curious

https://www.racingnews.co.nz/te-akau-climbing-trc-ladder/

We'll find out next week.

Do the All Blacks train on synthetic?

Are you taking the piss? There is no comparison between the beach and the poly as a galloping surface.

We don't have enough grass tracks that aren't completely stuffed?

Might be getting a bit off topic but no. That's not what I said. 3 months with no Feature meeting in Canterbury- Westland. It's nuts. Doesn't have to be at Riccarton. If NZTR don't sort the programming issues, they've no hope of helping Entain achieve wagering targets. They have to programme races in line with demand. Have a look at this week. Riccarton has a 30k 75 1400 with 20 acceptances, 6 balloted out. The equivalent feature race at Otaki has 10 runners. Likewise the R65 mile and sprint have 11 and 9 runners respectively whereas the equivalent 18k R65 1400 at Riccarton on Friday has 2 balloted out in each race after splitting it. As I said it's nuts if they want to develop wagering revenue. Stakes need to be aligned with available horses. The Riccarton races will generate way more revenue than the Otaki ones.

Where are the feature meetings in Canterbury/West Coast during that period post Cup week? I must have missed them.

Doesn't make any sense at all and it's no good talking to Sharrock about it. He needs to talk to the Pattern committee if he has an issue. It's nothing to do with NZTR otherwise. The Southland Guineas was under alert for its listed status because of weak fields, but that was lifted in 2023 because its rating was well above listed status for that renewal - 99.75 (cf. benchmark 98). The benchmark rating for a G3 is 103. It would need to achieve that for a few renewals to be upgraded. I doubt it will reach that level let alone listed status from this year's running. He's either ignorant or dreaming and a journalist of Searle's standing and longevity should have pointed that out to him and in the article imo.

He basically said the same thing about wagering. That's the TAB's job.

I had bets on the day and tried to get on during the outage but ended up placing that bet on betfair. It was my only winner on the day and the price was 25% better so it worked out well but would have annoyed me if I hadn't got on. The issue made me check my account details though and there is a box which was unticked - "Can we contact you". Don't know whether that is the problem. See what happens now I've ticked it. Still shouldn't have stopped them crediting a bb though. Just wouldn't have been able to let me know.

I don't think so but I'm only going by what Sharrock briefly said. In the next breath he said he was not an IT person and tried to stay as far away from it as possible. So, make of that what you want.

Don't know about the data centre but according to Sharrock they are bringing essentially their Oz platform, including for the phone app.

Keeping them and not making the best use of them when they can fill a dire need is probably worse.

Don't scare me. They paid out anyway!

Bet 365 superboost to $3. Get on!

Ice?

We are talking about bute, not "something else". Bute is bute. If you have a positive to bute you have to be using it. Or, it is present in an environment that you have put the horse in. If you can't compete without racing horses on painkillers then it's time for me to give up and creates a very shaky future for the industry.

Would I what?

Isn't that the question that Special Agent asked?

It is cheaper though to send them round at the races for a few quiet ones these days to educate them and get them fit, especially if you can manage to run in the first 10. If there are no grass trials, then not many other options. Though Entain and NZTR would like us to get on board with improving the wagering product.

The Riccarton and Ashburton trials had already been posted in this thread. Try reading first!!!

They also think that Private Eye "can play a role".

Looks a very happy horse to me and though I seldom think anything is worth less than $5-6, even money looks tempting to me.