Reefton

Yes but it makes you appreciate what unbelievable systems they(Waller Weir and co) must have in place and what unbelievable man managers they must be. More than skills with horses - astoundingly business nous as well.

There is a minor point here people are overlooking.... It doesn't matter where you are in the world it is bloody hard to win a race. And I very very much doubt it gets any easier when the stakes involved double or treble or quadruple. At the time the Messara report came out I was regularly talking to a bloke from a radio station who knew nothing about racing at all but wanted to find out about the proposal and its effect on the West Coast. On the day of the Harness racing scandal being uncovered he expressed shock at the bad goings on until I pointed out that very fact to him - it is desperately difficult to win a race and pulling one up one week with a thought of winning a race the next is fraught with risk. I doubt he appreciated the truth of that but anyone with experience in this game knows it is true. And the small scale of the offending(A Stuart charged with making $1000, $1100 and $1400 bear that out - racehorses are unreliable and I think the thoroughbreds would be even harder than the harness horses).

From where I am sitting Marsh and Pike(like Sharrock) have had ample opportunity to relocate and have never done so. The latter two have obviously threatened but nothing has come of it. I suspect there is just as big a mountain to climb to make it in Aussie as there is here and despite the hype it is nowhere near as easy as it appears Gai Waterhouse is not setting the world alight over there right now and most of the Godolphin glory seems to be with Appleby and Bin Suroor rather than James Cummings but that doesn't make them poor trainers. Write those Bakers off at your peril I say.

Old saying in racing and life 'form is temporary class is permanent'. Suspect Baker(and Son) might be back in form soon enough

Big slip on the bend I see. Another of Messara's favoured tracks to be subject to abandonment?

careful

Count to ten Thomass.

that is not on this thread. That is what I asked - where is it? And to be fair to Barry you have been pretty nasty to him so if you want to give it be prepared to take it

The post you quoted needs to be put in context - I cannot find the original post from Barryb to see what was being discussed. Was it on this thread?

Not sure what you are talking about exactly but must congratulate you on producing something that is coherent. Keep up the good work.

Thomass if you do not want people to attack you stop making statements that deliberately annoy(and inflame) people. And learn how to put a coherent sentence together. The sort of thing you do here is something similar to what the person who is the original subject of this thread gets up to over there(though you do not have his penchant for sheer nastiness) and that is why many people left that site for this one . Stop making lewd or sexually suggestive comments about females in and out of the racing game and concentrate on making sense in your posts and you will find life on here is a lot more pleasant. I bear you no ill will but if you are going to persist with idiot behaviour you are going to get responses you don't like. AND be thankful that that poster is not a BOAY contributor because if he was you would be copping it 100 times worse than you have on here.

Bet you haven't experienced more than me. But I agree with you CS - there are certain aspects of RC that need to be ignored and this is one of them. The only thing that I would like to see is young Thomass turn to the other side and get the sort of bollocking those of his ilk deserve when they take on certain posters. I think it would do wonders for his personal development. Bob Jones recounts in one of his books the story of an American boxer who's thought processes, as he was repeatedly battered senseless, became clearer and clearer and he eventually ended up becoming a professor of higher mathematics. Who knows there might come a time when Thomass actually talks some sense. I wouldn't hold my breath however - he would simply end up cannon fodder for certain individuals over there.

The reason Winston wouldn't sue you stupid little man is that that would entail a process called 'discovery'. And Winnie knows discovery would uncover the declarations he made to WINZ.

Winnie should have one himself for defrauding the taxpayer

Balmerino Show Gate Bonecrusher

People(Winston included) like to go to Kumara to get on the piss. But in this day and age that is a fragile situation - it is pretty well known that the Cops and Crown Public Health tried to shut down BYO there last season so it is a matter of time and once BYO is gone Kumara will quickly become just another racemeeting and on a shit track at that.

That's a very good point Moz. The Rugby Club put up one third of the money to build the 'new' (well about 30 plus years old now but comparatively new) administration block at the racecourse BUT their name is not on the title deed so not sure where they are going to stand when(and if) Winston gets his way. I doubt their interests will be considered at all knowing the bewildered one. The land itself is 50 /50 between the Jockey and Trotting Clubs. Anyway I have decided my time with the RJC is at an end so once the AGM is over next Thursday fighting with Winston will be someone else's job. I've had thirty years so time for someone else to take up the cudgels

Ah you see it is that second last sentence of the first paragraph that has doomed you. Because you have looked after your asset and have not lived beyond your means you now own the race track property. And you probably got no help from the authorities to get to that position. But now like a warped version of the little red hen story you are going to have to share the fruits of your labour with those who pissed theirs up against the wall. Well actually no - you can't share the fruits of your labour you have to give all those fruits to the incompetent lot who have blown all they ever got(And I bet it was millions more than Hawera did to I might add). Same principle applied here on the Coast - the 'close' courses were selected not on merit or standard of facilities but straight out on the basis of which would generate the most money for the fat cats to waste. Hence the three freehold venues get closed and sold up while the leasehold one is retained. Quite a scientific way to select the victims I would have thought? Anyway Moz good luck for a great day there tomorrow - I have a small share in one running there but it needs a decent track so anything you can do to keep that rain away!

Yeah sorry. Realised what you meant when I went and had a look.

Clearly the time mistakenly posted was from the 600 which is very similar to the time Avantage ran to win the equivalent race last year. People do make mistakes and this was an obvious one so suspect no harm done. In regards a horse finishing behind another but having a faster time aren't those the last 600m times? So If one was ten lengths behind another 600 out and improved to be only .3 of a length at the post it is entirely feasible(indeed logical) it ran a faster last 600 is it not?

Te Akau in Brisbane didn't it? Melody Belle in her 3yo year? Realistically would Ladies First have been a hope even if she had got in?

Your talent is being a plonker. And if I may say someone who works as hard as you at your talent as you do deserves to be as good at it as you are.

I rest my case If you cannot put a coherent sentence together I would suggest you don't bother trying to contribute

And you should go down to the Viaduct and see the 'expert' down there - he is just the bloke to fix you right up Like most Winston supporters you like to travel light between the ears

There are plenty on the Coast(and vastly more in Canterbury as I thundered past on my way to see Bern at Oamaru last week) look better that that at this time of year when winter is long past. Mind you that might have been recently grazed. But the point that I continually make is that paddock will not (as Chief Stipe says) have been verti drained, sand slitted, reshaped to take out the 'undulations' or renovated other than a bloody good ploughing or, more likely in recent years, been sprayed out and resown. I challenge anyone to tell me a track in NZ that has undergone major renovation and come back any good(in the short term at least). Every single one of them has been a disaster and look out for Ellerslie to be no better. And Messara and his idiot devotees have major major major renovations in mind for each and every one of those 'keep' tracks. Like so many things in life the bigger the expert the less likely they are to have any idea what the hell they are talking about and pasture management 'experts' are as good an example as economists and weather forecasters. LEAVE THE BLOODY THINGS THE WAY GOD PUT THEM DOWN IN THE FIRST PLACE! Resow them every few years, obviously spread some fert but other than that leave em alone!