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Champion bloke.he has huge experience hope he not lost to the industry.i don't think I have ever talked to Alan when he ain't got a smile on his face.

Not sure about the retirement....! but spot on with the rest, I reckon. Locally, we have just had the FOURTH meeting at Riccarton SINCE the midsummer meeting [ end of Jan, early Feb, and the only Ricc meeting since Cup in Nov ] where there used to be none....and Ashburton has stuck itself in there as well during that period. Now we have the 'Autumn Series' on its way - another four days - where there used to be Hororata at Riccarton [ an early 'rationalisation' ] and then the 3 day Easter carnival....and that was it until the May meeting, Hunt Club and then the National.....and people are wailing about small fields and low horse numbers..? ffs, how obvious can it be? Reduce racedays, and it might be a bit interesting..at the moment it is wall-to-wall boring....leave at least part of the winter to highweights and jumps, and spend something on repair and maintenance of a track or two, as can be afforded. And the woeful programming...ye gods...and the handicapping, ye gods again...

Haha.....recently my Doctor told me I had to give up half my love life ! i asked what half.......thinking about it or talking about it !!

Was in there last Thursday CBT , a dozen for just $25 and very nice ! They have photos of famous NZ personalities like Sir Ed and Sunline on the wall and I suspect one was of you !

Or how about they just make better use of existing tracks, its the same old track all the time that are making the racing boring imho. Yet they are going out of their way to remove even more variety from the sport by taking away race dates etc, it's hard to fathom the thinking. I can't believe the AW are even being contemplated , they are so poorly thought of by punters etc whats the point.

Absolutely shut down through the Winter and give the tracks a chance to recover. Cut out some of the other racing, the rest of the time. That will also help the tracks and there is the remedial work that isn’t being done in the current environment. Problem solved, plus no need to waste 30 million on three all weather tracks and another 30 million over the next 10 years maintaining them, followed by another 30 million to replace them as that’s what will be required, assuming that the industry accepts them which I don’t believe the industry will, except for Pitman and Pike. P.S. And during that period Pitman will be retired and Pike will be off, so what a bloody waste of more precious money!

And if you can't get in up North , you head to the Central meeting and bolster their fields - and if you still can't get in , either flick to South Island or go again this time with better stock

Yes and the reason you are moderated is????...because you did not follow the forum rules like everybody else does...if you behaved then you would be fine....so its not censorship...its called decorum to other posters...unlike elsewhere.

Yes We Do! One Midweek meeting for each region per week

It won't make any difference who the Dems choose , their credibility is totally shot and there are huge splits developing , on the other hand the few Republicans that don't like Trump will fall into line or take the huge risk of their own supporters tossing them out . Exoneration , splitting straws , demo bullshit , Barr said no collusion , no collusion so no crime therefore , if there is no crime then there is nothing to obstruct , so no obstruction , no collusion , no crime , total exoneration .

Do we need to go back to less midweek race meetings. Racing is becoming a bore with wall to wall racing its just like being married to the same partner for a time and you need to spice it up so its something to look forward to.

Did the oysters work Tassie man?

How bad is that? unbelievable , How did that system stay in place for so long/

When Winsome Ashley set the C3 520m record at Addington on 30.11.07 she stopped the clock at 20.83 which was also a track record. A February 2006 whelping by Hallucinate out of Winsome Dollars she was owned by the Pave The Way syndicate and trained by Jean and Dave Fahey. In that remarkable 2007/2008 season Winsome Ashley won 4 Group 1 races and set 3 new track records. Also remarkable was the fact that this outstanding bitch was not Greyhound Of The Year. The points system in vogue meant that this honour went to the sprinter Pizza Girl.

Very good idea. Perhaps commiserating with the place getters from time to time is another option.

Well guys, there's a bit of rain around now so apart from the dearth of horses for all the programmed meetings we're moving into the area of abandoned meetings as soon as a horse slips. The whole job will be self regulating.

