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Just want to let everyone know that thanks to the generosity of Idolmite the comp will now have its prize money doubled as he is kindly donating $250 to allow this to happen. I want to thank him for this and wish him well in all he does in the coming months he is a fighter.

This race on Sunday needs a name change .It is not the Great Northern Steeplechase .The Great Northern is 3 times over the hill ,the ultimate test of stamina .If those in charge choose to disregard tradition and abandon history then they must change the name of a once magnificent event .Maybe call it the "We sold the hill and killed 100yrs of history Steeplechase " or the "Ask your grandad how great the Northern used to be Steeplechase "

On the Guerin Report yesterday Mick was suggesting that as all or most of the Group One Horses are based at either Byerley Park, Cambridge or Matamata it makes sense to have all the Group One races run in the North. That was part of the discussion regarding what happened at Hastings on Saturday. He even questioned why we still run the 1000 and 2000 Guineas at Riccarton! Well what happened today? Where are three of the first four place getters from? Gee whiz those poor Southern and CD horses must be tough as old nails they crisscrossed the North Island, finally ending up in Matamata not only to participate, but come up trumps, filling three of the first four positions. Just saying. Liz

During the first 30 years of my 50+ years in the game that’s what made Trentham so great. All the best horses from the north and the south came together, plus the Yearling Sakes were on with all the Aussie’s and boy did we (they) party. Sadly the big breeders got their way and the infrastructure of NZ Racing went downhill from then on. Thank God I have lived through the great days of racing just like the music of my time. Liz

It offends me big time. Especially at a magnificent circuit like Riccarton which can run 2500, 2600, 2800 races any day it wants. And the irritating habit of terming the middle-distance 2000-2200 events 'staying' races. This 'dumbing down' of distance seems to be a creeping malaise to condense things to a 1200-2000 range. Even the genuine classy 1000m sprinter isn't well served at the other end.

Yes he is always pushing his and the big stud and stables agendas, that's why I do not bother to watch his show as it is always about Mick...and making sure he is the centre of attention.

Cant wait to see/hear our intrepid investigative weporter Michael Guerin ask all the hard questions to all the right people ...LOL

Because nobody is EVER held accountable...some fancy report will come out and NOTHING will change.

If the best that can be said is that he “managed” the industry through the back end of Covid and relocated NZTR to Cambridge then he hasn’t really achieved much in his two and a bit year tenure. Sticking around until the end of the year is understandable but why would you need him to stick around as a consultant? He has a great grasp of sports-talk word salad but seldom says anything of value. If you were the new CEO the last thing you’d want is the old one leaning over your shoulder!

I made my first ever visit to the Woodville races on Sunday. Amazingly, I have visited just about all CD tracks over the years, including several that have subsequently closed such as Levin, Fielding and Opaki, but for some reason I had never been to Woodville. I am glad I finally checked it out. It is fairly obvious that Messara never visited Woodville during his whirl wind tour of NZ. He was obviously told by someone malicious that it was an old run down track that wasn't needed. You would have to be a total halfwit of the highest order to recommend closing down Woodville. It is an amazing course with really good facilities. The main grandstand looks as if it was probably built in the 70s or thereabouts and provides a great view of the racing and even has glassed in viewing of the racing from the main bar. Trentham would probably love to have such a good stand. All of the bars and dining facilities and the whole course look to have been well looked after. It would put many tracks in bigger centres to shame. They even list all of the previous winners of the Woodville Cup, although that hasn't been updated since 2018. It has been won by some great horses over the years. Woodville's greatest advantage is that it doesn't have numerous old grandstands with bars everywhere that are never used and should be bulldozed down. HB was a sad and sorry sight on Saturday even before the meeting was abandoned. I don't know how many unused bars etc they have at Hastings. It really is a tired old place that would benefit from quite a bit of demolition. I imagine that all of the NZTR top brass who attended HB on Saturday would then have moved on to Woodville on Sunday, especially if they wanted to see a race-meeting actually completed. Surely some of them must ask themselves if they have really got the grand plan dead right? You would have to be pretty pig headed not to sit back and reassess some of the things they are trying to push through.

