Special Agent

"Support"? Pull the other one.

Ditto!!!!!!

Pardon my ignorance. I thought Stuart rode over fences. Did Amanda race ride too? I hope she gets to spend some quality time with her family. We bitch and moan about the racing fraternity but, you'd have to be proud of how everyone has rallied around to raise some much needed funds. Well done. Thoughts with Amanda and her young family.

Who can take those statistics as gospel? Of course the numbers of horses and trainers are down, not to mention jumping venues. What are they thinking to mention that Riccarton is the only South Island course to run jumping events? All by design and all to get rid of jumping completely. No decision to be made till 31 October?? Are we supposed to believe the decision has not already been made? The $400 jumps riding fee was easy to put in place because the jumping short term was already known.

There is no evidence that Cobalt is performance enhancing. There appears to be Cobalt in just about everything you can buy to promote the health of your horse which means prior to racing you have to knock off using tonics, iron supplements, mineral salts and salt licks. Interesting reading this week was the Geraldine based greyhound trainer Pringle who returned a Cobalt positive for using the cheaper Ironcyclen substitute which sits in the feed room of many racehorse trainers. Pick another trace element and maybe the RIB could change it's threshold too so Cobalt is not the most sought after positive offender.

Commissioned vs suggestion. "Largely" accepted and endorsed. Where did this come from? "Those at the coalface". Who? How many will stand up and be counted?

Is this a serious comment?

This all smacks of a poor attempt to force connections to the AWT's. With field restrictions alone, they are dreaming. Who is monitoring the actions of NZTR officials? When will they be accountable?

So what? It is winter time. I doubt 19mm would make the track unsafe. The jockey who tested the Taranaki track has enough experience to make a call on safety. Don't put rules in that NZTR have no intentions following. I have spoken to reliable people at both Hastings and Taranaki who think the tracks could have been raced on. Protocols are no good if they are not followed. What a joke, Taranaki moves to Hawera, ANOTHER TRACK NOT REQUIRED. Didn't Opunake move from Hawera for the better track in New Plymouth?

No gallops races anywhere in NZ for 7 days due to abandonments. Has anyone considered the cost to owners? Who knows how many more week's training fees will need to be paid before each horse gets back into a field??!! Pukekohe should have been rescheduled to Friday, and Hastings to Monday. Notice it is all the "flash" tracks that have had to abandon. Look at how the unwanted tracks such as Avondale, Foxton and Levin are handling large amounts of horses in a trialling capacity. It's not rocket science. Although a training, trialling and minor race filler AWT's are obviously not the answer. One wonders when those in charge will look in the mirror and make an honest appraisal. There will be more crude descriptions of our head honchos than Gai's "Mindless Marshmallows" referring to the Aussie equivalents.

Will this meeting suffer the same fate as Hastings?

A few in CD must have thought the same, having run a 3 horse trial prior to their last AWT meeting.

Depends on the quality of coaching.

LOL. Exactly how bad is the surface water, and drainage? There are no races tomorrow, Friday. Are there any images out there?

Monday??

This is fair comment.

I can't draw myself away from the fact of the irresponsibility of anyone, let alone the Racing Minister, pissing such money up the wall with these AWT's. And then all the simpletons smiling and nodding away like one of those dogs that used to sit by the rear window of certain cars. It was plainly obvious the funding could have been spent in a far better manner. Are people easily influenced by "powerful" bodies, or do they just not have a mind of their own?

Text books when I was at school were treasured. No amount of toughening up would prepare one for the crap that comes from most currently in charge of racing or certain racing clubs. Not all club committees have racing's best interests at heart. There really are some dilly plonkers at the helm in some areas.

So at the end of all this discussion, taking into account field sizes, the spend and ongoing costs how many believe the AWT's have achieved the goals as set out by Winston Peters and others making them well worth the investment?

I hate that sunset industry term.

I have been contacted, as has my fellow winning owner. They called her "Mr", the lack of research she thought poor. I couldn't see the value of my donation. Apart from owning a horse I don't feel I'd have a lot in common with owners of today. This group seems quite like others trying to bolster membership. Send an email or post a brochure, then leave it to the gods.

I thought membership was a percentage of your training percentage so, the more successful you are the more you pay.

Contra's may have their place but nothing replaces hard cold cash for the good of the industry. A lazy marketing plan.

I don't see why he needs to hang his boots up. Most people his age are sitting in a rest home waiting to die. Who wouldn't want to die doing what you enjoy talking to those who don't back chat?

I find it ironic that in a land where apparently we have too many tracks the tracks that are in use appear overworked and tired.