Women type things "Rusty". Earmuffs required for all males invitees Greg

I thought I would be a healthy and safety breach, even some of the owners can't get that close on some courses now,, double standards I say.

Hong Kong - 5million population or thereabouts, racing Sat & Wed - 2 meetings. Shut down for winter. NZ?

Lot of very interesting topics!

I’m picking there’s a typo with the time you stated, 29.83 maybe? 20.83 over 520 would see the lure burst into a ball of flames halfway down the back straight!

There will be some great post race interviews when Cooky trains a winner with Mr Wallace !

I don't think this is a case of doing backflips.once again prof hall has done a thorough job and come up with a verdict.whether u like it or not the judgement is thorough and fair.its the system we work under. This case has not been heard by the local plumber.prof hall credentials are impeccable. accept and move on.if riu think he is wrong I guess they can appeal as per the Lawson case.. The sad part of all this a great fellow and great horseman like Gareth has had enough and I believe he's chucked it in.so like someone found innocent in court they are still victims when they win.

Was listening today , had a bet at Menangle race 6 . Got 3/4 through the racecall when they jumped ship to a greyhound race. Never went back to the finish . A Greyhound race call last from around 30 (actual running time) seconds to a minute. Surely they could have stayed with the manangle race with about 30 seconds left and got the finish, recorded the greyhond race and slotted it in straight after.

As they have been doing that for decades im surprised you had not noticed that earlier

Brains was never one of their attributes

Awesome, hopefully this means he maybe making a return permanently. Best greyhound race caller in this country hands down. Let bygones be bygones and move forward. All the best Brian and hope to hear your calls again very soon.

We've previously bought alot of lower priced broodmares, weanlings & other stock at the May Mixed sale. Have't been to Karaka to any sales for about 3 years now. Have done all our buying online - sight unseen, unless local & easily viewed. Has actually been far better. Have been able to contact vendors prior & find out more about the horses on offer. Anything with issues we've known what we were taking on, rather than at the sales - where in numerous cases - we found out after! Far more cost effective for both vendor & purchaser.

I have been wondering about this massive problem the industry has and how it has all come about. For some strange reason I had a look at the NZRB website recently. It occurred to me that the whole website is virtually about the TAB, rather than any form of governance or leadership for the industry as a whole. In my early days in Racing the industry was run by the Racing Authority, whose primary responsibility was to make sure Gallops, Trots and Dogs all played politely together and were efficiently managed so that they combined to form a coherent racing and gaming industry. The TAB was purely a service organisation that managed betting operations. They had no role in the running of the industry. The people on the Racing Authority were all Racing people, who all raced horses and had a stake in the industry and often successful careers outside the industry. We now seem to have the situation where the Racing Board is primarily running the TAB and the actual Racing industry is purely incidental. I think this is why the powers that be think they can appoint people to the Board that have no racing knowledge. They think they are just running the TAB and the main skills they need are to spend $79m wisely on new computer systems. I think this explains why the basics such as handicapping systems in both horse codes, dates and programmes have been neglected, and facilities have been left to deteriorate on most courses. One of the first things that is needed to try and stop the slide is to have an organisation solely in charge of the three codes and to have the TAB as a separate entity out to the side purely running betting services for the good of the industry and not interfering in things they don't understand. The TAB could be run by all the exiled civil servants, and an actual Racing Board could be run by Racing people. So it may be that the slide started when the Racing Authority, or whatever it was called at the time, and the TAB were merged. Perhaps they should be split again. They don't seem to have achieved much as a merged entity.

That was the purpose of the TAB when it was set up in 1951, a system for wagering not governance. Now the tail wags the dog.

I think we should shout the All stars a course at the newly established "Abernethy Charm School for interviewing techniques on track " much more interesting ...

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!

thanks TU, just read it in full. Most of it reads as though spoken by the mad hatter at the tea party with Alice...!! Over 50 years of betting to me it is simply unbelievable !