Reefton

Paul went to St Kevin's Oamaru so I don't think he was a first four ships man no Thomass. Hailed from Southland I think but of course apprenticed to one of the true Masters Rex Cochrane then rode for years for the Andertons while running a fairly successful stable himself. There is a bit of pedigree there when it comes to training winners and when you combine that with the quality of stock and the systems TA provides well that is what happens. For all that TA is lucky to have all the Richards aboard. Great family every one of them

The Riccarton track is a big issue - they do not seem able to get the irrigation right. Those noms at both Riccarton and for the Thornton are a joke given the money on offer

Dunno about it not being illegal. If I had a $10k quinella that might have paid (say) $2.50 and it came down to $1.70 due to them plonking their own bets into the pool I don't know that that would be acceptable under the Fair Trading Act. Sort of like vendor bids at auction - you aren't going to be too happy to find you have been run up on vendor bids. Different if they lay off onto the Aussie pools but they are artificially manipulating things to reduce their financial loss At Kumara a bloke I know backed a horse on the ordinary tote at $5.20 a minute or two before the start and it dropped to $3.80 - coincidentally rather close to its fixed odds close(insofar as I know he is not a huge punter) Is it fair?

Well if they laid the bet off into the ordinary pool(as has been suggested) then they have straight out ripped off successful quinella punters by slashing the dividend. And that (unfortunately) is fraud One senses the way that ordinary tote odds are prone to diving close to start time when they are significantly higher than the fixed odds that it is possible that is going on.

Does 'Boys get Paid' remind anyone else of Steel Balls? A TAB vehicle to tell everyone about a fearless punter(s) who makes huge bets and never loses? I have been in racing a long time and other than the owners of Black Caviar and Frankel everybody else loses a s...load. Just saying

I was asked to do it at Reefton two days before - but he thought of MRP's reaction made me laugh and say NOOOOOOOOO! I wouldn't have anyway I am talking through my pocket (and wearing my owners hat) but it is bloody frustrating having a track that is supposed to be the flagship of SI racing that is clearly not up to scratch

Money is piss poor and they irrigated the track yesterday and it ended up patchy. Riccarton is a disaster area when they irrigate because they cannot seem to get it consistent across the track and it ends up varying across the track. And this track has the late summer autumn sequence of meetings to come.

Virtually what I have put in the joint Coast Clubs submission re next year's calendar(in requesting an extra day) 'Further to this the Clubs should not need to remind the Dates Committee/NZTR of the attractiveness of the product the West Coast Clubs provide - NZTR will have noted the visual impact of the well attended racecourses in the district of the last week or so and that impact contrasts to the comparatively sparse attendances at major(and much better funded) meetings in recent days. In order that racing regain its 'mojo' of prosperity and become 'must attend' events on the public's social calendars there is nothing like the sight of full carparks and relaxing and enthusiastic patrons to encourage attendance. There have been several of these events in the past few weeks including Kurow, Greymouth, Reefton and Kumara and the Clubs of the West Coast are extremely confident they can provide another good day crowd wise if the Dates Committee and NZTR will allow an extra day. The visual effect of well attended racecourses(and the potential industry benefit thereof) should not be underestimated.' They will ignore it because they have no empathy for what is happening in the game but if there was ever a case to say those big money days are a waste of money the past weekend is it

We will be fighting to get the day back I can promise but whether we do who knows. Who knows where the world will be in a years time. This virus is not letting go

Don't know about that. There would be a lot more actual people at Kumara (just a lot of them are there for a piss up not the races so are not betting). They are spread from the bend into the straight to the start of the back straight - the only equivalent I see in NZ is Kurow. I didn't think it was cramped but it was wet underfoot in the public areas and a bit rough in parts of that area. Still hard to beat in terms of an event in NZ racing though when they had that Mobil tent and a selection of 'fat cats'(for want of a better word) in attendance at that they used to get nearly $400,000 oncourse turnover. Buggered if I know how they dealt with them all though - Saturday as bad enough for queues at the tote windows. Invariably you would be in the queue with the dollar each way punters wanting to back scratchings and check 200 dud tickets while you wait behind them. My new irish mates thought it was great craic! Mind you their horse won and that helps

That Wellington sequence really is a joke though - Premier day followed by feature day followed by Premier day over fifteen days. Given the lack of CD horses and interest surely they should shift Awapuni back a week to new years weekend then run the two Wellington Premier days on the equivalent of last Saturday and this Saturday to avoid the Millions or else run it the two weeks after the Millions Hardly conducive to a carnival atmosphere to have a low key(comparatively) meeting plonked in the middle of fifteen days

God you really are a bloody dick! I was there and the initial (incorrect)call was that the horses had been saddled wrongly(in fact they were mounted by the wrong riders. The riders reweighed and the saddles were then each placed on the wrong horse. The Club and the Stipes are entitled to expect that care would be taken to make sure the right gear was on the right horse the second time around. Clearly no particular check was done except that maybe it was David Wadley the Stipe at the start who identified that the riders were switched(as Matt Cross had said when they left the birdcage). The person responsible for making sure the right saddle is on the right horse is the trainer. The Stipes relied on the brand checkers to make sure the horses were correct and the brand checkers did their job correctly. Chief Stipe please terminate further posts to this thread!

