Freda

Personally I thought it was tragic....

Y'all may remember that I wished him luck after he posted from the airport ...?

Well said.

The stuff one hears at my local wouldn't be postable......

He's probably sitting watching to prove a point...namely, how much 'traffic' the site gets without him.

Ok....then Hokitika [ for example ] cannot now race at their own track, but have been directed to race at Greymouth. Does the asset seizure still apply while the club itself is still viable?

Can't answer that, and hard to compare on different tracks...but agree re. status. In Japan, and Europe, 2 year olds have the opportunity to compete over 1800. - and further I think.

I disagree. It is a race, after all. Point taken about the babies being, well, babies...but if the mile wasn't suitable, or too tough, why enter? The fact of being the 'first time over 1600 ' means that there is all the more likelihood of someone going out pretty smartly I should have thought. A worthy winnner, regardless, IMO.

Been happening for years, guys....I had a Guineas runner brought down and hurt by the abrupt easing of the pace from the leader. Nothing was done then either despite such tactics being 'against the rules' . Until the feds start stamping on the practice, it will carry on...and the few - very few - riders who can judge speed will win more than their share of races. The U.K practice of 'pacemakers' is not such a bad option IMO.

Oh I dont know....I quite like parrots.

Yeah right. You are lucky you got someone to answer the phone though - albeit a 'team leader' ....I haven't been very fortunate in that respect. Good luck in H.K...make the most of things and have a great time.

I'm getting the feeling from this, that the members of MAC and also those Cabinet personnel, didn't bother to check the figures that were given to them by NZRB, but just accepted them. That I find disappointing, given the [ supposed ] quality of the people concerned. I hope that Treasury - and the DIA - apply more diligent scrutiny.

Curious warrants a big thanks from all of us - not just on this issue either - for his ability to analyse material and explain concisely what [ to me, anyway ] is often jargon that is very hard to comprehend. I' ve learned heaps as a result, so, cheers to you, Curious, for your work and the fact that you are prepared to share some of it with us.

Well...actually, no...tax laws haven't 'changed overnight' ....nothing has changed...that's the point.

Isn't Bill Thurlow having a trot?

Thanks.

So..now that your very adept analysis skills have had a chance to digest the initial news - what do you take out of it that is positive? if anything? I note that a PoC tax has slaughtered South Australian racing, and would have seriously impacted on Queensland too if the stakeholders hadn't protested.

from Winston Peters' office...I don't know how to put up the link but I'm sure someone will.

...all of which makes me even more pissed off at the 'empire building' behaviour of our two Boards - one, sailing on its merry way while the turnover plummets, the other, in the guise of 'doing something' is retrenching the product [ hate that word ] by removing it from the very people who will NEVER go to Ellerslie, Trentham or Riccarton, but will go to their community day out. The huge entries at Riverton just go to show how successful good country racing can be. As an aside, I had a phonecall yesterday from a nice young man from the TAB. We notice you haven't used the TAB for a while...is there a reason for this? To chase up someone who would be flat putting 2 each way on once a week...desperation? Pity they weren't so helpful in the beginning when I was trying to contact helpline and helpdesk - to no avail - about being 'locked out' of my account. Explained this to the nice young man, and pointed out that there was no problem with Bet365. Nice young man decided that my email address was incorrect. Ok, I don't know my own email address. Was told to go and login in and follow the 'reset password' option, then a new one would be emailed to me. Did so. Access denied. FFs. Tried to ring back. No answer.

Slightly off topic....but have a look at the Riverton entries....massive. They'll have an awesome meeting, wish I was going . I love Riverton.

Therein lies the rub...the only ones who can are his Board....and the only one who can deal with the Board [ as I understand things ] is the Minister.

An English lad who works for me has told me that ' Speakers' Corner' in Hyde Park is now the province of Moslems having their say. Now I don't begrudge anyone the right to speak, nor would I ever denigrate someone on the grounds of their faith, colour, ethnicity or sexual orientation...ffs ..but when a bible-holding Christian tries to speak in public and gets himself arrested, where are we heading? For the record, I don't hold any particular faith...but believe all deserve respect. That then behoves their adherents to practice respect also.

Same...and although I've tried to be the voice of reason, with the idea that due parliamentary process must take place to change the Racing Act [ if that happens ] I still don't know why Winston didn't get rid of most of them [ the Board, that is ]. All bar Bill Birnie finished their elected terms recently, he could have easily replaced them, surely? As it is we watch helplessly as the turnover plummets and more and more disenchanted punters leave the NZTAB - probably forever given that, as well as the website, the product is largely woeful as well. I am told that duty relief is likely - not justified in my humble opinion - especially to hand to this lot to piss away even more.

Eff all....but many of the country venues that our management team are so hell-bent on closing do a great job within their communities and with their limited funds for the purpose.

Sadly, yes...they can't be bothered either. I only live across the road...but preferred to watch on TV, have a few [ small ] bets and await the Aus coverage. When, after the earthquakes, the Crusaders had their first 'home' game' for ages - I thought some traction could have been made from that. Tickets for both venues perhaps, on course promotions/comps giving free entry to game, buses to stadium.....anything, ffs, apart from the nothing that eventuated.