TAB For Ever

That would be a good 'aftermath'.....many thanks !

Maybe I agreed with the Chief's assessment of me and my schooling as I desperately wanted him to be my friend . I thought I had made it clear that I raised and lived mostly in former Racing strongholds which have basically gone down the gurgler so have experienced it First hand ...more than once ! Plus Cantabrians are notoriously one-eyed , although I suppose many are deluded as well ! Re the Chief being my friend , a friend of mine tells me he is currently being 'taken apart ' on other channels so he could indeed need some mates other than the tight five and a couple of wannabes .

Well this thread has ignited the tight five....they on fire ! Firstly they have fantasised something negative a winning jockey wanted to say.....why would she ......I wonder if she had ever rode on the track before. Can't remember seeing her at Group 1 days or at the recent trials when some 200 horses went around one day and a big crowd of horses 2 x days later after some very persistent rain. I noted the jockey not so prominent in her other rides , finishing 3 x lasts and a near last while in Easter the horse ran very well after being stuck 3 x wide ,no cover ,the trip ! During the day there was some steady drizzle so the ground did deteriorate as the day progressed,. But throughout the day partricipants generally were gobsmacked by the great condition of the track after some heavy rain overnight [34m] plus rain the day before too. Many compliments all round . I was staying nearby and I doubted that the day would go ahead ,though I expected $50mil plus would provide something better than a bog. But 1.10.4 secs..no way. Unfortunately our horse ,after me and a couple synd members had made the effort was scratched overnight as the trainer expected it to dislike any spit on ground a la Grey Way. The day produced 9 winners and 27 placegetters , all happy and there was some great racing.......the 2100 fillies race the race of the year. And yet again ,I made some money , as modest as I bet but at last I have learned to bet on Trainers and Jockeys. I overheard a lot [25 + ] of post race comments and only one excuse mentioned the track.It and one other appeared in the Stipes report plus one kick back excuse. Seemed fair as the amount of rain made it inevitable. Most had plenty of time to scratch ,so will know next time. Overall , an excellent days racing , which overcame the shocking wind and rain over Easter to stand up admirably. Much to enjoy in Racing currently. Attendance was poor , civil emergency kept telling us to go home , but the day played out [ no Grand tour ]

Probably.....my Christ College tag came from the Chief ...he likes to have all the ideas so when a poster makes a worthy point he tags you with a negative .

The Club woke its ideas up after the Messara report by renovating several parts of infrastructure...the Jockeys rooms ,the tie ups ,built some stables ,extra paddocks etc . Apparently spent $300k . Plus they had to covert to a plastic running rail as per H & S. They ended up getting an extra good race day ! Of course they finished with jumps racing around that time...thru lack of horses in the South. Indirectly then NZTR was the jolt they needed. They seem a good club and do farming to help Cash flow .

Bruce who ? I sense you quite nasty and indirectly calling me a prick I think crosses the line .....if Chief has standards , he should implement them .

And ....you asked me a question re the Awards and commented about Riverton too so I knew it was discussed last year. And it kinda reminds us that the negativity around the awards is still around to day...and I refer to the quicksand crowd. I've said all I want to say on the subject as I find it quite a boring subject even tho I support this type of recognition.Very little downside IMO and it should encourage clubs to make an effort to improve .

I was concentrating on those down closer to the South Pole ,where many have extra fingers on their hands and they marry their sisters !

Indeed Muzza........VERY GENUINE people ! The Aramoana gun man a hard act to follow , then David Bain came along ... Not to be outdone the Mosque shooter was a genuine Dunedin citizen ! Then there was the ghastly Clayton Weatherston and the Doctors Bouwer and Skantha who murdered those close. NZ's most 'notorious criminal' Arthur Taylor lives in Dunners. Then there is a long list of fraudsters ,scammers and Ponzi schemers to represent the Genuine financial advisors. And that dear elderly man AHubbard started out so well meaning. The bad buggers when they were young got a free holiday at the Waipiata Borstal on their way to the real thing ! And if plead insanity there was Ashburn Hall , Cherry Farm [ near Waikouaiti race track ] and Seacliff the lunatic asylum. And Orokonui. Yep....soooo genuine !

For Special agent..........last years discussions.........I think you contributed !

