Richie

I will ask the wife? I feel time is just about right for me to get into ownership and syndicates sound like my way in

Good question Brodie.I too have noticed major shortening of the odds lately. A lot of horses paying double figures on tote but only $7 or $8 on fixed.I concentate more on exotics now and Aussie gallops.

Chance Fortune was nice type.Yep think training fees averaged about $40/50 a week and a win would cover training fees for a year.And it was easier to set horse up for a punt.No videos back then.

Maida Million was at one stage highest earning mare bred in NZ. Bachelor Tom was an outstanding trotter.But both of them were before i worked there. While i worked there we had a few cup class horses. Commander Gratten won Ashburton cup after being dead last on inside turning for home. Paid over$50.I went out feed up horses that night and Jim called me in to bedroom and bed was completely covered in cash. Had Basil Dean for a while but he wasnt suiteable for large stable. At same time we had some very nice trotters in Most likely Fella,Nooky Bear and Game Fortune,who had untapped potential. Game Fortune was first horse i broke in and was probably best horse i drove trackwork.Won first 2 races easily but Unfortunately was injured in race smash and although won more races was never same. At one stage we had real nice class horses who were competitive in age group races. Riever,Noodlums Fella,Netherton Abbe and a few more all at same time.We were consistently getting winners. I think one year we had nearly 30wins which was good going. Stakes comparison back then were much better than now actually,pretty sure if you won a race it would pay for training fees for the year. They were good old days .I worked 7 days a week but played as hard as i worked.Unfortunately once a family came along the wages were no longer enough to survive. Richard Brosnan drove quite a few of those horses i have mentioned and i know both Jim and Noeline Ferguson thought very highley of him as a horseman but more so as a person.He wad certainly missed in Mid and South Canterbury when he moved up north

Correct,it had so much potential but was plagued by unsoundness basically from birth. Was one of those horses that if there was trouble to be found he would find it.

When I worked for Jim Ferguson,Richard used to do a lot of our driving before he moved north. Is a very skilled horseman and a great guy with it.Was very good at getting poor horses to become average ones. He always said why go 3 wide when the rails is the shortest way home.

I have been a member of RC since 2001 and have seen a few changes in that time.For the first 15 or so years I would say I probably spent 7/8 hours a week reading every post on RC but lately have found that it has become a tad argumentative,as if only a few are allowed opinions and everybody else is wrong, I actually paid a yearly membership fee for first couple of years and a decade or so ago ran a few cup week comp and other comps that I and others donated prizemoney for.Not that it matters to my way of thinking but just showing what an influence that RC has had in my life. It disappoints me that it has got to the stage of discontentment of many members,both new and long term. I hope that both sites survive long term as the more options to voice opinions the better it must be for the industry.

Savvy has been upawhile and I believe that race was just an add on because of the fact she had been going so well.They had to go as her broodmare value if she happened to win would have been enormous

Ashburton TAB closed.Got to go into bars now to take money out. At one stage,not that long ago the Ashburton TAB had biggest turnover per head of population. Actually thinking about it was probably 20 years ago.Boy time flies.

I hope it up again by tomorrow as I usually post in PJ comps on a Thursday night and sometimes guys in punters club like to have early bets. Wonder if it something to do with power being out still in parts of Auckland. Saying that there is a lot of worse things going on in the world than me not being able go on "that site"