TAB For Ever

Jo Stevens will be a front runner for recognition. Formerly a jockey in Australia she now a Mum and partner of trotting trainer / driver Dylan Ferguson. In fact they now a training partnership and part of a young group introducing many young people to ownership thru Syndicates. Trains a useful trotter Kiss and Run. In addition she now training thoroughbreds in her own name too. For some time she has been taking gallopers for some big stables and introducing them to a new training environment with show ring type experience etc . Even better known as an official rehomer of horses when their career finished . Then her highest profile gig has been as social media presenter for Harness in north at Cambridge and Alex Park. Interviewing drivers,trainers for selections and post race comments and generally helping the smooth running of meetings. Great too at cross-code activities involving jockeys and harness folk...gets things done and 100% commitment. Gets my vote !

Not one of your best efforts Chief .......focus on School Holidays !

Where the f%#k is Hawkesbury ?

Why the infatuation with trials ? Especially in June and even moreso in July. Weather is lousy , tracks very muddy.....stay at home conditions. As pointed out previously , many tracks now running regular jumpouts and most of the big stables in north are big on jumpouts. Those educating rising 2 yr olds have no intention of racing before December at least ! The rising 3 yr olds seem to be getting plenty of jumpouts etc. My experience of late has been the horses have been well suited by the scheduling. Grass trials at Waipa last week , well attended , 40 x 2yr olds trialling on synthetic pre-races today ,Avondale next week for those who want there horses to endure a tortuous day in traffic ...into Te Rapa trials on Aug 6 . Te Akau expected to have 30 plus there that day !. Note that any 2 yr old races down for July struggling to get off ground. July a bad month for racing.....usually too wet ,no drying . Synthetic a blessing in July ! Note the super trials track Foxton had to postpone their trials recently cos of rain and probably water table. Mid to late August will see the spring stars stepping out ,tho famous Taupo meeting had poor numbers last year. Show Gate and Grey Way probably never attended a trial between them. Northern tracks starting to look better and better. Once Ellerslie and Te Aroha sorted the menu will be delicious. Something for everyone. Te Rapa looked good last week ,the jumps racing were spectacular. Ruakaka produced great footing . Matamata and Pukekohe improving all the time and getting well used. Tauranga and Rotorua good options for many. Taupo and Te Awamutu good for trials away from the City. Not so many horses heading for outside fence these days ! Future looks promising . If Trials calendar and the risky staging of racemeeting held pre-mature in past is all we have to 'bang' on about ,things must be going pretty well ! Maybe spend some time on those key people who have control over the key ingredient.....the horses. After months of 5 horse jumps field I note there are jumps races this week with 30 plus nominations .Do trainers plan ahead or are they in lala land . Too busy looking for trials to train a winner and get a quick sale ! .

I doubt Avondale would meet any 'minimum standards ' to hold a race meeting . The quicker it wound up the better...if any $$$$ goes to racing build a decent Waikato Greenfields complex.

Vince M didn't last long there after that !

The Iconic Whyte Handicap......5 x noms !

Gamma , if you want to learn a little more about Bet N Win and his trainers google Trackside Harness Videos and it gives an intro to them. Runs 4 minutes. He won nicely last night !

Bet N Win is handled by talented young horseman David White and his wife . He has held foreman positions in big stables and generally they allowed to train a couple in own name. Bet N Win has struck a good patch of form and seems a real up and comer and is chasing the big Constellations Trot race for 3 and 4 year old trotters. He hasn't really beaten much but shows a lot of potential.He has a high profile group of Owners who race a lot of horses. His grand dam was Fear Factor who won a couple of Group 2 races out of Mark Purdon's stable .

As a syndicate member I accept that influence is very low to zero but I do often make thoughts known and suggest Changes, but generally understand I have little control over folk 'groups with bigger interests. Thats basic living and getting along. But I do control my Attitude , my goals, my plans and ability to turn knowledge into action. As you'd expect from a ex-Christ College ,Cost Accountant , Plonker who rocks up on racings big days drinking with the bourgeoisie ! And I OK with racing getting Tax relief and subsidies..Since the year dot it long considered taxes taken from racing were excessive and with the huge number employed in it still I think it OK that are shared around. And I will happily take it on a personal level having collected many Taxes on behalf of the Govt thru GST , PAYE and Income tax on modest profits made from a couple of businesses. But I very unlikely to stop and think about Tax while at the races for the day, and I get to my fair share. Have you ever stopped to think DIFFERENTLY.....and concentrate on things you are responsible for and can do something about.

