curious

Don't know but it sounds like we are going to be subjected to more of the same drivel next season.

It's our last show and we have an all-encompassing discussion with Bruce Sharrock, plus Paul O'Sullivan phones in to talk about his late father, Dave. Thanks for 4 great years, our stable of sponsors!

Yep. Would have made much more sense to use that money to fund an extra couple of feature meetings on the poly in June and July. Tiered racing, pfft.

With no feature meetings on the synthetic between May and August when that race is, it would be pretty hard to justify keeping a synthetic horse in work for the winter for that anyway.

Like most things, horse racing becomes someone's passion after being introduced to it by a parent. Then, the parent and the passion become forever linked. That is no different for Lance Gasaway, co-owner and co-breeder of Mystik Dan , who is set to run in the Kentucky Derby (G1) May 4 at Churchill Downs. Gasaway's father, Clint, would make the nearly two-hour trek from rural Gould, Ark., to Oaklawn Park with Lance and his brother Greg. That began a life-long passion for the sport. https://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/276534/gasaway-relishing-mystik-dans-run-to-the-derby

I don't really see that aeration is likely to be a problem for the mesh. It seems usual for Strathayrs and Ellerslie may have done too little too late. It's just going to move the mesh around. What I don't understand is why you would add a whole heap more sand to what is already primarily a sand layer anyway. Can't see how that can help anything or anybody other than the sand suppliers.

And Guerin thinks that 30mms on the day and 50mms for the week is an excuse for Ellerslie? Really?

"Despite rainfall in excess of 250 millimetres, or nearly 10 inches, during the week, Sunday's FWD Champions Day meeting came off without a hitch, as local horses took home the lion's share of the HK$72 million on offer. “They did an extraordinary job, with these types of weather conditions, the ground was extremely fair and it enabled all the horses to participate,” HKJC CEO Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges said of the track maintenance team. “Nobody could believe that with over 250mm of rain how well our track performed and provided fair going on which to compete." https://www.thoroughbreddailynews.com/ceo-praises-efforts-to-pull-off-champions-day/

You have to wonder if 3000 tons of sand might have the same result at Ellerslie?

What were they? Never that I know of?

Agree. It's not the horses or owners that have offended.

Synthetic Innovation Races - August 2024 Synthetic Innovation Races – August 2024 The following races have been approved as Synthetic Innovation Races. Canterbury JC at Riccarton Park, Wednesday 7 August - 1200m (Nomination Friday 2 August) WTR at Cambridge, Thursday 8 August - 2000m (Nomination Monday 6 August) Rangitikei RC at Awapuni, Friday 9 August - 1400m (Nomination Monday 6 August) OPEN HCP – SPEC COND Stake: $100,000 - $57,500, $18,500, $9,000, $5,000, $2,500, 6th-10th $1,500 Maximum Weight: 62kg Minimum Weight: 54kg Apprentice Allowances Special Conditions: Open to ALL horses that have had at least three starts on a Synthetic Track in New Zealand since 1 May 2023. If at the time of final withdrawal the number of horses remaining in the field is more than the starting limit, the Club/NZTR reserves the to select the field based on the criteria detailed in Special Condition 3 below. The order of entry into the field will be determined in order of: (3.1) Winners of three or more races on a synthetic racing surface since 1 May 2023 (3.2) Winners of two races on a synthetic racing surface since 1 May 2023 (3.3) Winners of one race on a synthetic racing surface since 1 May 2023 (3.4) Horses placed second two or more times on a synthetic racing surface since 1 May 2023 (3.5) Horses placed second on a synthetic racing surface since 1 May 2023 (3.6) Horses placed third two or more times on a synthetic racing surface since 1 May 2023 (3.7) Horses placed third on a synthetic racing surface since 1 May 2023 (3.8) Horses on a similar level because of this policy will be selected based on their rating with the highest rated horse being selected first and so on. (3.9) Horses on the same rating will be selected by the Handicapper

Well I've heard of silt traps to stop silt getting into drains but never heard of silt drains or draining silt.

What are silt drains?

Yes, I think the failure to address the Crusader cachment summer programming is devastating. It surely makes it nonviable to keep many average horses in work in Canterbury over that period. Pitty used to address it by relocating a chunk of the team to Wakouaiti for the summer I think but for most trainers it's not going to be feasible to have a Canterbury and southern division for the summer.

I don't see how Strahayr could possibly remove their name from it when the whole installation was done under the auspices of their advice, including the seeding process. Whether or not that advice was followed exactly by ATR is a bit less clear, nevertheless, they were and still are monitoring and advising. It's definitely a Strathayr, fundamentally the same structure as all others.

"My thoughts are the issue is around the delays (caused mainly by the amount of solid rock under the track being more vast than anticipated) & the need to get back racing there. The racing may have started back earlier than it should have. " "Yes, my thought exactly, they raced on it 6 months too early after the delays caused by as I mentioned above"

I don't think that's what he said. He said it needed more time. I think that meant before trying to race on it.

I note in the new racing calendar they have a meeting scheduled for Ellerslie in September. That's surely inviting a disaster to turn into a catastrophe?

Whatever it is, they've been handing it out for decades at NZTR which will be lucky to still exist in 5 years time.

You can't go 30 years and spend nothing on tracks and expect much different. I can probably think of more tracks that are closed or destined for closure that aren't stuffed than I can of the others being used.

For what? cars? For that kind of money they could have made it a top class training and trial facility as well, like most of the prime Oz tracks.

There might also be a saleability issue for horses winning trials on the poly cf. grass?

Which partly explains the clamour from punters when jumpouts in lieu of trials became a thing and there were no results available. I'm thinking of the Levin operation in particular. Now of course detailed results are available.

I reckon it's 50/50 the mechanical intervention works and we have an ok track by the end of the year. Just hope they don't do what Randwick did with their Kensington Strathayr and spend two years and $3mil trying to fix it only to end up with: Another set of trials are scheduled to be held on the Kensington track on January 12 but Racing NSW chief steward Ray Murrihy says it has no future in its current state. “It happens every time we use the track, they just get into it and rip it out," Murrihy said. “It hasn't improved. I can't see it being able to hold a race meeting as it is now.” More than $3 million has been spent renovating the Kensington track in the last two years in a bid to get it up to standard. Similar symptoms. The reasoning they went Strathayr in the first place is obscure. It's unproven in the Auckland climate. The grass species were untried on a Strathayr before and the seeding process had never been done before. Seems like a huge punt to me.