The Centaur

The ones that won't put up with it are the teens thinking about taking up an apprenticeship. If there is never going to be gold at the end of the rainbow why bother. That also translates to trackwork. No local jockeys means an owner trainer has to pay top dollar to get a good trackwork rider. So there are repercussions all the way down the chain.

I wonder how much trainers pay their regular jockeys for trackwork?? When a fully qualified (& experienced) and leading rider attaches to a stable he turns up for that stable at trackwork, trials etc which means he or she can't offer the same commitment to other stables. Therefore loses all round when the big races come about.

So the NZ racing hierarchy is patting themselves on the back seeing a number of overseas jockeys riding here. Then when the really big races come along a further influx. All very nice. Short term but not long term. Just how do some local jockeys feel having the few jockey managers ditch them in order to "market" a more accomplished jockey from overseas. How do overseas jurisdictions feel about jockeys say from South Africa departing? Jurisdictions should be cooperating not poaching. I applaud jockeys such as Wiremu Pinn seemingly having the guts to tell Te Akau "Why expect me helping educate your horses then pass me over for the big ones with overseas riders" If a NZ football club wanted say Harry Kane for their club they just couldn't organize a visa and house. No....they would have to pay millions for the transfer. Same with horses. Clubs provide the infrastructure to prepare horses. So why shouldn't they demand some sort of levy when educated horses are sold overseas.

I think the conclusion of the round of yearling sales has something to do with the timing.

As a participant you should be in a state of shock. The fantasy ride NZ racing has been in recently is over before it has really started. The sums just don't make sense. The NZ Herald article is one of the worst cases of journalism breach of professional ethics. There is no mention in the article or the short bio of Guerin that he is heavily involved in the pay of Entain/NZTAB thus producing a massive conflict of interest. Notice how there is no denial that this has been a forced sacking.

The financial penalties faced by trainers when either they fall foul of racing or civil laws is way out of proportion. Totally unreasonable to get rid of all horses within a handfull of days. Also the Darren Weir case has been a huge miscarriage of justice and some inquiry has to be set to see how the racing judiciary acted. Now read the piece below. Logically the animal rights group assume Weir has offended again. That is bullsh**. They have delayed charges for use of the jiggers for several years whilst he served time for having them. That is against all legal principles. All charges should have been brought at the same time or at the quickest.

If Oaksdeel wins on Wednesday for CW it could book it a place in the Oaks. Now I notice Tony Pike won last week with a filly for L Molloy which could also start in the Oaks. Could be interesting race. Might need a referee in the ring.

I've noticed some of the imported riders are deliberately careless with the whip flaying around the head up the straight. OK they are not doing it on purpose but still its not a good look. And whilst at it if you were a horse would you mind more being smacked on the bum or having a steel or equivalent object being yanked through your mouth. If a horse comes back with a cut mouth questions should be asked. Another bad look is the parade ring were the minders yank the bit in the mouth. This is an oldtime myth that the horse needs to be "distracted". All it does is distract first time onlookers.

I make the time 2nd fastest in last 30 years. Fastest was Beech Sky back in February 2000. Beech Sky won at least 15 races and on the day track was very firm so times generally much faster that day.

H'mm well I hope they don't go to Trentham via ferry. Didn't Powley meet it's demise on it?

Wow!!! that was brilliant. Must be worth well into 7 figures. Congrats Colin with Pivotal Ten.

No didn't listen. Initial reaction to the article is the alleged linkage of racing to money laundering. Quite frankley all the controls TAB try to put on customers is not necessary as long as there is linkage of phone to punter. All the checks are already there so the so called "compliance" is a double up of costs.

Money laundering is a problem only with casinos. Trying to brush horse racing with that accusation is false and without reason. There are enough controls or fall backs in racing so putting more controls will be a turnoff. AS always our administrators will be gutless and not speak out. I'm not a fan of any bookmaking outfit as I don't think racing needs them. But this article seems a crude way to try and smear racing.

A big problem is evident in the photo. Te Rapa premier day with group races. Not the horse .... the backgound

I always believed that the law was quite clear where mistakes are made. The money has to be returned. Happens every day. Why its so hard here is very strange.

Why was she giving it the whip at the 200m. Thats stupid. Liable to burn it out before the serious assignments come about. A 1 length win win would have been sufficient.

I'm trying to wrap my head around BGP. Firstly the punting selections seemed to have no research. Is there an admin % cut taken out of the BGP pool? Many web sites get viewers registrations just for curiosity purposes. That does not mean they are active members. Actual active members on a say weekly basis would be very small. The TAB getting too involved with BGP probably not a good idea. Most people don't like to be thought of as fodder. Perhaps some new thinking is required for BGP direction.

Seem there are numerous legal actions everywhere. e.g.https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/jan/20/kpmg-investigation-entain-frc#img-1 I can see Entain cutting their losses and exiting the NZ contract within 5 years. The good news is that new technology means bookmakers as we know them aren't necessary for racing. The quicker we can say "goodbye Entain" the better racing will be. Whilst at it have a look at the TAB website. Absolutely pathetic in so many ways. Slow to load, jumps about like a Trump supporter, if you click on something it beats you by a fraction of a second by going to say the 5th at Alice Springs dogs. Thats after when waiting for it to jump you've scrolled down only to have to scroll back up.

I know its after the race but really Wolfgang should have been paying $2. Beat Interpretation in the Geelong Cup with 2kg more after a massively hard run parked. Best lead up form of any horse when 2nd in the Manawatu Cup. Just about bet of the century.

Wandering E I don't know what your occupation is but should you be keen on doing something like you have done with Matamata trials with all race & trial meetings I believe there is a commercial opportunity or formula. Perhaps if interested you could PM me.

Foxton this time of year more so a summer destination. If I suspect this is an "industry day" then another opportunity gone begging. Also clubs can earn income by brokering syndicate shares giving prospective owners incentive to attend. Full marks to Wandering eyes for using a bit of technology with the pics from Matamata.

So will the general public know of this meeting?? I doubt it. This meeting could have been a major holiday season event. Just shows the lack of any foresight by those running racing. With a "race" every 10-15 minutes the public would be kept entertained,. Maybe a couple tote races (mobile phone only betting) could have been thrown in just for publicity sake. At this time of year horses are a valuable commodity. Many families turning up at races aren't interested in betting. With so many horses, so many owners plus all the holiday extras there would be plenty of interest even for the not so horse minded. Another one of racing's own goals.

Would not have happened if sending out a cheque the "old fashioned way".

Well at least NZTR are thinking. I suggested 10 plus years ago NZTR form partnership with Western Australia. Such a partnership would have been far more practical and derived economic savings from eliminating staff duplication and economies of scale.

I'm a fan of Jenny from Hong Kong but I just can't wrap my ahead around her "scratchy walkers" but she still places lot of importance on it. One of the things I find is the correlation of trainer to horse appearance in the ring. Lately I've seen similarities in the way Robbie Paterson and Bill Thurlow horses are presented. I note the long time association of the two so maybe somehow they are on the same page.