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Go DD!!! he's just bin awarded driver of the year in the US is he good or is he good ay ay.... Dexter Dunn, a nine-time winner of the driving title in his native land of New Zealand before the age of 30, has now been in the United States and Canada for two years, and he has been voted Driver of the Year both years. 2020 was an especially rich year for him, in two senses of the word: he was the leading money-winning driver last year with almost $11.2 million bankrolled by his charges, many of whom were voted champions of their respective divisions. In September, October, and November alone in the shortened season, he drove the winners of 26 races worth more than $100,000, including the pacing filly champions in both the 2- and 3-year-old ranks, Fire Start Hanover and Party Girl Hill; the two champions among the older pacing set, stallion Bettor's Wish and mare Kissin In The Sand; champion trotting mare Manchego; and champion sophomore trotting male Amigo Volo. He again won four Breeders Crown races. Cheers Iraklis

Agree. Stuff is just a mouthpiece for the ruling Ardern coalition nowadays. No objectivity, no partiality, no accountability. Rag!

Isn't it lovely and peaceful without hearing from the Politicians over the last few weeks? Wouldn't it be great if they just stayed away and we had some normality back in our lives free from those who lack Critical Thinking?

Stuff is even worse as are their local rags. The Press is a disgrace these days and has been for quite some time. That said if your a woke left wing socialist you'll be entertained for an hour a day

This will get into the press. All Black says he knows Dexter Dunn etc.

Ricky seemed to make a good fist of it yesterday. No dramas is all the punters want

How bad is that a huge achievement struggles to even make the press here in NZ...shows how racing and harness are thought of.

Our big event of the year is next weekend. We are closing in on 750 Karaka Million tickets. That is 300 more than last year (Year 3). That 300 is more than the total we had in Year 2. 750 is 10 times what we had in Year 1. Even if you don’t get excited for racing or aren’t coming on the 23rd... Hopefully this shows you what is possible when you put the work in. Slow, steady, consistent mahi. It doesn’t just happen. Get it done in twenty twenty won.

Sustainable Development, aka Technocracy, is the endgame of the global elite who want control over all resources on earth, including people. The “Great Panic of 2020” has been weaponized to create the biggest economic coup in the history of the world. I would again note that control over political structures is incidental to control over all economic functions. When Technocracy prevails, elected politicians of all stripes will be summarily dismissed and engineers and scientists will run the world directly. For citizens, this is the essence of scientific dictatorship: there is no need for representative government because systems will be run autonomously via algorithm. The threat of killing capitalism and free enterprise is very real and most definitely existential to America as we have known it for over 200 years. ⁃ TN Editor

On a quiet Monday up here, a couple of hints of warmer weather approaching. Frankie Dettori has gone to Dubai and he will be riding at the Meydan Carnival which starts on Thursday. The opening card has three Group 2 races and I'll preview those tomorrow or Wednesday. The most interesting entry is CAPEZZANO who was impressive in the final of the Al Maktoum Challenge but flopped in both the World Cup and the Saudi Cup running last in both races. Ascot have this morning announced changes to their programme for the five-day Royal meeting in June. In 2020, as a result of Covid-19, the usual schedule was amended and new races added to provide extra opportunities and to work with the rescheduled Guineas and Derby/Oaks meetings. This year, all five days will have seven races with additional handicaps added to the end of the card. I'm not wholly convinced about this - Ascot is the quality Flat race meeting of the year and while I've no objection to races like the Hunt Cup, the Britannia, the Wokingham and the King George V, all of which have long traditions and are usually won by top-class horses, some of these new races look like padding aimed at boosting betting turnover. To be honest, they have taken the opportunity to strengthen the Wednesday card a little - it's disappointing the Jersey remains a Group 3. 1400m races remain a huge problem in the UK - there are no Group 1 races at this distance apart from the Dewhurst for the juveniles and I think this is a major omission. The first two races on the Saturday are the 1400m races and that now looks the weakest card but it's a wonderful meeting and my favourite of the year. No official word on prize money levels yet - the races are being advertised at the 2020 levels but it won't be until April he final word on the race purses is released. In 2019, the Diamond Jubilee was worth £340,000 to the winner but in 2020 that fell to £148,000. When BLACK CAVIAR won the race in 2013, it was worth £283,550 to winning connections so the prize money is atrocious in the global context and without sponsorship it's an issue Ascot are going to have to face if they want to attract runners from other parts of the world.

The ONLY place where facts and truth matters........we’ll see.......

Well we are back to normal (sort of) people back from holidays and already noticable how congested Aucklands roads are. All the old roadworks, and many new ones back in full swing to frustrate the motorist, along with the furied activity of other nuisances like Chorus etc and the plethora of construction firms all of who for some unknown reason have to close half the roadways often just as a free parking area for their machines. The good old car transporters are back to their ubloading spots usually on the centre median strip. And the big artic delivery units which take up the majority of the road in one direction, often completely blocking the (bloody) cycle lanes. Just as well no one uses these utter waste of ratepayers money as there wuld be utter chaos. Oh heavens, the schools are still on holiday, what will it be like when all those ankle biters return to the fray? But seriously, Auckland is now a city out of control of their transport systems. They are installing more & more speed humps which are getting so "high" that you often have to almost come to a complete halt to negotiate them - on a 50 kph carriageway, which causes a massive concertina affect (and many nose to tails) And to further add to the chaos many of the traffic lights are possibly 50 years old and very unreliable. One question I would like answered by them who know more than me, is why the motorist has to pay for all the cycle ways & lanes that appear to be only sparsely if ever utilised and why the cyclist gets all this investment free. Watch out kiddies when you return to school - leave your bikes & scooters at home. It's a viscious jungle out there and will only get worse as they try to squeeze more people into the same area..

