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An excellent article in The Informant this week by Brian De Lore "This was the week of truth; the week that the racing industry turned a corner and took its first steps in a new direction. By the time these words are published Winston Peters will once again be our Minister of Racing and this industry will start heading down a new, fast path towards some substantial changes in policy. Just after 3pm on Tuesday this week the live radio updates on Newshub revealed the NZ First policy concessions had been agreed upon which served to confirm the NZ First racing policy had been adopted as part of the NZ First-Labour-Green Party coalition agreement. It was confirmation that the NZ First racing policy had indeed played its part – albeit probably a very small part – in the collation negotiations that eventually led to the formation of this new coalition government. It was also confirmation that Winston Peters had kept his word and his faith in the racing industry and had taken us into battle with his party to emerge victorious with a new government that actually now possesses a decent racing policy. But most of all, it was confirmation that the racing industry could now emerge from nine years of aimlessly wandering a parched desert under National with barely a surviving drop of water, to now be sighting a reachable oasis where there’s a well and a palm tree. The analogy won’t be agreeable to everyone but if we examine the facts then it’s not far removed from the truth. National gave us a succession of impotent Racing Ministers who collectively offered less than Scrooge McDuck gave in his lifetime to philanthropy. After nine years in government National released its racing policy only one day prior to this year’s September general election, which was clearly a desperate, last-ditch attempt to win some badly needed votes – but was anyone buying into it? Not in racing, at least. Besides, the policy amounted to zero because it didn’t say anything. What the above clearly conveyed was that National had no empathy or understanding of the workings or people in an industry that amounts to one per cent of the country’s gross national product – an industry that generates around $1.5 billion annually. We had developed into a business that over the past six years had exhausted more than $100 million of industry cash reserves and in the same period the TAB turnover has increased only 20 per cent while operating expenses at NZRB have gone up 40 per cent. Stake-money was stagnant, costs continued to rise, the annual foal crop continued to fall but the nation was told we were in a ‘rock-star’ economy. Meanwhile, the cost of running the NZRB according to the last annual report had soared to $205 million annually. A comparable sized racing industry in Western Australia costs A$90 million to run, and those close to it believe that’s too high. These facts have been well documented here in previous issues so let’s get back to the point of this article. Well before the election, NZ First already had a well-compiled racing policy that recognised an industry that was failing and had been failing for so long without any action. There’s no question the industry itself must also share the blame through its own lack of leadership and inability to adapt. But that’s another story. Now there is a racing policy which has been ratified by the incoming coalition government, the racing industry is about to get some action. So it’s time to examine the salient points in this policy that are going to be the game-changers. By action in terms of time-frame it was confirmed by NZ First this week that there will be an announcement prior to the next Karaka Yearling Sales that they say will re-invigorate the industry. The racing policy recognises the importance of the breeding industry and the need to reverse its decline and increase exports. “The number one person you have to look-after in the racing industry is the owner – they are paying the bills.” Another of its policy bullet points is to return a greater proportion of industry taxation to the racing codes. Winston Peters already has a substantial track record in this sphere as he introduced the taxation relief in 2008 which is still in place and contributing a massive annual return. When introduced it brought $33 million back to the codes but today with increased TAB turnover the annual return equates to more than $50 million – it doesn’t bear thinking where we would be today had Peters not implemented this ongoing return. Thirdly, the policy says a new (below Premier Meeting) category will be introduced where every race will have a minimum stake of $15,000. When questioned pre-election about the prize-money increases promised in the policy, Peters replied thus: “I would be starting with the minimum prize-money around the country at a much higher level than the current one, and I’m not disclosing how I’m going to do it but I know I can, and I know where the money is going to come from. “The number one person you have to look-after in the racing industry is the owner – they are paying the bills and when you’ve got the lousy prize-money it’s just ridiculous. The owner has to have the return on investment, or where at least you have some chance of recuperating your money – currently you have no chance.” In that chat with Peters when he was questioned about the long-term neglect of our industry at government level and a widening disconnect between racing governance and its stakeholders, he gave this explanation: “What people in parliament have failed to understand is that most people in racing are workers, not wealthy land-owners. “If you don’t understand the connection between man and horse going back to the year dot, then you don’t understand that people are in racing are there for the love of the horse. “At the racing awards dinner in the introduction speech to the ‘Strapper of the Year Award’ it was summed up by the highlighting of the 3.30am get-up times for a 4am start. It’s 95 cent love of horses – they wouldn’t work in it otherwise. “Then, when the Minister spoke at that same dinner and he said the race fields legislation bill was now before the house, I thought about how long the racing industry had been waiting all this time and there was no realisation by the government of the crisis the industry was in – no understanding of the seriousness of the situation and the fact that it required action now.” According to Peters there will be no more ‘sitting on your hands’ treatment by the government under his watch. The policy says ‘urgently review the operations and costs of the NZRB’ and on that very issue he had this to say: “The problems will be solved at a higher level with a government and a minister that changes the legislative structure from top to bottom, and then changing the financial structure. “You can change the Racing Act only if the right politicians are there to do it – the whole legislative structure has to be changed, and with the greatest speed possible. “The fact is that if you don’t have the policy and financials and the understanding of the business in a business that’s massively top heavy and inexplicably expensive – if you don’t start there, and that’s at a political level, then no-one can change it.” As well as legislative change Peters also sees racing as an important activity for New Zealanders socially and his racing policy includes a bullet point that says ‘further improve the appeal of the racing industry to a wider audience by encouraging the promotion of family-friendly activities in conjunction with race meeting of all codes.’ Peters is keen to retain places like Cromwell, Kumara and Dargaville as once-a-year family day-out race meetings that are not ruined by the PC brigade: “We are going hard out in the regions,” he said. “I’ll give you an example, Dargaville races was happening in April this year and the police are there trying their best to stop racegoers with the BYO. This is part of our culture of the countryside. Kumara is just the same – they are doing their best to ruin it. I don’t mind them parking down the road and stopping the DIC drivers, but why have them stopping people bringing liquor onto the racecourse and having a family day out? “The police are not in charge of our culture – why would we have them stopping patrons from bringing liquor onto a racecourse and having a family day out like they have done traditionally all over Australasia. “I’m in favour of increasing the police numbers but I’m not having that going on when I have the say. We have these attitudinal cops that want to shut these places down. It’s not just arresting the guy that does get intoxicated – no, they shut everyone down.” Whatever happens, the racing and breeding industries have better times coming, for at least three years, under the guidance of Winston Peters. And it was reassuring to hear former Labour MP (and former Racing Minister) Annette King say on Radio NZ this week: “My experience with Winston Peters is that he is a man of his word and he can be relied upon to do what he says he’s going to do.” The Informant Will my 'harpsichord' be enlivened by Winstone getting rid of the huge excess of 'suits' that's made our industry Badly top.heavy. ..reading the article above tends me to think that he's alluding to that outcome., the sooner the better too!

