RaceCafe..#1...Tipsters Thread.... Share Your Fancies For Fun...Lets See Who The Best Tipsters Here Are.

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  1. Awesome job John - thanks for your efforts in keeping the updates / entertainment going with Paul away.
    8 points
  2. Happy Birthday great Man. The Matamata races today were deprived yet another on course celebration. Bob Autridge would have shouted the patrons and his huge circle of friends and family to a huge event on course at Matamata. We had Car boot events in Gizzy for his 40th. And 50th ! His 60th birthday was in Matamata. Twenty years ago. Have to phone Toby or Steve about his 70th . Bob is a breed shaping training hero .Olgas's Pal (Straight Strike ) Just like Alan Jones Paddy Kay Joe Bromby, Bill Winder, Bill Sanders Bob could always spot a good one.
    6 points
  3. Well done John...thanks for stepping in and doing a super job. Geez without the pressure of scoring Pondy had a great day as did our team LOL....Thanks again for stepping in for Ponderosa and for the super job with the fast updates.
    6 points
  4. I am Very proud of our Team GREY WAY today. Jack, H Dream, Sayer and Warren. Hang in there. We are just 8k off the leading Team SUNLINE.
    6 points
  5. TEAM H2Hs Sunline won the top of the table clash while Kingston Town took daily honours and Gunsynd and Melody Belle recorded convincing H2H wins. Grey Way a bit unlucky - scored well but ran into the Manikato with the second highest tally for the day. TEAM NAME TOTAL TEAM NAME TOTAL MARGIN Rough Habit $2,455.20 lost to Sunline $2,879.60 -$424.40 Grey Way $2,785.20 lost to Manikato $2,953.80 -$168.60 Bonecrusher $1,853.60 lost to Gunsynd $2,895.80 -$1,042.20 Castletown $2,837.60 beat Makybe Diva $2,592.80 $244.80 Black Caviar $1,584.00 lost to Might & Power $2,350.80 -$766.80 Melody Belle $2,907.20 beat Phar Lap $1,974.40 $932.80 Balmerino $2,822.40 beat Winx $2,691.80 $130.60 Kingston Town $2,982.00 beat Kiwi $1,760.80 $1,221.20
    4 points
  6. Enjoy your dessert John - I hope it's something decadent and rewarding. I enjoyed the day and cast my memory back to my only on track Cox Plate experience. Queued up about 50 deep to pay $65 AUD for ground only admittance and the only spot I could grab was on the rail close to the 2000m start. I was lucky enough to see So You Think (amazing animal 'in the flesh'), Black Caviar & More Joyous that day. Worth every cent of the entry fee for that day out. Cheers, Phil
    3 points
  7. CUMULATIVE SCORES Mr Gee still with a handy lead and no change in the order order of the top 7 from last week. PLAYER NAME FROM TEAM CUMULATIVE Mr Gee Sunline $6,436.00 Gruff Balmerino $5,506.40 Goodison Rough Habit $5,191.60 Common Sensical Rough Habit $5,151.00 Ivan the Great Gunsynd $5,100.00 Kloppite Sunline $5,078.80 L.J. Shannon Kingston Town $4,820.20 Kundalini Castletown $4,797.40 Hall Melody Belle $4,786.00 Stoyd Kingston Town $4,774.00 Ripples Bonecrusher $4,743.80 Betty Kiwi $4,728.60 Lynzim Melody Belle $4,661.60 Weekend Hussler Sunline $4,597.40 Alf Might & Power $4,521.80 Floyd Pink Makybe Diva $4,464.20 Jack Grey Way $4,442.60 Zappa Winx $4,393.20 Alan1234 Sunline $4,382.60 Richie Castletown $4,348.60 Sayer Grey Way $4,313.00 NextPlease Phar Lap $4,289.60 Pegasus9 Rough Habit $4,286.40 Rodders Winx $4,249.20 Casper Balmerino $4,239.80 Ohokaman Black Caviar $4,228.80 Scooby3051 Gunsynd $4,206.60 Pure Steel Winx $4,185.60 Al Feilding Balmerino $4,166.60 Talk1 Kiwi $4,161.00 Alf Riston Castletown $4,141.60 Jenlove Manikato $4,138.40 Von Cettes Kingston Town $4,121.80 Seddon Manikato $4,082.60 MikeNZ Bonecrusher $4,073.60 Caroline Bonecrusher $3,978.00 The Sherriff Bonecrusher $3,961.20 Toddy Manikato $3,961.20 High Sparrow Sunline $3,949.80 MrZim Phar Lap $3,913.60 Napier Black Caviar $3,912.00 Romantic Miss Kiwi $3,873.20 Insider Melody Belle $3,841.00 Camacho Rough Habit $3,784.60 Shakti63 Balmerino $3,777.40 Mike28 Melody Belle $3,767.60 Loancrusher Kingston Town $3,715.40 Nicobury Might & Power $3,713.20 Tasman Man Melody Belle $3,700.60 Dogzstar1 Makybe Diva $3,690.20 Nukkledragga Might & Power $3,686.80 Arjay Bonecrusher $3,683.00 Racing Jimmy Black Caviar $3,678.60 Littletramp Kingston Town $3,665.00 Houlahan's Dream Grey Way $3,663.60 Catalano Winx $3,611.80 The Paw Might & Power $3,566.20 SayNoMore Phar Lap $3,553.80 Warren Grey Way $3,469.60 Smiler Makybe Diva $3,464.40 Black Caviar Castletown $3,450.60 Tacula Makybe Diva $3,418.80 Memphis3 Winx $3,385.40 Black Kirrama Grey Way $3,342.80 Majestic Castletown $3,329.60 Turny Tom Rough Habit $3,220.20 Peter R S Gunsynd $3,161.00 Black Caviar56 Might & Power $3,154.00 Puntwarriors Phar Lap $3,152.60 D.Burrow Phar Lap $3,139.00 Archer Manikato $3,108.00 Basil Brush Gunsynd $3,096.40 Koriokaramea Manikato $3,086.60 Cubes Black Caviar $3,031.40 Redrew2000 Black Caviar $3,015.40 Sir Castleton Balmerino $2,973.40 Mooseman Kiwi $2,949.40 Nerula Kiwi $2,876.40 Zak Hussai Makybe Diva $2,737.40 Ponderosa Gunsynd $1,789.00 CJW Individual $1,387.80
    3 points
  8. Whole wedding is at the New Plymouth RSA with lots of TV's on Trackside.!!!..and a few photos in the wall. Probably a sign of things to come....again!!!
    3 points
  9. Good Afternoon from New Plymouth.. I've always posted the Entry Thread in Meeting then Race order as I believed easier for players to make their picks. And definitely "should" help them post their picks, as them jumping from meeting to meeting for posting picks just makes for a possibly bigger mess of their postings.. Not sure what you're meaning on your 2nd point.? For today (for eg) it's Randwick Race 3: Randwick Race 7: Randwick Race 9: Can't be any more clearer than that, definitely nothing there to confuse anyone and cause them to muck up there picks..
    3 points
  10. Just to take this topic further...and this would form the basis of my argument of genetic relevance. Take the recent Cox Plate winner. Here's his pedigree for reference...NZ$120,000 cost Sire was a Champion sprinter in 2 hemispheres. Sire of dam a champion US stallion. Grand dam was by Champion European Miler Zilzal (by Champion sire Nureyev. Third dam is champion US filly. There are a lot of 120+ rated horses in this pedigree. Unfortunately, nowadays, we don't see many of this sort of pedigree in NZ winners anymore up close in the pedigree.....and although genetically good, this is not absolutely top class Take the best we've bred for a while...Verry Elleegent... by Zed (not a good race horse), Dam by Danroad (not a great race horse), 2nd dam by not a good sire) but 5th Dam is Eight Carat, a Daughter of Habibti (champion UK sprinter). So we're missing a few gaps but has some foundation. Then we've got Callsign Nav, our latest NZ group 1 winner who is rated 109. Atlante beat one of the weakest 2000gns in history, Volksraad good sire in NZ but weren't good enough in Australia, love Royal Academy, love REd Anchor as a racehorse but average sire, then Sostenuto (av horse and stallion), average family Now I'm not knocking any of these horses as I'd love to own them but I am talking about thr standard of group 1 races in NZ. Unfortunately the genetics don't supply or support 120+ horses being bred on a regular basis. It's actually time to address this but the question is how do you do this?
    2 points
  11. Berri