Round 3 Hastings abandoned so the comp will be run over the remaining 8 races - we need 6 minimum for the results to stand. For those with best bets at Hastings (myself included) that is just bad luck So bloody frustrating, and if you've ever wondered why we don't include more NZ races in the comps, here is your answer.

During the jumping review we were given figures that showed flat racing Dwarfed jumps racing per race on turnover. And it was done "on a like for like basis" The synthetic track review shows that flat racing on heavy tracks during winter shows the turnover is 109k per race,alot lower than the figure quoted in the jumping review. I'd take it further. A like for like basis should be on the first 4 flat races at each meeting over winter compared to the jumps. You can twist statistics so easily. For example my fat cousins BMI proves he isn't fat,he is just too short. Not having a crack or a cry but Id just like to see a fair "like for like" because I'm not convinced we have seen it yet.

What a terrific day at Wingatui for this young trainer Sunday, 8 starters for 2 wins, 2 seconds and 3 thirds. So glad he returned home to train again. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree and that’s one hell of a tree

Must take a lot of makeup to cover the brown nose

A comment from a casual punter and follower. In the 1970 s I worked at Awapuni with three generations of the Lord family ( Arthur, Ivan? Murray and Graeme. Three of us students were employed and our job was to remove hurdle and steeple fences , go over the track with rakes briefly on race day and thoroughly on the next day checking and filling divots. Also drove the water cart on days prior to race day but never on the last day before the meeting . I think we also harrowed lightly. The grass was never anywhere near as long as it was on Saturday and in my three years there was no slipping , no fall on the flat or postponements. Also I’m sure track was used more then for training purposes with more trainers based there

NZTR and Balcombe make Fawlty Towers look like a serious documentary.

Balcombe has just been on and says this has come out of left field , WTF , does he need a truck hitting him , this has been an issue at HB for the last few years . This is the bullshit thaty needs to stop , the suits aren't losing any money this week are they .

Bit of irony in the sponsor of Race 2, as it turns out.

They can throw all the money at the stakes they want but until they get quality people across the board our industry is going no where .

And I apologise if I have offended anyone I should never have said "dwarfed" I should have said "little peopled"

THOUGHTS FROM DONALD TRUMP -- AFTER HE MET THE POPE:- "I, President-to-be, Donald Trump, met with Pope Francis today. He's a really great pope — great, great pope. You know he's the leader of the Catholic Church — big, big church." "I couldn't believe it when he told me how many Catholics there are. Way more than I thought. They have churches all over the world; some are very, very close, so close to my hotels and my golf courses." He tells me he's elected for life, probably copying that Xi guy in China. Fantastic idea, though. Fantastic." It turns out the pope is a lot like me, (Donald) --- you never see him with his wife." "He told me he's infallible. I said that's great, you'll never have to worry about breaking a hip." And told me about a Mary Magdalene, beautiful girl, beautiful. Apparently, a hooker. I asked him for her number. Didn't catch his answer. I'm told he said it in Latin. I give the guy credit because he doesn't look Latino." "He took me into the Sistine Chapel. Beautiful ceiling. Not the usual white stucco stuff. I don't think too many people even know about this place. The paintings are great, I'm telling you. Lots of colours." "The Pope, great guy by the way, knows more about the Bible than almost anybody — we got along great, I think he really likes me, told me the whole thing was painted by this young Italian. I think his name is Mike Langelo." "At least that's what Francis, (we're great friends), called him, I think. Trust me, we're going to hear more about this guy. He's really artistic, and everybody tells me I have the greatest eye for the best art. It's natural, just like my incredible understanding of science. All the renowned scientists say they can't believe it." "I told Frank I'd like to buy some of Mike's art. I asked if Mike's done anything on velvet. He'll check - great guy. I'll hang his stuff at Mar-a-Lago or Trump Tower. This Mike guy needs more exposure. He's too much with the churches." "He could paint my presidential portrait on the Capitol Dome.!!! Or maybe a mural on my big, beautiful border wall; ---- but just on our side!" "When we left, the Pope Frank gave me a bible. Huge book. Huge Book! I told him that I have the full set. You get one for free every time you take a porn star to a hotel room." "Unbelievable. Just heard. The lamestream media is at it again. Fake news. Fake news. I just saw something on TV. They claim Mike, the painter, died 450 years ago.!! Sad. I've already got people looking into this and you won't believe what they're finding."