There are certain things that can be done right away. e.g. review the Racing Boards involvement with Paddy Power/Open Bet as not being consistent with NZ First policy of supporting local business. In fact a total review of racing top to bottom.

Essentially those agreements like the China one say that if someone else gets a benefit in an FTA with NZ then the Chinese one will be amended so they get the same benefit . Basically if the South Koreans have the right to buy land here then the Chinese do as well. If it is right it will be a bloody minefield. I am no fan of outsiders being able to buy land here myself but hey they (Labour) signed the FTA with them. Even if they are successful the real losers here will be Aucklanders with demand for houses there being very much dampened by this move. So if I am sitting there having just paid $1.5m for my shack in Jaffaland I am not going to be too impressed(and neither is the bank!) when its market value drops to $1.1m because there is no demand from foreign buyers. Throw in the 10c extra I am paying for my gas and I would be getting a bit grumpy with Teethcinda and Winnie. That is a massive gamble to potentially alienate a hell of a lot of voters in Auckland. No wonder Auckland was basically the only NZ City to vote en masse for the Nats. And even those who have owned their houses for a day or two and seen their wealth explode are not going to be too happy to see (1) their worth decimated and (2) the prospect of capital gains on any profit they do make when the working party delivers the inevitable recommendations. It is all right for us in a place like the West Coast because (1) there are few if any foreign buyers and (2)capital gains, if any, are very modest. Our primary producers, Farmers, Fishermen, Miners and Tourist operators might not be so happy if China places trade sanctions in retaliation to the rules being amended however.

