Freda

yep, she sure deserves a goodie.

Ffs...cringeworthy.

She likes the scenery. She, Sam and the dog go all over the magnificent Sth Island.

As did the other Coast meetings. The tracks were presented beautifully and the racing was grand. The weather gods did help, obviously - but, along with Kurow and Cromwell, the holiday racing down south has been very good indeed.

Interesting read, Chief, thanks.

Casey Lunn...? Jeez...

Why do we care ? Isn't the topic ' Kumara' ?

I'm wondering, in the face of all this, where is all the extra money coming from to manage the training and testing of all the licensees? If licensees are to be 'educated' on a regular basis as a condition of said licence, where will the extra people doing the assessing coming from? Who trains them, will they be competent themselves? The structures to educate new riders, where are they? Where are the academies, the facilities to safely introduce young people to racehorse riding? The initiative of the Nakhles at Byerly Park, while welcome, is a private model. To adequatel

They wouldn't have gone, much better on the Coast.

The only one I can relate to from either list is Teina Walters, the lad whose infectious delight was so very entertaining when one of his [ Te Akau ] charges saluted the judge. How that 'skill ' can be reproduced from behind a desk, I can't imagine. And what, exactly, does a 'content creator ' do?

I sincerely hope they aren't.

To be fair, most on here are as critical as Brian....and some, better informed. For several years, Brian worshipped at the altar of Winston Peters; and, with his personal friendship with John Messara, was probably instrumental in facilitating the connection between Winston and J.M, and then the Messara report. We had many a discussion about the wisdom ( or lack ) of relying on that slippery old self-server, but he was adamant that Winston was our only hope. I think most on here would agree that the Racing Act 2020 is not the panacea hoped for, any more than the 2003 vers

We trained a little horse for him, back in the day. Of no account, unfortunately. That was a while ago! As for Mary, didn't realise she was the former Ms McCarty. No wonder she seemed to know what was going on. Between Mary and Marty Burns, the matter got sorted. I find that Marty can be nearly guaranteed to answer his phone - if not, a quick text and then a call-back. For that reason, the poor guy ends up dealing with stuff that has little to do with him, merely because he is the only one I can contact. But at least he will get off his ass and try and motivate the person

Yes, that makes good sense. Personally, I don't think we have the horse population or geography to adequately run a tiered structure...but if we must, then there has to be a better way of smoothly getting horses through the grades, instead of the ridiculous logjam in R 65 that exists. Yes, of course you can enter and run out of your class, if you must, to get a start - but why should you? It doesn't seem too complicated - IMO - to have the lower class horses competing on industry days with ample maiden opportunities, and [ say ] R 58 - 62, 63- 68, whatever, and then have the R 70

Is the 'Tim Barton' the same Tim who used to be a journalist, or similar, in Canterbury? As for Mary - I have to give credit where it is due, inasmuch as when I was frustratedly trying to find SOMEONE to answer the bloody phone at NZTR.....anyone ? nobody home? I finally tripped over Mary - by cellphone - and she wasn't even at work, but off with a broken leg. However, she was both pleasant and very helpful. The NZTR positions above are astounding. WTF do they do? I wonder if that same lady would care to be reminded of her blog posting of four and a half years ago?