Leaderboard

Thanks for the kind words people but really I'm not losing sleep over it and it's just an unfortunate one-off situation. Hesi has a good point about rule making and I try to keep the rules few and simple as to not scare new people off. It has been very hot and somewhat drying here at Randwick today so tomorrow should proceed if we don't get another dumping. Casper raises a fascinating query about entry to the Doncaster field. I have found 3 gorgeous fillies to die for and am trying to twist JM's arm into buying one of them. I came within 3 inches of being brained this afternoon by one of these fillies so feel privileged to still have a head and brain intact and be still able to function ! The comps are great fun and of course highly competitive for many. Both attitudes add to life's enjoyment. Good luck tomorrow everyone !

( the One Racing agenda is still very much alive and 'killing' ) From the 1st August 2015 clubs payouts in terms of commssion on turnover drops down from 17% to 5% ( this is aimed to hurt the smaller clubs!) Klinger from channel two posts; The first post in this tread was made on 16 March 2015. Just a few days before that date, on March 10 2015, Racing Club Managers from around the country met at Invercargill where NZTR CEO Greg Purcell presented them with two Club Funding model options. Both of the options involved: (1) bulk funding (2) funding based on the on-course customer experience and (3) 5% of on course turnover on non industry days. The response to these two proposals was that neither of them was viewed as being acceptable because funding should be based on betting turnover figures and not on a survey of the customer experience. Currently the customer experience is only surveyed on heavily promoted racedays such as Christmas at the Races and Summer Festival of Racing. So these surveys would have to be extended to industry days for the purpose of determining the payout to the Clubs. It is impossible to believe that any funding model as ridiculous as these two would ever be seriously comtemplated. The other staggering thing is how the CEO in conjunction with his senior management team (who surely must have been involved in formulating these proposals) could come up with something so completely daft. But I can see what their problem is. On 14 Nov 2014 the races at Dargaville had total stakes of $79K and the club achieved an on-course turnover of $143,001. On 14 February 2015 the races at Ellerslie had total stakes of $340k and the club had an on-course turnover of $145,827. Under the current funding model both clubs would have been paid 17% of the on-course turnover. So they both ended up with about the same amount of money. Under the girl with a clipboard system (or whatever else they had in mind) I’m sure Dargaville would have received next to nothing and Ellerslie would have received heaps more. (this needs robust scrutiny as it's a scandal that this move is being made that'll see the country's smaller clubs 'strangled')...( who knows the facts please! ..as i don't)

Go to a country club and you pay $5 for a beer.Last week at Ellerslie the SPECIAL being promoted was $7.50 a Stella.Had the girl on serving who had no sense of humour that you had to be special to think that was a special! Do love the course and facilities but on course prices are nt attracting the average punter.$5 in the public area for a 330 ml spite is daytime robbery.

Thanks Gubellini. We had great support with a very good crowd turning up with the public car park becoming full and cars parked outside the course. I have just noticed in the Sunday papers that Barry Lichter stated that NGH was presented with a $3000.00 cheque. This is incorrect. Noel has always admired Bill Skelton's trophy display cabinet and after talking with Kylie (Noel's wife) we decided that was the gift we would go for. So the Te Aroha Jockey Club and NZTR contributed a total of $3000.00 for this. So I sent Kylie off window shopping to pick one out somewhere and after a few days she still had not come up with one after looking in Hamilton and Tauranga. Anyway they were down in Tirau (Noel not knowing anything about this) and they wandered in to Notting Hill Interiors and lo and behold there were some lovely display cabinets that caught the eye. She was looking at these when Noel came up and saw them and when he saw them wanted to buy one then and there. Kylie had to put him off saying that they had to go home and measure up and think about it etc and put him off buying one on the spot. She got him out of the shop and when he was busy doing something else dashed back to Notting Hill Interiors and explained to them what was happening and rang me that night. I contacted them the next day and they were fabulous to deal with and we arranged for a $3000.00 voucher which we could present to Noel on the day and that way he could get exactly the one he really wants. My thanks to Notting Hill and he was thrilled when presented with the voucher by Matthew Goodson, Chairman of NZTR. I am sure NGH will be fronting up pretty quickly to get the one of his choice.

