Reefton

I'd like to but alas no. depositing into a TAB account is a regular experience though - not too familiar with making a withdrawal! Seriously though what I am saying is a big offshore punter is going to be a bit wary when the TAB asks for 50 forms of ID and proof of address then asks what the source of his or her wealth is. How to make friends and influence people!

I have a horror story(a but more complicated than that but to do with a client's affairs so I won't go into it) that got me trespassed from the local ASB for two years - doesn't worry me as I do not bank there and in any case hardly ever darken the door of my own bank let alone that one. It was to do with this cursed Anti Money Laundering Act. I am long past suffering fools(or in this case robots who masquerade as humans and fail to see that what they are asking simply cannot be done) Incidentally the anti money laundering act is due to hit the TAB/NZRB shortly as well so be ready for a heap of tedious and inane questions when you are opening a new TAB account or depositing large sums of money. AND beware that they will have responsibility to report suspicious(whatever interpretation you might have for that word) activity to the Police and are barred from telling you (their customer) they are doing so.

Great record with apprentices theshu and a pretty fair one with his horses. Seemed to me to have a bit of a blind spot with Kawi(as likely as not caused by the grief certain posters on the dark side gave him - me to a lesser extent than some). Overall though the guy has enough credibility(IMHO) that his opinions should be respected. I have no idea what the issue was this thread relates to(obviously Alfred Chan his apprentice) but if Officials want to be dickheads then they should expect a bollocking. These days banks councils government departments all have signs up about not abusing their staff - it never occurs to them that the problem invariably is the idiot rules and procedures these staff are trying to implement. Fix the imbecile regulations and the staff will not get harangued.

Just hopped onto the WRC website to see who is on the committee and discovered this little gem.... 'The racetrack is one of the best in the country and provides an excellent surface all year round.' Sleep easy guys the WRC has it all under control

Yes well it does not help the cost of abandoned meetings when NZTR pays clubs the majority of their costs when a day is abandoned on the day. In the old days you contributed to an insurance scheme whereby the club got $10k for compensating the costs. I hear for instance Westland got paid a lot of the various raceday payments NZTR comes up with because they waited till the raceday morning to cancel whereas Kumara who cancelled two days ahead got nought. Pretty hard to set up an alternative venue if clubs are encouraged to wait till the last minute to abandon(and that is purely selfish because it was pretty well known on the Wednesday Kumara would be doubtful and we could have run the (Saturdaay) meeting at Reefton - by Thursday it was too late to organise).

enough revenue to maintain them is the question. They simply will not generate enough revenue

He didn't really state a preference for the type of track Curious? Maybe he doesn't know or more likely doesn't want to say in case it is a cock up and he gets the blame(which is a characteristic of most people in public positions in NZ today - engage a consultant so I don't get the blame).

Is anyone else absolutely buzzing to see what Messara has to say? Whether we like the idea or hate it I reckon it is the most interesting document on racing in my lifetime(or at least my time in racing). Usually I am cynical about consultants and their reports but in this case I cannot wait!

lets just see eh? I am well known to be cynical in regards this type of work but a good Ellerslie track is absolutely critical in NZ racing and lets all hope they have got it right. God forbid they haven't given the other issues in the industry at present I am not really au fait on these all weather tracks - haven't got time to study them - but can you tell me Curious is Strathayr (which I assume you are in favour of) lower maintenance(that the polytracks or other all weathers I mean)? From where I sit it is a no brainer to get the best type of track with the lowest maintenance because NZ racing cannot afford huge maintenance cost for these things.

Doing it on an undoctored track with 61 or 62? And with the bottom weighted horses on 47 or less. Historians a lot older than me will be able to confirm that Rising Fast with that sort of weight went perilously close to winning a second Cup but got nailed by Toparoa carrying something like that 47? And I think he had won the Caulfield Cup and Cox Plate in the two weeks previous had he not? Incidentally my doctor(who is certainly not a racing person) when I told her how much I love the game told me she is Leicester Spring's granddaughter and used to ride Rising Fast in the paddock in his retirement. She said he would bolt with her(not surprising considering she would be lucky to be 50kg now) but also said what a lovely horse he was and how much she loved him. You never know who you will meet! Makye Diva did unprecedented things sure but not too many years earlier she would have been absolutely weighted out of it after her second (and probably her first) cup win. She did win a Cox Plate though so unquestionably deserves the champion tag.

Bit like BC and Winx though - special treatment. What did Rising Fast get weighted at for his third Melbourne Cup attempt? And did they water the track to accommodate the favourite in those days? Rising Fast - didn't he tackle the Caulfield Cup Cox Plate Melbourne Cup treble in one year? Even TJ would have baulked at that surely?

Yes well just you tubed KT and have no reason to change my opinion - and wasn't that M Johnston some sort of rider(from a style perspective I mean)? The tracks were not quite so beautifully manicured then either and had a look of rock hardness about them which would have been tough on his joints. As an autumn three year old the AJC Derby, the Tancred and the Sydney Cup - all easy in the finish and so impressive. proceeded to Brisbane and despite being clearly over the top cleaned up two more(including the Queensland Derby). His four year old first up race was (ironically) the Warwick(now Winx) Stakes and he booted their butts there too. By that stage he was scaring them off though. Beat some good nags though Mighty Kingdom, Double Century, Grosvenor, Ming Dynasty as examples Bottom line is though RM Winx has done every possible thing she has been asked to and done it brilliantly so she cannot be knocked in comparison.

