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Trackside goes to Sky. I've had Sky for so many years that it does not affect me. WRONG No races at any golf club I go to. No races at any hotel or motel I stay at. Plenty of Maori channels but NO racing. No racing at my favourite businessmen's and farmers' club. I had no idea that the decision to go to Sky would be so absolutely mad. I leave that sort of decision to the experts, but now I am beginning to think that the experts had no knowledge of the adverse consequential effects of that decision, which has now proven to be ludicrous.

Somebody did speculate on the reasons why on here and got the boot, the same should apply to the petition organisers if they cannot provide the same. The whole thing is just a sad affair. I understood that even if the current L.P is voted out that the association can elect whoever they want to fill the role, so effectively could just put him straight back in, I may be mistaken though.

I had a talk with Jim Leach at head office today to get a few things cleared up about the vote & things. 1) When Voting if you cross out "YES" then you are saying that you want Graeme Calverley to stay in his job. 2) As for the petition it is to do with the deduction of the Petrol Voucher cost & the purchase of the kennels to be used for GAP dogs. When I ask for more information & any evidence to support the claims to be sent out so we can make a fair & legal decision on what we want. I was told that there wasn't any because the people behind it never sent it. I was also informed that the petition was started up not long after Mr Calverley had been re-elected into his position on the board. I personally think this whole petition & vote is a waste of LP's time & NZGRA time & funds. The people who are behind this or any petition should should provide LEGAL EVIDENCE of their claims to support the petition so that when it comes to voting people can make a fair decision when voting. If they can't provide LEGAL EVIDENCE of their claims then they should think about what could happen if the matter was taken to court & put before a judge. The judge would ask them for any evidence they have to support & back up their claims & when they say they don't have any the judge would laugh at them & then they could be charged with wasting the courts time & get hit with a massive fine.

This is one of the best line of greyhounds in my opinion (im maybe biased having so much success from my first litter from tess tokaam (flying allegro/blue series bred bitch) but am planning to base my whole kennels on this blood with the generous addition of two potential top brood bitches namely Eruza and Lost in Light (full sister to Really Clever) with many thanks to brendon and craig. Exciting times ahead. This is a line of dogs that just keeps producing top grade speedsters.

Gee, this thread did turn a bit. I can see where some people are coming from, and CWJ certainly doesn't need the promotion, but to be honest he doesn't get nearly the hype that James MacDonald gets, or other high profile NZ jockeys over the years. Racing is a bit guilty of not making enough of its "stars". And although he may not be a chatty pin up type the man is a star. South Island racing doesn't have much going for it these days. We should be extremely grateful to have him.

I love seeing the allegro dogs go around, I remember Neville and Pauline Robson living over North Lismore with his parents, both having to work to support and raise a family and the dogs were kennalled under the house and when it flooded and that was at least once a year, their house would be surrounded by 6' or more of dirty flood water, They were allways hard working people and when they took their dogs racing they allways stood out because of their great conditioning work, I remember the bookies were allways very wary of their dogs and I remember seeing the Robsons have a bet and their would be a bit of a scrum as others ran around looking for a good price before the bookies started winding the price down,, in about a minute the price would go from 3 or 4 to 1 to 4 to 6 odds on and yes, I remember a lot of them winning lol. I'm not to sure if winnings helped them along with their hard work, but after a number of years they ended up on a farm a little out of town but still in a flood area and did their dogs there along with breeding and the winners kept coming and I'm pretty sure that's when the allegro started appearing regularly and I can remember him getting calls from farmers whose cattle might have broken a leg and had to be destroyed and he would do all of the butchering, he was a very good jack of all trades and Pauline going over the dogs checking and working on any soreness after a nights racing. After a period at that place they got a lovely piece of land(that didn't flood) and Mr Robson built their family home and developed part of the land into a lovely kennel and runs area and an uphill training track and the allegro name was well and truly established, Allright that will do, I just got lost down memory lane, I used to see Pauline and Nevilles name in the ownership of Hi fi allegro when it was racing and I'm real glad to see one of her litters making a good impression.

And he was looking after the smaller trainer was he ? Who , by sheer numbers of dogs , stood to gain the most from petrol vouchers ?

In other words he is saying""i don't know anything regarding horse racing and in actual fact i am to busy to find out.Frankly i couldn't give a rats,but the title will look good on my resume''''

Owners, trainers, punters......

Thanks chesty been watching a fair few trials lately so hopefully we get the right horses in some key races...ohoka can prop me if the wheels fall off . The moose and myself are hitting Avondale this arvo to test the punting waters,250k pick 6 would be good

I was really impressed with his riding over the Cup Carnival,His motto is obviously "Keep calm and carry on"

Good competition to start.... he was definitely a worthy winner a really top class rider.

That is the reason I haven't put up my thoughts as to why the petition came about. If I was I would more then likely get the same treatment as the person who got the boot. From what I was told by Mr Leach you are correct with your understanding.

