TAB For Ever

Exactly as Messara told us....get some funds together to try and fix enough to secure Racings future. While work being done Synthetic tracks should be good for trials....just get on with it ,plus get Waikato Greenfields under way ,pronto . Top trainers OK to trial on Beach so Synthetic should be all go !

I see the Trial field out for Riccarton 2 yr old tomorrow prior to Race 1. 5 horses .....one from North [Te Akau] and two from Harness trainer Mark Purdon. Concerningly small fields for Wanganui , but the CastlePoint beach races this Saturday and I see Peter Didham and Kevin Myers taking horses there. Dunno what to make of all this. Matamata trials next week now off ,moved to Cambridge cos Muttermutter track needed for Tauranga meeting as track suffered from Tuesdays trials. At least they getting in early and showing a bit of initiative ! Advance warning !

The top lot was the one that all the 'big buyers ' wanted on breeding , type and recent family results. Auctions invariably have little quirks with various 'wheeling dealing ' going on . An opening bid of $200k let the field know that some buyers were serious about success.

The boss of Entain knows a bit about paying good coin for well bred horses at Harness Sales. He has bought and raised many top notch horses including Merlin and Belle of Montana , Group1 victors. So he knows a bit about it !

Cheers Gamma , don't get too attached to my Yarns you may get tarnished ! 😀 I'm past use-by date , but have an intense interest in Harness and Gallops , especially the Future cos the ATC in particular is barely hanging on. Cos I 'surf' around both Islands I somehow get into meetings and private conversations which feed a lot of important and critical information . And generally I not known to 'gossip' too much. But with the ATC's shocking situation and the Racing Clubs new track etc I often furtively hung around waiting for some crumbs of wisdom to come my way. If and when it did I then tried to filter out the BS as best I could !

You must be older than I thought to remember these horses. Torpi was my friends favourite horse at Forbury Park and the family seemed so small. She won 3 races from 76 starts and her last 12 races were all 0's...but there were fields of 15,17 and 19 [Bank Pen]. She had 9 foals ,most raced ,all from different sires.One horse was called Wee Torpi. 2 others Torsim and Torey had 0 wins from a combined 112 starts. Toris won 5 from 102 ,Torle won 6 from 114 ,and Tornesse won 5 from 146 starts.Sired by a French horse Iguassou and raced as a trotter. I wonder if the family is still going ? Another Washdyke personality around that time was PC [ Paul] Gallagher or was in PP Gallaher ?

The TAB have purchased at least 4 x horses at Harness sales for their Account holders to enjoy , learn and experience Horse Ownership. This included the Sales Topper for $320k which is going to BPurdon/SPhelan stable.The others going to Dunns, Dalgety and NWilliamson in South. Now those with the glass half empty will say that the TAB should be sorting a heap of other stuff before a gimmick like this ...they will be negative toward it. But others with their glass half full will say this should be fun......once they 'sign up ' for a horse they will receive all the info an owner would receive in breaking in and trials thru to raceday etc when a number of folk will be drawn as owners for day and receive a % of winning purse as any owner would. And it's FREE to sign up. The TAB is so crucial in our industry in NZ , and it recognises it needs to facilitate and promote the two key components....Wagering and Horse Ownership. And I heard a whisper from my neighbours mother-in-laws gardeners friend that if any infrastructure failure IT break down ,they will burst out the hand-written yellow tickets and oncourse punched exchange ticket system with all bets on 60 to 90 minutes prior to race !

Another good GD Shand trotter was Pointer Hanover waho reached the top level and also bred several winners !

here were many useful gallopers with Gay in the name. Gay Filou wwas a good stayer in 60's and won the Wellington Cup. Earlie there were some useful fillies related to each other ...Gay Blonde and Gay Sheila. A couple of neighbours had the useful gallopers Gay Gabador and Gay Master ,the latter owned and trained by Jack Morris who was racing editor of Otago Daily Times ...and the user name of Gloaming in Friday Flash.

