Special Agent

Great. Good on them and good luck.

I like the way you think on this issue. Shane Jones has been pretty strong of late, particularly against Maori on Maori issues but, that probably wasn't aired on mainstream TV. As Minister for Foreign Affairs how did Winston Peters let the Cook Islands sell out to China? What a disaster for the South Pacific. I am angry the way minority groups are scaring politicians shitless. NZ definitely seems a little low on real men these days. We are many steps behind the eight ball too. Just two genders in USA now. It's a shame Donald Trump thinks our country is a third world one on a par with Congo.

There are people amongst us who are quite selfish. I don't know why we let minority groups to have any effect though. Every year the protestors voice their opinions Melbourne Cup week but, I can't see the Spring Carnival ceasing any time soon.

Why did other people not raise objections? I can't answer for someone else but, I have seen correspondence by trainers on this very subject, ignored. It always irks me why some run against their knowledge and judgememt. There is always the option of not running on the synthetics if you don't agree with them.

Like the Marlborough Cup and Timaru Stakes running at Riccarton.

Out of his depth comes to mind. With the Herald photo showing him joined by two Warriors it looks obvious where the advice will come from.

Thoughts are with Jason. Let's hope it's not as bad as it looks and he has a speedy recovery. Trackwork riding can be a dangerous job, and poorly paid at times. Long ambulance waits seem to be common in these situations. I wonder if there is anything racing can do to alleviate this.

I wonder where they came from.

They are not cheap to go to, with no return. North Island trials and jumpouts are very full but, trainers know when and where they are running and can work out where their horses can progress afterwards. South Island programming looks like it's done with a dart board.

"Media personalities". That's a good one. We'll have another problem when Presenters filter through who have been subjected to compulsory Te Reo. How about honing English first. Then we'll truly have multi-lingual presenters because they are already fluent in text speak.

That is annoying.

Leaving the photo finish gear behind is almost like getting all your raceday gear ready the night before and then come morning forgetting to load the horse on the float.

The more that happens highlights the need for an overhaul of all systems. That's a good starting point for the new CEO. As all the errors seem to be mind numbingly simply fixed it begs the question of who employed the people who are making these mistakes and what qualifications do these employees have in the first place?

Who is responsible for the photo finish gear? I'm imagining it maybe lives in the Trackside truck and travels from meeting to meeting, rather than go home with the judge who may not work at consecutive race meetings.

What a sad side story to an amazing Melbourne Cup win. I hope they sort it. As trainers they have done the job and deserve to be paid.

NZ Racing has got what it has been screaming out for ... better stakes. Like Wingman says, being played at our own game, and the better stakes have floated off shore.

A uniform irons a lot of that out. Odd outfits can be distracting.

Nobody said the process wouldn't have holes but, that is what NZTR have given us and work with. Maybe it's time for punters to band together and voice their opinion, rather than the trainers. It is stinking hot in Kapiti so rain affecting the track surface is unlikely. Otaki might actually get to the preferred "good" range as stated in the NZTR protocols. Tauherenikau, where no horses are trained, managed gallops on the track leading up to race day there. Foxton and Levin have the facility to use locally trained horses to gallop the morning of trials and jumpouts. Likewise Otaki has horses trained on the course so there are horses available to test the track out early tomorrow morning before scratching time. Of all the race tracks in the country I'd expect an accurate race morning read from Otaki. I agree it is not good enough to have upgrades after the first race.

1. Executive refresh? Isn't that underway with him coming in? Wouldn't he want to feel his way for a bit. 2. Venue rationalisation. Forget about this for now. What does everyone do when this doesn't work? What have the last few seasons taught us? 3. No one is going to stop an owner letting a horse go if the price is right. Horses go amiss at any time so, why would an owner risk this by turning down a lucrative offer? Is NZTR going to offer an insurance/guarantee should the owner turn down an overseas offer to race their horse here and for some reason it doesn't race again? 4. If ownership is going to be supercharged he will need to seriously look at costs and consider subsidising raceday expenses such as floating, farrier, entries etc. That may encourage current customers to race other horses or join other syndicates. We are likely heading for another recession so, he'll need to pick people who are already employed. 5. What is all the bullshit about the excessive manual entry draining resources? Trainers have been inputting their own stable returns and race entries for a long time. Studmasters enter their own stallion services. There are stuff all horses and people in the industry yet more and more employed at NZTR. I find this a stupid comment. Current staff at NZTR can't possibly be as lazy and incompetent as this article is portraying. Let's see what we end up with. I can't see any revelations arriving any time soon. New Zealand doesn't have a great track record with anyone coming here through a Canadian connection. Oh, I hope this man proves me wrong. It's hard to get excited though as we have heard it all before, many times.

I'm all for encouraging new ownership but, there has to be a little bit of reality involved.

You could say the money received from the Provincial Fund was mismanaged. We can only imagine how that money could have turned our turf tracks into what we all want ... safe, consistent surfaces. Plus better facilities for the horses and staff. Can the people who advised the Racing Minister please stand up? No, don't think so. They will be well underground. FFS. Flemington rips into their track immediately after each Melbourne Cup carnival. Half arsed patch up attempts are not going to cut the mustard.

Even when given evidence that the maintenance of the AWT's is woeful compared to overseas venues, and offered by the Trainers Assn, NOBODY CARES!!!! Is it a case of, close our eyes, cross our fingers, and hope for the best?

Their agenda looks pretty clear to me. Collect the salary for as long as possible. Will redundancies be on the cards too?

In the search for the useful ones you might have to try quite a few that don't provide the margins you talk of Trojan.

Did the CD trainers do enough? Well obviously not because the white elephant went in anyway. Only someone who did not do their own due diligence would ever dream the AWT's at Awapuni or Riccarton would be self funding. You only have to count up the number of horses in work and divide it into the amount given as required for maintenance over a set term. Then you'd know how much the owner/s of each horse working on the track would have to fork out in this self funding system. Anyone who could not do this simple equation had really been brainwashed by the suits who really really wanted those AWT's in. Many CD trainers were aware of these figures and gave their opinions. What should they have done to project this information? When pondering this question consider how many trainers trained for members of, and had an affiliation with RACE.