Reefton

4 hours ago, Chief Stipe said:

You are making an assumption that the horse slipped because it had lost a plate.  Did they or did they not inspect the track?  Surely the decision was based on that inspection.

But I can see this becoming the racing conspiracy of 2023.

Yes they inspected the track (good job I noticed them walking out so I chased them). The relevant point is despite five minutes desperate search they found no slip mark.  Nothing.  Not a fucking sausage!  However as I say it is not me risking my neck. 

I am going to go through the entire sequence of events but it will be tomorrow. Quite an education but I do not want the stipes job nor the riders job

4 hours ago, Joe Bloggs said:

I hope Brian and his committee get an apology from RIB, and some decent financial recompense, FFS this shit has to stop, racing in NZ has slipped into an abyss.

Not holding my breath but I will be pushing for it.  They will consign the request to the trash bin I imagine but they are going to know I have been there

4 hours ago, Freda said:

That has happened before to that set of connections - and the farrier told me himself - but at least he took the other plate off to even up the situation.

Only had one missing plate this time according to the riders

4 hours ago, Tesio said:

So why was the Paul Harris horse even allowed to start the race, it should have been scratched?

You tell me. Unusual that it be allowed through the plate inspection without a properly fitted and in good condition racing plate

5 hours ago, Chief Stipe said:

I'm sure the Secretary is pressing a case for another day.

Not without consulting me he won't 

5 hours ago, Mark D said:

My sources tell me that it lost the plate before the race Couldn't put it back on as the horse was too fired up BUT they allowed it to race.  Dodgy AF

As I understand it exactly correct 

5 hours ago, Shad said:

Apparently winner raced without a rear plate, which could have made a difference, may have been before race and not been able to be re plated, someone will know out there.

Correct.  Picked up at the plate inspection but allowed to run regardless

5 hours ago, Joe Bloggs said:

Brian must be banging his head against a wall somewhere, it beggars belief this shite, does Mose control the jocks room? I wonder how many watched the replay? Did the so called stewards? I would have loved the chance to watch it frame by frame, it's now gone past being farcical, the committee at Reefton should just say, you can go to hell........why on earth would they bother anymore, It's just not worth it.......go and play golf Brian it's got to be far more enjoyable than copping this bullshit.

Well I sort of think that but .........

5 hours ago, curious said:

What happens with Reefton now? Mon/Tues? Or scrapped altogether.

Didn't even ask. No way would we get another day so why bother enquiring?

5 hours ago, curious said:

Yeahh. Looks like it just got off balance and momentarily lost its footing. Didn't seem anything to do with the track surface. See what they say.

 

No slip mark identified

6 hours ago, billy connolly said:

Exactly, if the John Wayne on the winner hadn't have tried to force a run on the point of the home turn, they'd have still been racing and if he wasn't charged with careless riding the Stewards are incompetent.

 

That was exactly what Pitty reckoned and since there was no slip mark (despite them sending five minutes trying to find one - and I was right there) it is not hard to conclude that this was not a track issue

6 hours ago, Joe Bloggs said:

FWYW and IMO, The jock on the winner tried to force a run on the corner, the outside was considerably bigger than the mare and held it's ground, subsequently she lost her hindquarter for a second, as he dragged her sideways to go to the fence again......am I right or wrong, lots of lounge room jocks out there, but I see it differently than most, did a depuration of midgets go up and walk around and pull grass out again? Put me out of my misery.

You are dead right

Not happy. Just back to my iPad but out for a beer.  More to this than meets the eye but safety first

More to come

1 hour ago, curious said:

Best of luck. Hope you have a great day. Sorry we are not there to support you.

No probs.  Thanks for that Curious but it is the way things are I guess.  He was awful close last year.  

Appears to be overcast but dry in Reefton this morning

Fingers crossed it stays that way

I am hearing stories of a TAB do in Queenstown pre Christmas with a $40k cost(apologies if it is old news).  

Nice to have the stakeholders shouting 

6 hours ago, Tesio said:

Do you have off course total turnover figures also to get a proper comparison?  

Kumara will outdo Waikouaiti off course as well (assuming the track is not too rain affected).  Don't you worry about that

1 minute ago, Doomed said:

I don't think they are dim at all. Everything is going exactly to plan. It's just a hopeless plan.

I think a total management clean out is the only thing that can help NZ Racing. It won't save it as too much damage has already been done, but it might enable the industry to identify some sort of viable level.

