curious

see above

By officially canned,I mean the contract was concluded last December and there is a new one in place. Not saying it wasn't a disaster.

Raceform are obviously a bit behind the times. It was finally canned officially last year for what sounds like good reason. Not to say that the due diligence when it was contracted wasn't lacking.

By the CD debacle, do you mean the abandonments at Hastings and Trentham or did something go awry at trial meetings also?

Doesn't seem like it. The grass track issue was eloquently raised with Balcombe yesterday particularly wrt to the use of Rangiora and Motukarara for that, especially given they are within a 30 min drive of the bulk of Canterbury horses in training. He said he wasn't aware of the history of that etc. and would have to investigate further and get back. Didn't seem to be aware it was an issue.

Back to the grass trials issue. Some movement. Riccarton running trials on the CP? From: Billy McGown <Billy.McGown@nztr.co.nz> Sent: Thursday, February 15, 2024 10:18 AM Cc: National Racing Bureau <nrb@nztr.co.nz> Subject: 2YO Trial - Riccarton 23 February Good morning An 800m trial restricted to 2YOs will be held prior to Race 1 at Riccarton on Friday 23 February. Entries close with The Bureau the same time as nominations for raceday, Tuesday 20 February at 12 noon. Kind regards Billy McGown Racing Coordinator New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing p: +64 4 576 6256 a: 106-110 Jackson Street, Petone, Wellington 5012 LOVERACING.NZ

Unfortunately, the business plan is evidently a work in progress and he said they might even publish it if they ever get it finalised.

That might be a bit on the lean side. 18% is probably a better estimate.

Sharrock seemed very optimistic today that the new OnTrack well-being programme can be there to help people with attitudes like that. Not so sure he was very keen in supporting small trainers with one or two horses in remote locations even if they have a decent sized car to tow their float to the races. On the other hand, he seemed keen to get starter numbers up and was very pleased that more older horses are making significantly more starts than they used to.

Yes, Gunna definitely had him later on at Woodend Beach and I'm pretty sure you are right that Robert Thomas trained him earlier on.

Agree. This is ridiculous. It was pointed out here and could have been done with a garden hose for heaven's sake. "A solution has been successfully identified in partnership with Total Irrigation, involving the implementation of movable impact sprinklers" They surely didn't need Total Irrigation to work that out when the lady at Mitre 10 garden centre could have done it.

I doubt it but can't remember any ever being trained there. Freda will know more.

Gets worse though. Both New Plymouth and Hastings race meetings will also be deleted without further nominations. Can't say I recall that ever happening before but I guess they need to save the stake money from those to support the Ellerslie meeting.

Be simple and cheap as chips wouldn't it?

When I said plenty of grass tracks, I was including those like Rangiora, Motukarara and the Riccarton CP, all of which are useable for trials (not sure the status of Motukarara) but have seemingly been sent to the sidelines. One or more of them need to be reinstated for that purpose.

She remains down the list in the Longine's ratings for 2023. Rated 118, behind Lucky Sweynesse, 125; Elite Power, 123; Think About It, 122; I Wish I Win, 121; Private Eye, 120; Shaquille, 120; and New York Thunder, 119. Cylinder is rated equal at 118. So, 8th equal sprinter in the world at this point.

Do you think we are overdue to start another Imperatriz thread?

Beats me. Why would you schedule synthetic trials when there's no synthetic racing for 2 1/2 months and plenty of perfectly good grass tracks about? OK for young ones that might need some gate practice but not much else.

Meeting News Riccarton Synthetic Trials - Deleted The Riccarton Synthetic Trials that were scheduled to run tomorrow (Tues 13-02) have been deleted due to insufficient nominations.

I thought the whole growing medium below the turf was supposed to be sand and mesh elements?

I don't think there is any suggestion that bandages be banned for racing. I don't think there is any in the Netherlands. Only trotting. This initiative applies only to equestrian events.

Agree with the rest of your post but numb nuts? Or horse health and safety visionaries? https://equusmagazine.com/news/dutch-national-federation-bans-bandages-in-competition/

You've been watching too many 1980's Jane Fonda "no pain, no gain" work out videos.