallion isn't covering unnecessarily . 100 used to be a huge number to cover but now because a lot of the time one covering can often do the job a stallion can do the large numbers we see , and often not doing a lot more than the were in the bad old days .

For what it's worth , and i talk thru my pocket this time , i was up for a couple of decent multi's finishing on MB . I personally gave my money away before the 600 , never looked to be travelling for mine , i don't think she was caught flat footed i just think she was a bit dour , got my hopes up slightly turning in when she got going a bit but they were soon dashed when it was apparent there was no sprint coming . Prior to the race my only concern was a niggle i had about her win at Trentham , that was hard work for her that day , i know she was first up and all but she didn't so much sprint as grind that day . So i just wonder if that run had taken the edge of her a bit , certainly looked as dour as i have ever seen her yesterday . She also could have finished closer i think if not for Tiptronic leaning all over her most of the way up the straight , no way she would have won but that didn't help , and certainly older horses and mares in particular can look after themselves more as they get older . I'm sure the TA team will check everything they can , and hopefully we see her again . Then again maybe she has clocked out and said it's time for a boyfriend , happens all the time .

After the win in the HD he apologized in the after race interview to the 2 sets of connections that he couldn't make weight for , said he takes pride in making weight so he was disappointed in himself . Takes a big man to admit it , so good on him .

I understand some of your sentiment . The MB situation is something that Te Akau puts into all it's fillies syndicates , saves a hell of a lot of grief at the end of racing career , probably been caught in a syndicate fight early on and now makes this a provision , so not a want just a condition of joining the syndicate . As for the "the team" , all the big names do it now , and for mine it is due justification for a job well done , the team is the heart of any big success in the big stables . I can assure you i have worked for people who choked having to say " thanks " for a job well done , many ego's don't want anybody else getting any credit , so good on him . I also happen to know one of the barn managers , a top horseman in his own right , so he earns his plaudits and he does get a mention on TV .

They barely cater for the punters , why would they cater for the punters kids .

Modern day racehorses are a much finer breed now than even 40 years ago . We have been able to afford better bred and more refined animals than we used to . We have bred the rougher tougher horses out of our stock , we have a lot of Aus blood now , where their horses don't have the bone or constitutions of ours . A bit like how our rugby players of today , or a lot of sports for that matter , have changed to what was considered the norm . More about the athleticism than toughness now , same with our horses .

Two big differences , 70kg over 5500mtrs usually on a wet track running around 14.74 secs per furlong , so basically 3/4 pace . 60kg's over 1000 on a good surface running around 11.5 secs per furlong or faster , so full on sprint . The stress on a horses body , legs in particular , is huge . That's before you factor in weight . They are animals , not machines .

Horses aren't getting bigger tho , there comes a point where the animals welfare has to be taken into account . What's my weight got to do with it , i don't want to ride racehorses . I wanted to be a professional footballer but not quick enough and injury prone , athletes have to accept their limitations and work with what they have been given . The one thing i do wonder about with OB is why everything works so well for long periods but then it all falls apart . What changes in his life to bring it on . It is summer when it is supposed to be easier to maintain weight levels . I hope for racings sake he gets it under control , but not at a risk to his health or future .

Perhaps we could just start importing light weight South American jocks , they seem to proliferate American racing . I'm sure there would be plenty willing to come to this country for a better quality of life . Problem solved .

Perhaps if we make all races minimum weight 60kg , that will solve all the probs for the jocks , tough on the horses but they're machines they will cope . Raising minimum weights has been the easy solve for a few years now so why not again . Reason , because jockey's are getting bigger . I mean we can't ask jockey's to be more professional , can we . It's only their profession .

56.01 , quick . I see they have taken nom's for Invercargill on Thurs with a G3 track listed , might be rain forecast , good numbers nominated so trainers aren't worried .