Enjoyed the read....back in the day it seems South Islanders took the sport more seriously .Nothing to do with less to do down South! .Many of the top horses,jocks and trainers were in the South. Up North they were buying Boats ,Family bachs/cribs and learning to drink wine ! Recently you asked me who made up the 'tight - five' on here. As your long post has not been dissected by the Boss I'd say you are sure getting close to it !

Good on ya....if everyone was the same it would be a very boring world !

Did you not feel tempted to bet on your mates horse ? Probably familiarity with owner/trainer/jockey is a motivating factor for many to have a bet. I am not a huge punter, more a regular sort who prefers a bet if actually watching a race . To me ,and I guess a few others , a horse race is a horse race and a cigar is a good smoke. If 10 x horses are running there will be some good each way divis and chance of a reasonable trifecta . Similar to grass track harness ,the ground is a great leveller . Heavy 10 ditto ! I've never worried about how much is bet on a meeting , I would suspect most meetings run at a loss , and Group days [my preference] run at a big loss ! Betting is needed /essential for stakes of course but things like Greyhounds and Sports betting and gaming allow TAB profits to pay the stakes. Obviously these were falling well behind Owners acceptance levels so Entain thrown it a lifeline for5 years. My personal enjoyment is attending some Group meetings incl Cup week each year ,the odd Aussie meeting live and having a small ownership interest in a few horses and having a few bets. So whatever a meetings betting is my interest can still be maintained , and if NZ shrinks further ,Australia is close at hand. I cant worry about things beyond my control......Most folk spend too much time and energy talking,thinking and worrying about things they are not responsible for and don't control. Yes NZ racing much different from the 'Good old days' but were they actually that good ? A serious question for you !

Your statement of suggesting we all live/hangout in a diverse multi-cultural community is simply not true ! Found out ,you revert to abuse ! Poor form !

Interesting though....after watching the last 3 x races on tape.....that all three winners basically took the same path...4 wide off fence ,but the ground saved obviously helped them.Those that went wide on final turn could not make up ground. I thought maybe the Chief had walked the track and passed on the info as to where the best ground was. But overall it seemed a fair winter track for those who prefer Heavy going ! Meanwhile ,I was in Auckland today ,so swung thru Ellerslie and the facility looked great and the racing surface looked fantastic .Would have been an ideal track to race on so hope they will race there next winter.

Some moreso than others.... I daresay the West Coast of South is 90 % European ....there are suburbs of NZ that are 90% non-European. Get amongst it Chief !

Just pointing out the crucial importance that immigrants are performing in our workforce and the likelihood that will be continually needed in our race riding ranks. No bigotry or prejudice re bus drivers ,I know several . I live and hangout in a very diverse multi-cultural community.

A lot of them are in my community and we mix and play Badminton ,table tennis etc and do stuff together. I am on a committee where I am the only NZ born on it . I post on my experiences...reality🙂.....get with the program !

Many Industries in New Zealand now reliant on 'imported labour' and jumps riders don't get the opportunities to earn well. But Flat riders have very good earning power these days . I was at Bus Stop yesterday outside a huge construction sitre at 4.30pm ,knock off time.Hundreds of workers poured out ,95% immigrants. Jumped on Bus , again many/most of these are driven by immigrants. Went to supermarket ,ditto the workers. Recently in hospital....everyone from reception,Xray , Nurse , Anaethesist , Food , cleaner ,orderly ...all immigrants only Surgeion a Kiwi , a magician at that ! Kiwi kids want to have fun ,travel ...not work a badly paid job caring for animals and hosing horse shit !