That is true but under the rules as they stand they couldn't. They need to look at the rule that covers this sort of situation & see where it can be improved so that this sort of thing doesn't keep happening.

so going back to its old habit would help it change its habit?? the previous race the horse ran in the cd in blinkers nearly every start if im thinking of the correct horse. by the way CWJ is a legend

You raise some good point John. I had a horse at Invercargill last week in the c2 and faster pace and he was starting off level marks with a horse that had won 8 races. I like the drop back system but it needs some tweeking. Firstly, horses need to rise and fall in class faster so they are competing with horses of their own ability. Keep the 9 win drop back clause but if a horse hasn't had a placing at all in 5 starts let it drop back. With this provision it would then be possible to have less penalty free races so that the good horses progress in the grades and don't win 4 races and continue to race in c1 races cloging up that already congested group. Also, once a horse has won say $100,000 it cannot be assesed at anything less than c4 and a horse that has won $200,000 can't go below c6. Just some food for thought

Well spotted Hedley. Paying absurd salaries to CEO's has failed. I assume he will give himself a substantial pay cut. Just what confidence can there be in the man when his first statement at best is totally ignorant and at worst a blatant and fraudulent lie. From the Informant. his quote "The Racing Board is a $2 billion business"

So you are such an expert rider please tell me WTF he did wrong on that??? Had the run of the race and had no luck..please tell me how it was his fault...I eagerly await your expert opinion.

Guys the thread was set up to say well done to one of the best jocks to ride in NZ for the past many years...it is not a thread to come in and take potshots... OK...so move on.

Good punting luck Gruff and Dave !! Cheers to a fun last week !

As usual people seem to be missing the most crucial principle in all this. The merits of the voucher scheme and the purchase of a GAP property (both of which I incidentally end up on Calverley's side on this), are not the relevant points. What is critical is the fundamental attempt to undermine further what limited rights and influence smaller owners and trainers have in the code. The petition is a misuse and abuse of the rule, totally setting out to undermine the concept of representation and democracy in the code and the Board should reject it unequivocally for just those reasons. The rules provide a process for the election of an LP rep and it is up to the full electorate of all registered LPs to decide whether that rep has represented their interests adequately and vote accordingly. That is the time to debate those issues amongst the wider electorate of registered LPs entitled to vote. If you believe that the petition should be acted on in the manner the petitioners ask, then you are stating firmly that you do not believe in the principle embodied in the current rules of giving LPs a direct say in the formation and decision-making of their governing board (albeit a small one); and secondly you are saying you want to do away with the concept of an elected rep and hand over all aspects of decisionmaking to the Board without any direct LP input. Whether Graeme's vote was right or wrong in your eyes is not the issue. That is a separate debate that you should have anyway and especially leading up to the re-election of the LP rep. But what is the issue is whether a small unrepresentative group of petitioners and a Board that may not necessarily be representative of LPs in the code have the right to remove and/or impose a representative on the membership because they don't like the way he/she voted on an issue. As I said the petition in my view is a misuse and abuse of the rule's intention. Such rules are there to deal with malpractice and inappropriate behaviour by Board members, not to make them vote in way a minority who have not been able to get elected themselves want and backdoor the democratic process (limited as it already is). There are appropriate mechanisms for calling an LP rep to account; they are called a vote, an election campaign, consultation and one that uses very complex technology - picking up a telephone. A petition to remove them because you don't like the way they vote is not one of them. The petitioners in their reasoning on the petition have already shown they either don't believe in the provision for an elected independent LP rep or don't believe in any form of LP democracy - perhaps both.

fairly sure the conections have been trying since they got the mare to teach her to settle she always used to go to front and fade out. she got it right the race before.

If you have any sense you will stay in Australia, believe you me.

Peter Early is employed within the racing industry as is Peter Fenemor. Neither will do or say anything that will jeapordise their employment. They cannot be blamed for having this attitude...the fault lies with those who run the racing industry (the NZRB and the heads of the three code bodies) and their fear of being exposed for what they really are. That said, Peter Early interviewed Jim Leach shortly after the Manawatu GRC was de-affiliated. Mr Leach had difficulty answering questions and Mr Early looked after Mr Leach, putting words into his mouth with Mr Leach then just agreeing. If these interviews were genuine, a representative of the Manawatu GRC would have been invited to be interviewed. This will never happen. Mr Fenemor has failed to reply to my emails since 2010. Neither of these individuals, or any other person employed within the racing industry, will be the solution or provide any solutions to the problems inherent in the greyhound industry or any other sector of the racing industry. Ashoka

If the truth be known Reilly, Jim is a puppet. His position is nothing more than window dressing. His strings are controlled by other interests. All real power has gone from the CEO position, and Jim is just keeping the seat warm. The political side of the NZGRA is pure smoke and mirrors.

The reason that Mr Leach was brought out of retirement (he had been officially retired for over four years) was so that the Board of the NZGRA could use his political contacts to defraud the Manawatu Greyhound Racing Club out of existence, in my opinion. Mr Leach was the head of the RIB when the central districts regions was shafted in order to promote the Wanganui GRC, the home club of current NZGRA Board Chairman, John McArthur. He acted as an enabler to those involved in the management of the greyhound industry who were pursuing their own agenda. I have been involved in fighting the massive injustices (which include crimanal conduct, in my opinion) in one way or another since 2001. As Manager of the Manawatu GRC, I did my job of looking after the interests of my employer, at all times acting legally. On Friday, 9 October 2009, I gave a fourteen page document to the then Chief Executive of the NZRB, Andrew Brown, in which I outlined a number of matters affecting my employer that required investigation by the NZRB. Brown gave my document to the then NZGRA Board Chairman, Trevor Deed, that same day and I have been persecuted ever since. Leach knows nothing of substance about greyhound racing per se and that is revealed every time he talks in public. In my opinion, the man belongs in jail, not in an office bludging off the greyhound industry. Cheers. Ashoka