curious

Some good news from Waverley. The RIB and Club representatives inspected the Waverley track on Friday afternoon. The track is currently in good order, albeit heavy, and considered safe for racing.

I don't think it was ever intended that meetings programmed for grass, if abandoned would be transferred to the AWs except perhaps in very rare circumstances. Probably not feasible in most instances in 48 hours or less unless the abandoned meeting was at the same track as the AW. The idea as I understood it was that by programming more winter meetings on the AWs the chance of those meetings being abandoned would be slim. At the same time, reducing the load on the grass tracks would give them more recovery and preparation time thereby potentially reducing the chance of abandonments at those meetings.

Are you saying that if all the AW meetings had been instead programmed on the grass that none of them would have been abandoned?

Wasn't at the Levin jumpouts but the track was listed as a Slow 8. Did they mean a Heavy 8?

I take your point JB. They certainly were running a couple of seconds slower than you'd expect at Cambridge or Riccarton. Whether or not that is due to the specific nature of the Awapuni track or whether riders were taking a cautious approach I guess the jury is still out on that. As to your query Huey, yes, I think there is a pool of horses that suit the AWTs just as there is a pool that suit firmer summer tracks and another that suits heavy winter tracks. Most of the latter however, are not capable of running the 1.10/1.22 times that the AWTs require. Much of the pool that suits the AWTs are probably summer horses, particularly older ones that usually spend this time of year in the paddock. It may take connections a while to recognise that these horses for the most part can pretty much race year round with the availability of the AWTs.

“We had positive feedback from everybody and the jockeys said it was nice to ride on. There was rain on the day and it obviously didn’t affect it so it was another positive step forward,” he said. As has been the case at Cambridge and Riccarton, the synthetic surface isn’t to the liking of all horses. “We have to embrace it and it’s not the answer to everything and it’s not going to suit every horse,” Didham said. “I galloped one the other day and she didn’t handle it all and then went to the jump-outs on the grass on Tuesday and won. “We’ve got other horses that go really well on it and it’s a matter of identifying what’s handling it and what’s not.” https://loveracing.nz/News/37469/SynthetictrackupandrunninginCD.aspx

I also had a look at them all. Generally thought it raced and acted well. As you say, a bit hard to tell more until you have full fields going around at racing speed and pressure. Not too concerned about the bend at this stage. Only one I noticed on one rein there was on the wrong leg. Think I'd be happy to race one on it once I've had a look at some full fields getting round there on a race day.

Seems trainers are taking a wait and see approach to the AWT trials at Awapuni tomorrow. 32 noms compared to 100+ that went around on the grass at Foxton a month ago and that with spring horses that might prefer the firmer footing cranking up.

Free lunch tickets were yellow, maybe buff. Didn't need free drink vouchers. Various committee people bought those.

Tim was about everywhere both days I was there. Talking to people. Couldn't help bumping into him 2 or 3 times during the day. In the Balmerino room, birdcage etc. The NZTR CEO was also about on Saturday.

Top bloke and looked after us but no longer on the committee. Life member though and contributor to the Gold Club sponsorship group there.

We had the Balmerino Room buffet both Wednesday and Saturday last week. Now $45 I think. Excellent Wednesday. Good Saturday.

Was it my imagination, or did he have the irons pulled back up a few holes? Don't recall seeing him riding that short in quite some time.

Yes Jo McGartland died at Rangiora in 2002. Ray Hewinson at Ashburton later that year and sadly but ironically that was at almost the same spot on the Ashburton track that his nephew Hunter Thomas had perished at almost 2 decades prior. I find it hard to believe that Ellis could say something so ignorant and so dismissive.

I'll be there Wednesday Doomed and likely have a guest pass or 2. Be good to catch up. PM me.

7 noms. One tragically euthanised on Saturday, so no more than 6.

Ironically, 2 weeks away from the resource consent hearing to demolish an historic building.

I'm personally feeling very sad that I will be there on Saturday for the first time in many years and not able to climb to the roof of the Grand National stand with the binocs to watch the great race.

I need to learn how to embed whole articles like that chief. How do I do that?

Unbelievable. Chris Rowe, commercial manager at Riccarton Racecourse, said market research revealed the Cup and Show Week branding had "not really resonated" and wasn't well recognised. "Cup week has been an iconic week in New Zealand for many, many years. Maybe that's why it was so difficult to get the (Cup and Show) brand across."

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/115885921/spring-bloom-campaign-replaces-nz-cup-and-show-branding

Can u post the article. It sounds incredible!

I think you are missing the point chief. I've seen plenty of 10yos running cross country events on tracks far worse than Riccarton is likely to provide today over much more than 1600m. I think you'll find that most August 2 year olds have begun their preparations at least 6 months before, say March, perhaps with a break in between, The 2yo year is an important period for musculoskeletal and mental development and having a race or 2 is a significant milestone in that process.

It's a 1 day AWT meeting if you look.

Why? You'd prevent your 10yo child from playing sport against their own age group?