Leaderboard

On nurse duty all week.. poor PJ lets hope todays scoring keeps him distracted today and the pain settles down.. R1. 3-7 R2. 11-3 R3. 1-6 BB R4. 3-8 R.5. 1-2 R6. 1-8 R7. 5-16 R8, 3-5 BB R9. 4-9 R10. 7-9

Not forgetting Hayden Haitana, Bjelke-Peterson and bonking Barnaby!

Morning all, R1 1/4 R2 5/8 R3 6/8 R4 3/5 R5 3/9 R6 8/11 R7 3/6bb R8 3/5bb R9 2/4 R10 4/9 Good luck Pete (Both my fortunate opponent (to draw myself) and our esteemed (and injured) legend). And go the LDM's tony

Lets kill the "luck" blues guys. Give it death. Sorry Sharne, these are my 10 winners. R1 7-12 R2 3-7 R3 1-8BB R4 5-6 R5 1-12BB R6 4-10 R7 6-17 R8 1-3 R9 2-10 R10 1-8 Good luck- - - just scroll up and check the name - - - that's right " who" the Royles. Never heard of em. Good luck anyway who ever you are.

R1 - 7/15. R2 - 7/11. R3 - 6/7. R4 - 2/6. R5 - 1/2. R6 - 1/9. R7 - 6/16 BB. R8 - 1/3. R9 - 1/2. R10 - 1/9 BB. All The Best Pam, Thanks PJ, Good Punting All, Go The Misere's, Steve.

PJ , Greeting's to you in your sick bed. We hope and trust you are up and about real soon producing / presenting to your client's some of your famous / wonderful Thoroughbred mating's. Good luck in your recovery program Champ.

Why not, when appointing boards, do they not include a better representation of actual industry participants. For example the board of HRNZ should include an owners rep, a trainers rep,a drivers rep and also a junior drivers rep and an amateur drivers rep. It is ridiculous that decisions are not made in consultation with these type of people after all they ARE the industry. Interesting to note that HRNZ have appointed a new Operations Manager and guess what she has no experience in Harness racing although she says that she has experience in equestrian. That is sure to do Harness racing a lot of good isn't it!! As a smaller owner I feel somewhat betrayed by the powers to be who are doing nothing to address the dissatisfaction within our great sport. At Northern Southland we see two group races with $25,000 stakes and seven runners mainly for the benefit of stables that see Southland as easy pickings in fact I have heard that one stable nominated another one of their runners solely to get the race off the ground! Take $5000 off each race and you could cater for a lower class race to give the battler a chance instead of pandering to the high fliers..

I thought it was $48 - I remember I got back 8k for my $180 win bet and I drove home in a new Holden with $4k in my bag - and I bought my first house in Lyall Bay

Double AAs - 'Ad Augusta' - 'To Glory' Ok, we've been through the hardship - dropping at one stage to 8th of 8 - but now we're up to 4th and today we make our big play to storm to the front to lead the Comp in to Round 2 - it's off to glory we go. Joker Play today, thanks PJ. This play targeted from before our first match - now here we are - ready to stand and deliver. R1 = 1x9 R2 = 5x8 R3 = 1x6 BB NZ R4 = 5x6 R5 = 1x6 R6 = 4x8 R7 = 6x16 (Just hoping that Dillo hasn't Dillo-ed Magic Chai) R8 = 1x3 BB Aus R9 = 4x11 R10 = 4x9 Casper, Tom, Cat, Wrinkles - let's do it boys - bring on that masterclass we've been ( well...to be fair ...I've been) promising we would deliver. Cheers Dark Horses, hope you get a winner or two - Lizzie L'Amour at $2 and Performer at $2 ----that would be good. Longer-shots coming home, well, you Dark Horses just leave that to the Double AAs - that's the script. Sorry to read that you are unwell, PJ, it's no good having our Champ on the injured list - hope you have a speedy and full recovery. A Double AAs joker play victory will surely brighten the day for you, PJ, though for Sarah I'm guessing, not so much. Cheers all, and I hope you enjoy a wonderful day's racing. GO THE MIGHTY DOUBLE AAs !

