The Centaur

Would clubs similar to Woodville be "allowed" today to run races like this one. ---------------------------------- KIRRAMA FAVOURED TODAY 10 January 1973. Press Assn. Wellington. Kirrama has the chance to prove he is on his way back to his former greatness when he meets what must be the best field carded at Woodville in the weight-for-age Cup and Derby Trial on the second day of the Pahiatua meeting today. Kirrama is five and his story goes back almost two seasons and a half. He was a brilliant three-year-old in one of the strongest seasons for second season horses. He went amiss before the end of that summer but in the autumn he showed a glimpse of his tremendous ability when he beat Game in an unforgettable contest for the Stars Travel Stakes. At four he was handled patiently by W. Worrall, but from a distance the chance of a successful come-back seldom seemed particularly bright. Worrall however seems to have succeeded now. The big black son of Sobig is showing most encouraging form. Nothing yet to compare with his greatest but enough to demonstrate that all the spirit and a good deal of the ability are still there. He has had five races this season and has won for the first time since he was three. Carrying 9-3. he was unplaced in his first run over six furlongs then was beaten a nose the next time at the same distance. His third run this term saw him favourite in a weight-for-age mile when he was fifth to Hi Bing. Since then he has run twice at the Auckland Cup meeting winning by two lengths over seven furlongs with 9-3. then finishing fourth in another weight-for-age mile after an extremely severe check inside the three furlongs. Undoubtedly the country's weight-for-age champion just now is the seven-year-old Bardall. The day Kirrama won his sprint. Bardall took the Clifford Plate and before that he had beaten Ben Adhem by a nose over 11 furlongs under the same conditions at Paeroa. He has since finished third to Kalgoorlie in the mile weight-for-age King’s Plate at Ellerslie, but probably he will improve again coming back to a middle distance. Beatnik, one of two mares in the field, has also become a weight-for-age exponent. She took the Harcourt Stakes at Trentham in October, won the Avondale Cup at her next start, then reverting to weight-for-age conditions ran a fair fifth in the Foxbridge Plate. She rested after that and came back a week ago to run third in a sprint at Wairarapa. Black Rod and Curly Wave are the three-year-olds in the field Black Rod with his consistent classic form looks the hotter prospect though Curly Wave's spring form (he won the Avondale Guineas) was respectable. Ben Adhem might be better over more ground but rates among the top prospects after running Bardall to a nose at Paeroa. FIRST LEG OF T.A.B. DOUBLE 2.40 p.m. CUP AND DERBY TRIAL $5500 2000m and 80yds. 4113 Bardall (4) 9 3 2154 Fort Hagen (7) 9.3 4335 Glengowan (5) 9.3 6060 Johnny Cash (3) 9.3 2574 Kirrama (6) 9.3 0664 Origin (12) 9.3 2040 Simon de Montfort (10) 9.3 1153 Beatnik (2) 9.0 1251 Ben Adhem (1) 9.0 2691 Topsy (9) 9.0 4723 Oncide (11) 8.11 4422 Black Rod (8) 8.2 2655 Curly Wave (15) 8.2 Scratched: Mr Spy (14), Nausori (13).

Thats the problem. Individual officials are dead scared that if they Ok races to continue and there is an accident the blame will fall on them. Recently I think Awapuni the officials gave away their responsibility and placed it on the riders. Deep down I don't think officials directly care that much about jockey safety as much as their own neck. For them easiest solution just cancel the meeting.

Its marvelous that we can rely on Avondale with always a good surface. Great for transferring Pukekohe to Avondale to save the track for the million dollar races. Oh well just an idea??

Now I am wondering about Ruakaka tomorrow. Wasn't the Cambridge synthetic built to handle meeting transfers when bad weather was predicted. Transfering Pukekohe to Cambridge synthetic Sunday perhaps an option. Sorry I forgot the Cambridge track only built to benefit locals selling ready to race horses overseas.

I am as keen of a racing follower as anyone. Yesterday I watched all of Otaki galloping action on Trackside including all preliminaries etc. and some of racing elsewhere although I mute things when greyhounds come on. Today I am absolutely shocked to discover there was actually harness racing at Otaki. If harness racing can't reach me I doubt it can reach Mr Average.

Its a curly one. Australia has got the feel of wide open spaces which gives confidence in fighting against Covid. Maybe country racing can boom and city regress then again due to financial restraints the other way around. I really think business such as horse trainers should button up and adjust to the market reality.

There are so many crazy things going on I don't know where to start. If we go to the radio for guidance we get... SENZ... promos for the SENZ app. i.e self propaganda BBC.... anti Russian propaganda RNZ.... Maori propaganda Newstalk.... anti Labour government propaganda. Christian Channels.... usual rubbish. Then the great logic for businesses that can't open because of weather bombs... bring in more staff from overseas. But as far as racing goes I get back to most crazy of all... pay the TAB CEO a million per year and everything will be fine.

There has been several setup shop in Victoria and soon retreat. Quite frankly Forsman is silly doing that unless its secondary to the NZ side of things. We are already at the start of World War 3 and like previous wars restrictions will come into play. Coupled with global warming which includes forest fires in Australia and also Covid along with a financial recession everything points to hard times. Cutting equine horse air travel or else making it too expensive will hit racing hard. Racing in Australia may sound rosy but needs to consolidate. Going there is not the panacea.