Even Brodie is wrong sometimes! Difference is you admit it! You aren't wrong as such anyway. Nothing more than an observation / comment that didn't pan out. keep up the good work.

Said that.as she normally steps quickly and would make it hard for the slow ones away.obviously tonight she was slow herself so im happy to be wrong on this occasion

the cox plate wont be a yawn to me- neither the cup- maybe if you dont look at it from a betting point of view but for the greatness of the horses . and the occasion

I am so bloody happy he's back! There may just be some light at the end of the tunnel

happy with whatever the club decides for MC day well done moose, your success has give me newfound confidence for this weekend

I suggest you read Harewood's post again cos to me you are suggesting he is wrong about a lot of things which he never actually says.His observations describe racing without punting offshore eg Dubai . I suggest you go to Medan if you are ever over that way.

Good on you for being here and responding

Actually there is a similar deal in most of those Maori settlements. If (say)Tainui get a better deal on something than Ngai Tahu did then the Government has to top up the Ngai Tahu settlement. Ngai Tahu have been back the trough more than once I am sure. Makes me sick to be fair but I guess it is pretty easy to be generous when it is not your own money you are spending(and both sides of the political spectrum have done it so it is not just one faction). Not that I have anything against Ngai Tahu or whoever - they just drove a hard bargain and the government of the day rolled over.

No brodie not kidding read the post again and understand it! dude when I paid my fees there were no punters there receiving my accounts and or paying bills either! when I got account for stud fees there was no punter recieving and paying them either! no punter was there paying for gear, or feed bills training fees vet bills I paid em! as do all Owners and breeders of racehorses etc.....you do not need punters to provide all the money for Stakes in races think on it...... Hey, I my not be a bettor and neither to I begrudge anyone who does, each to his own but to make a statement like 'without punters there would be no racing' give over mate and neither did I say horses would race without Stakes...... read posts more carefully, horse racing would (as one other poster put it) still race in one form or another....ITS COMPETITION! the buzz of being able to say and for all to know YOUR HORSE IS A CHAMPION! THE FASTEST OR STRONGEST THERE IS!!! that my friend is why it will always carry on with or without punting! Iraklis

This stopping foreign buyers is going to be interesting because isn't there a clause in the free trade agreement with China specifically stating the right of Chinese to buy property in NZ? If they are going to change that then the whole deal might(probably will) topple and that will make Winnie and co popular with our exporters. Plus the likelihood of China taking legal action against NZ. I personally do not like the idea of overseas buyers but Helen negotiated it and from where I sit I doubt they will be able to amend it

Purchased by Brendan McCarthy trainer Caulfield.He has a number of good older horses in work and I understand has a gift of repairing broken down horses.

Actually the race before the penultimate race is the antepenultimate race. On a ten race card race eight is one hell of a lot easier to say than antepenultimate. And a lot less pretentious.

Because it needs to change the structure established by the racing to get a management structure that will work and allow racing codes and sports to grow and the benefits shared properly. The NZRB now make decisions that affect all without proper consultation with all parties.

My only issue with quaddies, pick 6 , trebles etc is conflicting numbers between punters allocated certain races so with single bets on single races no chance of that happening. Hope that makes sense E.g moosey has 1 2 3 in first leg of pick 6 but blind sq has 4 5 6 in his treble so they can't both be live after that race

Now Globe...Looking back on this thread you have proved to be a very poor judge.....Do you think he will be impeached in the next 2 weeks as you predicted?

