TAB For Ever

Wrong.....not rubbish ! I spoke to 3 x youngish ,emerging trainers recently and they emphasised how important the selling of young horses is to their operation. There was approx 100 2 yr olds hoping to run at Taupo today

Te Akau are ONE stable the last time I looked. They plan carefully , and need to....they have a shit load of horses. 33 today , a lot of planning and organisation plus they stick closely to their processes generally getting two turf trials before horses race after a spell. On March 5 they had 31 trial at Taupo and a fewdays later had 17 at Ellerslie trials .In between they had 22 horses racing at 4 meetings including 11 on Champions day . Thats a shit load of planning and logistics. And they tell owners well in advance when their horses will be trialled . Often 6 x weeks in advance. Some stables would find it hard getting 3 x horses to trial on the same day let alone over 30 , twice within a couple weeks.

Winston heard it all before.......that's why he generously ,to support racing which he loves , built 3 x Synthetic tracks. All the career racing folk told him racing was going backwards cos of the lack of reliable ,safe ,consistent surfaces so he gave them 3 . What the trainers didn't tell him that was they were more concerned with getting their horses to run a good trial so they could SELL at a healthy profit . And to do that they needed turf tracks. The negativity from the career racing folk was so huge that most in the racing community ,especially punters , were completely put off the Synthetic ...before it even started ...perception is reality ! I made sure I attended the first synthetic meeting and saw/heard for myself ......even a key worker/participant on duty said to me "I was led to believe it would be carnage here , horses running on this track ". Gotta laugh now when a top trainer who only supports synthetic when 'hard up for options' states after a poor turf trial , 'its good the synthetic circuit about to start , keep the horse with me and we'll do well ,the horse needs a firmer consistent surface . LOL Interesting every week on Trackside watching all the racing communities in Aussie running on their clay ,sand , dirt tracks. Noticed Alice Springs and Pingrup [?] on weekend and recently the Saudi Cup ,richest race in world on all weather surface LOL. THen there is USA,Japan ,Korea and MOST countries in the world ! NZ trainers should support their industry ......they let Jumping slip .....just blame others !

Correct Doomed......after a long day several typos crept into my otherwise flawless post...Prince Majestic [Ray Verner] I trying to get your mind off crowd numbers, betting figures and lack of maiden races and opportunities for South Island horses !

If any of you interested in horse's breeding and background ATR's Champions Day tells some good stories..... The horse everyone was tipping at good money in the 3200m Cup.......Trav.......goes back to champion Wingatui mare Princess Mellay who was a standout from the first crop of Champion sire Mellay. The Princess owned by Alice ,wife of top trainer Hector Anderton who had ridden her grandam Pink Robe. Princess Mellay won two NZ Cups at 3200m both times beating stablemate Trelay who went on to sire some useful horses and jumpers. Earlier the pricess had won the NZ Oaks [2400m] ,the Dunedin Guineas and James Hazlett God Cup.. As a mother she Produced outstanding galloper who won some 19 races when racing on both sides of Tasman[Ray Verner]. She also produced Bi Noble [9 wins] and Great Northern Steeples winner Rock Crystal. Trav can obviously run out a strong 3200m so one to follow. Another boom-horse on Champions day was Island Life who looks an Oaks horse. She is out of Lycia who was Montjeu / Chimeara. Useful Southern galloper Candycane's dam is Cerebus who is Pins /Chimeara. And Chimeara goes back to Eight Carat who has produced many outstandng NZ horses incl Diamond Lover. Then there was NZB Kiwi Slot winner Damask Rose by Savabeel from Sombreuil [by Flying Spur ] bred by T Rider Her older sister Provence earlier won the Group 1 mares race.....Provence is part-owned by the Ellerslie Social Racing group who had an outstanding few seasons , as they also raced Group wiinner Bonny Lass among others.

Several Clubs race at two tracks.... These AWARDS got you all worked up last year also.....but my explanations were IMO very well witten ,and even Bloke commended me ! The award is for Clubs....and they graded on Financial, Racing , Marketing , Governance and Innovation. To recap 2024.....the AFTERMATH...... ATR and Whangarei [ Chief happy] and Kumara were the winners while Waikato awarded a 'Leadership' award and Taupo an 'appreciation' award. Obviously other Clubs have made extra effort to make the Finalists list. Good on em , I say . Everyone enjoys getting a medal or certificate , making the podium and getting recognition from their peer group !

