TAB For Ever

Dunno why you resent One Change winning a race....his first for close on two years ! He's been carted all around the South Island boosting up the starters to ensure races go ahead and often starting off prohibitive marks. 30 metres and more !

Was it Mark Twain who coined the phrase Lies , Damned Lies and Statistics ? What's the conclusion from your Data Analysis.....two small clubs who race once a year in the holiday season against two city tracks who hold many of NZ's Group and high stake races. Ellerslie races 20 plus times a year Trentham about 10. Should many of these City meetings be moved to the West Coast. ??......should Reefton be moved to Kumara, the town with 285 residents usually does twice the Turnover of Reefton and Greymouth. ? Kumara oncourse does 3 x oncourse what the other 2 do.....so close in dates,does this mean the other 2 x Coast towns do a lousy job ?? Did your calculations allow for the 'extra' money that goes to Clubs in order for them to run their meetings ? Jockey Tina Comignaghi won 5 x races at Reefton ...probably earned around $2,500 from winning stakes .Had she won 5 x races at Trentham including the 2 x group ones she could have earned up to $36,000. Sometimes life is just not fair . Maybe if there was no Group races ,with decent stakes there would be no horses to race on the Coast cos many of those horses start off in pursuit of Group racing in the North...at Kurow it was 8 of 10 winners and many also rans and I'm confident the Coast was similar. Would racing in NZ today survive if every race had the same stake or would Owners head to Australia ?? Maybe it is as described ....A big Ponzi Scheme .

The Dennis Brothers ...a fantastic Farming family who bred and trained some fantastic horses. I was pottering around stables as a kid when they raced the elderly very white horse The Wanderer around southern tracks often ridden by Brian Anderton . The Twinkle and The Fantasy were both Gatekeeper - The Pixie and often raced each other quinellaing several races at Wingatui and also battling against Mellseur a very good horse of young Hec [ HT ] Anderton. He split them in the Timaru Cup , Another Timaru Cup [ Doomed's fav race ] The Dimple beat The Twinkle ...I think....with my neighbours Sporting Show [ Honey Crepe -Showgate ] third. The Dimple was Noble Bijou - The Pixie . Gatekeeper was stood by Gordon Thomson [ Showgate] and he bred some very good horses including Showgate , Artifice , Tuis Lass , Sporting Show etc.The Twinkle was among the best and raced well at Ellerslie. The Dennis Bros horses often ridden by AK [ Ali ] Robinson who I saw and spoke to at Cup week in November. He started as an apprentice with DG Oneil at same time as AJ Tweedie.

And Choise Achiever beat Auckland Reactor [Mark Purdon] into second in Hunter Cup !

And for a bonus point I'll nominate another little known victor who scored two wins at the recent Blenheim meeting [ on all-weather.], back in the day ! He had his first start in colours of his small breeder/trainer , before Tim Butt took him to Blenheim to win his second start ... And a year later he won the Group 4 yr old pace @ Blenheim ...his 10th win from first 13 starts. Overall he didn't win many more......overall 13 x wins Name...... Choise Achiever .

I'll score an early point with possibly one of the lesser known Tim Butt winners ...Mah Sish . Began his career with a good run of wins out of the Dean Taylor barn. Obviously liked Australia and the longer races , winning nearly $800 k of his career earnings of $950 k in Australia.

I'll go for B , with some bonus points. Runner up was Giovanetto , then Christopher Vance , then The Bru Czar.

BOUNCE...... Wellington Cup Day my favourite EVER race day , usually visited from the South Island and a race targeted by many of my Otago/Southland neighbours. So I revive my 'pretty good' thread from 2024 ,over 2000 views !!! But can't help wondering why a few South Islanders don't give the race a crack....especially after the recentb placings of Blueys Chance and Sulu Sea plus the lack of class opposition. I note a South Island trained and ridden winner today...track specialist too ! Doomed will be ecstatic !!

The Aussies sure knew how to swing the persuader back in the day.....Vin Knight I remember wave to crowd the entire straight ! The close finishes were punishing !

Middle on left ......lock in Preux Chevalier ...black with white hoop on sleeves. NZ bred by Lumber Dream ,the same as Robalan . Middle on right with white bridle ......a guess @ Pure Steel The top right , a wild punt on Westburn Grant . Bottom two are quite small photos ,hard to nail any clues !

A lot of Number 1 horses.... Top left , God with maltese cross is Vin Knight so Popular Alm or Our Maestro . Guessing Gammalite and Pure Steel in there too !

The compact little stallion Master Mood was the result of a chance meeting between Trainer/Driver Kevin Williams ,his Dad and a Dunedin Fruit shop owner ,Mr Wong and his son.They met while buying some carrots and got MM from a mating of Noodlum and a low cost mare Moods [ Lordship] So quite a tie in with previous Cups...Lordship etc and I think Kevins wife Bonnie was daughter of Cups king Cecil Devine .

Runnerup definitely Iraklis...trained by RM Cameron and driven by Ricky May. An interesting twist was that Danny Campbell [ RIP ] had worked for Cameron and for a time was regular driver of Iraklis before Ricky May took over. Then as Cullen emerged May found himself having to make a choice so he chose NZ Cup winner Iraklis over the rising star CC , so Campbell then became the regular of CC. AT Cup time and around that time CC was unstoppable !

