mikeynz

Did lots 355 and 356 sell?

Those 100 to one odds are bullshit.

When is Hastings likely to be back racing, if ever, recent times have shown the worth.of Woodville and Waverley as back up.

Only a few years ago Auckland ran the Interdominion and it was a great series but therein lies one of the key issues I highlighted with regards to the handicapping and the obsession of pumping money into young races when the 4yo and over should be the main course, the horses that everyone can relate too, there is just nothing around for them at present, you have the odd ones over in Oz, and that's always happened anyway then you get the next lot who run off handicaps but there is simply no depth at the top level, that's one thing HRNZ need to address moving forward. 4 and 5 horse fields ain't the answer but as I've said before, nice for the owners, grab it while it's on offer.

Gamma sometimes you have to realise that it is in our DNA for those outside Auckland to kick back just to balance the ledger, think of it like rivalry you have with state of origin or NSW v Victoria, life would be even more boring without it.

Trouble with TAB4EVER is he can't see beyond the Bombay hills, unfortunately like most living in Auckland they are actually looking from the wrong side lol I'm no fan of Auckland, it is actually in many ways disconnected to what's happening in the rest of the country, with the population diversity creating into that place it's becoming further and further from the NZ that used to be, most of the population there don't give two hoots about Horse racing, Rugby and the likes, while rural NZ still maintain those traditions.. Auckland always strikes me as trying to keep up with other cities like Melbourne or Sydney but they can't even get their shit sorted out lol, it sees itself as the powerbase of NZ but in reality rural NZ is the backbone of NZ, John Key did say where Fonterra goes NZ goes, so true. Ellerslie have this great big raceday but how many people actually attended? Stuff all for the size of the place. Alexandra Park must be one he'll of a lonely place most nights, and despite the fact no one gives a shit no more Harness Racing NZ are obsessed with pouring good funds just to keep them going which are disproportionate to what they are earning, Auckland has a sense of entitlement that the country owes them, the rest of the country would be fine without them.

NZs problem is a failure on 2 counts , a handicapping system that's faulty, and a obsession with pumping all the money into the young races, if both issues were corrected, problem.solved.

Anzac day 1981 was a Saturday, following on from Easter, Forbury Park ran a all bells and whistles meeting, they even got innovative and started around 4 , finished about 9, also on same day All Whites started their world cup campaign which took them to Spain, by playing Australia,if you backtrack dates Wednesday 22 and Monday 20, Easter Monday Riccarton raced as was the case then, Riverton raced Easter Monday as well, I think even for a time Riverton may have raced Saturday Tuesday, those results above have Riverton where it should be Riccarton. Anyway there is a bit of useless trivia for the day😀

Out of interest do the Dennis tribe have any in at the sales this week ?

Entain will just love them.

I wonder how many people actually turned up for today's races ?

Ascot Park have had 10 days or so of hot dry days and I think tomorrow some early rain, what are the odds? And with rain developing Saturday afternoon in Auckland, maybe a book on that as well.

I say good luck to the connections of One Change, a good cheque to keep the money turning over, but this race was originally a group 3 rating 65+ handicap that ended up having rating 50s thrown in just to make a race but therein lies the problem with the present handicapping system, it's not really matching like for likes in many races, it seems not much is going to change either for the foreseeable future, why have a top rating of 120, when you struggle to probably find more than 5 of either pacers and trotters there so what's the point? So many clubs now have to improvise outside the set programme just to make a race, Otaki a prime example, I still believe a simple solution is slowing the decent.

I hate the term metres in the margins.

Sabalenka just sounds like lots of fems grunting when exerting herself lol.

That Northern Southland Cup was a well paid training run for the winner, good days earner for all of them really but less than 4000 in the tote win pool less than 2 in the place,it would be interesting to know the fixed odds figures. it's actually crazy heaping heaps into stakes for 2 and 3 yo racing when by rights the prestige races should be 4yo and over but the present handicapping system is continually depleting numbers and creating poor fields 2 40000 races today but then 16 2yo trotters raced for 200000 6 weeks ago, that's out of kilter too

That Nortern Southland Cup is a prime example of poor planning, there would be more starters possibly if some horses weren't dropping back too quickly, but why have rating 50s starting in a rating 65+, seems to me it would be smarter if it was a rating 50 +, thus resulting in the rating 70s starting off 30 or 40 meters, which in many ways is the way it was many moons ago,this present system is not working. Maybe all winners are exempt from a ratings drop for 6 starts after, genuine strugglers need some reduction, another anomaly is 6 horse non winners at Otaki get penalized the same as winning a 14 horse race at Methven, that seems weird. They could also cap the top rating at 90 or 85 or maybe even cap the drop to 45 leaving all non winners at 40, their are plenty of numbers in the lower grades but many of the main races are just being contrived. Nice work if you have a handy one, good money to be had, but it's only working for a few. It's also creating poor races for creating turnover.which is not yielding what's required to maintain stakes

A bit different for Addington or Auckland running mile racedays, they race so often, Nelson being once a year, they need to get things right or better, if Entain or HNZR are hellbent on pumping money into stakes then maybe having a seddon shield bonus for the area over Xmas and new year would attract interest from owners to get better numbers for the main races. Invercargill have a rating 65+ on Thursday only a handful showing up, anything over rating 55+ seems to see numbers struggle, you do wonder if the handicapping needs to be upgraded to stop the yo yo system that is at present.

One wonders if Nelson are missing a trick judging by the size of the fields for Waterlea this week from running a miles raceday or simply the geographical position of Richmond just don't appeal to many these days.

Which might be where playing a one dayer at Eden Park looks odd, big stadium, not many there, yet they think they need a new Cricket ground, no one goes there mostly, what is it about Auckland?

In recent times trainers stopped going to Omakau and Waikouiti,with Kurow 2 days before Waikouiti, numbers were just too thin, some of the numbers for the coast are rather light too, Kumara may be different.

I just tried, no sign in, just straight to video.

Over 20000 in tote win pool for Cup at Westport, almost doubles best at Auckland for their million dollar night last week, Invercargill best was 18 and just under 15 for their cup, both Westport and Banks Peninsula will have big turnovers this week, only to subsidize the northern clubs, only 7 and 8 for Westports main race on day 2 and more than likely Reefton will be same.

Irrespective of the programming 12 races at Westport and 12 at Banks Peninsula is pretty impressive, especially when compared to many of the gallops meetings especially the North Island days.

19 acceptors for rating 51+ at Banks Peninsula as opposed to Westports 10 even though Westports stake is more, as for the trotters only 8 at present for the main trot, at Westport, maybe some innovation there too, maybe 2 heats on day 1 with a 25000 final at day 2 or at Reefton, Entain and HRNZ love splashing the cash, Westports turnover on Dec 26 beats most, seems it's being spent elsewhere, just my thoughts.