In equivalent stakes terms today I wonder how much he would have won. I know Winx is up to $21m but Sunline's earnings in the same races today as well? Kingston Town would have had a race like the QE II at his mercy one would think? Though as I remember he didn't get too many autumn carnivals in due to soundness issues. Bowman would have to be very wary - she wouldn't pick up three lengths on him when he (at his best) kicked 250 out. Malcolm Johnston reckoned the way they rode against him in the AJC Derby he had to sprint three times and he still ran away and hid. You lot can bag him - he was an astonishing horse.

Not as far as I know. And they didn't water tracks then either(despite his dicky legs) He was an amazing horse that Kingston Town(as is Winx and Black Caviar) and it is amazing to have lived in an era when he raced.

All good! Run her in the Melbourne Cup 10 days after the Cox Plate then. No? Well that illustrates the point I make. Tommy Smith never spared him(even as a three year old winning the AJC Derby then the Sydney Cup), broke him down twice and he still kept coming back(albeit clearly nowhere near the horse he was). As I said impossible to compare champions of different eras and I am not decrying Winx here but the old time test of a champion was to take on all comers at all distances, handicaps and weight for age carrying massive weights and still winning. Simply because of the way she is trained(and rightly so) Winx and or BC are never going to attain those accomplishments. To be fair Kingston Town did not win the Melbourne Cup but it took a good one with a great run in the race to beat him(not unlike Show Gate in the Wellington Cup) and Kingston Town won the Sydney Cup as a three year old(as did Balmerino in the Brisbane Cup) As for travel well I agree there is good money to be made in Aussie but because of a decision made by her trainer(and that is his and the owner's prerogative) she has never traveled outside Aussie - what Sunline did to go to Hong Kong and Dubai was astounding in hindsight. Balmerino being a stallion was at an advantage comparatively but with his travel schedule it is no wonder he went sour in his second season in Europe. Anyway all I am saying is it is my opinion. What really concerns me is these clearly special allowances these great mares get - personal barrier attendants and special watering of Flemington(for Mayke Diva). That's like the All Blacks picking their own ref all the time. Kawi of course is an NZ equivalent(if not a champion) who got favours when it came to the starting gates. Our horse (Consensus) being one badly disadvantaged but having to stand there waiting for that prima donna to deign to enter his gate.

Now Ken..... Did the contractor not give you a quote? And did you not notice that the quote said 40 - 60mm of sand not 4-6mm of sand? Or did you not get a quote at all? And was there nobody there watching what was being applied to the track? and when the bill arrived did nobody notice the vast(presumably ten times the desired amount) of sand being charged for? Now Ken... A while ago you reckoned Te Rapa was just the place to centralise all racing. How can you reconcile that with the continual disasters that keep happening with your track? Now Ken... Do you think in light of those continual disasters that it is time you considered your position? As my old Uncle used to say 'She's what you'd describe as a cock up!'

Ploughing it up would be the best option if there is that much sand. The sand would probably do the world of good(depending how deep those drains are of course) Course we have Ellerslie's return to look forward to -hope the boys haven't made a mess of that too... History suggest there is a virtual 100% chance they will have.

Simply because of the way trainers operate now you cannot compare horses of different eras. Had a horse like Phar Lap won two Melbourne Cups would he have got in with as luxury a weight as Makye Diva the third time? Would he have had the track watered to suit him? Would Winx and/or Black Caviar have handled the multiple hard races that Phar Lap/Rising Fast and even Balmerino/Kingston Town/Sunline used to cop? Would they handle the travel the likes of Balmerino/Bonecrusher/Horlicks/Sunline were asked to undertake? Would they have been brought back from the breakdowns that Kingston Town/ Manikato/Show Gate experienced?(probably not to be fair as mares). Would they have handled the vast array of distances and handicap racing that those earlier horses(and even Show Gate) were expected to deal with? Would those earlier horses have got the favourable barrier treatment that today's 'champions' get (their own personal barrier attendant I see for both BC and Winx). But equally those latter two have carried all before them, produced extraordinary unbeaten streaks and have really kept racing in the limelight over the last five years. God knows we need something positive (even in Aussie) to gee the game up. One thing those latter two have proved is what deadset champion trainers they each had. The horse doesn't know it is on a record winning streak but the Trainer can never lose sight of that. We are bloody lucky to have seen those two horses in the last few years and indeed the many Champions in the last forty to forty five seasons. Personally the durability and take on all comers way they used to train(plus probably nostalgia) makes the older horses the preference but their records suggest the latter two could not have done more to deserve the champion title. But they are certainly carefully managed.

Who knows - there might have been two winners - David Ellis couldn't believe the money he got and the Aussie blokes couldn't believe how cheap the horse was. It is possible to have two winners in a deal but I guess if he wins the Cup David might be ruing selling him.

Wasn't long ago Ken was going to shut every other course down wasn't he and base everything out of Te Rapa?

It's been pretty common knowledge that he has health issues and it is not his work in racing that I take issue with it is his grandstanding and the fraudulent behaviour he indulged in and the media let him away with.

Wanker

meeting at Claudelands Conference Centre August 30th - Winnie is finally going to release the report

Hear hear! Yes she promised the earth did little Teethcinda and the naive electorate lapped it up. Then Winnie the bewildered looked and thought 'she will be a lot easier to manipulate and will let me be much more in the limelight than Bill so best I go with her'

When I think about it NZ Racing has that problem too - a heap of 'experts' running the show providing piss poor value for money.