curious

Might be a good idea to rip them up with a subsoiler then! It's hard to get water to drain through clay. Though at a track near me they tried to get it to drain uphill but that didn't work well either.

Yes but you can fix the topsoil structure with a plough though that would take the track out of action for 12-24 months. The problem is if you plough Riccarton, at least half of what you are ploughing will be clay and you'll be neatly rolling that on top of the top soil. It's too shallow and was built like that. A massive F up. If they'd just ploughed it and levelled out the undulations in the straight the first time, they'd probably only need to do the same again 30 years later. I just took delivery of 40 metres of soil mix for some orchard tree planting we are doing. It's similar to my vege garden soil and going on a sandy base. Equal parts topsoil, compost and pumice. Plants need air (soil structure), drainage (base), water (irrigation) and food (fertiliser),

Maybe not a bad option for lateral drainage either cf the much shallower sand slitting.

Yes I agree it would possibly be a fair temporary measure if it didn't interfere with the cross drainage and you could keep doing it.

Subsoiling the clay pan at Riccarton would seem like a waste of time to me. I think it would just seal back up in no time. It needs to be completely removed and a sandy base installed IMO. Anyway, they have lateral drains don't they? A subsoil plough would rip them to shreds.

I think that's the point Freda re the UK horses. The non-AWT gallops are nowhere near the hardness of firmer Australasian tracks even at worst. Good few years ago now but I'd say I never saw a gallop in Ireland anywhere much better than dead.

I don't claim to be an expert on this. I'll leave that to the veterinarians and scientists. However, from my experience and reading etc. the same principles apply to both prevention and treatment of skeletal injury such as shin soreness. This was discussed elsewhere in relation to the bone conditioning of European horses coming to Oz. I also don't mean to suggest that horses should be worked when they have severe acute shin soreness with considerable pain and inflammation which is maybe what Bid was referring to. However, hopefully these days not too many horses get to that point. Anyway, I agree Freda with the point you seem to be making that to condition bone for firm surfaces, the bone needs to be exposed to work on firm surfaces. Where I thought the AWT would be helpful is that horses with beginning signs of shin soreness could continue to work on it, or resume work on it sooner, before being re-exposed to fast work on firmer surfaces, meanwhile still getting a degree of concussion that helped the bone healing and re-modelling without risking aggravation of the injury. It will be interesting to see what impact the AWTs will have on the incidence of both shin soreness and catastrophic injury. I think training solely or primarily on an AWT then racing on a firm grass surface is a recipe for disaster. So, after all that Freda, my short answer is I think it can help but on its own is not sufficient. JMO. Interested in others' thoughts.

Perhaps our resident Cafe veterinarian would comment. It seems to me though that a track that consistently provides some give would be a valuable asset in executing such a programme.

Isn't an exercise program designed to keep the horse sound and encourage active and long-term re-modeling to permanently adapt the cannon bones to fast exercise the recommended treatment for shin soreness?

It was brought under the new whip rule and I think he was treated quite favourably in that he incurred no suspension as indicated by the rule. He agreed that he breached the rule. This rule needs to be enforced and that was done so fairly here imo and it appears also in Chris's. This is also in the context of a proposal further tightening of the rule: NZTR is interested in the views of racing participants, fans and other interested parties on: 1. the general proposition that the use of the whip be further restricted with effect from mid to late 2021, and that 2. in a further 3-5 years, be again restricted to a point where it can only be carried for the purposes of ‘safety and control’.

Maybe not but on a good day at least, he's still not far off it. Ever hear of tall poppy syndrome?

