Wingman

That is the beauty of punting on thoroughbreds. Should you think a horse or jockey is overrated then if correct there lies real value. Warren Kennedy has an excellent strike rate at Pukekohe because it rides similar to the tracks he raced on in South Africa. There are many gaps, accepted some created by wayward horses, with the long straight at Pukekohe giving him plenty of time to not leave it too late. The other thing is some jockeys are hot cold types. Look at Kozzi Asano's ride on Ribbons at Otaki race 6 Thursday. Terrible ride, approximately 30 losing rides since last win. Then today back in the winners circle with a perfectly timed run on Sudbina, race 4 Hastings.

Please read Reefton's comments 12.03pm Tues, that is; "bit of an over reaction" to which I concur. Then his comments 5.28pm same day but specifically the last two paragraphs. Then for those that "totally disagree" read the Chief's reply at 6.55pm although bear in mind these two are diametrically opposed to each other. Now to put aside the 'I'm right, your wrong rhetoric I believe this debacle last Saturday all comes down to poor decisions. The previous gates were getting very tired and the 'upgraded' gates, I suggest was made by settling on a good price, not the best solution. To defend that comment I refer to Leith Innes who was the most animated I have ever heard him with regards to his distain for starting gates with clip ons. The current CEO of NZTR has not procrastinated and the clip ons are gone. Few fields in reality will be disadvantaged. Yes, big races like the Oaks one may rebut, yet the reality is there will be more than four that really shouldn't be there. Next season the numbers will be back to their usual maximum limits. I will close with these comments. Collectively we have moaned for many years about which tracks should be or not be closed. We have justifiably gone to a level far higher than moaning, about yesteryears woeful executive. On a positive side we are making a lot less noise regarding infrastructure and the all important stakes levels. This weeks field sizes however reinforce that the Elephant in the room continues to be ignored,...the CALENDAR

Meantime an excellent ride by Lisa Allpress in the Wanganui cup. She might not have got the same latitude on a premier day but if apprentices are looking to improve their skills, this race is 101 on how to position and improve ones position on your horse at various stages in a race.

It can be a depressing watch. The last race at Wanganui was not the only poor race yesterday but all highlighted how thin the ranks are in NZ of highly skilled jockeys. There is one pragmatic solution re apprentices. Give them more time to develop. 4kg claimers be only permitted to ride on industrial days midweek. 3kg claimers can ride Saturdays but not Premier/Super days. This would make racing safer and overall, there would be more natural attrition and with it increased skill levels. An example of this yesterday is Jess Allen riding the feature winner at Wanganui, Semper Magico, but she would not be able to ride at Counties type meetings until she went to being a 30wins/2kg claimer

An easybet? 1x2x2x4 = 16 x .31 = $5. He will be drinking lots of Shiraz