Freda

No idea....scary, eh.

In part, yes - I certainly agree in principle with receiving payment for product use and info..but don't see that that will generate very much at all. Not as much as the figures bandied about anyway. And the cost of implementation may make the whole thing a bit of a non-event.

Save our own skins..? ya think? and how many naysayers campaigned against the racefields legislation? It will be entirely due to Messara and Peters [ much as it irks me to say so ] IF anything changes...and that is a bloody big if...

No. John and Karen Parsons. The senior Wigleys [ Nick's parents ] were long time patrons of that stable.

Surprise Ending was the ancestress of many of the Kerrs' smart horses....think Ned Thistoll may have ridden her at one stage....she was the dam of Seaend I think.

Now that is good conditioning.

Don't think Nick ever trained her...I remember Jan walking her around at Ashburton on a typical spring day, with a stinking cold easterly, when the filly had her first start. Nick did train her relation Vicki Buck though, after Dave had trained her initially.

Sure is.

....Pastime, Pasithea, Just a Rebel, Kaap the Bid, Vicki Buck, Joan, Domingo, Grandee, Kraken, Killiecrankie....

Canterbury Belle .

So....if a stipe shows a heart vilberation whie giving an exhibition gallop, then he won't be officiating at the races?

'Viruses' are a good excuse to make for poor performance....sometimes valid, often not.

Yes it was....and it seems to be as you say. David Walsh put it another way...but I won't repeat that...!

Thanks gentlemen, yes, a big thrill....when one has a small number in work, every win is just that bit more special.....and regular rider Terry Moseley got off...? work that out...but I was lucky indeed that Brandon had landed in the south and happened to be available. With respect to this guy - in 2013 I went to Karaka for the first time, determined to at least ' have a look' as I had never been before. Good mate Danny Champion obligingly ' babysat' me and showed me around, and , as I had had an absolute gutsful of trying to re-jig the careers of recycled northerners, I felt that new blood was the only option for me. Unfortunately, without well- off potential owners, it fell to me to acquire this new blood....so, with a limit of $500.00, off I went. St Reims colt [ St Malo ] was the first, and although a winner, always was troubled by bad feet. He recently went amiss and was euthanased. Back to the weanling sales, and the second, a Battle Paint filly, had her first start at Hokitika under David Walsh and ran out a winner. Subsequent breathing issues saw her have only another few runs and she is now doing dressage very happily. This bloke was the third purchase - also for $500.00......so all in all, although I am certainly no richer, it has been a satisfying exercise.

Not quite...yes to Roger, but he is on loan to Danny Champion / Kezia Murphy.

First win today, well done young man. Well ridden, first of many, we hope.

Sure do..!

You are quite right, I feel. Yes, we can and should do better, but I can remember getting stuck in the birdcage in my gumboots years ago, just normal for winter. It is the comparison [ as you have said ] that we now can see all the time, which years ago we didn't, that makes it all seem seedier and less glamorous.

It certainly doesn't look like an antipodean approach....nor, for that matter, a UK one....but hey, Baffert has the x-factor apparently.

Haha, yeah..a wit said this morning, sort out your dealer, you've been getting lucerne..!

I thought it was Col who was writing a book..?

yeah...well, the follow-on to the latest testing at Ricc is that the two 'suspicious' tests for meth came back clear after subsequent analysis, don't know about the other stuff though. Hopefully one young fella will accept the lifeline he has been given and sort his shit out...not so hopeful about the other. As you say, hair tests would eliminate some if not all of the doubt you would think. A bit of levity in a situation not so funny...a local lass, well known for her 'medicinal' smoking, threw her hands in the air and said, " bugger it, I'm gone, don't waste your time. I'll sign the forms now...'' no, we want a sample, she was told....to find a clear result..! She's been turning handstands since!

Well, I guess one goes hand-in-hand with the other, surely?

...I'm sure they have...more to the point they know how to use them too.

Going on hearsay - probably not.