Freda

Bear in mind that some of those in Pitty's name were Harris horses. Good to see him get a couple yesterday, stable has been quiet of late by his standards.

Haha ..3 days of it so far!

I have to wonder just how long 'Tab for Ever" has been around racing generally. Referring to paid holidays and lieu days when the rest of the industry is head down, arse up, is a bit tasteless for starters. To think that holiday racing is 'brilliant planning ' by NZTR is one of the silliest comments I've seen here. The holiday dates have SFA to do with the current NZTR, rather the old club system from days long gone. When the climate and holiday periods were aligned, as best as could be, with where the crowds were, and where conditions might suit horse racing. This effing lot - the 'brilliant' ones - are, instead, hellbent on shutting down country circuits. One of the most successful and enjoyable ones, the Gisborne-Wairoa meetings, now replaced by a boring day at Hastings. Blenheim, nice track, good people - just doesn't fit the agenda either. And the West Coast circuit, on the skids because of an arbitrary decision to deny Westland a day at their own track; whatever reason given was the typical b/s trotted out by these people. The club had the financial resources as well as community support to make any alterations deemed necessary from their OWN funds, no need to call on the industry like the bigger bloodsuckers do. So Greymouth kindly ran an extra day for Westland. But when the Westland committee resisted the expectation that the property value be vested in NZTR, and sold it back to the community, payback. No further date, so circuit reduced to three days squashed into a small window. Uneconomic for trainers from afar. Trainers and owners who have supported the clubs for decades, now not coming. The astonishing antics of an RIB official last year to abandon Reefton...the writing is on the wall. Luck ? the only need for a club to shut up shop or shift to another track should be for economic reasons, or for lack of interest from stakeholders- which are both inter-related. Luck has eff all to do with the funding restrictions applied to these small clubs for decades. No wonder some of them had run-down facilities. Neglected ? They can't suck off the funding tit of NZTR like their bigger brothers can. As for Newmarket - the historic, chalky ground which not only hosts racing [ and has done from the time of King James ] but some amazing training facilities too, and a jockey school to boot - is actually in Suffolk. Which is, FYI, in England.

Scottish?

Told ya he was a superstar.

Did you have a problem with yours?

The track at Kurow looked amazing too.

Fair enough. If there were serious anomalies, you'd find them!

Performance wouldn't alter but the ratings might if the competition was more widely spread.

A point that was made to me recently; namely, that ratings are obtained by racing against other horses, and assessing the merit or otherwise of performance. Southern horses race mostly within a limited pool, and ratings are relative to their performances against each other. If they regularly competed against northern horses, this apparent anomaly wouldn't happen.

Not really, no. There have, in the past, been good plans involving much work presented to NZTR but no discussion, and probably not even looked at in depth. Was chatting to a northern based trainer yesterday, he thinks that once Auckland is up and running the major stables will set their sights on the regular and well-staked races there, leaving the outlying and provincial areas out in the cold. I would like to have confidence in Head Office to keep a viable flow of races for the rest of the peasants but unfortunately, I don't. In fairness Bruce Sharrock is always ready for a chat and is, in himself, very personable. But that's his job. Whether he gives a sh*t really is hard to ascertain. As for the article about Andrew's thoughts - while I certainly get his concerns, at least there is still the opportunity to race the horse elsewhere. What is wrong with hopping across the border for weaker company ? It's still Australia! Plenty of horses in NZ find their way down south when deemed uncompetitive in the north, that is in itself not a bad thing. Keeps owners in the game with the opportunity to race a made and educated horse that may have shown quite a bit of ability, and can be purchased at generally very modest cost. Owners, if they are still keen on a particular horse can keep their interest and just race it further afield. There are also trainers who regularly race horses to drop their ratings to get them to a level where they can be competitive. Done regularly in HK too, for example. The thing that does concern me is the rush [esp. down south] to squeeze out smaller clubs and reduce opportunity away from major clubs - read Riccarton in our region. That in itself does nothing to attract new clientele with the homogenised diet that then becomes the norm. The point of difference that has been so attractive for years, of country/provincial racing offering opportunities for the less competitive horse, is steadily being removed. While Auckland may 'future proof' racing in the northern region, I don't see Riccarton doing the same for the south.

My knowledge and understanding of things wagering-related is very limited. However, I think that any 'privileges' and so on are extended to the BGP group because overall, they don't win. Therefore, a positive for TAB. If they were successful [ made an overall profit ] they wouldn't be treated the same. And - as alluded to - they attract enormous interest among a younger set.

No, harness racing won't be wanting a rail. They use marker pegs.

Apparently the running rail now has to be removed and replaced by marker pegs. So any negotiations about private jumpouts would have to be carried out with the harness crew I imagine. Just gets harder and harder.

Godolphin seem happy to use her.

Add Wellington, which has allowed itself to be dicked around repeatedly, altering the time-honoured WFA 2400 lead up into the Wellington Cup - even changing the distance of the Cup, ffs, to the detriment of not just the fields but the business of owning/training stayers. There are still plenty around who can train the distance horse, but - as pointed out elsewhere - doing so is less and less attractive as the opportunities and flow of races is constantly fiddled around with.

That is yet another example of messing with what used to work, and work well. Avondale/Waikato Cups, Queen Elizabeth, and into the Auckland Cup. Good races in their own right and perfect lead ups to the Auckland Cup.

I think you might mean Leanne Isherwood

You would think so.

The 'one region' designation has been given as a result of the horse numbers [ esp in the deep south ] which have been steadily dropping for years. So no amount of petitioning is going to get NZTR to change their classification. The fact that the dates/programming [ that elephant again ] have for years reduced the attractiveness of training/owning in the south, along with the reduction of venues/screwing of small clubs financially in favour of the big boys, as well as the collapse of jumping, are all factors which have produced the current situation. The loss of notable owner/breeders from the region, Hazlett just one who comes to mind quickly. Relocated trainers who have seen the writing on the wall [ Didham family, the Richards' , the large team of Ross Beckett formerly Riverton based ] skew the statistics too. Some factors, such as the cessation of jumping, reflect societal perceptions too, that can't all be put at the doorstep of NZTR, and economics also. But for 20 years or so the writing has been on the wall. To say that there has been an agenda to produce this, however, I think, gives too much credit to successive administrations.

Time on the sideline as a result of serious injury might be expected to be a bit of a hiccup in a stellar career, would it not?

The place will be the poorer for your absence.

I have pointed this out before.... the Sth Island is now considered 'one region'. Tim Mills advised me of that when we were discussing programmes at one stage.

Seems so.

Absolutely. I've felt - and have commented [ more than once ] - that it is not just stake levels that send owners/trainers across the Tasman. It is the encompassing structure. The dates, the programming within those dates, the lack of flow, the inability to place one's horse to its advantage, and instead running where you can get a start, frequently well out of one's district and at considerable cost.