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Watching the Live broadcast of the MM Sale on the Gold Coast and all the Auctioneers are doing a great job. I especially like Clint from the Gold Coast - very clear and concise. However, one can’t ignore the fact that Steve Davis is on a higher level. Clear, concise, entertaining and he also reveals the bidders during the duels. Excellent work by Steve - a thorough professional. Congratulations to him - Australasia’s best.

Interesting. So it sounds like it will be predominantly a training and trials track with eventually a few minor midweek meetings. And a shorter home straight than most other tracks, so presumably a front runners track. And as it isn't an existing proper racecourse with existing race meetings, all of its meetings will be taken off nearby tracks such as Te Aroha, Matamata, Tauranga. Who would have thought a brand new race course would be created when all of the talk was about closing existing courses to save money.

Very lucky to get a second chance, many do not is a reality, this is the most important race he will ever win, good reminder to us all life is short and make the most of the time we all have, celebrate every day.Great to hear he will make a full recovery, and will be back, and words probably cant describe the huge effort by all who assisted him that day.

I f you were trying to select a person that would ensure this incident would never happen again then Trev would be the safest bet

https://www.tab.co.nz/punters/harness/tips/sharkbest-invercargill-harness-thursday

For tonite at Cambridge, go Frosty and Oscar! go Thefixer! an come on Mark mate, drive the Chase like he's The Reactor please please please, oh ye great gods of racin, it's just gotta be Chases turn tonite.....annnnd A BIG CHEER FOR TONYH AND TICKLE ME PINK! and sorry Bazza would love to cheer for Mach but he's in me favs race...... Cheers Iraklis

The only good thing about a Polytrack is that you’ll never have to cancel a meeting due to “track conditions”. Other than that, they’re useless. Punters Certainly don’t like them.

I'm inclined to agree with that assessment P4P. I think the travel cost savings and ability to work and trial horses in conditions where that might otherwise not be possible is a plus and as you suggest a good bit of that will fall immediately to the bottom line of owners and trainers who need it most. Don't know what to think about the choice of surface but as you say, other than Strathayr it's a bit of a fraught decision to make. Obviously, these are the same tracks installed and removed at Del Mar, Keeneland and Woodbine I think. They did have a good safety record from a racing fatality standpoint but anecdotally there was considerable trainer concern about the escalation of non-fatal soft tissue injuries. As you also suggest, one of the main reasons for removing them was a lack of trainer and particularly punter support. I also note that master trainer Aiden O'Brien has had one for years but won't use it for fast work as far as I know, preferring the turf and woodchip gallops for that. I assume that NZTR would have talked to the likes of him in their due diligence process though. They also take some maintenance but don't require irrigation which is a plus. I'm not sure where the maintenance and top-up cost funding is to come from or will Cambridge be expected to wear that from training, racing and trials income?

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=12298726

Perhaps we are being a bit tough on Cambridge. They have 28 race meetings this season, including 9 over Dec/Jan. Surely such a busy club should have some feature races. The club does work to get sponsors for all these races but doesn't have the same opportunities to make revenue from facilities as Auckland. Many other clubs pay similar stakes - the problem is when horses are handicapped similarly for very different stakes.

Brought couple in Singapore years back after day at the old racecourse there , tenner down from 100 for his and hers . Actually lasted years , does the paint normally come off a Rolex though ?

double check the name on it - is it a Rolex or a Relox

i wear a Rolex. A very poor time keeper. a 20 buck battery wall clock keeps better time.

Update on RTM May has had surgery to have a cardioverter defibrillator implanted in his chest on Thursday. It delivers a shock through a wire which runs into a chamber of the heart in the event of any recurrence. May said he didn't have a cardiac arrest and he has been diagnosed with hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy – a condition where the heart muscles thicken even though the heart itself is healthy. May has driven 2949 winners in New Zealand and wants to get to 3000, though he acknowledges he will probably travel less to race meetings. "Yeah, I want to drive again. I didn't think I would want to after the initial shock of it all but now I have had a chance to think about it I don't want that to be my last race drive," he told the New Zealand Herald.

When is summer - I thought hard tracks were for summer? Slippery moist hard tracks with aluminium shoes - well we all know what happens.

You are not an owner then, Spike?

I'm guessing because Kumara are NOT holding the meeting...i.e. it isn't Kumara at Omoto, it's Greymouth J.C at Omoto. Kumara has pulled out of the day completely...so, no Nuggets. Well done to the G.J.C for stepping up, although if the weather gods don't smile, poor old Westland will cop the worst track. If things stay fine however, all should be well. Not so good for Winston's/Messara's Coast vision......

Dean Betting is different from “Games of Chance” (lotteries, pokies, cards etc), which could be colloquially expressed as straight out gambling. A “Bet” could be described as: “Where the outcome of a wager is based either in full or in part on the outcome of an event where an element of human skill and judgement is required in order to predict the outcome of the event”. And a “Wager” could be described as: “Where an agreed amount of currency is staked by two participants or more in order to complete a bet”. The DNA to our potential income streams for our entire industry should be premised on being allowed to take bets on anything that is classed as a “Bet” and in particular being able to engage with the rest of the World (either by ourselves, in partnership, or on our behalf) to offer as many products to as many people with offerings that could be classed as a “Bet”. TAB NZ should be known around the World as the best place to engage with/ offer/ be licensed under in order to offer bets so that it can clip the ticket as many times as is possible to support the financial viability of racing as the primary beneficiary (hence my last query), and the sports associations. In Part 1 Clause 5 (Page 8) of the proposed Bill (attached) we have the Interpretations Section. The one of considerable interest to me is the one concerning the interpretation of a “Bet” and the associations with the “Bet”. It is as follows: The two obvious interpretations that are then needed to understand are the definitions of “Race Betting” and “Sports Betting”. “Race Betting (Page 10) is as follows: “Sports Betting” (Page 12) is as follows: The important issue in respect of “Sports Betting” is what a “Sporting Event” actually is. “Sporting Event” (Page 12) is as follows: So here we are in a World environment, where betting competition is about to increase dramatically due to increased betting events and Blockchain betting solutions, but we (NZ, NZ Racing and NZ Sports) are restricting ourselves to racing bets and sporting bets, or a combination of both (why?) where the sporting events are events covered by (a), (b) or (c) above. If this Bill is meant to be relevant for the next 20 years, why are we supporting legislation that restricts our potential competitiveness and betting revenue to racing and sports contests only, where a registered NZ sporting authority has signed an agreement with TAB NZ? Is that the future we have to look forward to? Did you know that virtual gaming and sports are currently the fastest growing betting events? Recently a virtual team game commanded an estimated $1.2b of bets...a single event. If you had a betting account with a betting service provider who only offered a small proportion of the betting opportunities available, and you were approached by a much larger betting provider who offered all the betting options, which betting service provider would you probably become loyal to? If that large betting service provider could offer the alternative bets to NZ customers due to an outsourcing agreement, but the returns of these bets couldn’t be captured by NZ racing or sports because they are not registered agreements in NZ, then why wouldn’t you open the gain to allow every bet that was legally a bet and not just bets on racing and sports? In addition, if you entered into an outsourcing agreement with a larger betting service provider, and were able to provide all types of bets and not just the conventional bets whose appeal is currently diminishing, would not the potential agreement be much more lucrative if you could offer all bets? Please change the definition of a bet. Your comments would be appreciated.

How come they weren't charged 2 colour fees?