Special Agent

Yes, these people win in the end because they are in a position to wear the likes of Reefton down. Come on Reefton, do another round or two. I feel there must be common sense close by. The Coasters are a rare breed and are not quitters.

Reefton, you obviously have tackled them with some amount of force. Plenty of other outfits have merely crumpled and surrendered at the slightest touch of pressure. My worry would be how the problem may fester or stagnate without a good old fashioned prod or two.

I know what you are saying. I have spoken to Mike Clement. There was some satisfaction with his actions and instructions. However, I think you will find he will be quick to dismiss any involvement at club level. Don't let my experience put you off though. I can see where Chief is coming from. Like our parents taught us, nothing ventured nothing gained.

Reefton, I admire what you have done to date. I wish you luck. All small clubs are relying on a favourable outcome. Let's hope their support is available if required.

My heart bleeds for Reefton. A knee jerk reaction. The on course figures of the Marton and Kumara meetings on the same day tell the story. I think 8% is worth putting some effort in, like many small clubs do.

Someone on here might have more information than me. Club officials racing last month seemed to think they had x amount of funding coming from their oncourse turnover.

And they wonder why we are dubious about any decisions made. We have seen so many made that we go along with because we think those making said decisions are somehow superior. In retrospect the ideas were as hair brained as first thought. I don't think you can beat an oncourse experience, plus the percentage of turnover going to the club is much more beneficial.

Sad and dumb. Anniversary Day at Trentham, Labour Day at Rangiora etc makes so much sense when the public is on holiday.

Looks like madness. Even if Japan pay 4 divvies the New Zealand TAB has it's own system. You can bet on a Top 4 finish on fixed odds but, this race result you have shown definitely looks like tote odds. The 4th runner paid a huge divvy for the placing. Phone the TAB Help Desk. That is what it is for, questions. Keep us updated.

Despite what a few deluded self centred politicians may think New Zealand is such an insignificant country. Forget about what language we speak, the colour of our skin or what gender we may think we are this week. Keeping the wolves from the door and making sure the whole family can eat a healthy and wholesome meal each day is going to be a difficult task for most, and I'd say for quite some time.

Vinnie knew a thing or two.

It sure doesn't take a big bet for the alarm bells to go off, and a cut in price. I agree with you Brodie, we should all be treated the same.

I may be wrong but I thought they had 13 bets for 2 collects. We've seen things come and go over the years. This looks like just another gimmick to me. I used to love just watching the top horses compete, now they mostly go off shore. I don't think giving one group of punters what they want, a Grand Tour, and any other marketing plan with money thrown at it is the answer.

What are the thoughts on these TAB favours to one group? Does it justify an artificial turnover? Were the turnovers per race that great for the "best race meeting in NZ"?

Where do all these ground breaking ideas come from? And the free rein that must obviously apply? Won't there be that old chestnut "it makes commercial sense just to rent rather than own"? Because the Racing Conference had their own offices in town which when they became valuable were sold and basically pissed up the wall by much more intelligent and business savy overpaid gits. Could this qualify as white collar crime? I reckon some learned person with time on their hands should look into the actions of NZTR and all clubs to see if any should be carted off in handcuffs. Too many are blase when handling others' money, especially not for profit racing clubs.

When the rest of the world is "global" so to speak racing in NZ up and physically moves to a small place near the top of the country. As NZTR is merely administration why do they need to be "where the action" is? It makes no sense why the clerks and data entry operators need to smell the horse dung while they work. If the Grand Tour is anything to go by they have this deluded idea of what is cool and hip to young and old, mostly young, but they are well short of the mark. NZTR are so good at telling clubs they need to save money for the industry then spend up on rubbish ideas like there is no tomorrow.

I think every day I wake up is a brilliant one. It's easy to moan about poor quality horses, trainers, jockeys, racing etc but, sometimes when you are battling to get one good enough to progress from trials to race day it's a top day to win at any meeting. No matter what race meeting you are at there is still a field to get past and to win anywhere is success. It doesn't matter if you paid top price at the sales or have someone else's cast off, the process is the same requiring some degree of skill. We should all be a bit less critical and a bit more grateful, I think anyway.

Obviously you have forgotten the slips and abandonments in CD. Trickiness has nothing to do with science. Tricky = human error.

Watering of the track leading into Saturday will be interesting. It's a matter of when the rain will hit Wellington, before or after the meeting. Getting this equation right may be tricky.

That's just the start of it. Most clubs will not be able to afford the upkeep and the complete replacement in so many years.

Haven't been to Ashburton or Timaru lately but, can't remember that being a problem at either venue. Otaki and Tauherenikau on the other hand ...

All these state of the art training facilities yet I heard Mike Breslin say he took horses to Foxton for a "grass gallop". So not only the Awapuni race day course proper munted, nowhere to train a galloper to gallop on grass, which is sort of necessary with the AWT not in raceday operation yet.

I think Reefton said Wednesday night's Grey Star said something like off course turnovers for Marton and Kumara were both around $2.4K and Kumara oncourse was about $236K and Marton $35K.

The more races, the higher the turnover. Is this a ploy to put the screws on unfavourable clubs? I think so. Every club should be given a chance at the oncourse turnover revenue. If your club has innovative ideas to get patrons to the track they should be commended.

There is quite iften a twilight meeting at New Plymouth followed by an Awapuni meeting the next day. Awapuni trained runners get home from the twilight meeting at midnight. Those trained further afield obviously get to bed a lot later. Paying staff in these situations, plus allowable turnarounds, makes life difficult.