Freda

Yeah, my Saturday's stuffed too. As for transferring the meeting, that concept seems to be fraught with difficulty whenever I've seen races abandoned...and where the steeplechase and hurdles might be held would be interesting.

That's hilarious..and so right.

It won't be dull.

I have a retired model, he is seven now, and I'm pretty sure he is happy. He is certainly aware of his racing history, though, he gets off his couch and limps around for a few minutes before warming up and moving better. If he gets worse, as he gets older, I will certainly be watching his wellbeing...but for the time being, as long as he is kept warm and has plenty of space to self-exercise [ which he does by sprinting around the granny-flat in the back yard two or three times..! ] I'm okay with his condition. I sympathize with the above comments, there is no one-size-fits- all solution. And, as a trainer of thoroughbred racehorses, I see so many horses, rehomed or otherwise, which have hellish lives and should have been euthanized right away.

Maybe...I thought the sale of the 'hill' was intrisic to that happening.

It has to be a positive for the area, though, surely? Apart from the loss of the iconic 'hill ' , the greater Auckland region should be well served by the developments.

Timaru, Greymouth and Reefton will be ecstatic.

Dargaville is not happy indeed. But, as I indicated in a reply to that blog, the writing was on the wall. Only a few - such as your good self, in the form of very eloquent communications, and Westland, with their action of transferring their asset - actually took heed of the likely outcome. I think Marlborough has some sort of trust arrangement, but many others have left themselves vulnerable. As for the 'funding increase' - which has some overjoyed - is, as pointed out in the above piece, largely drawn from anticipated returns from the PoC tax and BIU charges. With the $10,000 stakes reduced by the payments back to 14th [ now tenth ] the $2000 increase will hardly be noticeable. I should add I am in favour of the starters' incentive, that is one thing that NZTR has got right - IMO - but, why pull it from the advertised stake ? What a slap in the face for the owner. Trim it from the upper end, ffs. It's not as if adding $10k to a prestige race will change anyone's mind about targeting Australia. The bird has well and truly flown there. It surprises me that our Grp races haven't, as yet, been reduced in number, given their quality [ lack of ]. It can only be a matter of time, surely ? I note some S.I racedays have had their status reduced from Premier to Feature. A beginning, perhaps?

We had $7000 days back last century....Counties ran $30,000 days too. Sorta puts things into perspective, dunnit? You'll forgive me if I fail to prostrate myself with gratitude over this latest announcement. And, isn't it a projection? Correct me if I'm wrong but the dosh isn't in the handbag yet, is it?

Yes, good point. . But as well, not all trainers have a confidence or are at ease with respect to fronting a camera. But, bloody hell, what an absolute shocker.

Hi Lena You've picked a fascinating topic to include in your thesis. How much depth do you want, or need, to go in to? because, once you've scratched the surface, you will find such a range of topics and/or opinions that you will wish you never started! All the points made above are absolutely right. But, from the point of a doctorate, you probably need to have valid comparisons with jurisdictions where racing works well. To that end, Australia - and particularly NSW/Victoria - and the UK/Ireland, are systems you can realistically compare. Both those regions mentioned are culturally and ethnically similar to NZ.....and before anyone leaps to take offence, I didn't say 'the same'. There are differences of course.

Yeah, with increased track fees....😥

..and a lack of knowledge as to how the whole thing works apart from the immediate effect upon themselves. You have a more generous impression of our president, however, than I do. As far as I can see [ and he may have done plenty behind the scenes to be fair ] the only squeak he made when his own patch was impacted upon..and he has far more resources at his disposal than most.

Sadly, yes. The Messara report, looked upon by many as the blueprint for real change, never involved itself with the codes. I said to Brian de Lore, in one of our many discussions, that that was the biggest flaw in the whole thing. Getting code management tidied up is/was vital, and hasn't happened.

NZTR.

I've seen some private correspondence which I won't go into further. But the tone was not amicable, and I understand the next letter is worse.

They're trying very hard to cash up Dargaville.

Thanks, yes, that was helpful. A vet friend [ years ago, to be fair ] offered the opinion that N.S were ' useless' as the point of most resistance was in the throat structures, not the nostril area. No doubt he didn't have access to the research you just showed. I found material from W. Robert Cooke very informative too, although that work was also carried out years ago.

Do you have any stats re. nasal strips, C ?

Would have to be better than what we have now, surely?

Thanks, we'll be trying hard!

I note that amateur riders in the gallops code are no longer allowed to use the whip. Would that work ok for the harness folk?

Yes, nature will do what she will, everything underwater again here, farmers spared this time thank goodness. No gallop track again yesterday, the temporary plough unusable, the once-a-week outside strip down the chute not available ( resembles a cow paddock anyway) so I took my potential runners for next week to Rangiora to gallop. One or two comments from a few, did the day at Oamaru affect you badly ? I was asked...we'll see if I'm still deemed crazy if the rain keeps up ( bucketing down at the moment) and there is nothing to work on this week.

No pies, nothing on course for sale to eat, jocks had a platter of fruit in the rooms. Looked like a very long chilly wait for the truck to leave - hours later - but, upon inspection, the bar above the grandstand was free ( president's shout, I was told ) and plates of sandwiches and cold meats were available, also free. A great gesture, and upon reflection, with such a small turnout of patrons, the best option all round. The club was on a hiding to nothing anyway I should think, without paying for anything more substantial. The normally reliable ' firm' winter going was very testing indeed, one jockey describing it as the heaviest he had ridden on. He obviously hasn't plugged around at Trentham in the winter.

He tried hard, all credit to him, but I was a little disappointed that he lost second....but very hard preparing middle distance horses from headquarters at present, tracks underwater and closed this morning, no grass gallops apart from a 1000m strip outside down the 1200m chute, and only once a week. Makes things very trying.