Haha Chief......I see thru what you write , and understand your resentment toward Ellerslie and ATR. Again you embellish things and try to play down their standing and role in NZ Racing. Ellerslie [ATR] is working toward an outstanding horse training infrastucture and has other revenue streams to future proof outstanding stakes .Up to 1000 events a year in their facility and a strong cash flow from their investment funds .

Why are you concerned about this ? Surely it is out of your control ...relax......enjoy it.......i assume you still predicting the Industry is Doomed ! It's a great time to be involved ......owners see some hope ,trainers jockeys and many in the Industry are doing better than ever ! Not so long ago the Industry was basically Insolvent , basically BANKRUPT unable to pay its bills after years of costly mistakes and the TAB even paying out more to the codes than it was making from wagering. Racing folk through personal and regional bias could not agree on solutions so the Guvmint had to step in ,pay the bills and decide on a solution and try to sort out the blame game. And they had to move fast.......so turn to an outsider Messara and add 3 x synthetic tracks to assist training and try and negate bad weather/abandonments which some blamed poor performance on ! Messara highlighted much of what Kiwis didn't want to hear ! Covid and a few years on ...stakes have increased to a much higher level right across the Board and it's a great time to be involved . Enjoy it while it lasts !

Great POSITIVVIDY Gamma..... Just noticed BBaker trained another decent winner and see Waller got a few too. James Mac his normal couple of wins , ditto Micky Dee while DStackhouse an outstanding day . And MMoroney [RIP] no longer a trainer but his stable grabbed a couple of nice winners too. Kiwis certainly doing well in OZ !

Nice thoughts about Ellerslie there Doomed. But your reference to England racing and York in particular needs to be expanded on. You right in deducting that racecourses there won't be sold off. Most are established well run , resilient businesses. I've attended Group1 racing at York one of Englands oldest courses. York goes back to the ancient Romans .York is considered by some to be the best course in England .York has an enormous amount of History...it is a walled city with an impressive Cathedral and over 30 x world class museums. As with many English courses it has restaurants ,conference centres and other businesses which keep the cash flow coming all year.And of course people pay to attend on raceday and always have. Note the hue and cry when NZ tracks try to charge for entry. Some 25 years ago an English racing man and Jumps enthusiast called Andre Klein joined racing in South Island......he saw the need to combine racing Admin and helped develop Gallops South then ran Otago racing and brought in initiatives there. Probably he one of main reasons today Doomed feels that Otago Racing gets extra privileges in the South Island. Andre battled away against the powers of NZTR Admin until he finally had enough and returned to UK. He joined racing there being manager of a 'small' club Warwick Racing Club which runs about 17 x meetings a year and is part of a combined "Jockey Club' organisation /group. Cheltenham is part of this and its famous Festival of Jumps is on this week. Andre is one of the assistant Managers at Cheltenham. Obviously very switched on and probably not appreciated in NZ. Pity we didn't learn more about the English System ,a lot earlier !

A good post Chief. I'm thinking Messara may have engaged with you before he wrote his report and made the impression /changes that many had been talking about since 1965 or earlier . I see you obviously respect Doomed as one of your tight five and you been very polite to him, as not to offend. Had some of us started referring to York and UK racing to support Wingman putting them on a pedestal you would have moved in quickly with a sharp tongue and even more of a geography lesson than you provided. When one considers the UK has some 69 million people , England has 59 million of those .......you didn't have to be a genius to suggest to Messara that NZ had far too many tracks ,especially as most had poor to very poor infrastructure and there wasn't even ONE with a good racing surface !

GREAT ! You should feel real good about the Kiwis successes in Australia , so please keep highlighting them. Two weeks ago I looked at the results of Kiwis at the bigger and main tracks and they were outstanding. From memory James Mac won 4 in the day and Jason Collet won two. On the jockey front Corey Parish , Ryan Hurdle , D Stackhouse all won while the Collet girls , Mick Dee , and the apprentices JKennedy , L Bates etc have all been prominent of late. In the training , Waller ,Baker were cleaning up while MMoroney[RIP] Busutinn/Young kept the Kiwi flag flying and our NZ Breds were doing well too. Last Saturday featured many of the above again !