OMG who let him out?

You would have had to been living under a rock not to have known Noel was retiring Slam Dunk. (perhaps you should have popped out and not missed all of this.) Mainstream TV both TV1 & 3. Newspaper media including front page of Waikato Times, various radio stations and of course Trackside TV and Radio. (and it just doesn't happen). And......I am most pleased to be able to tell you he told me we got it spot on yesterday and he was very happy with the way it went. Thats what really matters.

Reading the comments above I should say my hand wasn't forced as I did have the option of not allowing any subsequent selections to be made after the first comp race today at Te Aroha, I just chose not too as i felt that would be unfair. This way everyone has the chance to review their position and decide whether to run with their original selections or make new ones. As Howie has pointed out an attempt to tactically out maneuver an opponent may backfire anyway. The point is you can play this strategy every week if you want by waiting for your opponent to post first. I'm here less than 5kms from Randwick and I can assure you the track on Monday will be virtually the same as it was today and I for one will run with my original selections despite being behind - I think most people will do the same. Forrest's question is a good one. If it is again postponed until Saturday then everyone will have the opportunity to submit new picks. As long as everyone has the same opportunity to re-post or not then surely it is a level playing field The "4 different selections" minimum prevents any skullduggery by those leading at half-time (now). Hesi's final point is one worth remembering - it IS a fun comp. Tip better than your opponent and you will be the victor.

Why the hell do we need the National Anthem sung/played at the races anyway ? That is just historic, there is no need for it today in my view.

NGH is a champion in every regard. There have been more acknowledgements of his achievements in the days leading up to today's race than any other retiring jockey or driver I can recall. The montage you speak of sounds appealing but....for me I think it's just flat out bad manners and a lack of respect to talk over the talk of our National Anthem. Surely everything that needs to be said could have been said prior to the anthem being sung? or..do we even try and squeeze one more dollar from punters while the anthem is playing? To me it was more about a lack of respect for our anthem than a lack of respect for NGH...just my opinion

As originally posted for me, thanks PJ, except for my reserve in R9 where scratched Sweet Idea is now replaced by 4 Tiger Tees. R5: 3 x 4 (12) Voodoo Lad x Tarangower R7: 3 x 4 (7) Ready for Victory x Odyssey Moon R8: 1 x 5 (7) BEST BET R9: 2 x 3 (4) Terravista x Chautauqua R10: 4 x 6 (3) Real Impact x Royal Descent Gruff & Moose both have scratchings today from their original selections, and as I'm off to Ellerslie I don't have time to wait to see if they come on to replace their scratchings. So I'll post now on their behalves and will hope that I've done the right thing. Gruff: R5: 1 is scratched, now replaced by 11 - Loved Up R9: 10 is scratched, now replaced by 2 - Terravista Moose: R5: 1 is scratched, now replaced by 12 - Just a Blur R9: 10 is scratched, now replaced by 3 - Chautauqua Good luck everyone. I promise to keep quiet today ! Love a good debate though. All good, Dave. Thanks, PJ.

thankscs , much appreciated.

good to see the sausage back to his best. did the connections finally take zelda kratchanova's advice, and " let the sausage roll" ? it clearly didn't like being restrained...... roll on rockhampton cup, no? the track here is a heavy 9 penetrometer 6.16 or thereabouts. avoid the fence like a plague. tarangower just win$, lump on and throw some of the winnings on zarzali, thank me later gamble responsively on a day like today you wouldn't be dead for quids.

Mmmmm....Another lets dish trackside thread.... Look, I know the 2 channels is not perfect....but I think some of you are expecting too much. What did you want trackside to do about Noels retirement? Ted has already stated Noel didn't want a big deal made about it.? You know that soon he will be interviewed by Steve Davis on TV for all to see....so why do we need so much on the day? People complain about the stakes for NZ racing.....without the tab broadcasting so many overseas racing each week.....stakes would be a lot lower.... Would have been a dream for most of us in racing 25 years ago.....That we could sit back and enjoy betting on races all over the world at all times......place all your bets on a laptop........and keep up with all of the racing shows/ interviews etc....