The Great Horse Manure Crisis of 1894 by Ben Johnson By the late 1800s, large cities all around the world were “drowning in horse manure”. In order for these cities to function, they were dependent on thousands of horses for the transport of both people and goods. In 1900, there were over 11,000 hansom cabs on the streets of London alone. There were also several thousand horse-drawn buses, each needing 12 horses per day, making a staggering total of over 50,000 horses transporting people around the city each day. To add to this, there were yet more horse-drawn carts and drays delivering goods around what was then the largest city in the world. This huge number of horses created major problems. The main concern was the large amount of manure left behind on the streets. On average a horse will produce between 15 and 35 pounds of manure per day, so you can imagine the sheer scale of the problem. The manure on London’s streets also attracted huge numbers of flies which then spread typhoid fever and other diseases. London Hansom Cab Each horse also produced around 2 pints of urine per day and to make things worse, the average life expectancy for a working horse was only around 3 years. Horse carcasses therefore also had to be removed from the streets. The bodies were often left to putrefy so the corpses could be more easily sawn into pieces for removal. The streets of London were beginning to poison its people. But this wasn’t just a British crisis: New York had a population of 100,000 horses producing around 2.5m pounds of manure a day. This problem came to a head when in 1894, The Times newspaper predicted… “In 50 years, every street in London will be buried under nine feet of manure.” This became known as the ‘Great Horse Manure Crisis of 1894’. The terrible situation was debated in 1898 at the world’s first international urban planning conference in New York, but no solution could be found. It seemed urban civilisation was doomed. However, necessity is the mother of invention, and the invention in this case was that of motor transport. Henry Ford came up with a process of building motor cars at affordable prices. Electric trams and motor buses appeared on the streets, replacing the horse-drawn buses. By 1912, this seemingly insurmountable problem had been resolved; in cities all around the globe, horses had been replaced and now motorised vehicles were the main source of transport and carriage. Even today, in the face of a problem with no apparent solution, people often quote ‘The Great Horse Manure Crisis of 1894’, urging people not to despair, something will turn up!

Yeah boy, Yet fewer and fewer people seem to see the beauty in a horse...only the diehards , or those raised among them. And its hard to have one as a pet , whereas everyperson and his/ her need to have a dog and ditto with cats. Racing in NZ comes down to the 'punt' to survive. You admit to not betting yourself , which means the rest of NZ has to pitch in for you ....but too many of these find horse racing as boring as batshit and need to walk the dog !

Yeh JJ, guess it's down to the diehards, but for all that there's nothin like seein the guns racin in the flesh up close an personal, it's a whole different ball game when you're right there oh yes.... Cheers Iraklis

Right on Timbo mate re Kiwi drivers cream of the crop is our DD tho....guys the Herald online is ok, but MickG or whoeva could do some updating a little sooner..... Cheers Iraklis

Can't wait for Wind Farms to channel the wireless Smart City technology, can you??? One has to question what is going on in these Tech . IT people running the show heads that we are paying vast sums of money for with NO accountability from them. Bring back Horse and carriage, it's far safer, reliable and environmentally friendly.

Yeah - well sort of. Does gallops as well - don't know if he still on the payroll or just paid for articles published. Herald have very few permanent staff these days and I suppose they don't need any since it is no longer a NEWSpaper but rather a GOSSIPPAPER with a few pages of news No proof reading any more!

On the National Hunt roster?

Someone asked me on another blog if there are any other great drivers "Down Under":;.. I said that at least 50 could driver better than the Americans. One thing I would love to see back there is when there are mile races in NZ, they put the hammer down. This getting top the 1st half in slower than 57 or 56 seconds is embarrassing IMO. The horses can and should go much faster. IMO it would appeal more to fans if they ran quicker miles. Australia has the right idea with Menangle

Press? Didn't know there was any in Kiwi

And the Inauguration synergy of someone by the name of Gaga singing the National Anthem for someone who is Gaga!!

They will be hoping the one and only Ready Ted is on form.

Fizzy, there is a well written story in the TDN on Sat about Mr Abdullah. Probably the best breeder the world has had the pleasure to enjoy his efforts for some decades. The likes of Danehill are one of many impacts he has left to breeders the world over and I think in decades to come, we will fully appreciate the diversity of blood that he created. I have the luck and good fortune to have raced a good mare generations deep in his family and I hope I don’t embarrass myself by not continuing to breed good stock from her. He was truly a master of genetics and a sporting and loyal man enriched with the more honour and and ethics than many in our industry.

Do you have a question..if not then please do not post here...this is for questions for Dean ...cheers.

Are you greenie cyclists prepared to pay - registration or cycleway user tax - TM? You obviously dont use public transport. Too many bus/train changes needed to transverse Auckland and many hours just sitting on your butt either waiting for them or travelling in them.

So how about this... Frankels are funny horses. Quite difficult to train on many occasions. There is a specific type that seems to work. Out of 11 put up for sale that day, 6 found homes. Remember he stood for 175,000 for these yearlings. Your yealing's pedigree is just OK for a Frankel. He's got a seriously straight hind leg and from the front, hiss off side knee looks quite offset. His hocks screw as he walks which is a sign of immaturity. You wouldn't know how big he was from the photo. Sam is Ben's son. Ben is Robert's son. This is the right Frankle type

almost 4 yrs on and you still rely upon the CNN writeups? cmon Ohakaman!!! did you not learn anything from Adam Schiff??