My daughters boyfriend 22yrs old & his mates are the target. They all have Betcha accounts, they are glued to their phones pre race watching odds changes, they have never heard of Lethal or care. To them he’s boring, mono toned & a turn off as he tips $2 shots consistently. They also don’t like the CD commentator as his picks are shit & he comes across a bit arrogant. The TAB guy who comes on with updates & market movers they find interesting & they love the hot horse concept. These young fellas have all started punting thanks to Betcha, they already think racings boring with the long gap between NZ races on a Sat, the last thing they want is 10 mins build up to a race with presenters who are barely awake themselves.

Maybe try running them later in the day when NZ punters are home from golf,work or kids Saturday morning sport and Aussie punters are awake. Running the Grand National Hurdle at 11.40am and then complaining that the turnover was only 60% of a flat race hours later that had twice as many starters is the height of stupidity surely?

Have a nice holiday Miss J

Vale Mr Graham McNeice The horse racing and media worlds are tonight mourning the passing of an industry icon, Mr Graham McNeice who was fondly known by all as ‘Shadow’. “Graham McNeice was not only a legend in media but a giant in the racing industry,” said Mr Peter V’landys AM, Racing NSW’s Chief Executive. “However, even with all his contributions and achievements, the memory I have is of a beautiful human being – the racing and media families have lost one its most popular members.” The late Mr Graham McNeice Graham grew up as one of six children in Croydon Park and became a greyhound caller firstly under the wing of mentor Frank Kennedy. Graham was later appointed full-time understudy at Radio 2UE to racecaller Des Hoysted and would do the odd race meeting at midweeks whenever Des was unavailable. Graham eventually moved into television and had a long association with Channel 10 as a producer. That led to Graham becoming one of the pioneers of satellite sports television in Australia as the founding Executive Producer at Club Super Station which later evolved into Sky Channel. Sky Channel was initially under the ownership of Alan Bond when it started in Perth and McNeice played a huge part in having the operation moved to Sydney. From there Sky Channel started beaming into pubs and clubs with McNeice as the main host. It was an historic day in 1998 when the races were first broadcast into homes and McNeice served 12 years as host of the popular Sunday morning program, Racing Retro. And six years ago, both Graham and great friend John Tapp were honoured by being inaugural inductees into Sky Racing’s Hall of Fame. Graham then moved into the production of many outstanding sports and crime documentaries courtesy of his company Shadow Productions. Mr Graham McNeice will be missed by a multitude of family, friends and colleagues from the racing and media industries. RNSW

He could stand in front of a mirror and save us from his attitude .

Once again it just shows that these people come in, make the big decisions and then just piss off, doesn't matter to them what state they leave the industry in.

Something positive and beautiful , Broadsiding winning the Golden Rose today , last seasons champion 2yo and being the first horse to win it fresh up , a quality field of 3yos , just how good is he ??? Is it too soon to say ? Can he win both the Caufield Guinea's and the Holy Grail ??? I love him .

Since Entain took over in this Country with their big bag of money everything has turned to custard. Standards have slipped, presentations and new initiatives are vanilla at best. It appears amateurish, boring, AI form guides, some AI presenters who aren't racing people reading off a script. Abandonments galore etc etc. I have been a racing man for 50 years and have never been so dismayed.

