The Centaur

Condolences to the whole Southland racing community. Judging by Jamie's Southland Thoro website on facebook community was what Jamie was fostering. Hope it can be continued.

Looks like Final Orders must have broken down before getting to Australia. Some great reads on the calameo.com web site. I suggest everyone bookmark the site. For Syd Brown article go to page 34 of https://www.calameo.com/read/000373495c30f2eb30895 From ThePress below

H'mm looks right as I'm looking at the photo and I'm only on coffee. Now one of the interesting horses of the Brown/Skelton combo was Final Orders. Came to Hawera around 1967 for first start kept quiet in training but smashed on the tote by a few in the know. Magnificent chestnut who won his first 4 starts but I can't remember what happened after. The racetrack probably Awapuni but maybe Masterton. Can't figure it out.

Sad but not unexpected Syd Brown passing at 99. Also a passing of a great era in racing. https://loveracing.nz/News/49352/ValeSydBrown.aspx However I'm intrigued with the Loveracing photo. Where is it? Whose colours is Bill Skelton wearing. What horse has just run? Now the jockey board being positioned to the right of the winning post adds to the puzzle. Any takers.

According to Craig Rail Jamie in hospital and it sounds quite serious. The end of the season racing awards have media and journalist categories. Jamie Searle deserves journalist of year award. Its all much easier if one is employed by say NZTR, TAB or leading industry outfits but Jamie launched the Southern Thoroughbreds facebook site on his own giving a complete range of industry activity in the deep south. Plus some great tips. Its a formula that should be repeated in other areas Anyway best wishes here's hoping there is recovery.

Strangely I'll say no. Take for instance Stratford. Jan 1st would seem an excellent day for a community fun fair with large screen for racing & betting elsewhere and businesses getting behind it. Plenty horse related events could be held without the need for racing on the course. e.g. parade of local thoroughbreds & harness, show jumping pony rides etc.etc.

So you are saying clubs like Auckland shouldn't have a function centre used by hundreds of organisations nor lease space for a golf course and clubs shouldn't use their facilities for markets, concerts, sports etc. etc. NewPlymouth is an interesting case where the local council is intensifying the community use of racing assets.

Actually utilizing racing assets is the key for the future. The reliance on the gambling dollar must end. There is a myriad of uses for racecourse facilities. The UK has a separate organisation combining the the actual assets. NZTR is there to administer racing its not there to run the business around each racecourse. Therefore New Zealand needs a new organisation combining all the clubs into a business unit away from racing. That said Avondale which hosts the Markets every Sunday had a golden opportunity to leverage that event into racing. Getting the markets crowd to attend racing could have happened with a bit of initiative. Instead all Avondale was interested in was keeping local land agents and lawyers happy.

I blame the jockeys. Just like Ellerslie there seems to have been no input by jockeys into the design of the tracks. The turn corner is far too sharp with little banking. Expecting jockeys to ride on that is absurd. On top of that there are the greedies who have sold of land which could have been used to smooth out the bends.

Very heavy rain near Ellerslie 12.00 am.

Just wondering how much Paul, Moroney, Chad Ormsby & Pam Gerard had into this decision.

Yes. Lets get a list of tracks that have wifi oncourse. On the other hand there would appear products available that can be setup as tempororay wifi hotspots. In that case it should be a TAB responsibilty to carry around the gear from meeting to meeting. Another idea would be for the photo finish operators to include it in their range of duties which at the moment are rather minimal. That said the tech is changing so fast wifi may not be all that advantageous afterall.

What are you measuring? The net return or actual turnover.

It was the way she responded. Doctor Askar apparently is a doctor at Hamilton that saved her sons life. She asked him if she could name the horse after him and he was a bit taken aback. But agreed even though he thought he'd never struck something like that not really being a racing fan. As I said it was the tone of the interview hilarious but also emotional. All participants in the interview fitted in naturally including Joe Doyle obviously a gifted speaker. Contrast that to some interviews particularly Bevan Sweeney who just put words into the interviewee's mouth and they just agree in order to be polite.

One of the best post race interviews ever with Joanne Moss. Hope the doctor was watching. Actually beating December no mean feat as December narrowly beat First Five which bolted in today.

It's a shocking indictment on NZTR. With NZTR head office being Cambridge it only takes one person to be visiting all the northern tracks giving expert instructions to all track managers. So just what do all NZTR employees do. Sure when they are hired their line of work is probably necessary. However soon after they would appear to just sit there doing nothing. They are based in Cambridge but the trackwork reports for Cambridge appearing on the NZTR website non existent. Its about time everyone realized that if something is done for one club it should be available for all clubs. e.g. Ellerslies industry database and the sponsorship manager. There should be a national sponsorship office located in Auckland giving guidance to all clubs.

Several years ago I walked the track at Avondale a couple days before a meeting or should I say the dog walked me. Half way up the straight he started digging centre track and proudly brought up a golf shaft with the club head missing. The end was very sharp. I took the shaft to the then CEO and he rather abruptly said "put it there" no thankyou no alarm no nothing.

Well Avondale is not gone (yet). I see the program for Apr 9th has been approved. Would be good if Avondale saw fit to let the public know whats going on.

Most annoying. This meeting was exactly 50 years after I won the last there ridden by the champion speedway rider Bill Andrew. So was hoping for a good day with multi all up Tycoon Boss and Croupier. Don't know why this meeting was moved from Easter date. Also wonder if public events such as a country music festival create issues.

The article surely makes a case why TAB should not be disadvantaged by being denied a online casino licence. If they are denied it would mean overseas casinos that offer racing as well will cut into TAB customers. Having a one stop shop makes sense.

Good question hope you get an answer. What I find useless is you want to include a horse to run say 3rd or 4th you can only take it to run in first four.

Not really read the following https://www.theplaidhorse.com/2025/02/27/how-top-us-online-casinos-are-bringing-horse-racing-into-their-platforms/

Plenty depends how you think of it. There are online operators that include horse racing as an option. But also racing enterprises that include online casino entertainment. e.g. https://www.gulfstreampark.com/casino/#gulfstream-app

From a business logistical sense a TAB casino licence is a no brainer. All around the world there are racetracks and bookies getting into casino's. Some of the government ministers have links to the Sky City casino group therefore heavily conflicted. Racing administrators should get behind the proposal and then exploit it to full advantage. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racino

It was so obvious that the Waverley track was far better on the outside up the straight.. So what does G Grylls do he takes Black Sea to the front and inner from the outside draw. The one draw initially leads but jockey realizes need to come wide and outfinishes Grylls. Previously Black Sea had come from the back wide in straight and any reasonable person could have expected the same.You have to wonder!!!