Probably best to transfer it to Riverton.

Sorry Breeder I have spent ages trying to do this but still no luck. the article spoke about John Bromelys luck as an owner and breeder in 12 years of racing. The most recent being Tauranga G2 Japan International Trophy winner Julinsky Prince, How he has enjoyed over 100 wins as an owner and breeder. How he was part owner (10 percent) of Darci Brahma, and owned half of Princess Coup. winner of $4.2 in prize money. And to quote his words " But every success I have now is quite poignant given that Clive Harper died more than three years ago. He was my mentor and inspiration. He was the one who gave me the ticks for Princess Coup and Darci Brahma. He was so influential in my career and a huge part of my success,"

All of the above comments entirely as expected and all reasonable enough given we all have different perspectives on life's events, different perspectives on" little bumps on the road" such as this. I'm not one of those "ambulance at the bottom of the cliff" types of people, Dave, I'll tell you up front at the outset if I see problems ahead. As I said, I'm not in the Championship Round so I couldn't care less about the results this weekend to be perfectly honest. What I do care about is that people could get cheesed off and desert PJs comps altogether if they get done over tomorrow because of the sort of "manipulation" that I alluded to. Fun competition yes, great fun and it has been for many years, all down to PJ, but even in a fun comp people wouldn't want to be feeling that they're being "done over" in some way or that their time is being wasted. When it all comes down to it Dave if people had simply followed the rules, including you, (and PJ spells out the rules very clearly before the start of each comp) then we wouldn't be in this controversy. RFT wanting to have people shot, Dave ? Hardly. My "tongue-in-cheek" comments in this comp over many years confirm that I lean more to the "fun" side of things, albeit that it gets me in trouble sometimes. But when people have strayed from the path and put PJ in an unenviable position then I'll let them know, Dave. I'll tell it to them at their front, rather than talk about them behind their back.

there was no option mate safety first it wasn't just that it would have been a bog, the ongoing rain , vision, kick back etc. imagine in the conditions if a hoop was injured badly or God forbid was killed the bonus from the postponement is half price hot dogs and ham rolls on monday even if Insider needs to find a new outfit BUT remember boris golden rule : never eat the pies at a public holiday monday race meeting just double your bets on tarangower and zarzali ( gamble responsively )

I have no problem with them doing away with the National Anthem before all major races...BUT if you're going to play the anthem then do it correctly or not at all. Many things have changed over the years but the anthem has rightly remained hugely important. Talking over the talk of it is just disrespectful,plain and simple. What should the Trackside presenter do? Stay silent until the anthem has finished. Nothing more,nothing less. Stimulating betting is a lame excuse for disrespecting our National Anthem. All the stimulating of betting could and should have been completed by that time anyway. If you went to an Anzac Day memorial would it be ok to talk while the anthem is being played? If the answer is no would that change if the subject being talked about was "money" or would the Anthem remain paramount in that moment regardless?

Pogo, If the major meeting of a NZ racecourse was abandoned, the whingers would be jumping out of trees to tell us how the authorities have stuffed up. Notwithstanding the amount of rain that has fallen but the course itself has something to answer for, whether it be drainage or otherwise. Surely before the large amount of prize-money is put up this should be sorted out. Hate to think how much money has been wasted re food marketing ( not to mention horse industry) etc and even IF Monday goes ahead or next sat this is a catastrophe of grand proportions let alone if Monday and next sat are washed out.

So what are Trackside presenters supposed to do when doing the intro into the race then Dunc ?? Stay silent for a few minutes while the Fat Lady sings...?? That should not be their problem. Their job is to inform the viewer and stimulate betting.....saying nothing tends to do neither. Do away with it I say, except for NZ Cups.

Why feel bad for Peter? He made the right call - I don't think anyone begrudges him that. Just a shame the meeting was postponed.

