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What an awesome day again at Te Aroha today. Good happy crowd...great racing on a terrific track! Beer was flowing and food was good (take note Te Rapa). Music was great which made for a great atmosphere on course! Baz(NZ) Unloaded on the tote with a slow start and a big finish

Great comp. I like the way you can go from thinking you are hot s*** to basically a cold fart warmed up, with the triumph of one classy galloper! I do hope Gatting gets up today.

Sadly, I don't think there is any evidence to support the argument in your first sentence. Some of the biggest attendances each year are at the likes of Kumara, Kaikoura, Cromwell, Tauherenikau etc. All tracks that have relatively poor facilities, average fields at best in some cases, and are located near no large population centres. On the other hand some of the tracks with the best facilities, reasonably good fields, and that are located in large population centres, do very poorly: namely Ellerslie, Te Rapa, Trentham, Riccarton (yes, I know they don't have any public facilities). I was at Hastings a week or so ago to see Melody Belle win. The facilities haven't changed much since I was last there about 30 years ago, but they are reasonably clean and tidy and it is a nice enough racecourse where you can park close to the stands and take in your own bottle of wine. The track was good, the weather was fine and warm, and the racing was reasonable, highlighted by a $200,000 group one race with a superstar race horse: but really, there were very few people there and very little atmosphere, despite Andre's best efforts to make it sound exciting. There were probably no more than 40 odd people watching the races from the public grandstand. Unfortunately there is very little interest in NZ Racing and no matter what the industry does to try and attract people it is easier for genuine punters to watch the races at home on TV, and increasingly those punters are betting on Australian racing. The "extra" people that are attracted to some meeting by promotions etc are generally the party types, which in many cases detract from the experience for regular racegoers, although it is certainly great to have some atmosphere at a race-meeting. I don't want to sound negative, but racing is in decline and will never return to the days of old when it ruled the gambling and entertainment world. We have to be realistic and make the best of what we have. How we go about that is the big question. The trouble with having many years of non-racing outsiders in key positions is that they have been unable to ensure we continue to get the basics right and make the most of our strengths. There are many examples of the basics and strengths that should still be priorities, but they hardly ever get mentioned on here and never seem to be a focus of those running the show (into the ground).

Well spotted. Just a typo. Rest assured it was down as 330.43 on my master file.

When the industry continues to treat is own supporters/battlers with disdain is it any wonder no one goes and interest continues to wane?

It could be an afternoon out,maybe not for the serious punter but better than sitting home on devices or shopping mall.the time between races need to be addressed.what was the attraction 20 years ago when the joint would have been full.more people at kids football.had a good talk to Daniel nahkle.very passionate.i don't know the answer .we seem to have lost it.sad really

You have to wonder sometimes. Looking through today’s Caulfield program, one of the best Jockeys riding at the moment, Michael Walker (NZ) has only one ride on a big day of 9 races. His strike rate is impressive but going back over the few months of city meetings, he doesn’t seem to have a lot of rides. I wonder if he’s a bit choosey, needs a better Manager/Agent, or just limits his availability? Or, maybe it’s the competitive environment? He’s one of my favourite Jockeys and when he’s on a good one, he usually brings it home.

Excellent! Now we have a definitive date. Let's review on 31 October 2019 and see what has been "revealed." I'm going to guess that the only thing revealed in October will be more dubious, self-promoting dealings by Donald Trump. However, I'm willing to give it a chance, now we have a date.

Some cuts could help as long as performance isn't made even worse and it might make some of you feel better but I doubt it will make any real difference to stakes , the former RB covered all 3 codes so any saving will be split between the 3 codes , TB racing might/might not be slightly better off but no bonanza .

Thanks for the update Toblerone and thanks for running the comp - great job. I think Talk's total is 30 points higher than what you're showing here.

Congrats to Reece Cole and Team Brosnan winning the time honoured Waikato Hunt Cup today at Te Aroha! 17 - 1 fixed odds got a few of us out of the ! A very nice kind hands and heels ride (no whip needed) Well Done to all involved!

Congratulations to the young fella! Big night in Burwood Rd tonight Baz?

On ya Baz - I had $20 a place on Dr Hook.......

Lovely ride. Congrats Reece.

Obviously not embracing Lotto a huge mistake. But I guess racing/TAB considered itself to be on right track and travelling OK in mid 80's. Probably saw Lotto as a poor relation , and a threat A recent documentary on the history of Rugby told how the folk that ran it insisted on staying amateur thru thick and thin....thru the emergence of League ,NFL ,AFL and of course Football and they weren't jolted out of it until a serious threat took them on head on ! How things have changed ! Lesson....even when you are on the right track you can still get run over if you don't keep moving ! NZ Racing is a sick puppy !