    Isn't it about time

    We stopped the repeated process of renaming horses with names that were those of group winners of not that long ago. Melody Belle by Taipan, trained by Ray Verner was seriously good. Then there was Melody Belle by Commands. Today I notice that the favourite of the 2000 Gns is Noverre. Noverre only just died, was a very good race horse and a half brother to Arazi. Why do we do this/ I don't get the logic
    2 points
  12. Idolmite

    Jacinda Ardern

    I'm watching you in my rear view mirror right now Gruff. There is nobody on this board I need to catch up with.
    2 points
  13. I see Gunsynd is following the mighty Kiwi' charge from the rear of the field
    2 points
  14. All results subject to Paul's say so. TEAM NAME TEAM TOTAL TEAM PLAYERS Sunline $28,844.60 Alan1234, High Sparrow, Kloppite, Mr Gee, Weekend Hussler Kingston Town $24,196.40 Littletramp, L.J. Shannon, Loancrusher, Stoyd, Von Cettes Balmerino $23,157.60 Al Feilding, Casper, Gruff, Shakti63, Sir Castleton Rough Habit $23,025.00 Camacho, Common Sensical, Goodison, Pegasus9, TurnyTom Melody Belle $22,589.60 Hall, Insider, Lynzim, Mike28, Tasman Man Bonecrusher $21,689.60 Arjay, Caroline, MikeNZ, Ripples, The Sherriff Makybe Diva $21,483.80 Dogzstar1, Floyd Pink, Smiler, Tacula, Zak Hussai Winx $21,225.20 Catalano, Memphis3, Pure Steel, Rodders, Zappa Castletown $20,867.80 Alf Riston, Black Caviar, Kundalini, Majestic, Richie Black Caviar $20,184.00 Cubes, Napier, Ohokaman, Racing Jimmy, Redrew2000 Manikato $20,179.20 Archer, Jenlove, Koriokaramea, Seddon, Toddy Grey Way $20,081.60 Black Kirrama, Houlahan's Dream, Jack, Sayer, Warren Might and Power $19,952.00 Alf, Black Caviar56, Nicobury, Nukkledragga, The Paw Kiwi $19,804.60 Betty, Nerula, Mooseman, Romantic Miss, Talk1 Gunsynd $19,774.80 Basil Brush, Ivan the Great, Peter R S, Ponderosa8, Scooby3051 Phar Lap $18,698.60 D.burrow, MrZim, NextPlease, Puntwarriors, SayNoMore
    2 points
  15. Cumulative team tallies to follow after dessert (but if I were a betting man I'd say Sunline might be well clear)
    2 points
  16. FINAL RACE - THE VALLEY Race 10 Only 5 on the winner of the last. Mooseman with a best bet ($204) top scores in that race. Jack pips Mike28 for daily honours. Any concerns with your score please let me know. PLAYER NAME FROM TEAM CURRENT TOTAL Jack Grey Way $1,037.00 Mike28 Melody Belle $1,030.40 Zappa Winx $903.60 Jenlove Manikato $871.00 Alf Riston Castletown $861.40 Floyd Pink Makybe Diva $837.80 Loancrusher Kingston Town $826.40 Stoyd Kingston Town $785.60 Nicobury Might & Power $672.00 Black Caviar Castletown $657.60 CJW Individual $648.40 Ponderosa Gunsynd $648.00 Common Sensical Rough Habit $645.40 Weekend Hussler Sunline $643.60 Scooby3051 Gunsynd $636.60 Pure Steel Winx $632.00 Ivan the Great Gunsynd $631.20 Kloppite Sunline $630.00 Black Caviar56 Might & Power $628.60 High Sparrow Sunline $624.00 NextPlease Phar Lap $617.00 Camacho Rough Habit $614.00 Basil Brush Gunsynd $610.00 Sir Castleton Balmerino $608.60 Shakti63 Balmerino $608.00 Lynzim Melody Belle $602.60 Dogzstar1 Makybe Diva $586.60 Gruff Balmerino $577.60 Houlahan's Dream Grey Way $572.00 Memphis3 Winx $568.60 Von Cettes Kingston Town $564.00 Koriokaramea Manikato $557.60 Archer Manikato $552.00 Seddon Manikato $540.60 Mooseman Kiwi $539.60 Mr Gee Sunline $539.00 Majestic Castletown $527.60 The Sherriff Bonecrusher $526.80 Pegasus9 Rough Habit $526.60 Casper Balmerino $521.60 Black Kirrama Grey Way $507.00 Al Feilding Balmerino $506.60 Hall Melody Belle $485.00 Caroline Bonecrusher $461.00 Racing Jimmy Black Caviar $456.00 Tacula Makybe Diva $451.20 Cubes Black Caviar $446.00 Kundalini Castletown $443.00 Alan1234 Sunline $443.00 Betty Kiwi $436.00 Toddy Manikato $432.60 Insider Melody Belle $431.60 Littletramp Kingston Town $426.00 D.Burrow Phar Lap $423.00 Nukkledragga Might & Power $419.60 Ohokaman Black Caviar $385.00 L.J. Shannon Kingston Town $380.00 Peter R S Gunsynd $370.00 Catalano Winx $362.60 MrZim Phar Lap $359.00 Smiler Makybe Diva $358.60 Tasman Man Melody Belle $357.60 Alf Might & Power $350.60 Goodison Rough Habit $350.60 Ripples Bonecrusher $349.60 Richie Castletown $348.00 Sayer Grey Way $339.60 Talk1 Kiwi $332.60 Warren Grey Way $329.60 Turny Tom Rough Habit $318.60 Puntwarriors Phar Lap $295.40 The Paw Might & Power $280.00 SayNoMore Phar Lap $280.00 Nerula Kiwi $270.00 MikeNZ Bonecrusher $258.60 Arjay Bonecrusher $257.60 Rodders Winx $225.00 Napier Black Caviar $216.00 Romantic Miss Kiwi $182.60 Redrew2000 Black Caviar $81.00 Zak Hussai Makybe Diva $0.00
    2 points
  17. PLAYER NAME FROM TEAM CURRENT TOTAL Zappa Winx $793.60 Floyd Pink Makybe Diva $760.80 Some sort of musical flavour at the top, at the moment ....
    2 points
  18. Agree the only way to go. As well as scoring challenges, not everyone will be following closely so some would get a chance to replace and others don't.
    2 points
  19. Yeah my bad. Meant that it was a pain for the scorer because I have to replace the scratching with a sub (33 times). Can see how you might have interpreted it differently - sorry. Replacement picks not required.
    2 points
  20. Please note, late scratchings go onto the sub(s). No need to post replacements.
    2 points
  21. I Copied Caroline but turns out she had a few to many Cream Sherries thought the Mai tai/ slave to love looked tidy...thankfully it translated to Belle en rogue
    2 points
  22. The rain has finally arrived. Should be hitting the Valley by the next race. Not verry much though.
    2 points
  23. Saturday Matamata Race 6: 1, 3 Riccarton Race 8: 1, 3 Riccarton Race 10: 5, 9 Randwick Race 3: 1, 6 Randwick Race 7: 2, 3 Randwick Race 9: 1, 4 The Valley Race 3: 2, 3 The Valley Race 4: 4, 8 The Valley Race 5: 2, 7 The Valley Race 6: 5, 10 The Valley Race 7: 1, 2 The Valley Race 8: 11, 12 BB The Valley Race 9: 6, 7 BB The Valley Race 10: 4, 5 Thank you all
    2 points
  24. No problems. Makes me appreciate what a shift Paul puts in week in week out - 15 races, 80 entrants - phenomenal effort.
    2 points
  25. stodge

