Freda

Clearly he's not waiting for the doubling of stakes which is JUST around the corner.?

Still around locally I gather...I saw him at the Motukarara races last year.

Hell yeah...but my bank balance doesn't attest to me being a brilliant judge.

The one whom everyone loved to hate - a certain C. Wightman - had a long-running criticism of the bloodstock industry, with all the fraudulent goings-on, ripoffs and kickbacks....but he was largely ignored. I always thought he had very valid concerns .

Maybe..? However, it is very easy to make pronouncements about other people's horses - and other people's children - to end up with egg on one's face.

Ah well...money talks ..and given the state of the local industry ( as was pointed out) why not have a look over the ditch. A love for NZ doesn't pay the bills unfortunately.

A year or so back Emily had a bad fall, from one of the Browne horses if I remember correctly - I think her parents had even come out to watch - and she took a long time to recover. Head injuries are hard to recover fully from, many people suffer headaches, memory loss and some motor skills deficiencies in certain cases. A few of us have wondered if maybe her balance has been affected? I know she is annoyed with herself for falling off, so she is clearly aware she has a problem.

Hell no, would be well worth a try.

Unfortunately, the improvement hasn't been sustained. Roaring Lion euthanised after a recurrence of colic last night. Shocking luck for Cambridge Stud, as well as for his connnections - and not the least, for the poor horse himself.

Dont disagree with what you both say, but I dont feel that it is the 'club' system that is ti blame, rather the personnel in that system. Any model can work if the people are keen and give a damn - if the operators dont give a shite then no system will work.

Good management. And unless I am misinformed, that didn't include the arbitrary closing of tracks.

Haha, that lets me out then, with my bunch of moderates. I do recall Cameron George coming to the stables one race morning with RIU staff and vets to run a check on a starter I had. I remember thinking at the time, wtf was the point of that? All I needed to do was wait until they left then bring out the drugs.

Paula's already done the flowers thingy, went down super.

Nope.

Where's your faith, Chief? the allweather tracks will have it sorted. Absolutely.

Talking of brackets..[ and ellipses ] I recall Dad giving me an example. ' over the hill and along the road, comes a man with legs extraordinary bowed .' ascribed to H Longfellow, describing a bow-legged man. On the other hand, one W. Shakespeare might have said ' but lo! what manner of man is this, who comes with balls in parentheses'.

Good. And while the racing industry here shakes it's head and mutters, at least amateur races could be run without whips, and apprentice races too.

Spectacular.

I'm displaying my ignorance - but what situation would be classed as ' outside of ACC' ?

The list of colleges/academies listed above have no specific ability to train a young person how to ride a racehorse. Most Y.P's [ young people ] who come to stables looking for work are utterly useless, despite the 'level 3 ' or whatever certificate they may hold. I have had several over the years who have come in for work experience, not one could lead two horses safely, nor could any pick out horses' feet. Just a waste of time. I have had a lass from Telford who was very capable [ couldn't ride a T.B though ] but that was as a result of her experience helping her family with breeding stock, not as a result of what she had learned at the college. Years ago, Max Skelton was the principal of our local apprentice school - he also ran a riding school. He had ponies and also a few retired racehorses; these animals were as safe as it is possible to get, as they spent all their working days plodding around an arena, nose-to-tail, and steadfastly ignoring the encouraging kicks and digs to get them to move along a bit. Max would give Y.P's lessons, and once graduating to T.B's, got the more suitable riders cantering and adopting a ' crouch' position. He would also, occasion, bring these old racehorses into the track and do barrier work with the kids. He would have been the closest I have ever seen to a proper 'racing orientated' riding teacher. Despite 'unit standards' and all the other paper qualifications, I have to repeat [ for Thommo's benefit ] that as far as I know, there is NO specific riding academy which gives a tick to a potential track rider. A bloody can of worms. If I was approached for a riding position by a non-racing person, the very least I would require would be evidence of competence at Area Trials / Pony Club champs level..and there would be a lot of work done with said Y.P before they were let anywhere near a track.

Which, I presume, is quite different from public liability insurance? I wonder how many trainers carry both?

Scary indeed. There is a local trainer facing a similar situation, lord knows how he will fare....I would imagine he's not sleeping well.

Generally, yes, per ride.

I haven't seen ANY recognized programme for training track riders. Not one.

Spelling is too good to be Morty....unless Karen has done an 'edit'