I guess thats the dilemma us racing enthusiasts keep asking ourselves. Tim and friends got a win and were there to enjoy it but with Trackside providing a great service and betting on line so convenient there is little reason to go ,other than those who enjoy seeing the horse in their flesh. I note even folk with ownership interests often only pop out to see their horse race, and don't hang around. Ellerslie's public facilities are very good and considering the 40 mils of rain last week the track seemed OK by winter standards. No bog.

Drew some anti racing protesters to protest to the people who were not there so I suppose the protest fell on deaf ears so that's a positive.

Week 4 Day 2 update. Bivouac castles plenty! 11 entrants still to race today - 4 on Hartnell, 3 on Homesman, 1 on Gatting and still awaiting picks from Talk, We're Doomed and Archer. All three will be eliminated if they don't post, owing to Nature Strip winning on Friday night. 282.08 arjay (+58.82) 259.61 High Sparrow (+43.47) 250.98 CommonSensical* (-50) 246.40 Ponderosa8 (32.60) 229.05 scooby2051 (+58.82) 212.00 Right first time (63.82) 209.97 Peter Jenkins* (63.82) 209.77 Turny Tom * (-50) 181.37 Koriokaramea (36.36) 173.57 Houlahan's Dream* (-50) 183.82 brycewaters * (+58.82) 143.10 MiDeBo Racing* (-50) 142.39 Memphis2 (63.82) 139.28 Tauhei Notts * (-50) 101.80 insider* (-50) 92.75 moz1047* (-50) 42.05 wrinkles * (-50) 39.40 dock leaf * (-50) --------------------------------- ELIMINATED 107.14 ivanthegreat* (-50) [both lives gone] 21.97 - Plovdiv * (-50) [mercy rule] 14.26 Richie (-50) [mercy rule] 8.97 Hacko (-50) [both lives gone]

Along with with the rova app giving me a geo block message that I couldn't listen to trackside. The website been a lemon an now bestbets. Its worst than Fontara yearly result. You wonder if someone behind the scenes is deliberately trying to ruin racing.

Mike Hosking: Now we know just how dangerous Green MP Julie Anne Genter is 3 minutes to read Julie Anne Genter needs to come clean, she owes us all an explanation. Did she or did she not threaten to pull the plug on the deal with the Labour Party and in essence bring down the Government? This goes back to her letter that she won't release and is currently being looked at by the Ombudsman - and this is not the first time she's been asked to come clean. But the news this week, which to be frank is major, and yet again appears to have been largely ignored by far too many in the media (for reasons we can only once again assume goes directly to their inability to see beyond their own bias) is that Wellington Mayor Justin Lester told a bunch of councillors that the deal they had for the "Let's Get Wellington Moving" project was the best they could do without Genter and another green MP quitting and pulling the Government apart. This is the same letter Genter said never existed, until it did. And then it was written by a MP (her) but not in her ministerial capacity, and therefore was not discoverable. Until it turned out that she wrote it on ministerial letterhead and had to reveal that in the House to a, not surprisingly, large amount of derision and laughter. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is also involved here because I quite specifically asked her whether she had seen and knew what was in it and whether it was major, and she said it wasn't. If it turns out the letter contains a threat to bring a government down, she's then misled us, don't you think? Of course people are entitled to their views - and if Genter had done all this out in the open there wouldn't be quite the issue. At least she was being open, honest, and transparent, which is what they promised they would be. But there is a pattern emerging here: one of surreptitious behaviour. Perhaps we could also use the word Machiavellian. For this is the same woman who once again, in secret, set about looking at the chances of banning the motor car from New Zealand. You will note it wasn't her policy campaigned on at the election, and you will note she's never talked openly about it to canvas support or otherwise. She squirrels around under the cover of darkness looking to plant the seeds of her particular economic madness, hopefully without us ever really finding out, until presumably it's too late. Now Justin Lester, friend of the Greens and Labour, semi denies he said this in that meeting, or semi denies it came out as clearly as the three other councillors are painting it. So I tell you what could clear all that up once and for all - and that is the release of that letter. And why won't she release it? Because it looks like we have enough now to know, that what is in it is explosive, embarrassing - and goes a long, long way to warning the rest of us just how dangerous she really is.

Cutting the number of overpaid and under performing staff at the Racing Board by 2/3rd's might actually be more prudent financially for the Industry than reducing the number of races held by 2/3rd's.