Your best post......apologise and move on ! As stated earlier the rules of Syndicates are clear and upfront.....many folk take a maximum of 10% with the majority between 1% and 5%. If you want to have control over the management of a horse buy 51% or more.....many syndicates have 40 to 70 shareholders and now there are horses with hundreds of Owners .

Little point in engaging with a gossip , but some of the horses they have trained have been moved on re sale on Gavelhouse and even tho they still train a few jumpers they have encouraged a change of stable for them !

I prefer tosser to gossip....... Best you apologise and cease your unfounded rumours and maybe look at the way syndicates work.....unusual for an outfit to Syndicate horses based on their trusted brand in training and management of horses then send it to a rival stable. Personally been in several big syndicates and there always folk with vastly different views to the Manager/Trainer and these folk are often the smallest shareholder. Syndicates have rules which include ways different views can be voiced ...I'd guess many of their syndicates have between 20 and 40 shareholders.

10.15pm....just back to the TV and they winning a race ,ridden by Blake Shinn !

Wow ...this story is AMAZING ! Te Akau seem to enjoy racing horses in South and I'd say one of their great strengths is they place their horses well where success is most likely. But what a CRIME ......on the syndicate you know of.

Anyone who has been around a while in NZ hears 'stories' about our most successful people in all fields ...John Walker was a sis , Glenn Turner ditto and couldn't bat and certainly anyone excelling at Horse racing had many bad moments and habits.... What you are hinting at here is ,I believe ,very unfair ,unethical and below the belt. You should be kicked into touch !

Castlepoints infrastructure would match some of those that have been closed ! Indeed my bad.........I referred to the Messara report while in a rush and indeed quoted the figures before closures . So your correction does highlight the numbers Messara faced and why he in particular used Ireland to point out NZ's inefficiences. And England tracks are no doubt in much better shape than NZ's ,both their infrastructure and the way they run , plus the popularity of jumping still. Prior to Messara closures being implicated the countries courses were used as follows..... New Zealand 6.7 x times Ireland 13.7 times UK 24.9.

You can check that , I gotta adjust my numbers for NZ courses which were closed .My NZ numbers were taken from Messara report prior to some being closed ...at last !!! ' I guess I'd forgot about the recent closures ,which maybe shows how much they missed !

Cos he was putting up England as some sort of model to put on a pedestal. The Messara report used England and Ireland to point out NZ's inefficiencies. But I was rushing out and never allowed to adjust to post Messara/ Covid closures .

Don't be a scaredy cat Wingman....the bullies won't hurt you , but please check a few facts about England racing...and maybe Ireland ! This famous and resilient racing area got mentioned in the Messara report a few years back ...maybe you still at Primary school then . Us oldies may be as shallow as puddles but the water hasn't always wet behind the ears ! Briefly ,England with their far greater population than NZ races 897 meetings on 36 tracks ,including 6 synthetics ,one of which races 58 x times. Ireland runs 357 meetings on 26 x tracks incl 1 x synthetic . NZ races 321 meetings on 48 x tracks. England also has 24 jumps only courses so totals 59....16 are mixed ,when I last counted. Some of their most famous courses dont race too much.Aintree has a 3 x day carnival plus only 4 other days and can host 73,000 people. Cheltenham , on tonight races 4 x days in a row in March plus up to 10 other days. These two jumps only. Doubt if many of these Clubs just run by volunteers. They thrive cos they do other things like restaurants , outdoor activities and shopping malls...big business ! But hey , don't let the facts get in the way of a good story .

In Saturdays excellent on-course race book Bonecrusher mentioned several tmes.....as a partner [sponsor] for day !

I wouldn't believe much about in racing coming out of your hood ..Dunedin ! Once had a great track Forbury Once had many of NZ's top horses , trainers and jockeys ...and Sires. Sadly just frittered away ! Only BJA left !

Great logic ! After 3 races with small fields , 95% of people there had lost their money........many headed to Bar to spend the remainder ,while others got ready for the entertainment , music and free stuff while many just tucked their dosh away to head to the Lotto shop before 7pm. Money doesn't just fall out of the sky ! `Over $1.25 mil on course is very good IMO ! In NZ 2% spend up to 60% of the betting , and many of them unload on the big Aussie races ! Get with the program !