I have a solution for dogs who suffer from travelling...compression suits. visit http://www.hidez.com.au/index.php?route=product/category&path=70

It is just a fun comp PJ, and the effort you put in is very appreciated by myself, the integrity of the comp is NEVER in question. When posting my selections I just followed suit, especially after I seen you post Sarah's picks, when I posted my picks my opponent hadn't posted, had they already posted I would have posted a full set of selections. Playing for the wooden spoon is pretty high stakes, and I can understand where they are all coming from I'm going to take a break from the comp, will E-mail my selections to a fellow team mate for next week, but in the mean time will post for tomorrow, so my opponent can analyse my selections R5-03-04 R7-01-07 R8-02-03 R9-01-02 R10-10-16*BB

A few getting a bit precious on here...for Christ's sake it is a bit of fun, there are no lives at stake, even if RFT would like some shot..!! It seemed perfectly reasonable to me not to post for Randwick after the postponement. There are likely to be many changes on Monday, if it goes ahead at all with more rain/thunderstorms forecast. There is Warwick Farm to consider too, so what jockeys ride where is still to be resolved....there may be further scratchings... And the Doncaster field could change..It's Somewhat was scratched on Saturday but might yet start. Most of us would likely have had to repost anyway....so chill out people....

Well picked Grouponewinner. You were a bit unlucky in the first race

Must admit I dislike anything being overdone except my steak. The Haka is mightily impressive when the All Blacks or Kiwi's do it just prior to kick off in a test match. When whoever do it at half time and full time etc etc it loses it's impact. I'm ok with the National anthem being sung before a major group one such as the Auckland Cup and NZ Trotting Cup. Bit of overkill for other races. Having said that if they play it before a Maiden at Reefton we should still honour and respect it. If you don't want to stand up and sing it then fair enough but you do need to shut the Fxxx up while it's being played. Highly disrespectful to talk over the top of it as occurred yesterday.

I heard a rumor that Mr Broomhall had left, is this correct, as if it is it is a good start

They had to pull the pin on Sydney as the OZ bred horses don't have the stamina to be able go through the ground past 1200m. A 1400m slog would see their horses lying down with exhaustion with 150m to go. We will pray for fine weather so the track can dry for you Pogo.

Being $133 ahead of Jack it would be an easy and completely unethical exercise (refer Greg Chappell) for me to cover Jack's 2 Best Bet runners and $8+ selections, leaving him needing to get his favourites home (all of them) to upstage me. Of course Jack could dump his favourites and go wider every race in the knowledge that they can't all be "covered". He has nothing to lose, and only needs one "rogue" result to triumph. Jack could wait until the very last minute to post a "replacement set", so I wouldn't know what to cover to "sit" on my lead. Truth is, Jack is a great bloke and he will do what is right, as will I who is not a great bloke. The point is, there's so much potential for scheming and subterfuge ! In the spirit of fairness I will run with my original selections, including Real Impact in the Doncaster which I read after posting my full entry earlier today is described by James McDonald as being "horrible" in the wet. I think the lesson in all this is that for 10 years or so people have been asked to post 2 selections per race for 10 races. You do something different to that only upon instruction from the comp organizer PJ, surely. I don't recall any mention anywhere today of Randwick having been abandoned, only that it had been postponed. Following on from that and without any instruction from PJ some individuals went off on a tangent, posting less than 2 selections per race for 10 races, and thereby forcing PJ's hand into what we now have. Look, I and my Blues team-mates aren't even in the Championship Round and therefore all this is only of interest to me from the viewpoint of the potential for today's events diminishing what is and always has been a great competition. That's my last word on the subject, unless I need to reply to anyone.

To be perfectly honest the two channels on Sky deal sucks. We have never seen such appalling coverage of NZ racing ever in over 25 years. The international meetings receive much better coverage with lead in & actual race & aftermath of the races. It's time for a clean out of those that have been involved in the daft decisions to have so many extra races to the detriment of NZ racing. Some of our forebearers must be turning in their graves.

ninety five races (95) to bet on in the run today hope you have a fast mouse.

