Freda

Agree..

Special, all right.

Yeah....I know most of us had little faith in Winston, but I - along with others - still dared to hope that something might be salvageable . I'm really surprised that someone J.M's supposed acumen and racing industry smarts would allow himself to be so badly advised.

I [ stupidly ] had the notion, at the beginning, that Racing NZ would take over the functions of NZTR...obviously that isn't the case. So we will be looking at yet another layer of 'management' with all the attendant costs - as I see it. Tell me I'm wrong.

Yes.

At present, we have RITA which has taken over the RB mantle - although the staff are still there in their numbers with a new CEO to be inaugurated in due course. Eventually it is planned to have RITA morph into Racing NZ and Wagering NZ. It has just occurred to me that instead of having the RB and the 3 codes, we will now have two leading bodies and the 3 codes. This will mean yet another CEO with his/her underlings, won't it ?

Not from me....my phone wont even acknowledge the race raceinfo tab, it just sits on ' meetings ' and refuses to bring up individual horses, pedigrees or race performances. I thought it was me but maybe not ?

Sad to see those great names confined to yesteryear..but how lucky were we to have been around to witness them. Not just confined to Wellington Cups either. I remember Trelay cantering home at Oamaru carrying 10 st. 11 - or 11 st, can't remember exactly...and that would have been off an 8st minimum probably.

Don't worry about small...if he improves along with his coat though, he has to be a bit special.

I'm still locked out. Rang a fair while ago, and asked the chap on the phone if he could 'unlock' for me, please. Ok, done, now follow the prompts and reset your password. Tried just yesterday after a long period of not bothering, followed all the prompts to ' reset password' and got an email with the new password. Used it and same response : ACCESS DENIED. Haven't got much money in, but would like it out and they can go to hell.

Unfortunately he isnt the only one who still has blinkers on.

Fraid so.

Well, I am an utter muppet when it comes to things technical... but even i worked out ( finally ) that it was a server issue, deleted my shortcut and re loaded the site from Google. Straight through after that.

It matters if the seventh horse is yours.

just imagine, a 'country' circuit of NZ clubs, in control of their own destiny, administered and funded independently. Nah, would never get off the ground, if any research indicated that a] it might work and b] that a specific number of clubs might buy into the idea, NZTR would throw a spanner at the idea by de-registering horses that chose to race at those venues.

That got me looking at the setting up of the TAB [ courtesy of Mr Google ] and very interesting the old pictures are, indeed...imagine 40, 000 spectators at Ellerslie nowadays..the mind boggles. Interesting concept, Reefton. I can see [ possibly ] it appealing to country clubs - although costs, etc., are something you would have far more idea about than moi - but, the large clubs, which regularly spend far more than they earn might find the idea distasteful.

When you say ' the Clubs ' do you mean collectively ?

Put all his faith in Winston....

Mark Mac made them all look ordinary.

Shouldn't be any surprise, surely ? Anyone expecting a rise in stakemoney - as some still are - must be living in a chocolate box.

Marsh seems to have a few promising types based down here, his foreman ably assisted by 'stablehand' Sam Wynne. I've watched his team with interest as they walk past the tie-ups, one attractive little chap which took my eye was the Tavistock gelding Charlie Awesome - had a modest wager on him yesterday and he went a tidy race.

Sentiment, for me, says Argentina.

No offence intended, Peter...I just thought it was all a bit of an over-reaction, that's all. You're quite right, we're all entitled to our opinions.

I think many of Thommo's posts have value - and equally, some don't. - so I just don't bother looking at stuff that doesn't interest me.

Did you get any satisfaction ?