I agree ohokaman. Anyone who resorts to publishing a private letter 13 years after the event is a vindictive p....

on fire!! Unlike the driver on Sandra Keith. He will go for a skate for that. Haven't seen something that incompetent for a while. Much worse than Ashburton.

Its kinda funny.. and all too familiar all the liars(MSM, Rinos, FBI, CIA, The View etc ) were at one point accusing President Trump of Russian Collusion... with nothing but intent to do damage to his name and presidency Turned out to be nothing but a lie!! And still they accuse and slander.. Bloke what i see.. as you tend to accuse President Trump of lying.. is the difference between a lie with malice and intent.... and a lie without malice and intent

Please note, http://www.nzracing.co.nz/News/22930/No-strangles-outbreak.aspx

I like your thinking basil smith

Uranium 1 Biggest scandal in history Scumbags ....Hillary,Bill, Comey Obama Podesta Lynch Mueller Holder Rosenstein goin’ dooowwwnnn Trump right again MSM exposed

So are all you whiners happy for the industry to continue down the same track it has been heading under National?

Brodie you are the only one comparing the two countries. I'm sure for most it is fairly easily to decide who is a dreamland.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump there you go bloke read and show me the lies. Most transparent politician ever.....that is why he got elected.... draining the swamp for the people

I warned you FACTS or piss off... you have no right running around on here with rumor...put up or shut up... end of story.

Brodie, I am just making a point that shows the punter is not the be all and end all of a sucessfull racing climate. Not quoting NZ, Aust etc just that racing can survive, and very sucessfully without the punter in the right environment.

CC Terrible accusation to make and by not naming any one casts suspicion on all I hope you have the facts right if not you should be banned from this site for life

