curious

Yes would make more sense to me to inspect tomorrow morning before those horses leave and then if all ok first thing raceday.

They've moved from the human population to the horse population?

Don't think accessibility to the human population is a big factor. Covid aside, most of New Zealand is accessible to that population. Proximity to the horse population is what will more likely generate competitive racing and thus wagering revenue to cover stakes funding.

Not ideal but don't see how it is justifiable or sustainable for the overall good of NZ harness racing.

Really? Don't think so.

I see this on another channel. Hope that puts a rocket under them. The Members Council have serious concerns about Owners being blocked from attending Racing. These have been communicated to Bruce Sharrock COO of NZTR. Sharrock's position is that Owners should be able to attend and view their horses races.

It's obviously rocket science to them. Revenue is directly related to number of runners. They do stuff like programme an open 1600 which draws 4 noms and they then delete. Meanwhile, they eliminate 10 horses from say an R65 1600. Regular direct contact with all trainers in the catchment would avoid this and surely more than pay for itself.

They could just contact trainers to do that couldn't they? They should be doing it anyway before setting the programming.

You can't book anything until you have a runner accepted I don't think.

It beats me if most are animal/horse lovers as you would assume. What makes you say he is a recidivist offender?

OK. So, we are talking about cobalt, not iron and I think you mean 6000 mcgs, not mgs?

But there is iron in all feeds, even in grass and water. That may sustain normal levels. What are you talking about with a 6000mg read out? Of what? And what does that have to do with hemoplex?

What's wrong with hemoplex? Has only a minimal amount of iron in it and is a mix of vitamins, minerals and amino acids all found in most feed mixes. Does have a trace of cobalt but probably not enough to trigger the threshold at recommended doses.

Totally agree. Unfortunately rehoming is not necessarily a good option from an animal welfare standpoint. As you say, considerable due diligence is necessary and sometimes a bullet is a kinder option.

Rides all her own work and works full time aside from training (very successfully) half a dozen horses. Where have these young people gone in NZ racing?

At red light, they do have to exclude those without vaccine passports at any events. That is the law. They can still hold the events with the 100 person limit among other things.

FYI, I know exactly what it feels like to be excluded because I'm unvaccinated. I think that's atrocious but it's the law at this point.

What greater good? So, Trentham and Ellerslie providing for owners this weekend is against the greater good?

Or the elite of thoroughbred racing animal welfare maybe?

Jockeys in Sweden will no longer be able to use the whip for encouragement when the new racing season begins in that country on Apr. 10. Swedish racing authority Svensk Galopp has published a new rule that will allow jockeys to carry the crop, but only use it “to ward off a dangerous situation.” Recently, jockeys in Sweden have been allowed to hit their horses three times in a race. The whip, however, has not been allowed in jumps racing or for 2-year-old racing. Helena Gartner, project manager of the Scandinavian Racing Regulations Committee, said, “The use of the whip in Sweden has been discussed for years. The regulations have changed gradually and the foam-padded sticks were introduced some years ago, but now it is time to ban the use of the whip completely. Whip use in horse racing simply does not belong in 2022.”

Yeah, well that member and other members should get together and put a rocket under the CJC board and management. The members control the club after all. The decision is bad enough on its own but the fact that they notified it 36 hours before raceday is atrocious. They at least could have let people know they couldn't be bothered before nominations closed. The whole thing stinks.

The reason they gave was the limited available time-frame. But Wellington and Auckland managed as Tesio points out. It's a crock of shit and feels like a 🖕

Exactly, and as Freda points out the hospitality suites could be used for that purpose. They are all open to the outside so essentially reasonably safe outdoor areas fit for this purpose. It's just pure laziness. The NZTR protocols allow it. Makes me want to give up, if not throw up. Gutting treatment of owners, sponsors and members imo,

"due to the country currently being in COVID Protection Framework ‘RED’ and with the limited timeframe available, this raceday will be run as a closed door meeting. This means no members of the public, including owners, sponsors and members, will be admitted to this race meeting. Only essential raceday personnel are permitted to attend." What? "the limited timeframe available". The meeting has been scheduled for months. And the traffic light system for 2 months. What is the limited time-frame within which they couldn't get organised?

Exactly. They knuckle over because it is inconsistent, not because it's slippery. Very dangerous.