The Centaur

Good to see you are learning chief. Didn't I send out a question last year to the effect which race had the highest number of group winners and you couldn't answer correctly. Same trials.

Before reading the above lead posting I had already complained to the feedback section of TAB help line about the idiotic splitting of Ellerslie and Nelson harness on the Trackside channels. Furthermore it appears there is a policy during the week of suffocating local gallops with greyhounds. She might be a nice person but listening to Pippa's long drawn out greyhound analysis is torture. Quite often greyhounds run deliberately late leaving hardly anytime to view 16 or so local galloping runners. As a result of harness and gallops being on separate channels I couldn't even name one trotter likely to start in a NZ Cup or three year old classic.

In the consultation document there isn't a distinction made between riding your horse or employing a trackrider. Not even a guideline how much a trackrider should be paid for a gallop. What the insurance factors are etc. Instead they focus on the idea everyone is a criminal until certified as not. The whole document is waste of time.

Yes its incredible. I would have thought every effort made to attract hobby trainers. Instead possibly constitutionally illegal restraints placed on them. Many owners potter about with the odd horse then when its financially possible only then off to a pro trainer. I go along with the fact professional trainers employ apprentices and need support. But there are only a few that do that. Can someone tell of one local jockey who started with Te Akau and went through with them. Bosson started with Autridge before Autridge trained for Te Akau. Their record with local apprentice jockeys is woeful to say the least.

Hope your horse went OK. Back in the day when I was owner/trainer it was much simpler not even a licence fee. THe clubs would send an account for fees including jockey. Right before a race I got a tap on the shoulder from the racing detective. "H..mm aah.. about these unpaid accounts" No problem I replied ... minutes later the horse won at 40:1. Phew!!!

No gallop meetings on a statutory holiday i.e Tuesday. Rather odd.

Have you nothing better to do than create personal arguments. I said "seems" which is an opinion. Or are opinions not allowed on "your" site.

What are you going on about. One thing to be part of another to be financial partner.

I can't see Richards going to HK is something special. Quite frankly he has been too successful for his own good and Ellis has had to pull every string to get him the HK position. I note that Mark Walker is a now a partner in the Te Akau operation and has found its time to move back home. So seems Jamie has been pushed sideways.

With a few minutes to go TAB announced guaranteed $200k first four last race at Matamata. With such short warning no time to organise a deposit. Like to know how much the closing pool was and the amount TAB lost.

Probably late offering any constructive criticism towards Mr Lee. One aspect is the screaming near the finish excepting in some cases e.g. "dream burst into reality" but certainly Justin Evans needs to be pulled up. Please "less screaming more style". Will get a bit tiresome towards the end of the holidays.

Herald Article Kiri Gillespie By Kiri Gillespie Multimedia journalist A new school, an indoor equestrian centre, a destination park complete with a pump track and - potentially - a hospital are among options touted for the redevelopment of prime reserve land originally considered for housing. Tauranga City Council has today revealed seven options for future use of the 85 hectares of Crown-owned reserve land in Greerton currently shared by the Tauranga racecourse and neighbouring golf course. The options are the result of feedback from the community as part of the Greerton Maarawaewae Study, which aims to futureproof the reserve land for up to the next 50 years. Initially, the land was being considered for housing development. However, only two of the seven options as part of the $230,000 study include housing. Up to 1500 homes could be included under one of the options and the rest of the land would be used for a community centre, school, and park area. Council commission chairwoman Anne Tolley said there was a lot of opposition to the land being used for housing. "Everyone wants more housing but not necessarily in their green space," she said. Both the Urban Form and Transport Initiative and the Te Papa Spatial Plan identified the racecourse area as a potential key to providing more homes. Asked what concerns Tolley had at the community reluctance for housing despite the city's dire housing crisis she said: "It's very clear this is a very special piece of land ... with history. We have to respect all of that. We have to take note of what the community says." The land was originally confiscated from Ngāi Tamarawaho and the council was working in partnership with mana whenua, and Kāinga Ora as a Crown representative, on the project. The Crown owns the land and the council is its administering body. It is leased by Racing Tauranga and the Tauranga Golf Club on a fixed term until 2039 with no automatic right of renewal. The clubs are members of the Tauranga Racecourse Reserve Charitable Trust, which manages the leases on behalf of the council. The study aimed to provide certainty to those clubs as to what their future at that location might be, while also potentially helping to address the city's dire need for housing, Tolley said. "We do have a housing crisis in Tauranga," she said. "We are not shying away from that - that sits alongside the promises we made to the current users. It was in those plans for housing. It certainly was part of the motivation (behind the study)." One of the options for the land is to retain the status quo, while others incorporate varying degrees of active reserves, racecourse and golfing use and a space for the Bay of Plenty District Health Board. Tolley said that as part of the feedback process, the DHB lodged its interest but any more details on this were unknown at this stage. She confirmed nothing was "set in stone" and there was the ability to create hybrids of the options if that's what people wanted. "There are some big decisions that this city should've made, could've made and didn't make over these past 10 to 15 years," Tolley said. "We are here to make these decisions so the city can go forward." Kāinga Ora - Homes and Communities Bay of Plenty regional director Darren Toy said the lack of housing in the plans showed how well the project team had taken on board the feedback of what people wanted, "otherwise there would be seven options for housing". Toy refused to say what support the Crown would offer to help bring the final option to fruition. People have until late February to have their say on which option they would prefer. Council staff are expected to present these findings to the commission in March before a potential final decision is made in April. More information and a complete list of the options is available on the council's website.