Their argument for closing tracks and taking their meetings to central tracks was to save the owners money , in recent years this process has cost owners an absolute mint in lost transport money and travel and accommodation for those owners that have travelled to watch their horses . The problem with this was that the tracks they chose to host multiple clubs simply haven't been up to the job . Selected as premier tracks that have had issues : New Plymouth Hastings Awapuni Trentham Riccarton Ellerslie This is damning to those in charge .

"Slipping on the TOP WETTER layer" was the comment from the track manager--exactly, it is the long ,wet grass that is the problem, NOT the underlying track. Cut the grass shorter you F---Wits!!

This is the sort thing that completely undermines the integrity of NZ racing , I know that myself and many I know have absolutely no confidence in those running NZ racing . Not just losing a big day but the fact that this is a continual problem that they simply have no idea how to rectify this .

Goodness gracious me , we are going to turn our participants into AI bots , most didn't finish college . To be honest if you have worked in the racing and breeding industry and not learnt 50 different swear words and at least 100 ways to incorporate them into a sentence you haven't been in it very long . The 2 worst potty mouths I ever met in my life belonged to racing women .

Dont agree.... its part of the aftermath and real answers from real people are not edited, good on them makes for interesting watching..and adds to the atmosphere.

Oamaru and Timaru should be getting more meetings. Their tracks recover much quicker after foul weather. Then the Chch synthetic track meetings could be reduced.

I have taken the day off work so I can study for this comp all day - bet it makes no difference to my result but it's much more fun than being at work.

say no more thanks for your gargantuan input into these competitions. You should be the government statitician!

100% agree keep on posting We're Doomed...what you say is 100% right there are not many great horses like the ones you mention anymore unfortunately...times change and racing must change with them..however the people running the show now seem to have little clue or care about traditions....their meetings are just for platitudes... will change nothing as they dont listen to grass roots people anymore.

Unless it interfered with another runner/other runners in the score-up, them's the breaks (pardon the pun) It's not a Southland rule.

Just another overpaid talking head.

Whadd'ya mean, every now and then?

Exactly the same place I slipped on Shenely in the Hastings cup around 1982 , Tipped over and slid to the outside rail. We kept racing and I won on Tang latter in the day

And I will say it again--the grass is TOO BLOODY LONG and the retained moisture in said grass is the problem. JMO

How is Sarah O'Reilly? Does anyone know? I'm ropable. The best junior driver since Dexter and the media haven't bothered to update her thousands of fans of her condition. Progress! Wake up Harness media. I cannot understand how you have said zero about Sarah since her crash. Is it because she's a. woman from Ashburton? Guerin concentrates on the northern drivers, kissing Z Butcher as the best in the land. Mainland concentrate on a few drivers, Dunn, Orange, Close. It's not good enough NZ Harness media. I, and thousands of Sarah O'Reilly fans, want to know how she is healing after her nasty crash. Is that too much to ask?? Hopeless!!

Fingers crossed it goes well this weekend...I have been critical because the track was not good enough last season but the industry needs it be fixed as it is the cornerstone of the good races and they keep taking more there so it needs to be successful...fingers crossed for the weekend ahead.

Some people just complain because they have nothing else good to do. I'm personally sick of it. Whilst Trackside is nowhere near perfect it is far better than what it was say 12 months ago. Trackside are open to change and bringing new people in, trying new ideas and over time that could work out well. The additions of Erin Leighton and Guy Heveldt are very good, and the returns of Jayne Ivil (she is a star - Black Caviar of presenters) and Greg O'Connor (who is also very good) is a step in the right direction. Australia are and always will be way ahead of us, but at least now we are in the same straight as opposed to being left gassed at the 1000 and the leader (Australia) bolting away.