Boo hoo for wet trackers

races OFF........... eton, i told you it was wet

Very sad Hedley. And you know, we are not immune to it. What with the live baiting, half burn't dog body's turning up Sth of Auckland, all have the potential to finish us. I do not know the answer to this sorry state of affairs other than anybody with knowledge of these happenings to report it immediately. The quicker these people that are live baiting, and shooting perfectly sound dogs are thrown out of the industry for good, the better of we will be. The NZGRA now have documentary proof of all Greyhounds whelped and imported into NZ. Are they going to especially all the big kennels and following up on whats happened to all the dogs not racing anymore?. They should be requiring proof from all LP's as to where the dogs are. If put down by a Vet they need to see proof. This is not hard as Vets will have record. If dogs are found to have simply disapeared, and LP cannot give plausable explanation for disappearance, then charge them and get rid of them permantly. This should now be happening, but i'v yet to here that this is so. We now employ a Welfare Officer at great cost. What is he doing other than writing feel good storys in the journal. I see very little concrete action from him. Not a single charge on anybody, and yet there will be mass graves in some kennels offal pits containing shot Greyhounds here in NZ. This has been the norm. So an account of all the Greyhounds registered to LP's is absolutely nessesary now. John Goode.

kermadec and sweynesse both IN

heavy 9 penotremeter 6.16

not stablemates, rather both nick moraitis owned.

arabian gold and it's far lesser performed stablemate swim, have either any hope trump? good luck with your bets.

http://www.bom.gov.au/products/IDR712.loop.shtml#skip

doncaster day update.. shorty has just walked the track at HQ , lost a gumboot at the half mile mark, but caught 3 mullet and 2 catfish near the scraping sheds. if you think it was a bog at eagle farm when paul moroney said "if it's wet he won;t even get on the plane" and eton said "what rain ?" then one word sums this up..... NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAH ! boris says fashions on the field will be fun......... gamble responsively.

zelda retired from the pickle factory a while back mate. she is in europe at the minute with anastasia in toe(sic) i hope she sneaks into an internet cafe and says gday, no?

boris says the low pressure system forming could mean a ducks picnic at headquarters (w) at randwick may be as pertinent as (nz) at oakbanzk bring an umbrella eton, no?

don't forget Oakbanzk sheep shearers.

Gee I must be old fashioned, but praising a track crew cos the track was good, go figure?.....sorry, that's their job, do the job, and they did......Awapuni was spot on, if they get it wrong, then you can question because reasons need to be found for such, but not for getting it right.

i wont be there saturday ,insider enjoy yourself on what should be a great day lump on tarangower and zarzali and thank me later

I can assure u tasman man is no dope- a prolific owner in both codes of some very successful horses- and can go back to when he helped Gordon Thompson of show gate fame. a good and knowledgeable punter and in the past a top sportsman-- has a great sense of humour. Astute self made businessman and a guy who u can chat with for hours and someone who whenever I fluke a win is the first with his hand out. The industry could do with a hundred gary's. One major fault of course comes from the wrong island.

Well Duncan as Lordship not so long ago you scared many posters on here ,including me ! Your posts stood out. You told anyone who queried your posts that they should go crawl back under your a rock.....boy....and generally called them names.Aggressive and abusive.Well written and long. No other poster has ever done this consistently. Like Duncan you enjoyed fishing ,from the Shore, owned a boat etc. Lordship possibly came across as being big and tattooed....more scary !! Then Allaboveboard emerged sometime later with excessively long posts ,mainly about team driving and horses not trying with plenty of Duncanisms toward anyone who disagreed. No need to troll the internet to remember any particular posts. For someone claiming to love Harness I found the tone of the posts very negative . I wondered why is this guy spending so much time telling us why he had given up following/punting on Harness ! If you give something up ,walk away ,why poison others? Of course when you started abusing John and then me in December as Duncan, I thought you would be hauled in by the Management here but for some reason they didn't worry about the Harness thread. Personally I think your posts don't add up.....a lot of lies . Normally a successful person , and particularly a media /journalist wouldn't get abusive with posters on the Internet. Especially one who demands integrity from the subject they are writing about. You have again repeated most of your CV.....you may as well tell us your name then we can check out your integrity. If you can prove your "honesty" I'll buy some presents for your grand children. Thanks for calling me incredible ,it beats a previous description of me being like a 1986 fart !!...or similar.

