The Centaur

wanted quick answer. Doing research is deemed cheating. QUESTION: Looking at NZTR calendar for January which were the top 5 meetings that garned the best horses. Clue.... the top four were the two days at Ellerslie and two days at Trentham so you only need the fifth. Criteria used is stake money as at 1 Feb 2021 and a general judgement of up and coming horses both in number and quality.

It all boils down to the backward step in going with the new platform. Previously the tote pools and odds were update every few seconds just prior to the race.. Seems the new system is incapable or else the managers are too scared to overload the system with too many updates. Today the TAB made an announcement all fixed odd win bets on Captain Tom would return bonus bets. Now thats a pretty vague statement. Is the original stake returned or the full winning amount. Next the TAB backtracks and now classifies a multi bet as not a fixed odds bet which is stupid. Also TAB in store bettors are not eligible. When queried the phoneup help person excuses the contradiction as thats what the "system" allows.

What an amazing run from the Sharrock stable but his strike rate this season is only 2nd. The first is Emma Davies. According to NZTR Sharrock has 49 horses and compared to say Tony Pike 190. Also I the majority of Sharrock horses appear cheapies. Interestingly he has only started once at Ellerslie this season. Anyone know the main reason for such a fantastic record this season?

Really looks like Waisake/The Good Fight quinella. However seldom seen such a weight drop from one year such as Dee And Gee 59kg to 53kg. Just can't get a decent draw.

OK time for a bit of nostalgia. Justin Evans take note: Style triumphs over screaming. Peter Kelly in all his commentaries never missed a beat. Fluency perfection. The first Wellington Cup I attended was as a 14 year old. Arrived oncourse with a yearling for stabling at the sales just before the race. This was Great Sensation winning its 3rd Wellington Cup but couldn't really find a spot to see the race. Anyway here is Peter Kelly. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xA6nfXJkAsc&t=35s

Couple of things. TAB marketing has to be separate from operations. In retailing you can't have the operators at the teller deciding who should have a free bottle of wine for being a good customer. In this case the intentions of TAB were naive in the extreme. You just can't have certain customers getting special odds excluding others. Thats what leads to corruption and as I've pointed out I just can't see how an auditor could pick out this sort of carry on. Secondly I feel BGP were being used by the "publican" down out the viaduct. Clearly his egotism means he's got to get back at racing for banning him for a year. BGP are not doing their members favours by devaluing their racing experience by hocking them off to the viaduct. Surely Auckland Racing Club would have had some pre and post racing functions there is plenty time for the viaduct but only one millions night. Sadly some TAB employees have bought into this ego tripping.

Clearly a pricing miscalculation by the bookies. Their error was not taking into account the million dollar stake money. In low grade racing where there are two $2 favourites the last thing a trainer wants is a gut buster going head to head. Thats why often one favourite is ridden up front whereas the other is ridden for luck coming with a late run. So the stats for those types of quinellas are skewed. In this case a quinella price of $1.70 probably right therefore fair to say BGP gifted $30,000 on top of the other perks.

USA have recently legalised online sports betting. Maybe the TAB thinks it can jump in on the action. Or perhaps there are Americans with funds lying in NZ Banks. I suspect the TAB is quite happy to turn a blind eye to American money laundering but being over zealous about New Zealander's activities give the impression they are in line with American regulators. Speaking of USA can someone tell me of what interest is some Russian politician over in Russia under arrest for 30 days yet Julian Assange imprisoned for the same offence for 30 months in England and nothing said. Nannia Mahuta is rapidly losing credibility.

So far only 2 horses have been subsequent winners from those using the track for trials. Ripper of a Dream and Our Wonderland.

It will be interesting to see the size of crowd at Te Rapa on Wednesday. 11 races and almost 200 horses entered. That's the equivalent of a couple holiday crowd meetings that have been sacrificed. It also means the direction racing is headed. All downhill. If just half the owners attended it would make a respectable crowd.

I used to see Kings Romance doing trackwork. The elderly guy who owned him loved a big punt. Distinctly remember one morning Malcolm Smith crowing how smart he was putting an apprentice up freshup which meant most punters thought he might need a run.

Interesting Kings Romance never won the Telegraph. Having seen every Telegraph either in person or TV since 1963 I would rate Sharivari as the most notable. Since the race went WFA I get the feeling the quality of the winner has diminished. Always thought Enzo's Lad winning twice was a fluke.

