Freda

Ex Parsons horse now owned/trained by Kimberley Hampton. Wouldn't be short of expert advice if she needed it, would she? Dad Roger developed Bart's Best into a champion hurdler, sister Maria was a successful jockey, Kevin Doolan and Bill Kennedy used to train just up the road, and the O'Malley's and Ron ' Mouse' McCann are still in the district close by.

Representation from the Armed Forces now disallowed on one of our most important days. Reason? Covid-19. Really? What about the general public, who are now allowed to attend outside gatherings in unlimited numbers....are our Service personnel somehow more vulnerable than the man in the street? They were at the frontline of infection while manning the stuttering quarantine facilities, ffs...what an insult to those who gave their lives - and their families. I'd lay odds it has nowt to do with Covid-19 and everything to do with dismantling the fabric of our society- as we know it. No Last Post ? Doesn't bear contemplation.

Four or five [ maybe more? ] years ago, there was a meeting held at the CJC to discuss support for an AWT. There were representatives from many clubs as well as trainers, and generally interested parties. Chair Tim Mills was very pro-active in encouraging support, his stance being that to do nothing was not going to improve racing's profile and that to implement an AWT was one way of 'joining the 21st century' with a modern facility. But, a point strongly made, was that for an AWT to succeed, it must be used for racing as well as training, and that meetings would be shifted there to justify the expense. That didn't sit well with representatives from other districts, as you can imagine. But, as Kevin Hughes wryly said later, it doesn't matter what he wants, there isn't the money so it will never happen. This was all before the Messara report. The much-maligned Greg Purcell had been on record as saying, on more than one occasion ' we do not support forced track closures but will work with clubs to assist a voluntary move or merger'. Obviously, that stance was not continued by his successor...and Winston stuck his oar in with the taxpayer bail-out so the die was cast for the AWT's. Not sure what the plan is around the C.D / Taranaki - the opinion of a senior trainer is that it will stuff C.D racing - but the closure of Timaru and Oamaru were part of the grand design. Waimate and Motukarara were already gone, as is Blenheim and Hokitika, with the rest of the Coast hanging on - for now. Rangiora has been off the scene for years, apart from trials [ but not any more ] and now that there has been a call for some grass trials instead of all AWT trials, Ashburton has been co-opted into fulfilling that need. As they are now the only alternative to Riccarton that does pose problems when Ashburton has a racemeeting upcoming. The last trials scheduled there were switched to the AWT because of heavy rain...the decision to no longer use Rangiora for trials might be seen as yet another own goal. A tidy, very handy facility [saving owners/trainers both money and travelling time] and one that is not going to have any issues with an upcoming racemeeting, would be very useful about now.

Kelvin is taking a small team to Qld for the winter. I assume the lesser lights will remain to prop up some local meetings....but nine hour float trips were one reason he's off for a period.

It's already been nailed and eliminated.

I think that is the idea, yes.

I just knew you'd argue about that. Regardless, he hasn't yelped since.

I can't answer that in detail; however, the three good horses you mentioned have all had significant issues. Catalyst had ongoing joint issues, Aegon bled, Noverre broke down. The lack of depth [ numbers] however, means that there aren't too many that can step up and fill the gaps.

As well as this contretemps, there is the not so minor matter of the proposed demerger of Tabcorp's combined operations. Interesting times.

Waverly Friday

Or are we...and at what cost?

Fair comment and, with your experience, quite justified. It is possible that a more skilled rider may, just may, be able to galvanize the mare without offending her. But for now, her current rider does the best she can. You will know that old saying ' ask a filly, tell a gelding, and negotiate with a stallion'.

I liked much of Thomass' input, too.

More to the point, it will be interesting to se what the mare chooses to do.

Agree completely. Will make no difference whatsoever for the once-a-year party goer, and it might be possible to get a more co-ordinated and balanced flow of races throughout the season.

Outstanding. Young Jamie must be the best trainer around by a country mile.

What a great story.

Ridden by Shane Laming.......!

Yes, agree, great to see. A good rider and thoroughly nice bloke as well. They are a close-knit group, the southern lads, I'm pretty sure everyone will get a great thrill from the win, and for him.

Sorry, no..although I remember it being done. Used to have jumping races there, too, back in the day.

Well, I backed her. Not because I am a clever punter, or anything remotely approaching that. But, because I know, like and respect her trainers, they do a great job,and the mare has some real ability. She has won at Ashburton before coming from miles back, so didn't consider that an impossible task. But, horses are horses, not bicycles. This is, clearly, a horse, and a girl one at that, and as bitchy, independant and contrary as it chooses to be. Yesterday, she surprised her connections and her rider, by deciding to fly the gates and gallop with enthusiasm. Have we forgotten that Chautauqua had his own input into his retirement?

That's true enough. But, the Couplands Mile replaces the Churchill Stakes ....a limited handicap of - wait for it - a mile. On the other side of the coin, we do have a Canterbury Belle Stakes.

And, I am getting a tad off topic here...but I was, along with many, in favour of 'rationalising ' the 3 year old Classics to a more suitable time of the year for immature horses. So Guineas went to the spring, Derby to summer, and St Leger to autumn. But I later read a discourse about the classics being the benchmark of quality in the 3 year old crop. It went on to argue that, rather than being appropriate to ease the competition up over distance for the young horses, in actual fact the real benchmark of a class horse was its ability to perform outside its comfort zone. Good article I thought.

Oh, absolutely. I recall the 2 year old parade that used to be run at National time, a scamper up the straight for the babies. Two divisions in that, too, often. And, the interesting thing, the leading 2 year old frequently came from that early parade....as did the best 3 year olds perform well in the NZ Derby and Oaks run at Riccarton, Cup time.

Won by some bloody good horses too. Pretty sure Princess Mellay was one.