Bloke

Agreed! Looks like the Jennifer Eccles syndicate makes up half of the crowd. Why is it that with so many horses trained and bred in the area that Te Rapa gets such shocking attendances?

Well at least Mackenzie is experienced in the racing industry and has good knowledge. Compare him to Nathan Clown, "National Party Hack", Glenda Hughes and "Broken Down Public Servant" John Allan. Between the three of them they had zero racing knowledge.

Brendan purchased the horse for $200k which looked to be at an inflated price. Yes and Hickman donated the purchase price so fair comment. Congratulations to another Good Bugger as well.

A highlight was Brendan Lyndsay purchasing the Catwalk Trust yearling for $200k. He is a " Good Bugger"

Looks like just another piss up. A bloody expensive one for the industry.

An Ok crowd.The biggest crowd I have seen at any meeting this season is Tauherenkau New Year's Meeting.

There is no way around it Trentham's on course turnover was poor. The only thing I would say in their defence is that I went last Saturday and was in a group of eight. All except two of us were placing bets through phones which shows as off corse turnover. Not withstanding that it was a poor crowd as it was last year.

I wonder during race day how many committee members would "lower themselves" to enter the public stand / bar.

Speaking of accountants, their former treasurer, at the time they went broke, was non other than John Fokerd who is now suspended by The Accountants' Society

Hawkes Bay is straddled with significant debt, not sure sure what part Castles played in that. For a club that experiences great weather and runs its 3 Group Ones at the best time of year when top horses are starting out on new campaigns it should be easy to make a buck There were a couple of track stuff ups in his time on Group 1 days. He has been a lot quieter than his mad days with Weaver who screwed up the Auckland Cup.

Massive crowd at Tauherenikau yesterday, with cars parked right out to the gate at State Highway 2. I saw that Bernard and the NZTR staff had a tent there, hopefully they got a good vibe about country racing.

Hey Joe: You and your good lady have a good Christmas / New Year.?

Given their history they have been running a kindergarten.

Yes it normally is but when as a Minister you see these functions not being actioned surely you have to take some action. Bayliss was a loose cannon and he was able to go on an unabated spending spree which the Board appeared to do nothing about. Nathan Clown needed to intervene.

The Minister is there fior a reason not just to sit on his arse and observe. Other Ministers are proactive with their portfolios. I would have expected Nathan Clown to have set clear instructions for example around cost to income which had been steadily rising and to monitor it. That would have been a good start but I would not expect Nathan Clown to know what that ratio was.

The Minister is accountable he is The Minister of Racing. If Nathan Clown was a competent Minister he should have at least taken note of what was going on. When Bonkin Baylis started having a huge spend up he should have questioned it instead of swanning aroung on Wellington Cup and Magic Millions Days like some A Lister.

The Chair was appointed by Nathan Clown who appointed Bonkin Bayliss. A major issue has been various Ministers and Chairs who know very little about Racing. Look at The Chairs, Hughes, Bayliss, Brown, Hanson, the list goes on.

The Clubs have no say, they cannot vote on anything so how can they be accountable?

They have created all sorts of problems. Nathan Clown appointed a Board who appointed Bonkin Bayliss who cost the industry 10 of Millions. The move of Trackside to Auckland cost over $10M. That's not counting the building that he leased for a huge amount in Stanley Street for Trackside staff and then he leased a building in Parnell for a fortune. He then sold the Petone building and leased it back and that's not counting the penthouse at The InterContinental he had on a long basis. Then there was the Triple dog which lost Millions. Poor decisions by ministers have caused this. Bayliss was just one poor decision.

Because there has been a string of Ministers who have made poor decisions appointing incompetent Board members. Clubs have no say, they have no votes The Ministers are accountable for the duds that they appoint who have cost the industry a fortune.

Well the Tories have hardly covered themselves with Glory when it comes to racing. Nathan Clown did nothing in his time other than appoint fools who screwed up at NZRB. In fact two of the tracks that will likely disappear are in his electorate. I could imagine the conversation at Levin when someone suggests that they seek his help.

Or training tracks such as Foxton, Masterton and Levin. They should be very worried.

A huge concern for some time is that there is no democratic process, ie. clubs are unable to vote. If Clubs are unhappy with NZTR well its tough luck as NZTR has huge power which of course they will argue is for the benefit of the code. After this Bill goes through, any club bold enough to challenge NZTR runs the risk of being rubbed out.

I was lucky to see The Mighty Young Quinn win the Miracle Mile in 1975. He drew the outside of 6 and he was written off because no horse had won from that draw. Charlie Hunter drove him and let him idle along at the back until about 400 from home when he took off looped the field and bolted in. I recall that night the crowd was massive, I watched the race from the back straight fence. Prior to The Mircale Mile he had been unbeaten throughout The Interdoms, winning the final with ease.

I recall being over for the 2003 Melbourne Cup and they had Paris Hilton and her sister there to promote it. The press had a field day and let's just say that there were some very lucky Aussie lads who got VIP treatment at "The Paris Hilton".