Special Agent

And the crux of that story was?

Trackwork riders, for example, are in hot demand here. There must be some worth importing. May I suggest you put your question/s to NZTR for their Road Shows. They were calling recently for questions to be submitted as it looks as though questions from the floor may be prohibited this year.

I don't believe submissions make a blind bit of difference to the committee decision.

Were you intending to joke with this comment? Surprised?

If you are hell bent on facts check how many years the synthetic track surfaces have before it is necessary to replace them.

That being the case why were trials scheduled?

Fact, not fiction. We can only dream about such professionalism.

You have no idea what I know. I'm not sure why you need to be aggressive about opinions that differ from your's. Chief has not banned me from his site yet, and as far as I am aware, anyone has the right to contribute on whatever subject they see fit. Maybe as a person of racing significance and long time employee or fan of the TAB you can fill in the gaps that others are struggling with. Have you factored in the replacement surface after the short life of the original? Where do you think that money will come from? Did you read the paper submitted to the Provincial Growth Fund by Alasdair Robertson which stated the financial benefit to the community when horse numbers trained at Awapuni increased to 400 once the AWT went in? How many more than 100 horses are currently in work at the CD's premiere training venue? Have you walked or ran on the Awapuni synthetic surface? Have you seen the thin layer of top over the tarseal? Have you studied the injuries out of training on the track? If Cambridge as the largest training centre in New Zealand has posted a loss, what hope have any other tracks got of being saved from the NZTR hatchet?

There is nothing hazy about the maintenance expense. They cost truckloads to maintain.

Unfortunately all this talk will do nothing to keep Tony's job. The decision has been made not to renew his contract like others before him. The TAB would not win any awards for Employer of the Year and it looks as though Entain may be tarred with the same brush. Something will turn up for Tony somewhere but that doesn't make how the situation was handled right. What a prick of a job when every decision is so public!! I bet it hurts like hell but one thing about Tony is he has broad shoulders. Good luck Tony.

Exactly. I'm not sure why the TAB person thinks crowd size is irrelevant. Probably thinks oncourse turnover is also.

As pointed out brilliantly by others the TAB Rep is talking tripe. In addition to what has already been commented on, if so many are excited by stakes increases why are the fields so light on? And if you are talking race quality I challenge you to find a more sad looking Queen Elizabeth than this year's version.

It is very poor form but, not unexpected from NZTR. There should be black armbands tomorrow at New Plymouth at the very least as a mark of respect from industry participants. Peter's racing interests began in Taranaki.

I wonder how many of racing's pro bono clients will be there to send Peter off tomorrow. No doubt he never contracted a fee before helping.

I like the way you think Dollars.

Never a truer phrase!!!!!

Is that supposed to be a sign of the times or progress? How many people are actually interested in fashion competitions at the races anyway? Seems outdated to me, a bit like weddings.

Holy moly Ravioli! Discussion around the dining table must be interesting in your house. Or maybe not. I get the feeling you are possibly left to rant and argue with yourself. Life is too short to pick a fight over nothing.

So is your beef the fact that I was praising Te Akau, my assumption of age or just because I gave a positive comment you didn't agree with?

So how old is Ben then?

History would tell us that there is no guarantee whether you are talking Awapuni or any other track. It's pretty convenient for present officials to blame those of the past. Otaki have done well out of the reshuffle gaining Boxing Day and Anzac Day. What this demonstrates to me is that racing can continue in some shape or form without two of the major players, Ellerslie and Awapuni. If those two valuable land banks were sold to fund the rest of the industry there would be a sizeable fund to renovate the remaining venues to a high standard, rather than sell the smaller tracks whereby the smaller pot of gold would not be eternal.

Everyone and every comment on this thrad are exactly correct. No wonder good hard working people in racing tire, lose interest and walk away, and that is just what the authorities want. They can't have volunteers showing the well salaried up. Chief may go on about putting things in writing. I have to agree. You need the old paper trail for any argument whether it be required legally or not. New Zealanders must be champions of the world when it comes to buck passing and looking after their own interests. Those old number 8 wire bods are creatures of the past, referred to as relics by the young of today. There doesn't seem much point to me in having a flash flow chart of lines of reporting if they are neatly filed in the too hard basket. I think I'll be a fly in the ointment until I die. If these people in charge are going to do idiotic things and act like halfwits I am going to continue to challenge, even when in the absolute minority. Just like in government, there will be no progression without debate. I was at a meeting the other day where only two asked questions of authority and the group was railroaded into another dumb decision. I await the moans from those also rans when the decisions and actions of the RIB bite their silence in the arse. The post of Curious showing the page from the DIA briefing paper intrigues me. Under Regimes, Property it states "Industry retains value of racing property". Haha bloody ha ... so why do clubs think they have to realise real estate? Surely the only thing clubs need to do to "retain value of racing property" is to sit tight as property values rise and rise!!

I'm not sure of Ben's age but, don't see any grey hairs so suspecting under 40. One thing Te Akau seem to pride themselves in is facilitating the involvement and progression of youth. They need to be commended on that front.

Northland is in the midst of an extremely wet 12 months or more so, the statistics on wet tracks there may be askew. Horse population is going to be dire. I'm not sure that innovations are factoring that in.

I always remember him walking inside on the carpet in his gumboots having taken veges out of the garden. I'm not so sure Mrs Keenan thought he was a very very fine man at the time. The enthusiasm for racing by these sorts of people is lost. I look at the calibre on committees today and in my opinion they lack intelligence, common sense and passion for racing, which is what clubs should all be about, NOT real estate and development. Shame on the lot of you!!