Get with the program Chief ,its a 4 day working week now...the traditional weekend brings change. With a pocketful of cash after Thursday night trots into weekend , the lads were looking for races to bet on Friday. The week in NZ had already been unique in that there had been THREE meetings on Synthetic in one week ! The Friday menu for gallops was Ballarat Synthetic , Canberra Acton and Carnavron Dirt..all non-turf ! Saturday included Gold Coast Synthetic , Broome Dirt , Darwin Dirt ...NZ had 4 x Jumps races at main meeting ,Australia rarely has jumps on a Saturday cos no-one bets on them ! Sunday had Devonport Synthetic and Alice Spring Dirt plus Singapore [50/50 mix] ,plus South Africa, Korea and Japan etc etc. Monday had Pakenham Stynthetic , Tuesday had Ballarat again and many of the top trainers ..Maher, Moody, Freedman, Hayes, Busuttin etc all paticipating . No doubt that overall , the races on TAB that one can bet on around the world are on non-turf tracks. Sad I know.....but with the extremes in weather likely to increase ,those tracks keep the industry ticking away . And the synthetic tracks aren't too bad to watch with horses closer in general and colours etc more obvious . Good for newcomers to get an intro to wagering in the Industry.

Haha Chief...when Messara and others bring their Aussie experiences here we shout him down ,but when it suits our narrative we jump on board !

What a fantastic facility ,especially for this time of year.....over 70 in transferred trials tomorrow , 20 jumpers on jumps course there today while the weekly jumpouts had 40 x horses last Friday. Unsure if they will have jumpouts later this week , but hard to knock it in current weather ! Noticed over the weekend ,there were several Australian meetings on synthetics there , obviously the connections and Aussie punters have 'climatised' to the change . overall there must have been more non-turf meetings than turf ! Interesting !

I doubt ,very much , that the Chief could double as Brodie. The Chief seems very keen on gallops and gets around a bit , walking tracks etc. Brodie seems to be Harness only and rarely gets out of the house ! Doesn't appear to bat for both teams ! And Michael , why doesn't Nelson/Marlborough have their June meetings and when did that change. I think both had 2 x days each !

DollyP ran a nice race from the Unruly position on mobile gate. Settled further back than may have from a stand. Had to chase a bit to get in bunch and looked definite place chance at 300m ,unable to quicken last 100m and ended up 5th. It was a HOT pace for winless trotters.....2 min 45.9 , the winner Lil Whip has ability and went fast early to lead. She was 4th in Oaks recently behind good field , Empire City winning in 2min47.4 I'd double my place bet on DollyP next time from a stand ,it looks bright ,under new regime.The new stable entered 6 to make sure race got off ground. Maybe MariaP is helping out stable ! The stable has definitely improved Halberg who won later on having recently rediscovered its zest for racing.Obviously enjoys the swimming and beach work.

I often read in these columns that racing on certain , often the closed ones , cost the Industry nothing . I very much doubt if this is the case as I'd estimate that most race meetings cost the Industry money. Yes it is sad that these Clubs have drifted into obscurity over the years . Living mostly in the South Island I've seen it with my own eyes and often wondered why more effort wasn't put in to hold on to dates that they had. I particularly liked Washdyke ,particularly as it had the ability to race both allweather and grass harness as well. Of course its Steeplechase ability and good winter weather steered it into winter racing plus the Cup day before the New Year at height of summer holiday racing.It used to host 7 or more meetings including 2 x Xmas Holiday dates. Waimate too had mainly winter dates between May-July which dwindled to just one meeting until its closure in 2019. IMO it is unbelievable that NZTR said it never received a submission for it to stay open ,while Waimate said they sent one. . A big breakdown there. And the few comments I read from the Club suggests the Club thought they doing well. However the betting numbers would suggest otherwise ,as Waimate's numbers making it the smallest [by t/o] club in NZ. The other shame is that in recent years significant funds had been spent on renovating their infrastructure .The Club still had money in the bank . They have shared meetings with other tracks in area but possibly would have done better as part of a 'cluster' . Timaru ,back in a day had a sizeable number of horses trained there...their demise more baffling. Reading a few reports on line ,they seem to attract local sponsors etc but their AGM's must hardly make a quorum as usually only the committee and officers attend. And their betting figures over the years have been quite poor . Weigh up the fact that infrastructure is poor as well and little wonder these Clubs stocks have dropped. The Industry pays the stakes and race meeting costs plus contributions to infrastucture eg running rail , towers ,equipment etc . So wrong to say they cost the Industry nothing to remain open. Maybe no worse than the synthetic track at Riccarton . While Ashburton may not be too much better but it obviously got the nod to move into the future . .