No takers Gamma in over 12 hours !!!! Gotta be Christian Cullen , the white breast plate and young driver Danny Campbell tell me that. Then the DB Draught signs, the sun's shadows and huge crowd suggest its Cup Day ...about 1998. If that is number 15 second it gotta be a Group 1 horse starting off maybe 10 or 'unruly' so maybe Iraklis or Holmes DG from that era .

95% of punters lose their dough ...so all this within the margin of error ! Hindsight is easy ...also of interest there were two selectors in the racebook with 3 x selections per race. One picked the big O second ,the other 3rd ! Supports widely held view that punting is a mugs game......I also heard several predictions before the race that Shamus would make it a sedate work out with a sprint home ...so far no surprises ! Everyone was shouting Tale of the Gypsy from the rooftops in race 2 ...it managed 4th of 7. If punting was easy , everyone would do it !

For what it's worth , prior to the race , next to mounting yard I spoke to 6x folk who follow racing closely including a form analyst ,jockeys agent and a studmaster and not one thought or expected Orchestral to win and Acquarello was the favoured selected .A few added O as the lay of day ,or year to date ! If its about the money ,the 5th to 10th wasn't paid out and the club contributed $15 k .

Well you have a weird way of showing your enjoyment !

This day qualifies as bigger and better than any previous raceday in NZ ....no need to try and devalue it ! I believe it is the first NZ Thoroughbred Slot race.......I attended the others in Harness. The stake money is unprecedented in NZ....a record ! The day includes 4 x Group 1 races ......a first ! The Derby and Auckland Cup on same day.......a first ! As for talking the wagering on ONE day or one race, this is a new tactic employed by negaholics trying to score points for ....god knows why ! Racing fans are being offered many new experiences at the moment , increased stakes at all levels and unprecedented opportunities for their horses no matter what their ability. Get on the train if you choose !

Well , to me in the 'glass half full society' this is New Zealand and not bloody Australia....this is bigger and better than any raceday in NZ.And likely to trigger plenty of Australian interest as well ! Sorry Doomed ,you shouldn't be counting Australian racing .....and certainly not HARNESS slot races. Get serious champ !

Fair point Mikeynz....where have you been ? Did you venture out to any southern meetings......a few close to your district....Roxburgh , Gore etc The thing about Auckland wanting a cricket ground ......its for Test cricket plus any International one-dayer that would attract a huge crowd . Eden park is NOT considered a cricket ground cos of its shape...the boundaries overall are too short ,edges go for 6 ! FYI Auckland is very short of Sports facilities ,especially Indoor ones. PLUS there seems to be 2 x types of people in NZ , those who live in Auckland and those who wish they lived in Auckland ! Having lived most my life in the South Island I see/hear the difference. Southerners despise Auckland while Jaffas barely know the South exists , but feel no bitterness at sending billions South for things such as Chch Earthquake ! Often the South don't know what they have till its gone.....they did it with Thoroughbreds and Jumps races luckily held on to Harness in Canterbury and Southland [ some thanks to Jaffa Tim Shadbolt ].I see Chch couldn't hold on to the Sailing GP ,about to start in Auckland.

Well the change of train timetable today.....all tickets please ! As Einstein once said 'Sometimes it better to remain silent and appear a fool ,than speak and remove all doubt ! ' ps ..this thread about Champions Day in NZ , apparently involving a Slot Race.....something different , new , a change maybe ?

Why oh why Doomed are you concerned about NZ racing ? Is your family Jewels tied up in it......WHY ??? ...Please tell. There is a plan , are you reading strategic plans , statements of intent and Annual reports etc ?? NZ Sport in general is becoming suffocated in governance and rules and regulations and having PLANS is a huge part of it. Horlicks finished racing about 1990 so unsure about her relevance but a lot of those associated with her still seem to be still around so maybe she left a bigger legacy than what you think. I remember a bit after that Sam Kelt dream't up the Hawkes Bay Carnival...I doubted he would attract any Aussie horses to the Bay in Ocober , but I remember a group of us investing some money ,borrowing some from Bank as a company and buying about 15 x horses and starting up a Trading company ,keeping some to race...yes we nailed one group 1 winner and sold an Aussie Oaks winner ! Sam inspired 10 x of us ! I digress....ahhhhh the good ole days ! NZ Sport watching has never been better....I sitting here , watching Craig Grylls dominate at Trentham ,Kumara do their stuff , Black Caps can't catch a cold , A 'Horlicks era 'player wins the ASB tennis .[ A $million event ] , 2 x football games later on {NZ teams] and Breakers misery as well. Sure need to embrace Televised sport and learn to bet on phones ! Change can be tough for old dogs !

Kumara had FREE buses from Greymouth and Hokitika plus us elite patrons had a choice of helicopter as well. I recently went to the races at Flemington by train , but I checked prior that they were running ! Recent carry on would suggest that Wellington City has its fair share of public transport issues . Einstein quote re doing same thing expecting different results .

Well ,we gonna find out aren't we ....and I for one won't be sitting at home moaning my arse about the negatives ! Kumara seems to be having a great day there today....... For those punters who enjoy a bet theres 10 x times the options to bet on than there was 2 x years ago. Ownership in horses is looking easier/better than its ever been ! The stakes best ever ! Horse and participant welfare is best its ever been. Jockeys and trainers making best money ever ! What is upsetting you vocal negaholics so much ??