Smidgeon of luck to Jack and the Mainly Dollarz , but not too much... Time for the Rubiks to solve the puzzle of Professor Jenkins' comp and climb the ladder to glory... Race 1...#4 , #9 Race 2...#8 , #9 Race 3...#1 , #6...BB Race 4...#6 , #14...BB Race 5...#1 , #2 Race 6...#1 , #5 Race 7...#6 , #17 Race 8...#2 , #5 Race 9...#1 , #4 Race 10...#4 , #9 Sorry to hear of your problems Peter .Mrs Cubes and all here at Cube Central say get well soon .

R1 - 3/6 bb R2 - 8/9 R3 - 1/2 R4 - 5/14 R5 - 6/7 R6 - 8/11 R7 - 4/18 R8 - 1/5 R9 - 4/9 R10 - 1/3 bb Good luck Heather. GO MIZERES.

54 acres...6am

All quiet here about the Clown, Moron, Idiot, and the Little rocket man. Are the lefties having an early Easter break? Little Rocket Man came up against a bloke with a set of Niagra Falls, unlike the Eunuchs Clinton and Obama.

1987 Auckland Cup - Grant Cooksley on The Filbert? Is that the grandfather of the Grant Cooksley who rode the winner of a Group One race at Hastings last year?

One who leaves the comfort of his homely nest to test their skills in a more competitive market - ie, the opposite to the NZ TAB. Notables who did this, apart from myself would be Brent Thompson, John Key, Helen Clark, Chris Liddell, Chris Waller, Jim Cassidy, Michael Walker, Bussutin and Young, Bjorn Baker, RS Dye, etc etc, etc......,

A good chance of a peaceful compromise being reached because the dispute is not based on religious ideology.

1. Ellerslie R3 - 1.50pm - CMC Markets 1400 - $50k, 1400m, R75 – 4,7 2. Ellerslie R5 - 3.00pm - Winger Maserati 1200 - $50k, 1200m, R85 – 3,7 3. Ellerslie R6 - 3.35pm - Sistema Stks (Gr1) - $200k, 1200m, 2YO SWs – 5,6 4. Flemington R4 - 4.05pm - MSS Security Sires' Produce Stks (Gr2) - $200k, 1400m, 2yos SWs – 7,14 5. Randwick R4 - 4.25pm - UNSW Todman Stks (Gr2) - $300k, 1200m, 2yo colts/geldings SWs – 4,8 6. Ellerslie R8 - 4.50pm - Bonecrusher New Zealand Stks (Gr1) - $200k, 2000m, WFA – 10,11 7. Ellerslie R9 - 5.28pm - Barfoot & Thompson Auckland Cup (Gr1) - $500k, 3200m, open SW+Ps – 12,15bb 8. Flemington R7 - 6.00pm - Schweppervescence Trophy (Gr3)- $150k, 1600m, fillies/mares SW+Ps – 1,7 9. Flemington R8 - 6.35pm - Australian Cup (Gr1) - $1.5m, 2000m, WFA – 8,10bb 10. Randwick R8 - 7.00pm - Schweppes Wenona Girl Quality (Gr3) - $150k, 1200m, mares qlty hdcp – 1,10 Good luck John and to the Royale Family team. Thank you Peter. Get well soon.

Yeah the lying flat or on the non-affected side is a trick to keep the pain to the minimum. Got those exercises thanks Dave. Years of semi-profeesional Football, 5 years as an athlete (running 15-20kms a day), a helicopter crash, playing social volleyball on concrete for a few years, all take their toll...... Should still be okay to score on Saturday thanks John although given the level of medication I'm on I'm not sure about my tipping !

Commiserations PJ. I went through the "take me out back and shoot me" stage a year ago and things are much better now. You just need Sarah to run in with the beers and remote control when you holler If you can lie flat then it is not the worst imaginable, trust me, and therefore the recovery should be quicker, we all hope. Geoff

PJ TT Super Comp I have never seen one of your comps as close as this current one. Any team is capable of defeating any other. Pleasing for me is the attitude of punters making their own selections without being negative and taking opponents pix. In an early round my rival selected 14 the same as me, but generally there are only 6-8 the same which makes for an exciting comp race by race. Howie must be shakin' in his slippers...

