Special Agent

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.

I too remember one of the last days at Amberley pre race riding our entrant around bareback without a skull cap, you know like we all used to do. Staff at Worksafe today would be having kittens. Were the horses quieter, better educated or had more time spent on them? I'm not sure I'd be keen riding some of the horses I've seen at races nowadays bareback, oh probably not at all, there are some stroppy ones around.

What is that saying our parents used to say? If bullshit was music, they'd be a brass band. The nonsense never stops!!

I don't and never will buy the notion that "there are too many racecourses in New Zealand". As Freda said, compared to what? If a racecourse sits all year for one or two race meetings, so what? Yes, we know Kumara makes money but, let us remember it has the coast's plum Saturday date. Also, it is rubbish to say all clubs no longer have volunteers, have no money in the bank and do not engage with their community. That is what NZTR want you to think. Some of these organisations have far too much to say about how clubs should be run, many of the mouthpieces having had the influence of Australian, English, Canadian and South African cast offs. And where are those learned bodies now??!! It is abundantly clear that there are definitely not enough racecourses as there have been very few available for use when problems have arisen. RACE has to be the all time worst example of club and racecourse management. I haven't seen many TAB promotions that have been self funding and have lasted the test of time. I find it amazing too that any criticism by customers is regarded as moaning. The attitude is all wrong and whilst nobody is listening, nothing will change, evolve or be fixed. Some speak of how the best communicating trainers are giving the public what they want. Funny then that the trainer almost devoid of any communication skills, Kevin Myers, continues to run a successful business with horses and owners coming out his ears. Maybe culture is the word I've been searching for in respect of the Australian racing scene. The racing participants on the whole come across as more professional. The horses on the whole look better. The crowd is full of young well dressed people. The living wage is probably better than our's. Yes, we can continue to compare ourselves and our industry to the one across the ditch but, apart from the few that can compete at carnival time (and I'm not saying we should not all strive to improve and be the best we can be), is there any reason why we can't do our thing our own way?

Why is this regulation not used more regularly to combat a lack or glut of horses in one particular rating band at any given meeting? All races are subject to the Standard Regulations for Race Meeting Regulations, as set out in the Racing Programme Guide, which includes the right for NZTR or the Club under regulations 15.1 at any time to alter the terms and conditions of any race, including the stakes and/or its grading.

Answer:- Wagering and ownership. It's in their DNA. Australians bet more per capita on racing than those in any other country. One in every 254 Australians own a share in a racehorse.

OMG. There wouldn't be many statisticians who could dress those facts and figures into anything positive.

Some are trying to make racing a whole new world. Last time I looked the work behind the scenes is still the hard work, and sometimes boring, it ever was. Many in racing do not abide by this new age crap, and really do not have any time for it. After all, time on earth (to me anyway) is precious.