Leaderboard

Stakes = Income = salaries for breeders/owners/trainers and as such have not kept pace with inflation, in comparison to the NZRB CEO's salary over the last 10 years. Why ? The TAB itself has created the exodus of punters to offshore i.e. demise of free-to-air means that no prospective punters can see racing on TV while channel surfing. Limited info in press publications means the same. Eventual demise of telephone betting means the bias against the "older generation" when the statistics prove that they are the highest demographic of punter they have. Make no mistake they have engineered this for some time by understaffing this area as opposed to the efficiency on Melbourne Cup day when they wanted every dollar they could get. I totally agree that the industry itself needs to take back the reins.

The RIU {if my sources are correct and I have no reason to believe they are not} need to hang there heads in shame. I am told David Walsh applied for and was turned down for the vacant CD Stewards position. I don't know to much about the person that got the employment,other than he has raced a few horses and was involved with Race. Now if we look at Walsh,he is the most successful rider in NZ history in terms of wins,he was a Trainer and a riding mentor.He has a very good record with Integrity,no skeletons in the wardrobe.One of his strengths as a rider was ability to rate a horse in the lead,so he has an excellent judgement of tempo in races,which is something i believe the current mob lack,hence the lack of questions asked by them concerning rides or drives regarding tempo. They have employed Stewards that leave cones on the track,they have allowed races to go ahead on clearly UNSAFE tracks,they allow races to run when cameras have branches blocking them,can find anyone to charge when a horse goes into the running rail and ends up on the other side,eg Karaka Million You look at the people that are currently employed and look at there credentials to do the job required and yet the decision by the RIU bypass Walsh is bordering on lunacy and in my view the person/s responsible should also be looking for new employment. SNR

And without Cafe less than 1% of racing participants would know how it all works, and I suspect that's what the head office wants, they prefer we "don't know" then they're not accountable and never scrutinised.

The cross coding is probably only a back up situation for absences, illness etc Leggy. It does sound a bit like the old "Jack of all trades, master of none.."

Melbourne Cup day is rubbish! Derby Day the meeting to attend in my opinion.Whole day of top racing rather than one big race and a lot of rubbish attended by a bunch of drunken bankers not even remotely interested in the horses

Nice effort from the weekends punters on building the kitty up.All the best to Bryce and Nek for next weekend.Am sure they will carry on the good work.

what a great race, n0? great riding too by rosemount joe, give that hoop an extra pay

TOTAL AFTER WEEK 2 = $475.10 ($26.40 PER SHARE) well another steady week too bad the rugby didnt go our way. onto new week and Bryce and Nek to keep adding to the total. hope everyone had a great week off to get a hot drink as just started snowing here.

All Renegades please listen to our leader. He is the captain. He knows things. We nearly blew a certain win. Just saying Great Sunday for relaxing.

When you think about it, there are probably no more than about ten people on here who seem to know how the industry works and who have any viable logical suggestions as to how things could be improved. It probably explains why the hopeless and useless have found themselves in positions of power

Don't miss Hilary at all. Her replacement is fine and with her gone Jim has come out of his shell. Problem with Hilary and Judy Baily is that the had become the news as opposed to news readers.Time to go when that happens and I doubt wether Hilary will be able to replicate her TV3 freedom on TV1 especially with that know all Jack Tame who in my humble opinion knows F..... all.

Thanks We're Doomed. Bookies take a big share of betting in Australia as well. The ownership structure in England is not as elitist as you claim. Syndication is well established there. One of our major problems is that Kiwi Punters invest with bookies and betting agencies offshore. I find it hypocritical that owners complain about stake levels yet continue to bet offshore. Our TAB with all its imperfections will always be my favoured betting option.

I reckon you're half right, as to England, big changes there, and Harry Herbert [Highclere Syndications] for one has taken racing to the masses!…….look at the crowds!……..in UK racing is on a roll!…..they recognised a lot of their shortcomings, they addressed such, not like here, head in the sand stuff…..cmon, I'll ask you guys, let's shoot from the hip eh? what would you lot do if the All Blacks started to play like the Wallabies? crowds were down to buggery? I'd bet my last that there would be uproar, coach would be gone, admin and management called to account, the press would be on their case….but not the old racing game, one of the top revenue producers for the country, oh no, leave that to gurgle and splutter…….there's something crook in Tallarook…...

perhaps then one of the first things to be looked at - is who appointed them to these positions.