NZRB GOES INTO DAMAGE CONTROL OVER DELOITTE REPORT RELEASE 9 March 2018 John Allen The Deloitte Report release last week threw the proverbial cat amongst the pigeons at the New Zealand Racing Board, initiating a flurry of damage control communiques that clearly demonstrated the cage had been rattled. Pressure is mounting on the NZRB as it displays a blinkered defiance around crucial decision-making it has rubber-stamped for the future of the three codes and the racing industry. Everyone who reads these pages on a regular basis will be aware of the stance the NZRB has taken as to where the racing industry’s governing body is taking us. Central to its strategy is the development of the TAB’s own fixed odds betting platform in partnership with Paddy Power-Betfair and Open Bet, alongside the determination to double the number of TAB account holders, the completion and passing into legislation of racefields and the optimisation of the racing calendar. Last week New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing released a ‘Notice to all thoroughbred clubs, recognised industry organisations and stakeholders’ along with an ‘Executive Summary of the Deloitte Report’. In a nutshell, NZTR is basically at odds with much of the NZRB’s so-called strategic initiatives. In a subsequent memorandum released by NZRB Chair Glenda Hughes to counter the Deloitte Report recommendations, it was stated that while the NZRB Board supported many of the elements advocated by NZTR in its edict, it also said: “we do not accept the Report findings given it was a desktop report based on a number of inaccurate assumptions.” This is the line the NZRB have continually taken, but like every statement countering criticism of NZRB initiatives, they offer no form of credible evidence to add weight to their argument. The NZRB stance invariably reeks of arrogance and supercilious intolerance. They look down on NZTR and continue to treat the other stakeholders of this industry like a herd of following sheep. As stated above, the Executive Summary release of the Deloitte Report which amounted to little more than three pages of its original comprehensive 35-odd page original form, did enough to ruffle a few NZRB feathers. By Friday of last week, the NZTR release had prompted NZRB’s Media Personnel Manager Michelle Pickles to write an internal communique to Trackside TV and Radio presenters advising them what the official line was should there be any questions arising from the stories written about the Deloitte Report that had appeared in The Informant. This seemed to be a kneejerk response from a higher level. And that brings us to consider something about the racing media in this country. The NZRB through the TAB control both Trackside TV and Radio, so don’t ever believe you have freedom of the racing press. You will never see or hear any of these NZRB issues brought up by hosts on either of those two mediums. That’s the beauty of The Informant and its core writers – non-affiliated and independent. The Deloitte Report paranoia continued through till Monday of this week when NZRB CEO John Allen released a two and a half page NZRB update in which he outlined a glowing report for the NZRB on survey results, and confirmed that everything was tracking well. The Update basically said how pleased the respondents were with NZRB through the survey and how they would be delivering the $200 million dollar profit by year 2019/20. The survey’s only visible pass mark was the 77 per cent of NZRB’s respondents that were familiar with industry roles and responsibilities. One third were confident or very confident the NZRB is heading in the right direction (which means that two thirds weren’t), and finally 19 per cent had little or no confidence, which is a category this writer could relate to. In the ‘how we are tracking’ department Allen is again to the fore with the ‘$12 million future funding increase’ boast, but every time this is raised by the NZRB there is no mention of the fact that most of it is borrowed and therefore shouldn’t list it in the NZRB’s items of achievements. Remember, if by some strange quirk of fate the people at NZRB have all left their jobs by year’s end, the debt legacy will remain with all who consider themselves permanent stakeholders in this business. Further doubts were cast on the NZRB’s performance this financial year in the CEO’s Forum Summary which was sent to all NZRB staff and agents on February 28. In that document, Allen talked about lower volumes being bet through the TAB by VIP customers, the possibility of not delivering the FOB launch in August as scheduled and the delay of the racefields legislation through which they had assumed profit would flow in the second half of this financial year. The latter statement on racefields almost certainly means there will be a shortfall in their budgeted profit for 2017/18. “You can form whatever view you like of my experience and you are absolutely right that I didn’t have any betting experience when I came to the NZRB.” Last week Allen was quoted extensively on these pages about the Deloitte Report, but not included was my questioning of Allen on his credentials and ability to achieve all his future forecasts without offering a credible plan in support. This was not in any way a personal attack on Allen but rather exercising my right to ask the question of whether the incumbent was the right person for the job. So I asked this way: “John, I look at your background. You came from the Post Office Group, then you went to Foreign Affairs and then you came to the Racing Board before you ever stepped inside a TAB and you are running this business and making the decisions. Are you qualified to run the Racing Industry? I’m putting the question mark on the quality of the decision making.” “You obviously know my business background,” Allen replied. “I was a partner in a commercial law firm; I was involved in running a billion-dollar business in the NZ Post Group – any way you’ve got the CV and you know what I’ve done. “I’m in charge of the TAB,” responded Allen when asked who was making the decisions. “That’s absolutely right – I’m the one – it’s my CV you’re questioning.” “What I’m questioning is your business experience to make the right decisions for this particular industry,” I replied. “I know you’re a lawyer but essentially you’re a public servant and have worked for government institutions.” “If you think the Post Office is a government institution then I think you’re wrong,” he countered. “It’s a state enterprise that’s been commercial for donkeys’ years and it operated in competitive markets both here and internationally – I’m not here to justify myself and I’m not going to try. You can form whatever view you like of my experience and you are absolutely right that I didn’t have any betting experience when I came to the NZRB.” Allen hadn’t got too flustered at this line of questioning and was willing to continue the conversation, but he also hadn’t said anything to suggest he is the person who is going to save racing. And we do need a saviour. In the last NZRB annual report, it is stated that their top eight executives including Allen were paid a total of $2,743,000 for the 2016-17 financial year. It is the right of any stakeholder in racing to question the credentials and performance of executives drawing such large salaries. After all, these people are employed on behalf of the stakeholders. When interviewed last week, Allen had hesitated about the Fixed-Odds-Betting platform being delivered on time in August. What he did say was that new betting options will be released on time but in Monday’s update under the FOB heading he said, “…well underway with a goal of going live with customers later this year.” For some time now there have been murmurings of the FOB being delivered late and the above statement all but confirms it. Anything of that nature means a budget blow-out and every day late will be at massive cost. Since December the NZRB have had 100 plus contractors working on the FOB platform, some of whom are being paid as much as $1,200 to $1,500 per day. The last known budget to come out of NZRB for the FOB was $30 million – and we can only assume that would be subject to no delays. Budgets for such projects are only known internally at NZRB – there has been no transparency on such issues or of the details of the deal struck-up with Paddy Power-Betfair or the building of the FOB. The competency of the team that made the deal and the quality of the management of the project are completely unknown factors to the stakeholders in this business. It’s a bad joke to think any business or industry can be run in this manner – particularly one that represents one per cent of GDP. There is no accountability and the personnel responsible for the outcome, whether they be on the Board or in the management team, can walk away free of responsibility, some even with a severance package, at any time in the future and leave racing’s participants with a horrible mess. With reference to the NZRB, this outcome has history and remains a very real possibility. The Deloitte Report was released last week in an abridged form but why hadn’t NZTR shown enough foresight to release it last August? I had been asking for a copy since June but it was always denied on the grounds of ‘highly sensitive information.’ If NZTR had released the report in August we would be at least six months in advance of where the industry currently sits. And who knows, perhaps something could have been done to reconsider the whole FOB platform project which just might contribute to the ruination of the New Zealand racing industry as we (used to) know it. Story by Brian de Lore

