curious

Dance On Ice 1-11 21 Feb 95 1200m TALLEYS FISHERIES IMPROVERS $4,000 WEST Good G IMP Got back,powered home thru mid, 1.12.15 Chris O'Brien $2,600

Well I was hoping for a bit of sting out but...

How it got from a Slow 7 yesterday morning to a Dead 6 yesterday afternoon to a Dead 5 this morning with the Met service reporting occasional light drizzle in the interim is beyond me. If they have some kind of moisture suction device down there that can do that, they should share it around. I can think of some tracks that could use it.

Just checking out some of Petone's work. Note the update time and the track condition time. Someone must be psychic ... or maybe psycho! How is anyone supposed to operate professionally in that kind of environment? Ashburton RC @ Ashburton Last updated 13/12/2021 2:01pm Thursday, 16 Dec 2021 Print › Racebooks › Going Dead5 7.42 am 14/12/21 Weather Cloudy Rail Out 2m | Drying Track Left hand 1876m Straight 382 Metres

Just looked it up. We won a race at Westport 21 Feb 95. Ran 3rd the second day 24 Feb. When did it close?

Recognising the fact that twilight meetings impact participants, specifically trainers with staff and horses having to travel back from meetings which finish after 7pm, NZTR has attempted to keep these meetings close to key training centres where possible. For the purposes of this trial there are no twilight meetings in the South Island. Just our from NZTR. Why not trial that at Riccarton too? That's close to a key training centre isn't it?

Yes. She told me to breathe out and I breathed in. Reckoned that wouldn't work.

Lets make that a rx in your paper then.

Why not just reschedule ALL the coast meetings to the Riccarton AWT? That would suit me. I can fly down and back same day. It would also save a hell of a lot of petrol, beer and wear and tear on Parthur's Arse.

Yeahh the races were abandoned. The party was going strong when we headed home and reportedly rocked on well into the night. Might just as well have run the races in Canterbury. Don't think anyone would have noticed.

Yes. Do. Good discussion but nothing to do with Noverre anymore.

Reefton, if you are really going to write this paper you need to do so with blinkers off. Why would anyone with a horse in training in Canterbury want to race it on the West Coast? Nothing against West Coast racing. Loved going there and I think we previously discussed I once won a race at one of the final Westport meetings. Never raced one there when training in Canterbury though. Did relent and take one to Kumara once. However, a sprinkling of coal dust and some overnight rain and we spent the morning watching helicopters trying to dry out the track and were home for afternoon tea. A prominent SI trainer at the time had also relented but also said, never again.

I think we are way past that stage. They didn't and haven't. Tried to get the Canterbury TA on board to do so 20 years ago. Weren't interested.

So, what is an owner or trainer supposed to do? Keep moving horses round the country to where there are opportunities for it? We do have one in work down there and this has a big impact on us. It's fucking ridiculous. Moved the horse down there because there were virtually no races for it in the CD spring but half a dozen down there. A few delays and most of those were missed. Now nothing in Canterbury for 2+ months. Spell it? Retire it? Bring it back to the CD where there are a number of opportunities now - Trentham/ Awapuni etc.? Problem is with low rating points may not get starts. If we'd kept it here we would probably be deciding whether or not to go round on a heavy track at Foxton trials this week. At least there is the AWT down there now to get one ready. Go round on an industry day and try to get some rating points without winning? Find a jockey capable of executing that? I know it happens. Have first hand knowledge in fact of a still leading SI jockey in Melbourne for a Cup lead up race telling the trainer 'shit I've never been asked to pull one up in a 500k race before'. But hook it he did. Plans went a bit awry after that but still. This sort of stuff just gets punters thronging to bet on NZ racing.

I agree Freda that this is pretty much how it has been for decades with virtually no summer racing in Canterbury. Certainly worked well for some who enjoyed the travel to the coast and central Otago but others simply gave up after Cup week, turned horses out and prepared them for autumn, maybe keeping the odd one going for Dunedin or Timaru. The coast in January was often a necessity to give horses runs for Trentham as it was really the only option there. Hasn't really changed much.

Exactly. And they say that they want tiered racing then don't cater at all for the upper tiers for more than 10 weeks. Same here in the CD. 2 R65 sprints for the upper tiers programmed September through mid November.

Yes. Though I'm not overly keen about using that method to attend a funeral.

Couldn't get into a funeral today without one.

Probably a goner? Wellington RC, Wakefield Challenge Stakes (G2). The rating of 98 was well below the 102 tolerance threshold and 105 benchmark. The race lacked depth in this season’s edition, with the top 4 starters as opposed to finishers yielding no improvement. It was noted that the race had also failed the 102 threshold in the prior season with an 100.5 rating but that the impact of Covid had meant this had been disregarded. An Alert was imposed.

https://www.punters.com.au/news/star-galloper-incentivise-out-for-foreseeable-future-20211206/

I have a mole plough and 6" groundhog (multi-position) aerator here that I'm about to sell if you want one. Had a couple of very internationally experienced track work riders here for a few months earlier this year. Probably don't even know what a groundhog is but couldn't believe how well the little tracks in my back paddock stood up to daily work and recovered. And yes, had the roller treatment too. You can do that once you have the aeration and root structure.

Apparently not even though they'd been alerted by the rider concerned that he thought the track was unsafe and elected to do nothing about it except send them round on it.

You would think the stewards would have queried the ride on that basis wouldn't you and reported their findings?

Works fine. Breaks up the compaction layer.

Exactly what he did. Sensible.