Apologies. Made a bit of a blue. I thought Well. Anniversary was this weekend. There should be some link between dates and availability of summertime sponsors. Of interest the list below. Note nothing from Education sector or Rugby/League or other sports outfits ALL SPONSORS SINCE BOXING DAY. +More Hawkes Bay Mile ; Hast 24/7 Security Solutions Ltd ; Plym A+ Driveways ; Plym Ab Lime & Aaron Cranston Bldg ; Rivn Aberdeen On Broadway ; Awap Alex Hayward/Noel Wafer Pow Mem ; Kuma Allens United Paeroa 3yo ; Taro Alleviate Administration Hazlett Stks Opn ; Wing Alleviate Administration ; Wing Alleviate Administration R65 ; Wing Aquashield Roofing Maiden ; Otak Archmore Contracting & Tasman Agr ; Reef Asure Saddle & Sulky Motor Lodge ; Plym Auckland Co-Op Taxis ; Elle Auckland Co-Op Taxis ; Elle Auckland Co-Op Taxis ; Elle Barfoot & Thompson ; Elle Barfoot & Thompson ; Elle Barneswood Farm Eclipse Stks ; Elle Ben Patston Media Opn M ; Wing Benmore Merinos ; Kuro Bethlehem Motor Inn ; Taur Birchfield Coal Mines ; Kuma Birchfield Coal Mines ; Reef Blue Bubble Taxis ; Elle Blue Bubble Taxis ; Elle Brendon Shearing Contr & Telfer D/Laying ; Rivn Brookby Stables 1500 ; Elle Cambridge Stud Zabeel Classic ; 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Todays Wanganui meeting throws light on the incompetence of those running racing. 10 races, mostly capacity fields, plenty eliminated. I have always thought January is the month for getting the public off to the races mainly by having meetings in exotic locations. Instead judging by the lack of crowd at Wanganui this is supposed to be another "industry day". What a waste of asset. January dosen't require large fields or many races per day. Just needs plenty initiatives to make the day. e.g. by adding barrier trials to the days menu. Wellington Anniversary day used to feature Trentham and Awapuni i.e. the Ashurst Club. In particular the fields at Awapuni were usually quite large. Now nothing on Sunday, Monday of Anniversary weekend. Surely a meeting at Tauherenikau or Otaki could have been programmed if not Trentham. What happened to Stratford instead we had a rubbish meeting at New Plymouth. Why not more meetings in the deep south where there seems ample horses at the moment. Plenty other examples allround. OK the dates were programmed when covid a factor nevertheless surely given the "genius" capability down in Wellington they could have got some flexibility into the dates.

With all the various options, events, odds etc its so easy to slip an anomaly through. I just can't see how an auditor could pick up some corruption where the bookies conspire with a punter. Many moons ago I mean many I worked for the auditors of Wellington Racing Club. We went to considerable effort to see the late payment and lost ticket payments were above board. It was just win,place, doubles for a days racing. It all boils down to the fact the bookie system is of no benefit to racing, Thats something Hong Kong Jockey realized from day one,

Update on this thread. The Commerce knocked back the Sky sale now Sky crying poor. Hate to think how much has been siphoned off racing with its involvement in all these deals. https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/123870836/ageing-sky-tv-trucks-imperil-sports-broadcasts

Here is another reason why TAB is s***. A dividend may be rounded down 9 cents then when there is a dead heat it could be rounded down another 4 cents. Thats 13 cents lost i.e. a rounding on top of a rounding.

According to Photo Lynx instructions the camera settings need to be altered during the day when sun shines behind the camera. The resolution can become murky when a light color is against a light background, What I am saying is because Platinums white streak is so small it hasn't been picked therefore the difference of losing or dead heating. You can see the white streak on Platinum's nose below

The point I'm making is that the white portion of PI's nose is further along therefore it would be in line with SYB. Now I don't know how photo finish equipment works but if several frames go into deciding the colour of one pixel then the final result seems biased against white. If the equipment is powered by a slow computer then daresay the final pixel color could well remain as the background.

Trace Patinum's head from the noseband up to its eyes. Where the white diminishes but still exists the computer says stuff that we'll ignore it.

If we think like a computer then we must decide what to do with each pixel. However if something happens or prevents proper interpretation then what does it do. I guess it just copies what it expects to be there which could just be a continuation of the backgound.

Most image software has some tool you can use e.g cropping tool. Looking at some of the white jockey silks there does appear jagged edges where one would expect smooth contour.

I'll admit close inspection does give SYB a light advantage. However I've seen it before the digitally interpreted photo finishes are biased against white borders travelling at speed. If one traces where the white nose should appear then there is a dead heat.

THe Savy Yong Blonk -Platinum Invador photo when the colours are inverted shows if anything Platinum Inv in front. The problem being the white portion of the nose. OK the photo on NZTR bit small but certainly would be interesting seeing a bigger version.

Agree there however the problem I have is that by competing in Dubai she in some ways turns a blind eye to the UAE's involvement in the war in Yemen. That is the human tragedy of our time. Confirms in my mind the current Labour leadership very light weight on Foreign Policy issues.