mikeynz

Sign of the times, I noted the lack of people at rugby last night, a far cry from old Waikato Auckland match, Ranfurly Shield in Napier today, probably be a few there, TV has been good and bad for sport/racing.

The Womens game is more interesting now lard arse is gone but seeing her getting dumped out at the last hurdle bought joy to my eyes lol, good player no doubt, best player, no, best performance was against Carlos Ramos, umpire, summed her up, it's all about me, the media didnt help, spose it made good reading. Now that shes finished and is well off financially she will probably be investing in a 5 star sty, it dont matter what you got that counts in life, it's what you are. Novak not being there does water down the men's side but life goes, the madman from oz missed a golden opportunity to win a slam. Sky, dont have sky but there is a real surge in womens sport coverage, I dont mind but I dont watch it, I find it more irritating if you go on say for instance the BBC sports site, you click on a cricket story or rugby or something and every second one is womens sport, calling batsmen batters,(wtf) , do women deserve to be paid same if less people watching, old lard arse prattled on for equal prize money but didnt front against Novak or Rafa, just beat up on real women. Horse racing is one sport where males and females compete on equal footing, and I'm full of praise for any top female rider,driver. Sky shift some live sport to prime, but why they bother screening AB matches delayed next day is pointless.

Caroline Garcia who I posted about earlier here has made the semis at New York, playing her best career tennis, Nick Kyrgios is well placed to win the men's title, it's his to lose. Angie Kerber is pregnant and William's is gone, (hopefully for good) Last night Australia farewelled Judith Durham and tennis said goodbye(hopefully) to William's last weekend, couldn't get a greater difference between class and trash, chalk and cheese. The All Blacks win well but did Argentina turn up, had they celebrated too much from creating history last week, are the ABs really any better? Warriers have a exodus of 15 players, a new coach next year but no change of the CEO, Mr George, everything starts at the top how does one expect change under same management. Hopefully this thread hasn't died, plenty of things to chat about🙂

Once again the racing show knocks of at 4 58 and listeners get the Warriers yet the best racing is just getting going, yet after the match they have a hour or two of reruns, the racing coverage on this site is shit, I dont care if they run a punters club or even waffle on in between races but getting decent coverage that actually informs the people who keep this industry going (punters) cant be that hard. One wonders when the next time they broadcast a harness race, maybe the 2nd tuesday in November it's been discussed enough in recent times, will things ever change ? It dont bother me these days but still seems a bit mindless by the programmers.

I've said often my thoughts on senz racing coverage, none of it positive coz its shit, what gets me is the saturday show which is rubbish anyway sometimes knocks off early for something else yet often they can split stations for different programmes. Right now as I write they have the rural roundup on some stations and Mark Stafford on others so it can be done, racing needs a good racing show on Saturdays that runs through to about the last race from Adelaide or Brisbane that actually informs punters outside that just simulcast Trackside 1 and 2 online. Why people in the South Island get subjected to the Warriers or any NRL game over racing seems odd, it's not that hard, just my thoughts. Senz buying a slot thinking they are promoting harness racing is shit, imagine advertisers paying good money only to see them spending it on a raffle ticket, I'd be seeking a better deal or give them the flick I dont think the TAB advertise there now but I only listen now and then so not sure.

Younger people probably bet on other things,(sport) but I honestly can't understand why racing has nothing like lotto as in a big pool,(million dollars) maybe at the weekend which captures the publics attention, I've often thought maybe pick 15 winners or something from say 20 races, similar to the football pools it has to be hard to win so it builds up if not struck, not only would it attract people to support the big prize but the xtra interest in each individual race would increase interest too but you have to have quality racing and quality fields, not always easy to present with the standard of racing in NZ at present, Back to harness maybe the rating 35 to 45s race for less those over race for more, more incentive to try and clear maiden ranks faster.

Looks like the media are still fawning over Serina Williams, only going to take a half decent player to send her to the history books, second best is probably a bit of a overestimation, remember Steffi Graff retired at 30 with one title less, could have won plenty more if not for injury.

Even the NZ cup , having rating 120 horses racing against rating 70 or 80 off the same starting point seems odd, the old system was simple, open class was 10 penalty wins, if you won you got handicap, the cup is still a handicap if you look logically, the lower rated horses are handicapped by racing better horses, maybe the cup should be for rated 100 and over it would certainly add impetus to lead up races, horses needing to win to qualify. Or maybe the ratings should be tighter, instead of a 85 rating variance.