    Jacinda Ardern

    Are none of you delighted with the free trade agreement with the United Kingdom? I look forward to being one of the millions of British who will come out to stay under the unrestricted immigration clause - we'll buy up all your lovely sections and places in your retirement villages and put a pub in each NZ town and city - that's a proper pub serving warm beer, pork scratchings and cheese and onion crisps. Auckland will be re-named Chiddingfold-on-Sea as part of the new "Anglicisation" of New Zealand returning you to the bosom of the Mother Country. What's not to like?
    2 points
  26. Gust of Wind, or somebody verbally farting perhaps Gruff That was an amazing win though! Thanks for sharing.
    1 point
  27. That Thompson at Trentham today looks like a pretty suspect G3.
    1 point
  28. No sleepless night for our superstar team sunlines captain is more confident in the tab who payed out early on zaki
    1 point
  29. Could not agree more Scooby. A great job by Say NoMore in filling some big shoes with aplomb. Thanks so much to all who have a hand in organizing this comp.
    1 point
  30. gubellini

    Trackside Presenters

    Sickopunter Michael Walker was once again very informative in his presenting/comments role at The Valley yesterday. Surely we could duplicate that expertise here even if only at the bigger carnivals or race days. Some of us want more from our presenters than dividends and price changes to be spouted ad nauseam!
    1 point
  31. stodge

    Cox Plate Field….

    STATE OF REST returned 13/2 over here after ZAAKI was scratched and I had a fiver each way at 10s last evening. That'll pay for a nice Sunday lunch for Mrs Stodge tomorrow !! STATE OF REST was rated 115 after the Saratoga Derby win and this would put him to say 120 over here. I think we can discount the line through KHARTOUM as that was a first outing of the season and STATE OF REST clearly needed the run. He's come to the Cox Plate on only his third run of the 2020 campaign - unlike ADELAIDE in 2014 who had also won in America but then ran third in the Niel at Longchamp. There's not many common points of reference - STATE OF REST beat SECRET PROTECTOR four lengths at Saratoga and that horse is rated only 106 in the UK so perhaps STATE OF REST only had to run to 115 to win this. He gave the second 16 lbs or 7 kg which was no mean feat. I gather the MacKinnon is next on the list for the winner - MAGIC WAND won it in 2019 also rated 115 up here having run fourth to LYS GRACIEUX in the Cox Plate. Final thought - MISHRIFF tried to win the Champion Stakes worth £715,000 having won the Juddmonte at York. He's a well-travelled horse - they could have brought him to Australia - he'd have dotted up in the Cox Plate and trousered £1.7 million for his owners. To be fair, important though the Cox Plate is, the Saudi Cup comes in at £7.3 million so you can understand why connections want to forget the Breeders Cup and head there again.
    1 point
  32. Idolmite

