Special Agent

Now you are being just down right stupid. Don't be coming up with easy solutions.

Please don't get another position created at NZTR. May I suggest the Trainers' Association be proactive in this regard and submit this information from it's members on a regular basis? It would only take a trainer to collate the numbers and send on.

You'd need time to digest 90 pages of this report. NZTR love reports!! At an initial scan two points strike me:- - Economic Contributions show Waikato $466.2million, Auckland $333.6mill, West Coast & Canterbury $137.3mill, Taranaki/Manawatu-Wanganui $121.2mill. Therefore does the amount of money spent on the Ellerslie track look like a poor investment for the region, taking population into consideration? - Participants in each region are recorded Taranaki/Manawatu-Wanganui 5,132, Waikato 4,897, West Coast & Canterbury 4,329, Auckland 3,002. This looks like a shift in focus by NZTR is required. Waikato may very well be considered racing's Holy Grail but, the true interest in racing from those in Taranaki/Manawatu-Wanganui and West Coast & Canterbury should be embraced and encouraged (and invested in) by head office. The contributions at grass root level cannot be ignored. The figures from our most populated region is a stark reality that racing is moving away from the main centres. I'd be interested in the thoughts of others. If I was looking at investing in the future of thoroughbred racing I think it is clear where the growth areas are. You can't run an industry on dwindling numbers of people.

The Fine Cotton of the Pony Scurry is a bit extreme. As it's aligned with the Dubai final there must be rules to abide by.

The organiser was seeking a small TB for her daughter a year or two back.

Investing in the future is like buying a 2yo Chief. They quickly grow and age. Like you say, retaining the interest, and they can already ride.

You don't know that when you take them on. That's the gamble.

For instance, Riccarton and Awapuni are both close to universities and offer pre-study time income. I heard Lisa Latta say once how lucky they are in Palmerston North with a constant supply of staff.

Currently outside of the racing industry.

My question is are we attracting any newbies to the sport? Surely no one would line up an ex-racehorse in a pony race. Zamazaan used to leave some small ones but, his progeny would be long gone. You just can't rub a freeze brand off.

Not to be content with topping the premiership, now Te Akau are training ponies too. LOL. I read somewhere that many of these kids have subsequently become trackwork riders. That has to be a help to the small pool of NZ riders. But can anyone confirm how many are not already involved in the racing industry through association or relationship?

Why does everything have to be measured against something else? Then they get someone in to specifically do that job of measuring the results against last year or some other country or some other irrelevant sport or company. It doesn't matter that nothing is done to rectify any problems. I wish we could get back to racing without the frills. I'd like to see common sense and hard work by clubs to improve track surfaces and horse race day facilities, and get sponsorship, participation and crowds up. Just back to mentoring apprentices, has Jason Laking taken over from David Walsh, and does the latter do some other job at NZTR?

A few aspects that strike me reading these comments is that greyhound racing isn't finished despite the doom and gloom from a few, the expense to GRNZ to genuinely find homes for retired hounds is significant so is it funded like the gallops with 1% of all stakes being allocated to rehoming, and racing clubs are still able to contribute to stakes over and above what is supplied so why are the committees not getting out there driving sponsorship hard?

This is the crux of it for me. The only way to approach the initiatives once in place had to be with an open mind but, now the results are in they definitely should not all be just rolled over. Congratulations to those who collected huge returns. However I feel to dish up such lucrative offerings again without a serious debrief is dumb.

Their focus and emphasis intrigues me. So much time and energy goes into absolute crap whilst the important stuff is glossed over. Cases in point ... the stable audits are a blanket "look at what we are doing" farce, and why is a governing body dishing out dosh for contributions in print, on site, social media and broadcasting when track surfaces and horse facilities oncourse are a joke, and there are almost more staff assigned to apprentice jockeys than there are apprentices? I could write all day and not cover off all failings.

I blame the use of devices and text talk. NZTR don't have that excuse and make quite a few errors.

Only value from the ones I backed after noticing a trend.

Spelling correctly has become a lost art. It is hard to take anyone or any company/corporation seriously operating with bad spelling.

I don't have any statistical evidence but my observations indicate visor blinkers first time produces a good number of wins.

Not all healthy food tastes good either. I made sandwiches for lunch last week with cottage cheese as one of the ingredients. These were discarded and I was told the cottage cheese was not appreciated because it tasted like healthy food. An old jockey told me once that after spending a lifetime wasting, one of life's pleasures is eating good tasting food.

Unless it has changed in some regions the Jockeys "Cafe" is not exclusively for jockeys. Most jockeys don't eat until the end of the day, by which time most of the food has been eaten. After wasting I'd imagine some jockeys' bodies are craving some grease or sugar anyway.

I don't know what else Jamie Kah was supposed to do on the grey horse as it was travelling so well, and probably not quite the class of the first two. Craig Williams outrode them, I thought. Interesting no one mentioned the ordinary ride by James McDonald on I Wish I Win, narrowly beaten.

If 14 dogs have gone to America there must be at least 14 spaces somewhere. It seems a bit extreme NZ dogs going to the US. If greyhounds are such lovely pets, what marketing is being aimed at NZ homes? Just saw a race from Caliente on Trackside. Maybe all these NZ ex-racers will make their way to South America, instead of lounging on a couch somewhere.

Not trivial at all. Pretty useless effort.

Gamma, I don't know why you think the problems are easily solved. There has been a lot of irreversible damage done and people have been lost forever in the process. There is a list of past unbelievably useless administrators to blame as long as your arm.