mikeynz

21mm of rain yesterday in Westport according to met service....always pisses me off in current conditions it's only by the hour I think, be nice if it was from midnight, TAB says good track....but for how long?

Are their any horses trained on the coast these days ?

I read recently that Aussie and NZ are hoping to work together better in regards to setting the calendar with the main races............I believe the Auckland Cup should be in March, in the lead up to the slots, that allows aussie to run their circuit of features in January culminating in the Hunter Cup, and maybe dragging in the odd kiwi runner too the New years eve races at Auckland should just be a regional meeting, that allows Omakau to bump their meeting up stakes and then the numbers, for both the trotters and the pacers, it's a feature meeting and should be treated as one, better co operation can go a long way.

Guess Xmas, Boxing day and the holidays is a busy time for some in Auckland, Burglers raiding the orchid while owners are away.

Very common for lots of rain through the festive season, fouls up all the beaches in Auckland, only a few days ago I note a lot of no go zones, me old mate TAB always tried to talk the place up but I wasn't convinced lol.

This meeting is being demoted in some ways and more than likely it does affect the turnover, better fields better betting.

My issue with Westport is they produce one of the biggest turnover of any Harness day yet the money they generate gets squandered elsewhere, bumping stakes for their main pacers race and readjusting Motukararas main race might help, just demoting their main races seems a simple cop out. Interestingly Cambridge this week, the only meeting in the North are good fields numbers wise, I wonder if the penny will drop with the hierarchy, Cambridge are heading the same way as Forbury, more and more poor meetings with poor fields, running half the days with better fields would make more sense.......Forbury once had the best racing there, when they stopped and started running below average meetings it just died a slow death, see how the interest returned in Rugby in Dunedin when they won the Shield and most of the NPC games as well, lesson is sell the public a good product, they will get on board.

I'm not alone in thinking that it seems, also Westport are slowly being squeezed out by some weird programming, Nelson ain't helped by Timaru 2 days earlier but also ain't helped by day 2 being mile racing, still no good complaining, the people in charge know what their doing, so they think.

Ashburton, 2 days before Wingatui, Wingatui 2 days before Washdyke, Washdyke 2 days before Kurow, now I know it's Xmas holiday time but some of the scheduling is a fuck up, clearly Ashburton has impacted on Timaru, not the smartest.

Meanwhile England still battling to stay in the series in Adelaide, be funny if the batted all day only to be bowled out with 2 balls left in the last over 🤠

Many races should be penalty free, or reduced rating increases, mare and fillies races should have less rating lift for the winner,(if they don't now) races with 6 or less starters the same, the ratings capped at 120 could easily be reduced to 90. In some ways the old system was simpler C1 C2 or whatever, could easily have changed it a ratings variance instead of 10 classes to 20, what's really weird is a horse who's won 14 races can be rated lower than those who have won none.

Do you think the whale was on to it?

Will these races be penalty free, all races that have restrictions as in who's eligible should be.

Gore fields for next Saturday are out already, why so early, what's the rush, half them might be retired by raceday🙂

Reading HRNZ site 28 Southland horses in Ashburton tomorrow, tell me it had no effect on yesterday cup day and I won't believe ya.

Any update on Ulrika Holmquist.?

I note the win pools down on last year at Ascot Park, a mare race last year reached 17000, this year best is 12 for the Cup, but remember the up to 5 grand on fixed would be impacting, but I do think this meeting supposedly southlands best has been demoted a bit by Ashburton on Sunday a big percentage of the money in stakes left Southland, and as usual it's the well run larger establishments doing it, a smaller number taking the vast majority of the spoils.

Not finished yet, what are they missing around at?

People cancel that, found it in the futures market.

I read on Harness website Muscle Mountain Republican Party multi i spose it is 5 bucks, but out of curiosity where on the TAB site do you find it, someone's got till just after 7 to point it out, in the interim I will still look, enough else to do other than keep eye on Cricket.

When you've been around a bit ya start to be able to see through lots of bullshit, I hate some of the decisions some are making in Racing, I only hope they don't forget the rural areas, just like rugby that's where the heart and soul is unlike the likes of Ellerslie and Trentham that look soulless places, lots of sport now you look at objectively, don't really bother me who wins most times, many times nought much changes. More than likely The Crusaders will win Super Rugby, that's a poor comp now, the NPC is better, shield matches are still interesting, Cricket, the Black Caps will probably perform ok against modest opposition, next year we play aussie, that's more than likely a reality check, Football World Cup, despite having 48 teams, only a handful realistic chances, the more things change the more they stay the same, always been that way, even the Tennis isn't as good, was always good with the 3 or 4 top men's players, Alcatraz and Sinner just don't interest me, Serina Williams was always good, especially near the end when she couldn't get that extra slam win, I didn't like her but her matches were interesting.....I don't even have Sky these days, you tube has highlights, some on free TV, if I don't see it I don't lose sleep over it. Not sure what this has got to do with thread topic, just a comment following on from post one or two above😎

Power bills rates, insurance, house maintanence, petrol things like that spring to mind lol.

Definatly more than 50 by a fair margin, just at present I just find having a punt don't excite me, done it long enough I can take it or leave it, just like the ABs havnt seen fuck all of them this year, Xmas is another thing I've given up , getting older, same old same old, getting older you look at life differently, the yougins despite having technology and all the things we never had years ago in many ways know fuck all, but when your young you think you do, takes a long time to see otherwise lol.

I may suggest to Entain if I can front a add about responsible gambling, I've bet on horses and sport for a longtime up until a month ago when as it stands when I had my last punt, and believe it or not it's not that hard to stop if you try hard enough, I'm still,alive and living nicely, everyone can do it if they want too, not sure though if that's good for their business but winning punters ain't either lol. Roll on the next lotto draw😷

Many who play lotto would never bet on horses, reason, no massive pools to tempt people into bothering, wouldn't think lotto is a problem, 2 draws a week,