Freda

I've only been to Trentham a couple of times, and sent horses with someone else once. It was always the place to aspire to, the racing fair and competitive, but, oh dear. Champagne turf indeed...no longer. What an embarrassment, an awful look, what must offshore watchers think looking at the horrible sight? No wonder horses are heading to Aus in undiminishing numbers.

Interesting. Bodes well for the future of our Strathayr.

Erin's all right. Does a good job IMO and doesn't need her confidence bashed. She's a former jockey employed by Wexford. Gives good input i think and can only improve with more exposure.

I'm not waiting. Happily settled in to watch the Slipper.

Easy peasy!

I would have thought any contribution to turnover from anywhere would help the bottom line.

Technology....

Sure was.

Judgement of pace is everything. Seemingly not taught much if at all, now. One or two trainers place importance on times for their riders but not many IMO. Haven't seen a stopwatch for years. A half in 52? bloody hell, they'd go better on a H10 at some tracks. Back in the day [ a long time ago ] George Humphries told me that if they couldn't run a half in 48 they wouldn't make top horses. Nowadays that wouldn't win a trial. My apprentices were sent home with a stopwatch and tested later. One apprentice left for Australia when he came out of his time, rode work for Gai. The younger apprentice would ring him from time to time, complaining about me. The bitch is at me about times, jeez, she pisses me off. Used to piss me off too, he said. Now I realise how important it is. Listen to her. My partner had a clock in his head. He could tell you how fast he had worked to within a fraction of a second. And was particularly effective off the front as you might expect.*

More like ' ffs, they're going slow'....

Yes. Generally though, whether horses are coming from the back or not is tempo-related. Either because the horses up in the van are considered suspect at the distance, or because the riders haven't a clue how fast they are going. Or both.

I would, but the compressed handicap system we have means the low rated horse can't really get a suitable pull in the weights. Also, your rider options are limited too. I had a one-winner that I had toyed with putting in the 75 2600 at Riccarton. But, she had to win at Ashburton to justify [in my mind] the start, and my preferred rider would have had to cut his legs off.

Brilliant.

Lol....I might be missing something or need new specs...but I find Ashburton 3rd and 16th April Riccarton 12th and 26th same, so not a major surely? We've had Riccarton, Ashburton in March and 3 at Dunedin. I understand your point re. Canterbury but most have their own floats and Dunedin is not considered a big deal wrt traveling. And Riverton in the middle as well. Not Canterbury I know but the southern trainers are awesome and only too happy to help by looking after horses. Saves a shitload of money with no extra vehicle and accommodation costs. There are plenty of issues that grind my gears but this particular one, not really. Finding opportunities for staying low grade models once the polytrack gets under way is a much bigger problem.

I am well aware what stakes were 3 years ago..and ten..and twenty...but it pisses me off that the time of the year determines the level of allocation for the bottom feeders.

Well, I missed it too

Mentioned in his address was ' reducing costs to owners.....' and attracting young trainers. What a refreshing attitude. Very different from reducing training options on already dated and poorly-maintained facilities and hitting the poor owner in the pocket all the way.

Lovely to see. Super mare.

Yeah. Back to the bottom for the peasants.

Well, my understanding of wagering processes is limited. However with the potential for challenges to the current situation - the online gaming markets, cessation of dog racing and its contribution, shenanigans wrt Entains financial dealings ( which the Chief considers small change in the bigger picture, he may well be right ) and the ending of the 5 year lolly scramble we are enjoying atm - how can we not be very alarmed? Where are the changes in the pipeline to address our future? Is Ballesty (sp) likely to leap into racing structures and programmes, dates, etc? Or will he be ( as Huey thinks) as clueless as his predecessors? Tracks are not improving, riders are bad, its hard to find a kiwi-born apprentice. The new protocols for track riders are awful and so far have produced nothing but the potential for youngsters to get hurt...I can go on but I'll get depressed.

I suppose the answer is the horse above...at a trial or something...I'll ask him shortly!

A cost accountant would argue you get rid of the training facilities and only have 0.8 FTE Track Manager Well of course, that makes sense, however the Board considers that subsidising training is part of their func I should add that since the 'takeover' of Rangiora, the CJC has managed financial matters wrt to the galloping side of things, however costs for maintenance and equipment such as mowers, tractors etc are shared by the harness mob.

I have quoted figures....25k lost by the Rangiora facility, and nearly 2m by Riccarton. However Riccarton couldn't provide a split between training/stabling costs and racing costs Around 650k brought in annually from trackfees/rentals at Riccarton and 80k from the same at Rangiora [ galloping only].

Riccarton also has the operational millstone of providing training/stabling facilities.

Actually, they're worse than ever.