Wonderful to see Big Red being remembered in such an enduring way at Ellerslie. Not sure why he still has saddle and gear on though....he looks like he has dumped a rider and bolted...... It is the horse itself that is being celebrated here, we all know he was a racehorse..... Presumably you can't jump on and take a photo......

Keep the pressure on Brian....the cracks are starting to appear and the overpaid flunkies are starting to panic.....

R1 - 1,6 R2 - 7,11 R3 - 1,6 BB R4 - 3,5 R5 - 1,6 R6 - 8,11 R7 - 3,6 R8 - 1,3 R9 - 4,11 BB R10 - 1,9 Good luck Wrinkles, get better PJ, and go the Dark Horses! We took a well-earned breather last week, and came back to the chasers. The AAs are making their run from the back way too early. Poor deluded fools, think they're Bonecrusher...

Morning Cafe'ers. P.J. wishing you years of pain free life. Thoughts with you Good luck Gordy 1. 4/5 2. 5/7 3. 1/6 4. 5/14 5. 2/6 6. 8/9 7. 5/6 BB 8. 1/5 9. 2/4 10 4/9 BB Every good fortune to you all

0oops think I missed the cutoff. Did I ??

Randwick race 4 No 12 out. No 6 in . Propopal in the post for yah PJ, just dont do a Michael Jackson. We need yah buddy.

Hi Tony, I think you missed the cut-off for scratching replacements but it's all good as you'll most likely get #2 (Performer) as your sub anyway, so should end up with 2 & 9. All the best today - you deserve an ounce of luck!

