Freda

Sad indeed..as is the magnificent jumps course at Riverton now not wanted. Oamaru, at one time, held jumping for Dunedin while the Otago R.C renovated their track..seems all so pointless now. But, a wee bit unfair to say the ' south has given up'. They had no choice. I know that plenty - Jo Gordon for one - did an enormous amount of work to try and retain some of our traditional structure..all to no avail.

Timaru trainers are certainly punching well above their weight. I wonder if anyone in the echelons of management has actually noticed? With Aaron Tapper's stud now standing two pretty useful looking stallions, there would seem to be plenty of upside in the area.

Just let the bloody thing go North. Sad, but - although I love the jumpers - it is a travesty to see five horses running for good money [ although, fine if you can get some of it ] . My boy was the last horse to gain his ticket and race over jumps from this centre. Three runs for me for a minor place, spelled for the next season - and, nothing. No jumps races any more. So he went to the Myers barn. Now in new ownership, he won a steeplechase at Te Rapa a couple of months ago. So what's the point of a survey? Isn't it bleeding obvious?

Wouldn't a survey be more useful if it included as many as possible?

No.

You shouldn't need a password just to peruse the site...only to use the trainers' area, wrt nominating, etc. I had a quick look for you, the horse concerned has no trial history.

Where did you get that from ?

Go to the Loveracing website and then Race Info, then trials, then results.

Agree...and the delay has only increased speculation and discussion about the matter which would have been quickly put to bed with an appropriate investigation.

Pretty sure he did, yes. I hadn't seen anything about him for years, didn't realise he was still training. Tough effort from Callsign Mav.

It's a beautiful language and should be embraced. The only small beef I have, is that when presenters on mainstream Tv use Te Reo, there are no subtitles which could help the likes of me, who struggle to pick up individual words [apart from the very familiar ones] and therefore can't add to one's vocabulary. Many countries have several languages in use, there is no earthly reason why we should think that one is enough. After the earthquakes, I don't think there could have been anyone who objected to the messages of ' Kia Kaha, Christchurch ' from all over the country.

Perhaps that is what they want? ...apart from the grass track meetings, that is.

I think they probably know...or some of them anyway. I agree one in particular could take himself off to somewhere in darkest Africa.

Maybe track closures/thefts have been factored in..?

Quite some years ago we had a ' breakfast ' meeting at Riccarton. There was as international rugby game on at Lancaster Park - Springboks I think ? - and the first race went off at 8.30 from memory. ( Helen Preston trained the winner of the first ) There was breakfast on offer for patrons and a bus service to the rugby after races were over. The prospect of a heavy frost was the only likely problem, as in those days we used to get some beauties. However, the ground was only slightly crisp and the day went off well. I gather the concept was a resounding success, but never repeated.

Makes little sense to me. Figures aren't my strong point though, so no doubt someone will enlighten me.

Alarming if he has.

My recollection [ may be a bit hazy though...! ] was that the venerable old lady had escaped pretty lightly, according to the reports made at the time. And the stand was used subsequently; but, then, a more in-depth builders' assessment found significant damage to the foundations and use was then ceased.

The standard of buildings on many provincial courses will, of course, not pass muster wrt modern earthquake/general safety requirements and this fact does escape many when considering the fate of smaller clubs. The ongoing and ever-increasing costs of insurance to that end is also a real burden for some.

I'll keep out of the Riccarton discussion, I don't have all the facts and therefore would be foolish to comment. But a local club had a [ much smaller ] grandstand, also damaged in the earthquake and which spent quite some time roped-off from the public while insurance matters were discussed. The options were to take a payout, or repair with appropriate earthquake standards to be upheld. They considered and opted for repair. The cost of renovation to acceptable standard was exponentially more than what had been offered as a lump sum.

Sheeesh..don't remind me. Plenty others got hammered too...you as well unless I have the wrong person.

Ya learn something every day.

Yes, i read that too. However I doubt if NZTR has plans along those lines, they've only just facilitated the installation of AWT'S. As for a ten year plan....hmmm...and utilizing more grass tracks? Ffs there won't be many left to use.

I don't know why I'm wading into this 'discussion'...I do think you're creating a beat-up over a nothing issue. I'm not a Te Akau apologist - but I respect enormously the skill of the whole operation. They have beautiful, well-bred horses, well cared for and expertly trained/handled. Top staff, the best jockeys...if you can't work out whether to back something that's your problem, not theirs. Only minor issue is that odds are generally less than they possibly would be otherwise, just because of the facts I've outlined. I seldom back anything of theirs, because I'm looking for a divvie. The paltry amount I can afford to lose isn't worth putting on a 1.30 shot. I do agree that Jamie is/was a class act, however, Mark, although a different sort of person, is still a very good trainer. He would probably prefer to have a less demanding part in it all..but will do a good job regardless.

That would seem to be the point of the AWT.