TAB should never have got into any sort of broadcasting or publishing. TAB forte is fleecing punters. Instead the codes should have got together and created a standalone media and publishing entity. That would have included all sorts of specialists particularly advertising professionals.

I like your analysis. Petone is just down the road from Trentham. Its where all the high salaried staff of TAB and NZTR work. What were they doing all week apart from socialising? Whats the point of head offices in Petone? Quicker they can be transferred to Ellerslie racecourse the better. You've mentioned the elitist European model. The problem begins with the proliferation of parasitic bookmakers. The bookie format of betting is expensive and inefficient. Something Hong Kong has known for a long time.

What makes you think he wasn't playing bowls Saturday? An option could have been to hold the three 1200m races then make a decision for races around the bends.

70:1 into 5:1 supposedly because of the blinkers. Now the thing I don't get is that there was a tongue tie as well. The trial before the race where the horse beaten 20 lengths (hard ridden) or so most probably something to do with tongue over the bit. Blinkers always a good excuse to justify the reversal. https://www.racenet.com.au/news/the-story-of-the-plunge-horse-tidal-rush-that-was-almost-on-the-scrap-heap-20211126

I would have thought Fawlty Towers more appropriate in this case.

You miss the point. Trainers want to have a healthy horse. When a low blood count is detected injections are the remedy. Next start BINGO a form reversal.

You seem confused. A complex usually means a range of vitamins. B1 isn't the vitamin associated with cobalt.

Why has Awapuni now been abandoned? Seems they are desperate to promote the idea of a synthetic track.

What? Do you want me to post an encyclopedia of all the substances. As an example look at the number of trainers rubbed out in Australia once they changed the levels for cobalt. Previously it would have been legal.

JB, Thanks, thats an interesting website you have drawn attention to. I go back to the sixties where I first experienced my intro into the effects of "THE INJECTION" Racing trainers seem to think that just because they are injecting a legit substance they are OK. But that injection can dramatically reverse a horses form. Trainers in the sixties had it down to a fine art. Then racing was based around a the first leg and second leg of the double. A recognised mid distance performer would have a couple of sprints, say one or two down the track mid dist runs then when the the trainer thought the horse was peaking BANG!!! in goes the injection.... bare in mind by this time the horse had a series of zero's in its form line. RESULT a big clean up by the stable. Whats happened now is those substances are detected but still trainers are pushing the boundries. Some would laugh at this but when I go racing I can pick out the horse with the injection by its demeanour and appearance. The trouble is Saturday racing there are too many in the field filling that criteria. I put it this way most form reversals are accompanied by an injection. Looking at videos of English racing I can't get over the massive improvement 2 year olds from some of the major stables make from 1st to 2nd start. Looking at videos of their first start there is just no clue that they could improve. There has to be a reason.

Well it looks like NZ Racing Desk inputters read bitofayarn. Belatedly they have written an article but to make it relevant after the race they have added the Macdonald praise routine. Rather late fellas. https://loveracing.nz/News/34911/GlowingpraiseforMcDonaldfromfellowMelbourneCup-winningjockey.aspx

I still can't get over the interview with Stephen Marsh. With the interviewer getting close to exhausting questions on his runners Stephen Marsh casually mentions "well its a special day for us 50 years ago Dad won the cup". Now until then on all the media e.g. written, radio, TV etc I had not heard the connection made. All I can say I like Stephen's style.

The key is good interviews. Bill Pomare excellent. The thing that got me is that Bill has seen videos of Ocean Billy and reckons Waller has got him looking far better than he ever did.