Fantastic night's racing all round I man. As for JJ here is what the stable made of its effort which i thought was nothing short of outstanding given the ground he lost at start " The horse was Jesse Duke and he took out the G1 Young Guns (Cardigan Bay) Stakes on Friday in a quite superb performance. Knocked off stride early and seemingly out of the race, he bided for a short time, ranged up at the turn and still looked a forlorn hope to win. But win he did "

R1: 4/5 R2: 5/7R3: 1/6 bbR4: 5/6R5: 1/2R6: 3/8R7: 3/5R8: 1/3R9: 4/9 bbR10: 1/9 Cheers Peter - hope you're on the mend. Good luck to you Geoff!

R1-4X8BB R2-5X12 R3-1X6 R4-2X6BB R5-1X2 R6-1X3 R7-13X16 R8-1X3 R9-2X4 R10-1X7 Good luck everyone with your punting today and hope your feeling better P.J.

who was on top?

The Northern Odyssey continues - glorious sunny morning for the out of towners who are wondering. Interesting night at Alex Park last night - saw a few decent performances on and off the track. I used to be a harness guy but it's tough to make a buck on them now I find - or more accurately the short priced favs don't do it for me. Having said that my 5 leg all up through 2 at westport and 3 last night did get up in the last and put me back in funds, after a very average betting effort. The $120 deal at top of the park really is a bargain - food pretty decent and you can get through a few bottles of wine no problem. I ran into the TAB top brass and also saw Glenda and John doing a double act. TBF I should record I didnt see either of them eating or drinking (or betting) Great days racing today - up the top of the Ascot with a crowd - love the view up there.Confidence levels are very high.Lizzie/Richie/Destinys Child/Araldo. What could possibly go wrong Good luck everyone PS - Robert tried to find you in the bar but couldnt. P4P looks like lunch at HQ tomorrow for us if we dont get there post races tonight.

FarTooMuch, mate The Chase was doin trackwork did yuh see Jesse woohoo big run didn't quite see what happened at start (settledown, not cos I was alittle off centre meself) but looked like he got squeezed, The Princess she dug in well on the home run, but the thing I like about AllStars horses they all look like they're racin well within themselves, lovin it the Iceman and big Bazza copped a couple of good wins yeh boy..... Cheers Iraklis

Maybe, but those 30 winners will provide an income base of the equivelant to riding 300 winners in NZ - in the same time !

Good luck with him Heather.

Bonecrusher Stakes: 8 .. Lizzie L'Amour 10 .. Nicoletta 5 .. Beefeater Auckland Cup: 11 .. Show the World 5 .. Charles Road 15 .. Comin'through ... sorry Randwick Guineas: 5 .. Pierata 7 .. Peaceful State 4 .. Age of Fire Thanks

R1 - 4/5 R2 - 5/7 R3 - 6/7 R4 - 3/5 R5 - 1/2 R6 - 1/9 R7 - 5/6 BB R8 - 1/3 R9 - 4/11 R10 - 1/4 BB Good luck PJ...wife had that a year or so back...feel for you mate! Go well 5NT.

1. Ellerslie R3 - 1.50pm - CMC Markets 1400 - $50k, 1400m, R75 – 15,17 2. Ellerslie R5 - 3.00pm - Winger Maserati 1200 - $50k, 1200m, R85 – 9,11 3. Ellerslie R6 - 3.35pm - Sistema Stks (Gr1) - $200k, 1200m, 2YO SWs - 4,7 4. Flemington R4 - 4.05pm - MSS Security Sires' Produce Stks (Gr2) - $200k, 1400m, 2yos SWs – 4,6 5. Randwick R4 - 4.25pm - UNSW Todman Stks (Gr2) - $300k, 1200m, 2yo colts/geldings SWs – 9,10 6. Ellerslie R8 - 4.50pm - Bonecrusher New Zealand Stks (Gr1) - $200k, 2000m, WFA – 4,6 7. Ellerslie R9 - 5.28pm - Barfoot & Thompson Auckland Cup (Gr1) - $500k, 3200m, open SW+Ps – 9,13BB 8. Flemington R7 - 6.00pm - Schweppervescence Trophy (Gr3)- $150k, 1600m, fillies/mares SW+Ps – 6,9 9. Flemington R8 - 6.35pm - Australian Cup (Gr1) - $1.5m, 2000m, WFA – 5,7BB 10. Randwick R8 - 7.00pm - Schweppes Wenona Girl Quality (Gr3) - $150k, 1200m, mares qlty hdcp – 3,6 All the best Brian. Good luck team Rubiks. Thanks Pete. Get well soon.