I don't want to raise your hackles by offering a differing opinion WALT , but Mighty Gay may not have quite made it to NZ Cup class. But one GD Shand horse that did was Eastwood Jaunty who was best suited to the grass tracks as he worked thru the grades. He ran in the NZ Cup won by Just An Excuse......by chance driven by the Wizard 😀 , and they beat Elsu driven by the Chief. In the also rans were the Post man , the Iceman , Mango ,while Eastwood Jaunty beat one home who was driven by Big Ba ! Peter Shand drove EW in Cup. I incidently have never said I like or love the use of these nicknames , I merely said I liked AW and thought the use of these nicknames was a small but OK addition. GD Shand trained many horse ,Mighty Gay and its sire Gay Gordon were two of the better ones.He also drove Caskey horses including a useful trotter Bambi an horses beginning in Tor eg Torpi !

Don't take yourself so seriously..........nicknames , usernames , physical appearance ....what next ? Explain Walt...is that Walt Disney or Walt from Breaking Dad . TAB For Ever....spread the word....if NZ doesn't hop on board there will be no NZ Racing . W...Without A Lotta Thought !

Haha Rangatira you stirrer....the Harness fraternity aren't as adventerous as the Gallops. Though one of our greatest drivers Maurice Holmes was always known as Morrie and often as the Maestro. He retired about 1970 from driving ! Of course you gallops folks in NZ fondly remember Robbie 'the Pope' Hannam. He seen at ATC recently too. And "Handbrake " Harris , "The Pumper" Cassidy , "Billie Idol" Dye, Michael 'the King' Coleman. Australians love nick names in racing ,evan Bridget 'Bear' Grylls . And Harry 'Handbrake' White , Roy 'the Professor' Higgins ,Mick 'the Enforcer' Dittman , Luke'Sausage' Rolls, Paul'the King 'Duck [ie PK Duck] , Jason'Stubby' Holder, Jason 'Tiddly 'Winks . Gais jockey Hippopotamus . USA had "The Shoe" and "The Maestro". But Hey that all too much for NZ !😊😊

Indeed Gamma....the disintegration of the ATC and its finances was both sad and disastrous and bit of a miracle they still operating ! From memory the Apartment development was intended to increase the Clubs value by $40 million , of which $30 mill was in cash so a real 'nest egg'. They had a real job in completing the complex with drilling/building issues with hard rock and faulty workmanship including the use of 'cheap steel' which needed replacing ,Construction company insolvencies and many expensive Court cases which they just had to defend and win which in the main they did. They have been awarded significant amounts by Courts but remains to be seen whether any cash resultant. Selling off land has kept the banks at bay. Pukekohe has been a controversy because of the way it was obtained but being so close to future Housing requirements mean't it was probably on shaky grounds. The Club is looking to rebuild a bigger and better training establishment with the future in mind ,once it sold and closed ! The Australian influence in horse ownership often overlooked. The Entain Boss has had great success there in recent years with his Montana horses ,Merlin and many other winners.Two meeting back he owned 2 x winners outright plus in one syndicate....3 x wins for night. Of course the Butterworths had great success with Copy That and Sacred mountain etc and June Feiss had a heap of success with several wins including Self Assured .And Alderbaren and Yabby Farms feature in ownership of trotters. Last Friday Tenacious D won a maiden race well for its Australian owner. Add to that other horses that owned down the line in South and Manawatu/Taranaki and it highlights that Horse Ownership in North is one of the immediate challenges the Club faces. With the horse shortage , small fields and consequently poor betting numbers the ATC faces huge hurdles. Having NO money is one thing , No horses is worse. Clearly other Clubs not over sympathetic because of the high stakes and preferential treatment given to these higher 'ranked' clubs over the decades ! A 'new' board soon going into HRNZ...how will they see it ? The North has some fantastic Contributors to Harness ......Woodlands, Stonewall , Lincoln Farms ,Breckon Farms among them .And many of the top trainers,drivers etc

It been very well documented since but Pretty much sums it up.....at the time of the fateful decision and soon after the Board was pretty much made of many of the big breeders , trainers and owners. The big boss was a domineering wealthy Harness man. Unfortunately he died. Subsequently the rest boxed on with their flawed plan , hoping their development would provide a 'nest egg' which would futureproof Harness in the North . Horse numbers were starting to drop off and with costs skyrocketing for Ownership etc cos of Land value ,rents ,feed etc the Stakes obviously needed to increase considerably. The Development turned to custard and the nestegg was instead over $100 million loss , owed to the bank ! I doubt if ATC has ever had a Golden Goose available to it ! Covid was another dagger , so like the TAB about the same time they needed someone to help their Cashflow so they could pay the bills / Mortgage. Close to Insolvent ! Hence ATC has begun selling land etc with training track at Pukekohe included in this. Hoping to survive and build an alternative for training ! Currently their Performance is well below where it should be so remains to be seen how long HRNZ will continue to support them with Group races etc...last year they punished them with loss of Friday nights , demoting them to Thursdays but some of that treatment has been reversed !