Wednesday I’m talking horse manure in today’s column. What’s new, I hear you cry. Well, this time the subject is actual faecal matter, not my usual whiffy opinions. This is serious business, so to speak. You might have recently seen on the BBC news and other outlets that a study had measured the levels of bacteria in the digestive systems of more than 50 thoroughbred foals over the first three years of their lives. It found that the type and abundance of gut microbe that were present in a foal at four weeks old directly correlated with the foal's future health and success on the track. The research was led by Chris Proudman, a professor of clinical veterinary science at the University of Surrey, and published in a subsidiary of the journal Nature. The team of scientists regularly collected faecal samples from each of the 52 horses involved in the study, while their owners recorded their performance in terms of ratings achieved and prize-money earned. The study also found that foals treated with antibiotics had fewer types of bacteria in their guts and went on to less successful careers compared with those who hadn’t received such drugs. Andrew and Jane Black’s Chasemore Farm in Cobham, Surrey – whose homebred filly Breege won the City of York Stakes last month – participated in the study, which was funded by the Alborada Trust. Pat Sells, a long-term friend of Good Morning Bloodstock who runs his Orbital Veterinary Services from Chasemore Farm, was one of four collaborating veterinary surgeons on the Alborada Well Foal Study, as it was officially titled. “The results were quite startling,” he says. “We found that the composition of gut bacteria at one month old can accurately predict their future athletic performance. “The higher the faecal bacterial diversity at one month old, the better they did on the track, based on official ratings and earnings. Conversely, we found that foals who received antibiotics in their first 28 days of life had lower faecal bacterial diversity at four weeks old, won significantly lower prize-money, and had an increased risk of developing respiratory disease. “The importance of the microbiome in systemic health has been highlighted by research in many species over the past decade, and it appears the thoroughbred is no different.” Pat does wonder whether the most important message from the research was buried a little in the avalanche of press it received, though. “The paper went viral on mainstream media – the BBC, The Times, New Scientist and so on – but all the stories seemed to miss the golden nugget,” he says. “The headlines were about racetrack performance, but for me the most interesting association was between gut bacterial diversity at four weeks old and a reduced risk of musculoskeletal injury as adults. “If they are staying sounder for longer, then of course they will accumulate more prize-money and hit higher ratings. Since the stories were published, the phone has been red hot with people from our industry asking ‘so what probiotics can we give these foals to boost future performance?’ “It’s way too early for that. These are exciting findings, but to extrapolate interventions would be premature. The beauty of research like this is that it gives more questions than answers, and we should embrace that. “One finding that we can act on, though, is the association between foals that received antibiotics – for any problem, including contracted tendons – with increased likelihood of contracting respiratory disease as adults, and poorer racetrack performance.” Regular Good Morning Bloodstock readers might remember that Chasemore Farm takes preventative action against infection by taking antibody-rich plasma from its resident teaser Rerouted, freezing it and later giving it to new-born foals on the stud. “The study re-emphasised the importance of our prophylactic programme at Chasemore: harvesting hyperimmune plasma and giving it both intravenously and orally to neonates as a matter of course,” says Pat. “When I was an intern in Newmarket 16 years ago, the job I dreaded most was going from farm to farm giving antibiotic injections to newborns for their first three days of life. Thankfully those days are long gone, and most stud managers and vets now employ better antibiotic stewardship with foals. “Habits in reproductive medicine have been slower to change, though. The indiscriminate use of antibiotics in the routine post-service treatment of mares’ uteruses is still widespread, particularly in the US. “There is a perception that it improves conception rates – which is poorly grounded, anyway – but what impact does it have on the environment that the foetus develops in? Or the resulting foal’s microbiome? These are questions that we will try to address in the next phase of the Alborada Well Foal Study.” Pat can state objectively that fertility rates for mares in his care have not been adversely affected since he put an embargo on all intra-uterine antibiotics on the farms that he looks after, even when an intra-uterine bacterial infection is identified and cultured. “There are plenty of non-antibiotic, intra-uterine alternatives that not only effectively kill the bacteria, but also strip out the mucus, or biofilm, that