One of my pet hates in this world is being misquoted. I've never once said I'm done with Racecafe. What I've said is I'm done with the harness side of Racecafe. Huge difference. I've continued my input elsewhere on this website. I will still be reading the harness forum from time to time but won't be contributing. The pleasure I got from contributing here evaporated due to people not unlike you. People who are so small minded that they feel compelled to try and misquote or ridicule your input. If I ever disagreed with anyone I would always try and explain why that was so. That proved to be a pointless and frustrating exercise. Internet trolls are alive and well in this forum. Sorry but that only has limited appeal to me. The fact there are some quality and genuine harness racing people was why I contributed. I'm Duncan. I've been a journo most of my adult life. Part of that period was a racing journo. This is the only user name I've ever had on racecafe. My father was a very average punter. I've part owned a few race horses just like many of the people on the site. Most of my horses were very average with a couple being just above average. Never had the pleasure of owning a real good horse. Hope to one day. I've been offered the chance to part own horses but unfortunately had to decline as I just didn't have the resources. Being a family fan with a mortgage has many advantages but some pitfalls. One of the horses I turned down went on to win 14 races in NZ...grrrrr. . I'm not "John Evans,Lordship,Craig Kennett,aboveboard,Grant Street,Mick Guerin,Ashoka etc etc etc or anyone else I've been accused of being. Yes I own a small modest boat I park on the front lawn. I live on Auckland's North Shore. Auckland is known as the city of sails where many people own a boat. How this is evidence of anything is beyond me. Why would anyone even be interested in that? Most of my bets have been small. On the rare occasion I've taken a much bigger bet I've owned it even if it got beaten. I'm not a Monday punter. I've backed my own judgment even if that judgment was wrong as was the case with Above The Stars and Adore Me. I honestly don't believe I'm a very good punter. I've got a fairly decent eye to find winners but very average at backing them. As for Tasman Man. You are without question the most incredible person I've ever come across on line. A true internet troll. You must have gone over 40 million messages from everyone who has ever been a race cafe member over 20 years looking for similarities in messages. How incredibly sad is that? Do you do that for personal entertainment or are you applying to be some sort of detective? It must have taken you years. What's your motivation? Why would you want to ridicule someone who admits to knowing two very serious punters? Why would you attempt to undermine what I say on here? Do you equate it to me having a larger penis than you? Are you seriously that threatened? How can you say my messages are long and boring then read them all to the point the details are engraved in your system and then read 40 million other messages from god knows who looking for similarities? . I understand you are the Race Cafe Police but that is just astonishing. You've even managed to turn a positive friendly exchange I had on her recently with Tim Vince into something completely different. That brings new meaning to the word "pathetic". I'm confident Tim has a different take on our exchange. Call me perverse but if I read a few long boring messages from anyone I would stop reading their input. Call it self preservation but that's just me. You on the other hand read every word I say or you can attribute to me then say I'm good for a giggle. Astonishing and incredibly sad that any man's existence could be that pointless you would spend your entire life trolling / stalking in such a manner. Will see the non worms / trolls elsewhere around the site,via email,in my lounge watching Trackside together or at the track. Duncan

We spotted the ad for this on nationwide TV during the week. Just wondering are all the NRL teams going to camp out overnight the day prior to there Anzac day/ Night games? We feel it would be a very fitting tribute if they did. It wouldn't do any of them any harm to do away with a night in a hotel's accomodation & appreciate what it was like 100 years ago. We are putting out a challenge to all NRL Teams to do so out of respect for those of days gone by from 100 years ago.