Mainly $$$$ R1) 4,8 R2) 11,12 BB R3) 1,5 R4) 1,5 R5) 1,2 R6) 8,9 R7) 6,7 R8) 1,3 R9) 4,11 BB R10) 4,9 Good Punting Cube`s ..... cheers PJ

R1 - 8/10 R2 - 5/10 R3 - 6/8 R4 - 3/14 R5 - 2/3 R6 - 1/8 R7 - 15/16 * R8 - 2/5 R9 - 1/6 R10 - 1/11 * Good Luck Kloppite :). Wrinkles R1: 6,13 R2: 7,8 R3: 4,6 B/B R4: 2,6 R5: 7,13 R6: 2,5 R7: 6,11 R8: 1,3 B/B R9: 4,11 R10: 9,12 Skelly , good luck to you. PJ , thanks.

what time you want me around to mow your lawns?

crusty the date was 1/1/75. Ocean Monarch was ridden by Gary Bell and Ake Ake by John Grylls. The quinella paid $7.30. Later in the day John won the Auckland Cup on Kia Maia. Gallery did not race that day. Only two Te Awamutu horses raced in the Cup that year. Sindicato and Skite. Skite was by the same sire as Gallery- Showoff 2 hence your possible confusion!

A man had just settled into his seat next to the window on the plane when another man sat down in the aisle seat and put his black Labrador Retriever in the middle seat next to the man. The first man looked very quizzically at the dog and asked why the dog was allowed on the plane. The second man explained that he was a DEA agent and that the dog was a 'sniffing dog'. 'His name is Sniffer and he's the best there is. I'll show you once we get airborne, when I put him to work.' The plane took off, and once it has levelled out, the agent said, 'Watch this.' He told Sniffer to 'search.' Sniffer jumped down, walked along the aisle, and finally sat very purposefully next to a woman for several seconds. Sniffer then returned to his seat and put one paw on the agent's arm. The agent said, 'Good boy', and he turned to the man and said, 'That woman is in possession of marijuana, so I'm making a note of her seat number and the authorities will apprehend her when we land. 'Say, that's pretty neat,' replied the first man. Once again, the agent sent Sniffer to search the aisles. The lab sniffed about, sat down beside a man for a few seconds, returned to its seat, and this time he placed two paws on the agent's arm. The agent said, 'That man is carrying cocaine, so again, I'm making a note of his seat number for the police.' I like it!' said his seat mate. The agent then told Sniffer to 'search' again.. Sniffer walked up and down the aisles for a little while, sat down for a moment, and then came racing back to the agent, jumped into the middle seat and proceeded to poo all over the place. The first man was really grossed out by this behaviour and couldn't figure out how or why a well-trained dog would behave like that, so he asked the agent, 'What's going on?' The agent nervously replied,.... 'He just found a bomb.'

I agree. The programming talks fuck all about betting and concentrates on the horses and players. Andy....this is what I have been talking to you about for over a year.

Has anyone heard what is happening about setting up somewhere to house the GAP dogs in Christchurch. I have heard they are going to transport dogs to Levin. Sounds crazy to me. We need someone dedicated down here to finding good homes for the dogs on the GAP list. I can't believe there hasn't been more of an.uproar about it.

Yes I was there but with family doing the "picnic rug and thermos" version!!, under the trees at side of the old public stand Never made it to the lounge you describe but having spent many wonderful hours in the members stand in later years I have heard all about the stand facilities in those halcyon days, it is such a shame that some contributors here who have been "bitten" by this racing game were born a few years late and unable to experience those days of NZ racing and the atmosphere that accompanied it. It is a coincidence that we should join forces all these years later but a good one!!

Guys enough of the gang pack mentality of Brodie...I warned you all once it wont happen again...debate the subject not the poster...last warning.

The fact that Murray Baker took him to Aussie in the Spring is quite a good clue as to the respect he has for his ability. Maybe he strengthened up a lot over his early summer break. And if he is off to the Sydney Derby one would expect him to be competitive given the judgment usually shown by M Baker. He is no mug

Negotiate