they like to hide in,” he says. Further research as part of the Alborada Well Foal Study will investigate how foal gut bacteria diversity and abundance can be maximised; whether antibiotic use in foals can be reduced; and how the negative impact of antibiotics on gut bacteria can be mitigated in cases where they have to be used. The results will be fascinating for antibiotic stewardship in humans as well as horses, not just because of the negative impact of antibiotic medicine on the microbiome, but also due to the well publicised emergence of resistant bacterial strains. Another key question inextricably linked to antibiotics is the involvement of Vitamin D with bone strength. “A good rule of thumb on whether you're able to synthesise enough Vitamin D from sunlight is by looking at your shadow,” explains Pat. “If it’s longer than your height, which in the UK accounts for most of the year, then you’re not getting any Vitamin D from the sun, and dietary intake must account for 100 per cent. “Given that there is little to no Vitamin D in a vegetarian diet, as most plants can’t synthesise it, horses must rely on supplemental Vitamin D in their hard feed, or from their mother’s milk. “But we know that absorption of Vitamin D in the mammalian gut is heavily influenced by the gut bacterial population. Could that be why we’re seeing differing injury rates linked to early gut bacterial diversity? “Human studies show that Vitamin D blood levels are significantly implicated in the risk of stress fracture in early-adult, military recruits. This could be a paradigm analogous to young thoroughbreds in training.” Thanks to funding from the Hong Kong Jockey Club for another study headed by Prof Chris Proudman, Chasemore Farm is exploring those questions using a state-of-the-art scanner that accurately measures bone strength, tied in with the sampling of blood and dietary intake to measure the foals’ Vitamin D levels. Pat is hoping the work will lead to a PhD in future. The stud is not only a blue-chip nursery but also something of a laboratory, as it continually explores the best way to raise healthy, and therefore high-achieving, horses. It has also taken part in several studies with parasitology experts at the University of Bristol, looking at the emergence of drug-resistant worms in UK thoroughbreds, and how those problems can be tackled as an industry. In an echo of antibiotic issues, the blanket use of antiparasitic drugs over the past few decades has led to the evolution of multi-resistant strains of tapeworms, redworms and ascarids. “Much of this work has been funded by the Horserace Betting Levy Board [HBLB], which gives around £2.5 million per year – £40 million since 2002 – to veterinary science for the improvement of welfare in the thoroughbred, in all its guises,” says Pat. “Obviously that money comes directly from the betting public, and I think that’s something that isn’t always communicated to the average punter. A portion of every bet goes to advancing horse welfare, so keep punting!” Another HBLB-funded study that Chasemore Farm participated in recently was conducted by the Royal Veterinary College. This was also a longitudinal study that followed cohorts of foals from stud farms into their racing careers, in order to discover risk factors and indicators for future soundness and performance. Among other things, it showed that turning foals out in larger paddocks was protective against injury in later life. “This fits the growing body of evidence that confinement has a negative impact on musculoskeletal development,” says Pat. “Loading of equine limbs from an early age gives essential strength and conditioning, which maximises future soundness and longevity. “Population studies consistently show that Flat horses who race at two have fewer days out of training and a later retirement date than those that start at three. “When Justify won the US Triple Crown in 2018 without having run at the age of two, social media was filled with opinions that this was ‘evidence’ we should be delaying the onset of racing in thoroughbreds. “He was in fact the first horse to win the Kentucky Derby, never mind the Triple Crown, without having had a two-year-old start since Apollo in 1882. Just the 136-year gap, then. Science wins again.” As ever, Pat has provided us with plenty of food for thought. Punters should be thanked for their contribution to horse health; don’t listen to the naysayers, juvenile racing is good; and, most importantly of all, look after your gut. I’m off to buy some kefir.

As far as I am concerned these Road Shows will be a non event. You had to register with NZTR by August 21 to attend. You had to submit any questions you wanted to ask by that date. I haven't registered. My nearest meeting is at Matamata. If I turn up will I be refused entry? Will I be able to ask questions from the floor? Obviously the peripatetic duo will be eager to answer the patsy questions but will have consigned the hard questions to the too hard basket.

No problem , they can just xfer to Avondale , oh wait ! OK then xfer to Te Aroha , oh hang on that doesn't work either . Let me get back to you .

An excellent interview with James MacDonald with the second part next week.