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TWITTER TROLLS ... GIVE IT A REST The next time racing’s twitter trolls start giving a jockey a disgraceful bake, they should think of two words. Tye Angland. It’s extremely distressing to consider the situation Angland finds himself in – he simply went to work one day to do his job and now he finds his life forever changed as a quadriplegic. I’ve always had enormous respect for jockeys – small individuals who sit on 500kg+ horses and put themselves in harm’s way every single time they are legged up on one. It was one of the reasons I kicked up for them on Racenet last year when they were fighting for a pay rise in Victoria – and my stance at the time was unpopular with many sections of the industry. Jockeys are highly paid sportspeople and – just like other highly paid sportspeople – they should rightly be subject to scrutiny and criticism when they put in a poor performance. But the amount of atrocious verbal attacks on social media I’ve seen on jockeys lately, from mostly anonymous types who hide behind fake identities and have probably lost $5 betting on a favourite, is beyond the pale. And at times it has been worse than that - Angland himself had his car vandalised by a disgruntled punter after he was beaten on Press Statement in the Group I Golden Rose in 2015. It was certainly great to see social media flooded with sympathy and well wishes for Angland when the sad news was announced the other day he was a quadriplegic. But some people need to have a good, hard look at themselves. Some of the very types that were expressing sympathy for Angland were only a day or a week earlier giving some of his riding colleagues disgracefully abusive serves for what they perceived as poor rides. It’s got to stop – there’s a huge difference between acceptable criticism and personal and foul attacks. The Racenet family wish Angland and his wife and family the very best for their future. Ben Dorries Racenet

You wouldn’t see this in NZ !! Go the filthy ablutophobiacs, at least you’ve got a spine Meantime the TA in NZ is too busy ripping off hard working trainers while they snuggle up to MIA Jackson and Co....with two donuts and a cream bun on hand.....dreaming up some nutcase fantasy about breaking the law & capturing IP rights, or land grabbing legitimate clubs real estate so they can create some fantasy tricode operation in Cambridge ....

As the All Up Winx competition this weekend doesn't include a huge number of races to rack your brains on, I've decided to run a competition on Ellerslie Derby Day which you will need to rack your brains on. The Prize $500.00 The Rules: - Pick one horse in each race at Ellerslie Derby Day this Saturday. - You can choose one race to have NO BET (this is optional) - Select how much EACH-WAY you want on it (Tote odds apply). Must be a minimum of $10ew, there is no maximum EW amount but the Win and Place bet amounts must be identical. - Competition picks close at 12.15pm Saturday. (time of the 1st race) - If you have a late scratching, you can post a new selection and bet amount up until the specific race time, but if you don’t you’ll have nothing running for you in the race. Now the twist - the winner won’t be the person who collects the most amount.!! The winner will be the person whose final total collected is CLOSEST TO $500. (it doesn’t matter if you’re under or over the $500 total, you just have to be closest). In the unlikely event that we have 2 or more people with identical differences to the $500, then the winnings will be split. Please post in this format: Race Horse Name Bet Amount (if you decide to have a race with no bet, just say NO BET) And as my scoring won’t be anything elaborate, please post the horse name as easier for me and also easier for those to follow. So put your thinking caps on and decide your strategy. Good Luck.

A real win for all those owners who are not GST registered for their racing interests, and who have won stake money since 2013. After a court judgement last year on this topic, the resulting test case has found in favour of the original judgement and NZTR have had a big win for many owners. Some great news for racing. As I understand it, in brief, percentages paid to trainers and jockeys are now deemed to be paid by the club (rather than the owner) so the GST on them is reclaimable by the club. Good news for non-registered (for GST) owners, the clubs will get this back and refund you. In future stakes payouts, the deduction of percentages will not include any GST. Appears to be some very clear thinking by Judge Helen Cull which will financially assist many owners. Better still, IRD have lost their challenge to the decision.

It's still pissing down. The clowns moved it away from mid summer so I suppose they got what they deserved. Why can't people be satisfied with the tried & true. No, they have to change just for the sake of making a change. Well for TB fans lets hope this year will teach them a lesson (and a costly one as well) and they return the race to when it should be held!

Stop trying to close small tracks to pinch a few hard earned pennies and sack the lot of these useless idiots in suits .

Someone with construction industry expertise the obvious replacement----Shipley!