You make some excellent points. When racing was based around the open handicap first leg of a double and the open sprint it meant the majority of public had something identifiable to follow. Every now and then a new high flyer would emerge adding interest to the mix. Its just too much for the public given time restraints too follow all the lower grade racing. The open grade racing in the deep south although not encouraged by the racing hierarchy still enjoys some enthusiasm even though many of the horses are castoffs from the north. Look at the huge tech companies around today. Many were start ups from a garage or bedroom. The point is the great ideas come from the grassroots and not from the highly overpaid suited managers. Why a TAB CEO should be on $700,000 per years is just crazy. The craziness filters right down the industry. All the time those with the ideas can't get heard because those creaming the dollars would feel inadequate if the idea didn't come from them.

Who knows? My issue based on this definition.... A conflict of interest arises when a member's duties, or responsibilities to the Board, are (or might reasonably be perceived to be) affected by some other interest, relationship or duty that may not be in the Board's best interests. Perceived conflict must be managed in the same way as an actual conflict.

In some aspects dogs are competing with horse racing. If you are on the board of any enterprise its inappropriate to be promoting for a fee the opposition. If thats the extent of a board members commitment they shouldn't be there.

Bruce Sherwin now doing the dog commentating. Thats a huge conflict of interest after all isn't he on the board at NZTR.

Maybe they get confused with depreciation and cash available. For instance the wonderful $50 million betting platform virtually worthless the day it was commissioned.

People attend racing this time of year for reasons other than gambling or viewing horse flesh. Therefore its important to spread the horses far and wide and not have the absurdity of say Matamata with 12 races. The other factor is presentation. The greyhounds seem to have wriggled their way into programming by wrapping their product around midweek gallops often restricting gallop TV presentation by cutting into galloping time. In December there were 39 greyhound TAB meets in New Zealand compared to 27 galloping meetings. Further more the dog presenter is now the "voice" of TAB betting on gallops. All the while NZTR keeps hiring more staff. If only just one of them would advise the TAB on presentation.

JB. The way law works is that judges listen to expert opinion. So here it is. NB Dr McLean no relation to the other McLean Dr McLean said there was no evidence of the horses exhibiting pain when struck on the treadmill, but that thoroughbreds would not be able to do so while galloping. He told the court he could not say whether an electric charge was applied to the horses, only that a device was applied. Dr McLean said the device used in the video appeared to be a normal hand-held prodder that was available for use on cattle. "Unless I felt the surge myself, no-one can be sure (if electricity was used)," he said. "When horses are moving (on a treadmill), all they can do is keep moving. They can't go faster because they'd crash." Chief Steward Robert Cram faced the committal hearing and was questioned about his analysis of the footage. Victoria Police allege that the Weir-trained gallopers Yogi, Red Cardinal and Tosen Basil were hit with a conducted energy device while running on a treadmill and wearing blinkers on October 31. Mr Cram was asked whether he saw the horses react or suffer any pain. "I can't answer that for the horse, but I believe it was being used on them," Mr Cram said. "I didn't see the horses react."

By needing to twist the argument you are losing. Where have I said I condone "jiggering"? For your deafness and closed mindedness I will reiterate. I consider the punishment to Weir has been well and truly sufficient and taken nobly by him.

Your argument is illogical. You say Weir is a cruel bastard. Maybe you assume the thousands who shared in the ownership of horses trained by him, the staff fellow participants all were ignorant. There is no way he would have risen to the heights he did if was "a cruel bastard". Have a bit sense. All you are doing is getting on a self righteous bandwaggon with no on the ground knowledge.

Its when someone can't present a rational argument they resort to personal abuse. Maybe you consider capital punishment as an appropriate penalty. After all the financial cost to Weir has been massive.

Joe Bloggs You are totally over the top with your comments. Weir to his credit was willing to plead guilty 3 years ago but instead dubious charges of conspiracy to defraud were laid. For heavens sake having a $50 bet in the Melbourne Cup was deemed by some as "conspiracy" There are far worse instances of cruelty around than Weir's so lets have some consistency. Given the number of horses Weir was responsible for his "rap sheet" as you describe it I thought was quite stellar.

Does "raceday" actually need horses? If Boxing Day at Awapuni had plenty attractions planned perhaps with some added attractions the event could proceed with say large screen hooking directly into Trentham.

In all this track talk I hear no mention of Woodville. Why is that?

JB. Rather than start a new thread I thought I'd catch you here. Sad to hear about passing of Ronnie Franklin recently. You must have known him early days in Hawera. I note his first winner was Bravata at Marton 1973. He won for me in 1975. I'll always remember that day.

More legal stupidity. Whats to stop a jockey telling his wife and the wife passing on the info down at the hair salon. Sure discourage this behaviour but hardly worth all the legal clap trap.

When it comes to Ready To Run clubs should be involved and receive income. After all its racing infrastructure that is used to educate these horses. NZB should not have a monopoly particularly online. NZTR has the data to generate breeding catalogues. Just needs some initiative.

One thing with social media such as this is that whenever a suggestion is made its met with total indifference but plenty are willing to complain. As I have said the best way is a petition to reduce the judicial/integrity costs. OK $1m total cost maybe a bit unrealistic but aiming for 50% reduction certainly viable. Better use of video conferencing, return of honorary officials are some of the ways to achieve cost reductions and off course removal of bloated salaries and fees.