Freda

There is no dedicated grass pacework track here, and one gallop grass which might ( but not always) be available once weekly with luck, and weather permitting.

Neither do I. They must take them all to Rangiora.

Yep

The Riccarton T.A barn train on the synthetic.

Obviously, to both.

Interesting topic. Keeping away from Nairn and the original thrust of her allegations, I'm appalled at the apparent ease that so many seem to find in referring to themselves as 'expert ' in whatever and then proceeding to fleece the gullible. I've had a staff member ( with her own horses ) frank her stupidity by spending thousands with unqualified and barely competent practitioners getting a young horse broken in, having riding lessons, etc, etc, with predictable results. With a bit of advice and common sense the 'unbroken' horse came to hand quickly and kindly, her riding also improved from abysmal to fair on a tractable horse, even to the point where she managed to ride slow trackwork for a local trainer. The point being that these unqualified practitioners are able to make money with considerable risk inherent for many who get sucked in.

Yeah.

The good news is that x-rays and scans have cleared Brandon May of serious pelvic injury, and Bridget Grylls of shoulder complications as well. Soft tissue mainly, concussion for Bridget and possibly broken wrist for Jack Taplin. Yogesh Atchamah has a sore hand but usable, and Brett Murray's timely flying dismount kept him free of trouble altogether. Richard Stomper has a fractured sinus and will undergo surgery.

It did in this case.

I read it exactly as written...he is annoyed at the downgrade and thinks it will damage the industry. The downgrade is the logical result of a regressive industry, not the cause of it. He's just pissed that there is one less Grp 1 to play with.

Can't argue with the thrust of the post, dont necessarily agree with all of it but good points made IMO.

Maybe the lack of numbers of horses trained in HB is the reason? I dont know, I have no knowledge of the area but it is odd. You'd think one or two were worth the trip. And if that is the case, then the grand plan to renovated the HB track and then charge ahead with a Greenfields option looks very silly indeed. Sad though.

He seems to have sorta missed the point.

Agree. And the Derby ( IMO) has also been made less relevant by the same factors.

The casual remark from Ballesty about ' jumpouts and trials ' should have alarmed the hardworking Levin and Foxton committees. Clearly the need for well-educated horses to attend racemeetings isn't high on his list. Of course, it could be part of a Cunning Plan to force novice horses to trial on the despised polytracks.

Looking at the state of some of them, 100mill is a shade on the light side, IMO.

I'd forgotten that....but why co-opt Chris Waller on to it if it is for TAB advisory purposes...?

Yes, had been wondering about that.

I would imagine Rangiora does, as it holds harness meetings.

Have some great memories too, love the Coast, nothing stays the same though.

Sad but true.

Absolutely. I've seen the dominant mare in a group knock a cheeky youngster to the ground, he watched his p's and q's after that.

Yeah, easy to drive something like this to the unthinking..horses evolved as grazing, herd animals. True enough. But for as long as humans have used horses for anything other than food, they have been confined, in some way or other, out of necessity. Archeological digs have found the remains of horses chained to walls in Pompeii....I can just hear Alexander the Great saying, righto, lads, the Hittites are coming, go and catch your horses. I can see them now, tearing round a paddock in the dark to round up the war horses. Just, no. At the least they'd have been tied to picket lines or hobbled. Any performance horse, not just a racehorse, esp in and around large cities, has to spend most of its active life stabled. NZ is one of the few places which has the scope to allow such horses space. There are some magnificent equine establishments all over the world, but such property is not available to all. Even the French and UK/ Irish regimes, very different from here, certainly, with the scope of the training grounds, still stable their horses.

Geez, the stinking cold easterly at Riccarton must have missed you.

No idea. He told me this morning.