If you could access he database of NZTR info a revolution both there and at the TAB along with public floggings of the Board Members and the CEO's would be in order.

These people have no skin in the game nor interest in the stakeholders or future.  As I have said many times in the past the racing stakeholders are just a pain in the arse for the TAB.  they happily show the third leg of the treble from Outer Mongolia than a local race. 

3 minutes ago, Doomed said:

Sadly that does not surprise me, but it still disgusts me. The stakes money being poured into Wingatui is unbelievable. It has always been an under-performing venue turnover wise.

There are hardly even any trainers left there, but it seems to have been identified as the great white hope of SI racing.

I don't want to drag another down to build ourselves up(there are some good people on the ORC and in the area) but the number of feature days at that venue does seem a little disproportionate to the return on stakes investment

And my old staple grumble....

Those who watched Geymouth yesterday and(fingers crossed) Reefton tomorrow and Kumara Saturday.  Kurow, Teherenikau Thames Gisborne Wairoa in their day.  Big crowds out enjoying Summer racing on tracks that are safe if not Flemington standard.  What in God's name is the rationale for closing course where people want to go?????  Racing needs all the friends(AND exposure to the masses) it can get but what is the thought process?  Shut em down and treat the remainder like shiite

Incidentally Dunedin boxing day with $400K or thereabouts in stakes - $63k oncourse turnover(I understand).  Greymouth did over 80k yesterday on $130k in stakes Kumara will do $300k minimum Saturday on similar to Grey.  Do they not want people introduced to racing?  We will do $70k maybe given a coupe of light fields and only seven races.  Waikouaiti(which is the bugbear meeting for us) will be flat doing $60k on another $350k plus stakes day.  Something does not add up here and someone is far too dim to recognise it  

7 minutes ago, Doomed said:

As someone mentioned above, the policy seems to be if there isn't a horse in the 90s accepted for an open race it becomes whatever rating in the 80s the top weight is assessed at. Been going on for a while now. So there was no point calling it a benchmark race as the highest rated accepter was an 81. It was originally an open race. The exception seems to be a race like the Marton Cup, which is a listed race with an 87 top weight. I presume because it is a listed race it has to stay as an open race even if it does attract a lowly rated field. If it wasn't a listed race and needed to maintain the prestigious international standing of NZ racing I presume it would have become a rating 87 race.

Apparently that is exactly correct.  It reverts to the rating of the highest weighted horse if there is none above a certain rating.

Bit of a bugger for connections who do not want to gain huge rating points by winning an open handicap to then find it has been downgraded to an R81(and I am assuming this is what happened there with Light Up).  How the hell are you supposed to have certainty when the ground under you keeps shifting?

35 minutes ago, Joe Bloggs said:

Now if Riccarton had you they'd be a ''Super Club' instead of a laughing stock, why aren;'t there more like you in our industry? Your'e a wasted talent, and I'm not pulling your chain, I bet the fuckers at Petone read this site and shudder....Sharrock probably drops his gingernuts in his tea........now that would hurt a bit but you get my gist, every club should have a proactive and responsible management team, I imagine the enthusiasm is waning a tad though, sad that.

 

Wrong surname JB but don't lay it on too thick my head will start to swell

talking about programming I see Kumara has an R80 1150 and an R75 1150.  They will get away with it by dividing other fields but sometimes you do wonder what is going on

1 hour ago, Huey said:

Pretty common occurence now, they appear to just take the top weight if there is no genuine Open Handcpers in the race and convert the race into a ratings race, probably makes it easier for them to handicap and gives them a weight spread.

Not happy but you are no doubt 100% correct.  I will take it up with the Secretary to see what he knew(if anything) and didn't tell me

15 minutes ago, curious said:

Not much point taking notice if someone changes it without telling anyone at some late stage.

Totally fs me off and makes me want to retire the horses and do something else with my time and money.

Don't blame you Brent and the Club's apologies for that but as I said I was not aware and now it has cost us a runner(s) in the event.  We would love to have had Pam and the horse there after going so close last year but more things out of our control and which leads to us being embarrassed by other people's actions

Could you email me the page from the online calendar so I can launch a protest to NZTR please.  brian@molloy.co.nz

Not that it will do any good but I don't mind giving them a bollocking

Suspect from the number of undeclared riders we are going to get smashed with scratchings but little we can do about that.