Yep , in recent years dived into a bit of Club info , intrigued by Messara report which basically said most if not every Club in NZ was 'below average ' or words to that effect . And the Awards obviously brought in to lift the standards and give a carrot/reward to those motivated to improve their Clubs performance . Harder to get much info these days ,unlike previous when AGM's ,minutes etc were easy to Access. Some folk on here throw out Clubs as well run etc ....sometimes not supported by fact/figures but by personal bias. One Club often mentioned barely got a quorum at their AGM , even some of the Officers and committee regularly failed to show.Then they printed some of the criticisms of the Club among themselves. And they didn't send anyone to the NZTR Annual Clubs meeting but happy to state they were better off financially than their neighbouring clubs which was simply untrue . Odd carryon indeed when they were a club doomed for closure ! AS for Riverton ,they were in the final 3 in their category last year and I commented then how they did a good job , ran a farm /livestock etc to earn extra income and generally did a good job on what are pretty good dates. Nowdays a lot of Clubs don't like the Public Holidays and Riverton has 2 of them and overall pretty good dates.And away from the polar blast ! They recently revalued their Land/course so have good equity in their Club. Obviously those other Clubs marked above them did at least as well in the stated category. As you are special I'll dig out last years discussion thread for you. Obviously the Awards irritate you ...I think they have their place. IMO opinion ,Employee of Year , Club of Year , Business of Year etc are useful and of great value. As for my being deluded ....probably ,I was born and raised in the South . Seems like a lot of the Southern posters on here are not only deluded , but biased , paranoid and generally 'nutters'. Need to get out more perhaps. THE ONLY NORMAL PEOPLE ARE FOLK YOU HAVEN"T MET YET. I'm pleased you are special ...well done you !

Oh come on mikeynz.... I just agreed with you that a lot seems beyond you. Then I ask a reasonable question about the Riverton Club and you launch into a rant about the weather and the beaches . And then you display a bit of bad language and abuse......that not nice for a Southern man . Surely you can do better than that . Did you go to the Riverton races , have you been to any races in the past year ? FYI I was invited back to the South just last week......kinda cold even on a fine day , but I guess its just a cricket ball throw from the South Pole. And the gridlock traffic around the Arthur Barnetts Golden Block was fair worse than anything up north ! So what other 'assets' are there down your way other than the Highlanders [mainly owned by Aucklanders etc] and David Bain !

A good fair post......possibly not welcome in this thread of doom and gloom and anticipation of problems after cyclone and much rain. The track really did play remarkably well ....1min 11 sec bettered for 1200m. Personally spoke to several trainers and assistants who remarked positively about the excellent performance of the surface . And the racing reflected that...the 2100m fillies race a fantastic race.

Funniest post of the Year !

A lot seems to be beyond you mikeynz ! And Riverton have been nominated , like a lot of things down your neck of the woods ,they obviously didn't quite measure up ! Tell me why they should have .

Skin in the game never been of concern for me..... I picked it up off you in a post quite recently...I think you mentioned real skin in the game ! What is 'real skin' in the game ? You used it Chief......Have I ever told you I have skin in game...if having a bet and attending the odd meeting is skin in the game [ as per Doomed quote ] then its very thin skin , paper thin ! And can't remember me telling you guys that I had skin in game.......I call it an interest , I bet regularly on small basis ,attend meetings and have a few small shares in a few horses. And in past I've done a bit of mainly volunteer work in print , admin and shovelling shit too ! No more ,no less than the next person.....I base my posts/thoughts on my own experiences and to spread those I've intentionally had involvement in as many facets as possible. eg I've had a go at breeding [very poor] , had shares in 2 yr olds , jumpers , pacers and trotters and tried to get to as many tracks as possible . Basically done enough IMO to form opinions about things racing in both codes [ not dogs]. Problems /issues have always existed in NZ racing and always will. I see them as challenges and it great to see so many issues are being faced on acted on . A great time to be involved ! Jockeys/trainers in NZ never been so well off here , stakes have improved dramatically for NZ owners and those with the X factor and drive can hop over the ditch where its even bigger and better. Punters can now bet on so many things so often. ATR facility getting better by the week ! The worst aspect of NZ racing are those who actually think they important to NZ racing , know all the solutions and could do better than the current lot running the show .......you can't and you don't . Pessimism is for liteweights ! Attitudes are contagious......is yours worth catching ? The good old days were far worse..... In the meantime at least acknowledge the successes our top horses and horse people across NZ and especially in Australia ...they doing NZ proud ! Great Kiwis.....Waller , Baker , McDonald , Savabeel, Dunn, Te Akau ......leading the World . Enjoy it !