It's because they don't employ folk that are passionate about it anymore, or people that are prepared to get up in the early hours to check the track and the weather every day of the week, which is what the old guard used to do, believe me I know .. unfortunately the passion for the job of track manager isn't what it used to be. No need for it though... get some well educated agribusiness graduates on the job and I think you'd solve the problem - they are up to date with satellite images, can do soil testing, are physically fit and passionate about what they do and they also know about grass growth rates, rock bed drainage (predominate in old river valleys .. Trentham, Manawatu, Otaki). love animals, and know about developments in soil impacts. If you want to be a serious business, hire those that are willing to put in the hours because they love what they do. It's what everyone else in racing does - they love what they do..

Any person who admires great achievements.

The results page has been changed again and now only requires 200 clicks and scrolls to get the days results. What a f.....g shambles. Has anybody at the TAB heard of the word easier.

Only been 10 weeks and it is on the list - on page 37 of the fix its

A quote from Thomas Sowell " It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions, than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong." Could this apply to the outcomes from the NZ Racing Board appointees over the years?

Do we really need "on the spot" interviews. Surely that is what the press is for! My pet hate though is that interviewer (usually O'Connor) manages to get into the photo that i'm sure the owners want to hang in their man (or woman) cave. Sorry, but if it was my horse I would be rude and say "Bugger off - this is our moment and our photo", or perhaps another word I learned at school in the Naki!

Rest in peace Leo and Henny, good people, good friends, very good breeders, rearers and trainers of greyhounds. Gutsy people with a wonderful attitude to life and it's inevitability

this week we have a meeting at Otaki on Friday then a meeting 2 hours down the road the following day at Trentham  Get Mark Lundy to drive you, it’s only 7 minutes away

In the queue shuffling along to get into Wembley and the mounted police are doing their crowd management .A female cop on a sweated up steed goes by , so I says , hey you’ve got that horse all hot and bothered. She says , and if I had my legs wrapped around you for 3 hours you’d be in a sweaty lather too.

How good is this stallion. Three stakes winners today. We just bought a share in Colt by him. They just keep winning today

We had a great day. Ellerslie does that hosting thing very well, nothing is a problem for them. We all made money too, most unusual that ( for me anyway ) Can’t wait for next Saturday .....the mighty Consensus will burst the Melody Belle bubble in The Bonecrusher ( probably her last ever NZ start )..then we’ll party ......

Heard Roger James speaking to Des Coppins on Trackside Radio at lunchtime.... Labelled Flomiline as his best of the day in the last at Puke 18-1 ! I don't normally do it....but did today! One Bet One Win! Thank You Roger James!

Can you see them dropping their salaries to sustain the current levels, I don't think so!

I did have to smile at the announcement on the NZ Racing website that they have begrudgingly added a maiden 2,000m to the upcoming Ashburton meeting. But it will need "reasonable noms" to proceed. Yesterday's maiden 1,600m at Riccarton was the only maiden race further than 1,200m for colts and geldings between 22 Feb and 3 April in Canterbury. And North Islanders think they have it tough. When you consider that virtually every race meeting at Riccarton over the last few months has had at least one race dropped because of insufficient noms, it does seem ironic that a sizable pool of horses has no racing opportunities at all. It might also explain why horses aren't coming through the grades and allowing the higher rated staying races to proceed. Perhaps if the industry started getting the little things right before spending $50m on computers and shutting down racecourses everywhere.

Some of us have lost a second dear friend in the space of a few days. But that pales in comparison to what the family will be dealing with. Thoughts are with them x. Henny fought her illness so bravely for so long. How little she had left in the tank, physically, is now apparent. Going to miss you guys.

Huey - do you drive a Lada?

You can say what you want about Otago, but the riding in the Derby was the worst seen in a major race in this country for years. This years Derby has ended up being a shocker whatever way you look at it.

I have the odd look at the dogs section on another site, which usually confirms my decision in not joining up, but after reading the comments on Sacha Allen's efforts and watching the video of her race at Wanganui and the RIU's effort in addressing it I am in this instance in total agreement with the comments posted. Sacha Allen showed great speed to improve around the field and got to the front quite easily not far from home. She immediately put the brakes on and was passed again as quickly as she had got to the front. Failing to pursue doesn't get much worse than that instance. A vet check later revealed "GENERAL SORENESS" . armed with this rubbish diagnosis the stipes decided not to charge the dog. What the hell is general soreness? Does that mean the dogs wasn't feeling well or was sore in every part of its structure. The dog failed to chase and should have got a ticket. People post on here about all the negativity posted but with instances like this happening and no consistency in interpreting the rules by the very people supposed to apply and uphold them I am certain there is a need for it. After my personal experience and following many various cases in all three codes it is my opinion that the RIU is a failure. Mike Martin