The Centaur

When Belardo won the Dewhurst Stakes as a 2yo in 2014 it came as a major turn around in form attributed to the soft nature of the track. Quoted at the time Belardo had been twice beaten in Group races before his Dewhurst win which was on much softer ground than most of his rivals had experienced,” Roger Varian said. As a stallion even in the UK he is regarded as a soft ground specialist. So here is a list of Belardo runners for the weekend. With some of them striking heavy track after a long period of firm tracks so will be interesting if there are some good winning dividends. Some have already bolted thru the stable door. Te Rapa Race 1 Gina Rosa Race 3 Justice Race 4 Bradley Race 5 Blondie Race 5 Oppenheimer Race 6 Whiskey 'N Roses Race 8 Barcelona Race 8 Proudtobehere Wanganui Race 4 Blondie Race 5 Farravallo Race 5 Hokitika Bell Race 7 Belardo Boy Race 8 Ragamuffin Wingatui Race 3 Chase 'N' Gold Race 5 Nobellem Race 6 Night Raider Race 6 Quartz Queen Race 7 Miss Belle Race 7 Quartz Queen Te Aroha Race 4 Caitlyns Wish Race 5 Heza Warrior Race 7 Chasing Warrior Race 7 Florenza Race 9 I'm Lulu Race 9 Lerado

Thats a silly response Chief. Below snippet from an American publication... “I do know for a fact that when you fall on it, it’s a lot harder on you,” said jockey Richard Migliore said to Billy Finnly in a 2010 article for Thoroughbred Daily News. “It seems like when you fall on dirt or turf, you hit and then bounce and roll. It kind of disperses the energy a little bit. I fell on this track [at Santa Anita] about a year ago, and I got planted. I didn’t get hurt, but I was sore for a month. You see more blunt force kind of trauma. There have been some catastrophic injuries with riders, as we know, though I don’t know if it would have been different on dirt. Jockeys are definitely starting to wonder. There’s no doubt about that.” There were also issues with how quickly these surface deteriorated, namely in California, when at one point, the issues got so bad that the track couldn’t drain properly. ****************** Now its not the job of jockeys maintaining the tracks but by logic their input is of prime importance.

Interesting article. The key to in store betting is the creation of a temporary account being an extension of the deposit slip. That way the customer comes in and funds temp account by cash or direct transfer from bank as an oncer. To make bet customer scans temp slip and straight away starts betting as if normal TAB account. Along the way various aids e.g. qrcodes can be used and bonuses from the actual venue for such things as meal or drink credits. At the end of betting the balance is transferred back to bank a/c or paid out at the venue in cash. TAB should not go overboard with ID verification as there is sufficient ID fallbacks such as phone, CCTV etc for security. It's got to the point that ID is a huge dissuader to TAB participation.

"Coordinated" ...well I don't see mention or requirement of jockeys input. Afterall it's them who take the tumble on the surface.

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.