And that would be betting ? Riccarton grass track a heavy 10, can't be good to keep hammering the shit out of it all the time, share the load with some other clubs or does that make too much sense.

Its gunna be interesting to see how the gallops go in Southland this year, with Tyler scaling back, Taplins gone, Blair Edie, who knows what will happen there, it is actually the one or two horse trainers who keep things going but is there enough? 6 races at Ascot Park on friday, I spose for the few still turning up with small fields they probably do ok short term, problem being though how long can you sustain meetings with small fields and poor turnover ? I thought Manawatu were the only ones running mini meetings, seem to becoming more prevalent across the board.

58 noms for Invercargill Friday, so not just Addington.

After round four what do Southland and Manawatu have to play for, no playoff for the bottom six, by this point is starting to become a little pointless for one or two, mathmatically they can still make eight but realisticaly it wont happen. The npc has produced some good rugby, close scores, a perfectly fine competition, apart from a few minor adjustments why change it.

Was just being a bit sarcastic, all the talk yesty was about the ground and the facility's and the fact it was cold, strange it gets like that in winter, Argentina are not a bad side, one could say they are average , if they are they still beat the ABs the rugby union have made their decision about the coach, always remember the whole board endorsed the coach so if the coach goes then they go too. Bringing a test debutante on after 79 minutes, interesting.

Might have been too cold for the All Blacks.😄 Need a indoor stadium.. No more reviews until after the World Cup, everything's fine.

I'm with you on that one, and these days I only fluff around on the TAB, but barring others I'd say that's it, competition is important, Sky raised their game as a result of competition, the TAB just need to keep striving to do better,

Maybe not a sellout for the rugby in Christchurch tonight, a lot of whining and sniveling about the venue, having to sit out in the cold, to watch a winter sport played on a winters night, how unusual, maybe a telecast blackout for the match in Canterbury if not sold out, mind you the way rugby is going if they applied that theory to every test match might be the norm not the odd time.

The presenters on senz being poor, who are you implying?

One wonders if Oamaru might have been better racing this week and Thursdays Riccarton meeting may have been better last week to have continuity, as I said before one is starting to wonder where Oamaru fits in in the scheme, one feature meeting in July but two other meetings just poked in here and there, one wonders how long before they stop there completely. Therein is another issue, if the suits want to close Oamaru or Timaru which one goes, harness would want Oamaru, the gallops probably Washdyke.

On a slightly different tangent I was just checking results from the Kurow meeting, this once was a significant raceday but gee just small fields yesty, starting to believe there is too much same old same old with harness racing, cant be easy to maintain public interes consistently, heaps of meetings I dont pay any attention to at all these days, yesty was another, hence only came to my attention when looking at results.

I was actually going to comment last week about Oamaru only having six races, was starting to wonder where they fit in in the scheme of things, if at all yet I see only 50 noms for Riccarton on thursday, seems numbers are struggling right through the South, some of these meetings cant be very profitable.

Talking about crowds I was watching trackside yesty, I don't watch often, when they were doing some interviews at The Valley it looked like hardly a soul in the grandstand, just a observation.

So many great songs sung by this lot so this one is just random. Do they still make music like this.. The Seekers - Love Is Kind Love Is Wine(1968).mp4

Devlin is a bit short fused between the ears, I use to love radio sport until Brendon Telfer was replaced, after that I only listened to live commentary as in mainly cricket, Waddle and the cricket crew were very interesting. Senz the new setup who bought the trackside frequencies I had great hope for, and in reality they do a pretty good job sportswise but as they treat the racing fans like a bunch of idiots I just don't bother with them now, Ian Smith is ok, he knows what he's talking about, the rest, I can take it or leave them, I see Mark Watson is on there sometimes, another nitwit. Devlin incedentally is on a new online station run by Sean Plunkett, one time I'm pleased I don't have to hear him on traditional radio.

Is that 22 for Auckland mayoralty, I'm not up with Auckland issues.

At the end of the day, if they fail miserably before or during the World Cup then it's not only the coach and his assistants but the appointees of the people in those positions that will be judged. Scott Robertson or anybody else can't do themselves any harm if they ain't there, he ain't the only one who could be in line for the job ,will we have the worst bunch running All Black and NZ rugby, that's the big question, they have made their decision, as I say, time will tell.