So it was you who put thousands on her at Banks Peninsula

Looks like Trump will be around for another 7 years Ohoka Globe Bloke … at least you can have a good scream on Nov 8 to help cure your DTS. By PIERS MORGAN FOR MAILONLINE In two weeks it is the first anniversary of Donald Trump’s astonishing US election victory. To ‘celebrate’, thousands of Trump-hating liberals in cities like Boston, New York and Philadelphia are planning a day of protest in which they will go outside, stare upwards and shout their little heads off in rage. I’m not joking. The planned event is actually titled on Facebook: ‘Scream helplessly at the sky on the anniversary of the election’. Organizer Johanna Schulman told Newsweek: ‘This administration has attacked everything about what it means to be an American. Who wouldn’t feel helpless every day?’ Hmmm. Well, let me try to explain, Johanna, if you haven’t already started preemptively screaming. +4 · To ‘celebrate’ the first anniversary of Trump's election, thousands of his haters are planning a day of protest in which they will go outside, stare upwards and shout in rage. The event started in Boston, though quickly spread to other cities including Philadelphia (event page pictured), New York and Austin There are tens of millions of Americans right now who don’t feel helpless at all. In fact, they’ve never felt happier that they’ve finally got a guy in the White House who THEY believe stands up for THEM. They don’t share YOUR view of what it means to be an American. They share Trump’s view, because it’s THEIR view. That’s why he was elected President, and that’s why I am beginning to think he will be comfortably re-elected in 2020. For those who think I’ve gone completely mad, here is what I told British GQ magazine in September, 2015, when they asked me: Who will win the US election? ‘I think Donald Trump will win the Republican nomination,’ I answered. ‘The Democrats will only stand a chance of beating him if they ditch Hillary Clinton, who is now a busted flush, and go with Joe Biden, possibly with Elizabeth Warren as his running mate.’ So, putting my Nostradamus hat on again, here are 10 reasons why I think Trump can pull it off again: 1)He’s the most resilient, uncompromising man in America. Love him or loathe him, Trump hasn’t changed or pivoted one iota from the candidate who ran for office. He is both absurdly thin-skinned AND absurdly thick-skinned – incapable of ignoring any slight, however small, but also showing quite extraordinary strength of character in repelling what even Jimmy Carter just called the most frenzied media attack on a serving president in US history. Yes, Trump’s an inveterate bulls**tter, the by-product of life as a shameless salesman, but to date he hasn’t lied us into an illegal war like one of his most recent critics George W. Bush did in Iraq – so political fibbing is all relative. 2) Trump’s enemies are bailing out from the fight like conscientious objectors in the war. Yesterday, two Senators, Bob Corker and Jeff Flake made grandiose media-grabbing attacks on the President, effectively branding him a lying useless goon. Both are standing down, and in (Snow) Flake’s case, he’s only doing so because he knows he’s going to get an absolute drubbing in the next election. This, remember, is a guy so principled that he wrote to a Sandy Hook relative saying he agreed with her about introducing background checks on gun sales, then voted AGAINST it just months later. That was a major reason why his poll numbers collapsed. So spare me the sanctimony now, Senator. You’re a fraud. 3) Hollywood’s liberal elite, Trump’s most vociferous, influential and vicious opponents, have exposed themselves to be a bunch of shocking hypocrites whose high moral and ethical plinth now lies in a pile of ruins. The Weinstein scandal was just the tip of the unedifying iceberg. Today we learned that Woody Allen, a man who ran off and married one adoptive daughter and was accused of sexually abusing another adoptive daughter when she was just seven, is currently making a movie about a pedophile who preys on a 15-year-old girl. Meanwhile, Trump’s most indignant Hollywood opponents like Meryl Streep continue to celebrate convicted fugitive child rapist Roman Polanski. Middle America is watching all this and thinking: ‘Don’t you lot DARE lecture us about anything ever again.’ 4) The Democrats don’t have anyone yet who can run against Trump and actually beat him. Say what you like about the man but he’s proven himself to be a formidably fierce political campaigner who wipes away opponents with the flick of a mocking ‘Low Energy Jeb’ nickname switch. My preferred choice last time, Joe Biden, will be 78 by 2020 – surely, sadly, too old by then to mount a winning challenge? If not Joe, then who? The clock is ticking. · Joe Biden is going to be 78 in 2020 - meanwhile Hillary Clinton, seen here Monday in Montreal, is hanging around as a constant reminder of her massive defeat 5) Hillary Clinton’s still hanging around like a malodorous failure to remind everyone on a daily basis of the world’s biggest and most shocking political defeat. Her global loser tour, in which she continues to blame everyone but herself, is a vote-destroying disaster for the Democrats. She needs to be pushed out into the political long grass, but who will tell her? Every day Hillary stays in the limelight is another win for Trump. Today, it was shockingly revealed that after all her pontificating about Russia, it was ‘Halo’ Hillary who secretly paid for the dirty Russian dossier on Trump to try to smear him. She’ll collude with the worst of them when it suits her, and voters know it. 6) Trump’s doing very well with the crucial election-deciding issue: the economy. The stock markets keep roaring to record highs (Lest we forget, top liberal economist Paul Krugman told us on election night, when the markets tanked, that they would never recover under Trump!), growth continues around a steady 3%, and unemployment numbers have fallen consistently in the past year. If Trump gets his game-changing tax plan through, and I think eventually he will, then the US economy will likely surge forward just in time for his 2020 campaign. As Reagan and Clinton proved, when an incumbent president runs with a strengthening economy behind him, he’s pretty much unbeatable. 7) His base is rock solid. The polls suggest everyone who voted for Trump last time would do so again. I’ve spent time down in states like Florida and Texas recently and they’re revelling in Trump’s presidency. Everything the screaming liberals loathe about him, from The Wall and travel ban to his ‘Fake News!’ mantra and attack on kneeling NFL players, they love. 8) On the foreign stage, far from being the disaster that Corker and Flake claim, I’d argue that Trump’s proven himself to be rather effective in re-establishing America’s status as the world’s No1 superpower. He slapped Syria dictator Bashar al-Assad round the chops when he tested him with a chemical weapons attack, he’s got ISIS on the run from places like Raqqa exactly as he promised, and he’s stood up to North Korean lunatic Kim Jong-un and told him if he messes with America, he and his country will be vaporized. I very much doubt bellicose self-preservationist Kim will now test that theory. Trump’s visits to places like Saudi Arabia, Poland and France were all huge successes, and I confidently predict now that his trip next week to Japan and China will be too. For all his faults, Trump’s a world-class schmoozer when he needs to be, and a savvy negotiator. By all accounts, most foreign leaders have enjoyed their interactions with him. 9) Trump’s Twitter feed continues to dominate the world’s news agenda. It remains astonishing that a 70-year-old man is the best social media practitioner on the planet, but he is. Trump uses his tweets to refute damaging stories, promote positive ones, take down enemies and talk up friends. More importantly, he’s been able to by-pass mainstream media to get HIS message out to millions of people, exactly how HE wants to, and in an often brutally frank manner that his supporters thoroughly enjoy. That is Utopia for any politician. By 2020, Trump will have trebled or quadrupled his current social media follower counts, giving him an unprecedented and incredibly powerful platform to fight the next election. 10) Trump’s the incumbent president and historically, 70% of those who run again get re-elected. The stats are on his side. So scream all your like next week, hysterical Trump-hating liberal snowflakes, but I’d save some of your voice for Wednesday, November 4, 2020. Because that’s when, as things stand, I predict Donald J. Trump will be re-elected President of the United States. Altogether now: AAAAAAGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He did not need the money either but that did not stop him claiming rent when he was not entitled to it. Surely this was fraud