Gee, I actually never met Aaron personally so know nothing about his fitness levels and diet etc.....I heard he plays lawn bowls so could be into triathlons as well ! The anti-Auckland feel is something I noticed while living for a long time in South Island ......became obvious around the Carlos Spencer era when TV showed a young kid in Christchurch at a Rugby game waving a sign 'We hate Auckland'.I giggled when Carlos scored a brilliant try and walked over to corner to place it down and gave the crowd the finger .And of course JHarts horse got booed and bottles thrown at him personally on Cup day. But the few times I moved north I suffered the slings and arrows of my Southern associates. In the North they certainly never bag the South[ maybe the Crusaders occasionally] ,in fact many Jaffas never been to the South , but willingly send them plenty of $$$$ after the Earthquake. Just look at the on-line bagging Ellerslie received recently . So I just not referring to Harness...I find small fields a huge turn off personally. Best of all I like Good horses, Good drivers, Close finishes , good track and weather, No $1.50 shots and meeting interesting people/visitors at the races . Last Friday had all those. Many like the plodders and slow nags struggling on rough grass tracks with barriers like raised crossings etc ...not for me but the big fields attract more betting on Sundays and holidays so they have their place ! This is the internet and anyone free to post opinions .

So pleased you enjoy my brief comment........and I was away from TV /computer/ racetrack on Saturday looking at Harness yearlings with some visitors so pretty much missed the TAB shambles . I guess I get used to infrastructure failure in NZ ....but don't get used to many folks constant negativity. Spent listening to some old ladies yesterday moaning about the NZ Cricket commentators . I watch and similarly get a bit ticked off but just turn the sound down. And I miss getting on more bets on than most ,probably overall this has saved me money...a lot of money ! And like many I am so astute I can recoup it the next day ! Dead against putting the boot into commentators ,overall NZ been well served with them.When Tom Wood started the personal attacks were disgusting. And I firm on the anti-Auckland thing, experienced it for years especially as mostly lived and worked in the South. And only lived Auckland for shorter periods. So yes , I only one opinion , but I think I qualify and should be free to express it. I find if you change the way you look at things Walt the things you look at change !

Silly decision when he so clearly out in front !

For the record IMO Aaron White does a very good job, I like his calling style ,accuracy and flow. And IMO his 'nicknames' for some of the top drivers is a small but OK addition. Obviously many who post regularly are anti-Auckland looking for some negatives to associate with the ATC. Not much comment re the 'good races' on Friday , but great some kudos given to Dr Luc Chin who is a real stalwart of Northern trotting with home-bred horses. A real shortage of horses in the North is going to continue to be ATC's biggest challenge to stir up interest and betting !

Gotta admit there were a lot less problems with the handwritten yellow tickets , in the off course 90 min and 120 min pre-sell good ole days. I take the day off to enjoy two of my favourite racedays Avondale Cup and Invercargill Cup and this hiccup occurs. Many folk will have saved their $$$$ ,so no harm there while the others will have hundreds of chances to recoup their disappointment in the next week , and the week after etc etc . But I'll let them know the disappointments.....striving for 100% perfection as always. Not always possible. Should've spent more on decent infrastructure aye ? I can't even get the train to work !

You confused ? Not me rubbishing folk for looking back...my posts on the Wellington Cup and the good ole days received comments like.....Snooze ZZZZZ.` I did my thesis on 'the good ole days'. You in lala land if you think horses always screwed down on the job now compared with yesteryear ! Just watched the NZTR preview video on Avondale Cup and top trainer Roger James said Dionysus just had a run last week or words to that effect ! And whats up with you and Curious...you joined at the hip or joined at the lip ? A tag team ,what the deal?😊 Don't be so grumpy and defensive....let others have a say !😊