Paddy is reputed to have smuggled a French wine into their Levin home tonight to celebrate Sylvia's 900 month Birthday !! Happy Birthday, magic Lady, Sylvia Kay. You mentored our very naughty "Magic of Sydney gelding:..... "That's Magic" to win 3 races, Sylvia,...I doubt Kevin Myers, my Brother, or Bob Autridge could have done that. Fortunately, for That's Magic , I did not have my Owner/Trainers licence at that time !! Happy evening, Sylvia and may people on RaceCafe acknowledge you and your "magic" Paddy !! Rev.

Could have been the Lady Mayoress of Levin, could have been the Prime Minister, could have, and should have , been the racing Minister,……..but she is what she is, Happy Birthday……1st Lady of racing.

Yeah sure.....you just look at results do you? Try watching a game sometime. Three golden point losses hasn't got my alarm bells ringing. We still may make the 8 this season but it's not the be all. I think they have finally got rid of that "culture" we have all been talking about for a long time now. Just keep following that mob of yours. I think they have got rid of most of the match fixers. You may even make the finals.........next year. Canes will choke too I suppose? Just stick to your Renegades mate....you seem to be making sense there.

I am quite shocked and disgusted to hear this, although I suppose I shouldn't be. The industry is being run by incompetent fools. Virtually every racemeeting in the SI has balloted and eliminated horses. I have no idea how trainers and owners can keep going. Does it occur to any of them that many of the small fields sizes are because rating 85 horses are expected to race for $8,000, so who can blame them. I am also disappointed by the attitude of the Otago secretary. All she seems to want is Wingatui's few days in the sun on prime dates in Feb. She seems to have no understanding of the need to maintain a basic infrastructure to keep the whole industry going down there. Cromwell for god's sake! One of the most successful meetings in the country. Get rid of some Trentham meetings. I agree with Chris as well. the Trainers seem to do nothing as the industry sinks and many of their members exit the industry altogether or leave the country. Knocking a few dollars off the salaries of some HO "workers' would more than fund all the dropped meetings throughout the country. It is all very sad. We're Doomed.

Good job skip - with these replacement picks today and throughout the comp - always good to have our full complement of runners and best bets. And nice use of the jokers too.

A more logic solution would be to cut 16 100k plus jobs from NZRB therefore releasing 2 million to where it's needed most .

Thanks Rdytdy, I went on holiday and forgo to load

Very annoying as it is so common now, is an Americanism, but a stupid saying in any language, to refer to a horse as 'the 3'. It is Number 3 or give us the name and number. Quality before quantity.

1 - " The Butch C triple whopper" definite sour tasting and bound to fail, very poor sales at Ellerslie and Tren-fim. 2 - " Popple doughnut" they'll be jumping from the trees to taste this greasy morsel. 3 - " Lang hotdog special" free lashings anyone??? 4 - " Special Sullivan Burger" blue bun sprinkled with porky bits, option of beef also offered, guaranteed to make you feel good. 5 - " Do Pledge Me Coleslaw" if you ask nicely will come free with the Popple doughnut. 6 - "RIU trifle" on for a limited time only, not sure about taste at this point. 7 - " Rodley pudding" pleasant but l-l-l-l-lacking in flavour, nice clown like finish to it. 8 - " The Purcell Punch Pretender" stated as 94% water, 4% organic additives and the rest? A baloney! never-mind about the rest.

If only the game was that easy!

Another fantastic song ...

Amen to that Craig

Yes, she is a very good horse but the winning factor was that the filly was driven like the she was the best horse in the race. Probably the most impressive winners of the day were Nek Time, Heaven Rocks and Costa Del Magnifico. These drives had something in common: they were all driven aggressively and put into the race early and it paid off. These days you cannot sit back in the field admiring the scenery and hope to sprint home from the back to win. Only the very best horses, Have Faith In Me, Lazarus, Christian Cullen etc, can do that, the rest have to be handy or they are only running for place money.

Credit where credit is due, a good drive by Tim Williams last night to win the Victoria Oaks on Piccadilly Princess. He put her in the race knowing the favourite was in front, she looked to be struggling a tad and he dropped her in for a short breather behind the leader before hooking out turning for home and was just too strong despite her wanting to hang a bit. Pretty sure that would be his first Group win in Australia??

Totally agree - and now Tim wins the last, as well as with McKenzie. Who Knows - make stupid statements and it will bite you in the you know where

u must behaving a laugh- first of all anchoring such a small price in your multi where there is bugger all upside and lots of downside then blaming the driver-