?????? v Rees (4/4-1025.80) PJ , what price is ?????? Starting to look like the Best Bet of the day . Poor Rees .

R 1 - 3,6 R 2 - 4,8 R 3 - 2,10 B/B R 4 - 6,12 R 5 - 7,11 R 6 - 3,4 R 7 - 2,5 R 8 - 1,3 R 9 - 8,9 R 10 - 2,9 B/B Good luck everyone. Porky , have a " crackle " of a day tipping . Wrinkles R1 - 2,4 R2 - 3,4 R3 - 5,13 R4 - 5,11 Best Bet R5 - 3,4 R6 - 1,2 R7 - 2,6 R8 - 2,7 R9 - 5,8 R10 - 5,9 Best Bet Cubes , good luck to you and your team. I hope and trust your racing day's are always winning day's. PJ , thanks .

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump There you go Globe.... let Donny talk directly to you.....have a read every day and give up your current media cause its giving you a bad case of DTS.

The false Mueller Russian investigation has finally boomeranged back to the real crooks. Wow..….guess what Fake Trump dossier was paid for by Clinton campaign and DNC. 20% of US uranium secretly sold to Russia by Obama administration with bribes of $145m to the crooked Clinton foundation + Bill + Podesta bros + Holder. FBI and CIA new and covered up all the corruption including Mueller and Comey. Talk about collusion and national security at stake. Unmasking (spying) by the Obama admin on Trump before, during and after the election. Corruption at the highest level….as expected all is unravelling and Trump proved right again. Too hot for MSM to handle yet so you won’t hear it on NZ news…DRAIN THE SWAMP Jacinda/Winnie could do NZ a big favour and stop donations to the corrupt Clinton foundation along with pulling out of the climate hoax accord…..saving $2+billion t

This thread made me laugh. Must be a slow news night. Lol.

I understand the trainers not wanting moaning owners when things don't go to plan. And I'm a realist when it comes to the myriad of things that can go wrong in a race. BUT as a punter I really want the best information about MY horse. If I have a punt based on info - and it misses - I will live with that without complaint. When the horse wins/goes great and I haven't been given good info AND I hear the stable were confident etc etc - that's the end of that relationship

Is your comment really needed?