Not quite sure how the penalty fits with the new rules but I don't think behind the saddle has anything to do with it. It's presumably still a strike with the whip if it's down the shoulder. NZTR Revised Whip Guidelines - Penalty GuidelinesNZTR propose the revised whip guidelines come into effect on 7 October.Panelists have already been sent the guidelines and are expected to be fully conversant with these changesThere are 3 particular changes panelists need to be mindful of. The first is the limitation of 5 strikes of the whip prior to the 100 metres.The proposed penalty starting points for a breach of this requirement are: 1st breach - $300 fine2nd breach - $500 fine3rd breach - day suspensionHowever, If the number of strikes is 10 or more a 6 day suspension is to be the starting point.Panelists should be aware the RIU will be using warnings quite liberally for early breaches of this rule and therefore when a rider appears before a committee he or she will have been amply warned of their use of the whip responsibilities. Little or minimal (ie in exceptional circumstances) mitigation of penalty is expected. Panelists should note NZTR’s animal welfare concerns in bringing in these changes and support that objective in their penalty setting. Note should also be taken of the animal welfare focus in the “Burgess Report” terms of reference.Where the breach occurs in a Group or Feature race and the number of strikes is 4 or more than the permitted 5 the starting point is a 6 day suspension plus a fine at the committee’s discretion up to the rider’s percentage of prize money (where applicable). If less than this but still more than 5 then a fine appropriate to the status of the race is to be the starting point.The second change relates to a restriction on consecutive strikes of the whip within the permitted 5 strikes before the 100 metres.Early offending under this requirement will be dealt with by the RIU issuing warnings so a charge ought only to follow a high end breach of this rule or circumstances where a rider simply fails to heed the warnings and adjust their use of the whip. Mitigation of penalty therefore ought to be rare.Proposed penalty starting points are therefore:Where it is a first breach and the number of consecutive strikes are 2-5 then a fine of $200;For a second breach a fine of $300;For a third breach a fine of $500; For a fourth or more breach a 6 day suspension.Where the number of consecutive strikes is 6 or more the starting point is a $500 fine. Should a rider incur a second breach involving 6 or more consecutive strikes then the starting point is to be a 6 day suspension.Mitigation is to be exceptional.Panelists are to be familiar with the new requirements and significant restrictions on use of the whip by Amateur Riders.The third major change relates to it being a breach for a trainer, owner or equivalent interest to give instructions to a rider which may lead to a breach of the use of the whip restrictions. The proposed penalty starting point for a breach is a $750 fine and $1500 for a second breach. Charges of this type are likely to be rare and possibly occur more around major races.IMPORTANT NOTE All riders’ records under the whip rules will reset with effect from 7 October 2019 being the implementation date for the whip guideline changes.

https://loveracing.nz/Common/SystemTemplates/Modal/Video.aspx?v=http%3a%2f%2fwww.racingreplays.co.nz%2fmedia%2f202011%2fCBRY-R07-141120.mp4&i=%2fCommon%2fImage.ashx%3fw%3d565%26h%3d314%26a%3d1%26o%3d1%26z%3d1%26bg%3deeeeee%26p%3dhttp%3a%2f%2fwww.racingreplays.co.nz%2fmedia%2f202011%2fCBRY-R07-141120.jpg&r=Race 7 - NZB RTR SALE 18-19 NOV PREMIER&rs=1

It seems the flaw in the system is the starter who didn't reset the gate electrics. Either that or they should be automatically reset. However that may create a risk of them being triggered accidentally so it seems sensible to have a 2 step process. A bit like having a double layer of password protection for more confidential files. Though I don't think encryption would be a good idea here.

How do I get a share in one of them racing pigeons? just bought a house and it only cost me twice what I thought it was worth so looking for some place to spend the left over cash.

They should be using these or similar like in the UK but the total lack of investment in track infrastructure here for decades is causing the problem.

Because of antique irrigation systems that don't provide even application or application levels that run off to the inside of any camber?

True. You are never going to eliminate catastrophic injury. We try to mitigate them with various health and safety measures though. They have lowered the speed limit on country roads round here from 100km to 80km. They haven't banned cars and driving.

$1.3m seems like a small price to pay when we are talking about even a single incident in a $5m race. And if you watch that video above you will see that portable scanners are now available and in use.

We don't know if he was scanned do we? We don't yet know whether damaged or weak bone structure caused or contributed to that specific injury. I've not seen though any indication that he was scanned. If so, it would have been as a private activity.

If you don't like that summary I can send you 20 odd papers to read.

Watch/ listen to this.

Yes. I get your point. It would probably depend how affordably that could be done if it is mass numbers of horses. But a bit of creative thinking (I know that's not common in this game!) would surely make it affordable for most. Maybe NZTR could buy a portable CT scanner and employ a technician to move it round the country and operate it? Then send to their vet for review? If it could be done for a couple of hundred bucks, I'd probably do it anyway.

I don't agree. I think that bone scanning all horses before their first start each season would make a difference. Whether that should be MRI, CT or scintigraphic I'll leave to the experts. Maybe any of the above. You have to think about that cost in light of the cost to the industry of the catastrophic injuries which in the worst case could be to shut it down completely.

Relentless indeed. Talking with a couple of key players in the last week they seem to have little hope that we will have thorougbred racing in NZ as we know it in 2 or 3 years.