Seems sensible to run trials for 2 yr olds prior to race 1 on race day , if and when required. It looks as if one set of trials per month in Canterbury is plenty. They had two lots in January for some reason with about 45 and 70 horses . 45 would not be 'economic' when the required staff and cost considered. Stipes,Ambulance ,Doctor, Farrier ,Vet ,Starter , maybe commentator ,maybe clerk of course , starters assistants etc. Travel time etc . Why are they necessary anyway ? Back in the halcyon days of NZ racing they were few and far between.I doubt if Grey Way and Showgate attended many trials. To educate the young ones ?....used to be a trip to nearby track and put them thru the starting gates. In January 2024 , 10 x 2yr olds trialled in Canterbury. Come February and only 3 x 2yr olds accept to race ! Many of the Southern horses these day seem to get their education in North Island.The North with more horses seem to need trials , maybe not so many available tracks to gallop around plus many trialling with a sale in mind. Plus Clubs keen to put trials on for Group/elite horses , on race day ! Makes sense !

An unfortunate time to compare with the ATC financially floundering and very much on the back foot. Financial worries aside ,there is desperate shortage of horses....after being relegated to often race on Thursday nights ,ATC is at least back on mainly Fridays but many small fields often mean small fields which often are very unattractive for betting on. Hard to remedy too cos Trainig rates generally higher in North. I visit both quite frequently and there is nothing to beat the two big days at Addington Cup week. Aside from that the attendances are not flash at their 'normal' meetings. Racing now a TV sport ! ATC fortunately still receives great HRNZ support for their Group races which brings a host of top Southern horses and drivers North for certain dates. An older lady recently commented to me at ATC it was a great night out for her...free park , free racebook ,free water a choice of viewing options ...the horses, stables etc slightly closer at ATC . And overall the people there tho older IMO are friendlier.Many eating options from wedges,roasts , buffet ,Chinese and Lone Star .Can't imagine the drinks /bar would be seen as 'cheap' but if you want to concentrate on the booze I'd suggest maybe stay at home in front of TV. And put what you save in a jar and join up with a syndicate in the North........Lincoln Farms , Stonewall , Breckon Farms and Woodland all run affordable syndicates and are a very enjoyable. Of course Addington has most of the above too including many syndicate options for a few pennies I believe......this is the best way to get amongst a good Harness experience for low cost. If you have a couple of million to spare buy and live an Apartment at the ATC and if facing the track ,watch from your balcony beside the fridge ....and hope the Club survives ! Overall ATC warmer and maybe more other things to do on your visit..eg this Friday , stay over and Ellerslie on Saturday. But Christchurch Cup week reigns supreme...not to be missed !

Good to see Bruce Sharrock getting out and about and talking to interested participants. Seems to have skin in the game and a lot of Family involvement/history. How many turned up to see / hear him ? I'd imagine he doing his utmost to work thru the strategic areas of action and Business plan as instructed by the Board. Not so long ago the NZTR Chair Cameron George was being savaged on sites such as this for both his influence or lack of it in both Racing and the Warriors. Considering the positive initiatives ,changes and success in both his roles ,don't seem to hear from the knockers now !

By golly Special Agent you seem a bit negative....have you considered Therapy ? I can offer support.....' If you change the way you look at things , the things you look at Change ! '

Seems like posters yearning for a Bit of a yarn again , by bringing up the name Bonsai Pipeline ,a very good South Island stayer back in the day ! Yes , he contested the Melbourne Cup once , finished well back but it was a hot field with maybe Might and Power ,Doreimus etc but he did snare a Group 2 staying race in Australia. Twice he finished runner up in New Zealand Cup ,the second time carried 59 kg behind Sapio ...Mrs Kay who co-owns a promising Harness filly at present ! Southern stayer Magnet Bay features in the Yarn above as 3 x times place in Wellington Cup.One of those years The South could 'claim' the trifecta even tho Ed had moved north to Noel Eales after his earlier win from Beckett barn. The Result was Ed , Bonsai Pipeline , Magnet Bay....the days when the South gave it a crack , they aimed at the big Northern Cups didn't curl up with a poor me attitude and not only concede defeat but sit back and resent the opportunities being handed it. At least 20 x horses bought at Karaka ,including sires like Shocking , Time Test etc so hopefully someone has fire in the belly ! Or will it be revert to just buying Northern rejects in the hope there a bit of juice left ?