Agree it has gone on too long but that is an incorrect version. The horses presented to the brand checkers had the correct number cloths(I suppose it is possible they had the wrong saddles but that is not the story I heard). The two brand checkers are both old mates of mine and are not mugs but my initial reaction/concern was that there may have been an error in that area - they were adamant however that the brands matched the NZTR report they had. Neither of them would know the horse(s) concerned so would have relied on the brands matching the number cloth the horse was carrying. Clearly when the horses were taken away the number cloths were switched but my guys were never asked to and did not recheck the brands. A vastly more likely version is as I originally said - the wrong rider was legged up on the wrong horse then the confusion started.

The brands were checked and found correct in the ring(the outside parade ring/plate inspection area) you halfwit. It is quite clear the correct saddles and number cloths were initially on the right horses. If Bothamly insisted he was on the wrong horse then he ought to have been the one fined not Paul(though presumably Paul knew his two horses and who he had engaged so cannot see that as a likely excuse. In any case a quick check of the racebook would have resolved that) Of course the stipes are in the mounting yard and at the start but even at a small venue like Reefton there are a lot of horses milling about and impossible to watch everything plus you do not expect cockups like that

About six or seven weeks ago at Cromwell Mark Davidson spotted people on the track prior(and I mean about a minute before the start) to a race and held up the event while the idiots were cleared. It was top work on his part(and I told him so at Reefton) but did anyone make a big fuss? He possibly averted a tragedy unprecedented in NZ Racing by doing his job correctly(you could say the Club ought to have had an outside fence and/or security but regardless Mark did his job extremely well) Nobody is interested in that but it should be remembered.

Have you got a good word to say about anything in this game? FFS man Paul Harris made a mistake in legging up his riders and so apparently did the Vet. Nobody died or even got majorly hurt and insofar as I know the horse is OK. His favouritism was probably not justified but in any event he possibly would have won or at least run in the first three with a clear run. If that is the biggest issue facing NZ Racing it is eff all Let it go

So it Greymouth once and it was a disaster too!

Well that is another example of the way Kumara relies on the other clubs. During wet circuits the Greymouth course proper has been turned into a plough with horses galloping and our course bears the scars this year given we probably had 50 horses there. But in general I do not believe they have any interest in that aspect - too busy organising a piss up.

Michael let the Vet and the stipes know in no uncertain terms he was unhappy and certainly I do not want to see an injured horse run especially when there is so much TAB support for it. I would err on the side of caution in every case and would have preferred the horse be withdrawn. But I have no power of course(rightly so) and was getting more and more pissed off at the circus unfolding in front of me at that time so the last thing I was interested in was that horse. For all that he was a little bit of a false favourite based on an impressive trial albeit two months ago. I certainly was not told of any real strong stable confidence and suspect he would not have been there but for the fact that it is my Club. I backed him myself and have high hopes for his future but am realistic that that experience may not do him any good.

There are no stables at Kumara just tie up stalls and maybe a couple of boxes for colts. So you could not stay there even if you wanted to

Correct of course - they once ran the Saturday cancelled meeting on the Monday and got a tiny crowd themselves let alone what other Clubs might get if they wanted to race there.

Yes it is swamp but for now anyway it seems OK. The question is how long it( the current improvements) will last given they constantly ask for volunteers to help and insofar as I know there is a very small group of devotees, several in them in their 80's. The last lot done 20 or so years ago lasted not too long before the swamp traits resurfaced. Apparently the had a couple of young ones on there who quickly realised that the were there to work their butt off but to be ignored when any half significant decision needed making. They soon drifted away. The pigs rooting is a fallacy of course - they didn't do any mowing of their track in the 2019 winter then when it was too long got a contractor in to make baleage - the pig rooting was the ruts the deeply bogged tractor created. Kumara also don't own their track - they lease it off the Westland District Council. So the net worth of the club would be minimal. Still it is a talking point and I saw an awful lot of people there yesterday that only come home once a year (for instance the Herald Racing Editor who was rather incognito but nevertheless full of his usual humour and goodwill towards Coast Racing).

take it up with the starter

No you utter dimwit - it was NZTR and Winston who made the bed - let those pricks lie on it. They are the ones who cost NZ racing the money and assets by not dismissing the Messara report immediately. You want the WRC to give up everything they have(had) but deny the logical move that the ARC's of this world should make to make best use of what they have

I will guarantee a bloody sight more (on a per capita basis) than went to Ellerslie on Boxing day