Well its about Horses and Horse people from NZ ....and in this case success on what is one of the most competitive stages in the world. It's about success and excellence and goes to show that NZ racing can produce and develop world class horses ,jockeys ,trainers etc. Maybe there is a future for NZ racing ,maybe NZ racing is doing some good stuff. What don't you understand ? What threads have you started , what threads would you like to discuss ? Have you got 'skin in the game' . What your interest in NZ racing ?

Again the last two weeks in April have seen the Kiwi influence to the fore in Australian Thoroughbred racing. Yesterday it was headed by the Waller/James Mac combo with Jason Collett and BBaker chiming in with Group 1 success.And Aleysia Collett nearly tore off the Group 1 Oaks. And Mickey Dee as usual picked up a winner. At the jumps day in Victoria today ex-NZ horses featured prominently while Bevan Laming ,Mark Walker and Brett Scott actually supplied half the horses to race ! Last week was even more oustanding. Waller , Baker JCollett all won Group 1's ...NZ featured in 4 of first 5 in the Group 1 Derby with the brilliant winner being by a son of Dundeel , from Waller stable and out of a mare owned in Nz. Per Incanto also featured on the big stage. DStackhouse ,Micky dee were prominent on the Day as were Busuttin stable and the Brownes...Rhinoceros upset in Victoria. Logan Bates had a win ,Ditto Bevan Laming. And another promising horse by Zed emerged from Bishara barn...Belle Tedelle. And Te Akau went to $1 mil at yearling sales. NZ being noticed across the ditch !

A bit of rain about Gamma...give me the horses with the big feet . Garry Dillon, Cardigan Bay, Lordship and the horses by Morano , Lumber Dream and Majestic Chance. The mobile car was skidding at Puke trials today !

Come on Gamma...give me one....I am a very lucky person ! And I believe the current Champion !

So you know what dirt is to us South Islanders ........haha Coasters should at least know different words for weed and recognise noxious weeds ! Often hard to find a sense of humour on here....one of my first posts I made a joke and the 'tight five' leapt on me [didn't get it cos far too intoxicated by their own exuberance] plus they questioned how long I had been in racing...a rookie maybe ? Haha. The latest crack up was something about posters having skin in the game .........my main question now is "How much skin do you need in tha game in order to post on bitofayarn ? I doubt posters have been surveyed .....but my guess is the majority of posters are 60 plus and/OR Retired from employment and/OR live in a retirement home ? One lives in a cave in deep south ! Young posters like myself and SunlineBoy are rare....and I seem to be one of a few that bat for both sides {Gallops and Trots },and actually attend meetings ! And this is the Internet so one can fire up the dutch courage and freely abuse other posters , talk tough then hide ! Poking the Borax we call it in the South !

Sorry westbrew but a bit of water flowed under the bridge since I cast my 'cost accountants' eye over several Annual reports/ accounts and joined a few dots. And I never took a lot of notes. But the reported February turnover surprise is not a regular happening .Up to recently I believe racing did twice the turnover of sports . And Racing GBR as a % is twice that of Sport....well it was when I looked at it more closely a couple of years back. Of course since then fixed odds betting % of total has increased and bonus bets etc are rife in Racing. But NZ sports organisations do pretty well from the TAB.... I have read where they get a set % commission on all betting on their sport plus a set % of profit on that betting.Plus they received an unexpected 'bonus' when Entain took over in 2023. I guess one could drill down further , maybe into NZ Sports Organisations minutes to learn more , but those NSO's don't say a lot about this funding in their notes to accounts. From memory NZ Tennis received nearly $2 mill from TAB in 2023 ,and their total revenue was $2.9 miill so it significant .

Again....same ole same ole......NZ would not have attracted the Aussie horses without slashing the cash. The idea is to stimulate in terest in Aussie as well ,to increase Aussie interest in NZ racing , long term thinking ! If it doesn't then are we ....you and me ...any worse off than we were a couple of years ago before Entain , and the NZ Racing couldn't pay its Bills and was bailed out by the Guvmint. And if the horses have to race for a bag of Kumaras , you will still follow them cos you love the horses ,not the money you can make off the place punt ! You do love the horse ?

Can't agree with that.....certainly can't match you for dirt , and you probably done more grass as well !

Sorry too busy....I still do volunteering in some sports at coalface and overall I treated as useful volunteers should be ..... Maybe a bit of honey would help from you...I dipped out on the Coffee 😃😃