    Jacinda Ardern

    Well it appears to have served you well over the past few years Especially in the days when you were a Hundy devotee, until he went just a little, or maybe a lot, too far. At least you had to good sense to stop pursuing the big lie publicly, even if you still believe the election was stolen privately.
    1 point
  33. I'm smoking him, mate. So much so, he's slithering like a snake. Just under 700 ahead.
    1 point
  34. SO what's the score after today? Hopefully you Next Please will give PFP a flogging..
    1 point
  35. Gruff

    Jacinda Ardern

    Seems to ask a lot of very relevant questions. Most here are being proven right as time goes by , but you are being left behind it’s like the ad years ago with the smoker always trailing behind lighting up another Fag. C’mon Mites get up
    1 point
  36. My rules fella You're not compelled to spend any specific amount of course, you could tactically choose to spend a mere $2 on any day, a $1 win bet and a $1 multi As for four weeks of hard work…FFS….hard work !! Have you ever even had a job ?
    1 point
  37. Kundalini

    TEAMS H2H Oct 22/23

    Nine teams scored over $2,000 today, whereas in the early days we we lucky ti get 1 or 2 Valley 10 ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ 14-6-4 Results 102-25-16 Q 58.2 Rough Habit 2,455.2 v 2879.6 Sunline Grey Way 2,785.2 v 2953.8 Manikato Bonecrusher 1,853.6 v 2895.8 Gunsynd Castletown 2,837.6 v 2592.8 Makybe Diva Black Caviar 1,584.0 v 2350.8 Might & Power Melody Belle 2,907.2 v 1974.4 Phar Lap Balmarino 2,822.4 v 2696.8 Winx Kingston Town 2,989.2 v 1760.8 Kiwi
    1 point
  38. Fuck, I played ultra safe ( against my instincts ) and I still got chutneyed My return on the day is $178 so my total BF to next week is $463 You're on $576 with Contemptuous still to come
    1 point
  39. yes agree with meeting by meeting mate.Race by race is a nightmare.I would lose my decorum posting those picks.Good punting.
    1 point
  40. What makes you think any of those people would want the job? Especially Tiley and Campbell (the latter of which I dont think would be well suited, despite the fact he was an extremely astute trainer)
    1 point
  41. Scratching replacements for me.. Randwick Race 3... Now. 1, 3. Valley Race 5.. Now 4, 5 A baptism of fire today with all the Scratchings..
    1 point
  42. stodge

    Cox Plate Field….

    Just the one European representative in this year's renewal. STATE OF REST is a lightly raced 3-y-o trained by Joseph O'Brien who knows how to win the big Australian prizes. He was a decent juvenile last year running third to CHINDIT in the Champagne at Doncaster before getting bogged down in the Doncaster mud in the Vertem Futurity. After a long lay off he returned with a third in a Listed at The Curragh - the second that today, KHARTOUM, trained by Joseph's father Aidan, was eleven lengths behind CREATIVE FORCE in the Jersey and nine lengths behind BAAEED at Goodwood. Now, I suppose you could say what chance would BAAEED have if he were in the Cox Plate field? If you think STATE OF REST is about 10 lengths inferior to BAAEED that probably explains his 110 rating. Last time, he went to America and won the Grade 1 Saratoga Derby over 1950m. He had the once-time Derby favourite BOLSHOI BALLET in fourth and a fair Godolphin type in SECRET PROTECTOR in fifth and on that you could see why his rating is up to 115. 115 isn't a bad mark - solid Group 2 performer over here - so that's the barometer to set the standards of Australian and UK racing. I think he's a solid each way bet at 10s and I'd like to think he won't do too badly. ZAAKI would be long odds on if it hadn't been for his defeat in the Might and Power last time but my eye is drawn to ANAMOE - geography means he gets 16 lbs from STATE OF REST which looks a bit off to me. The question I have is why he is 3/1 while CAPTIVANT is 14s - was there that much between them in the Caulfield Guineas and over an extra 400m is it not possible CAPTIVANT could be superior?
    1 point
  43. I knew Arthur quite well and had a number of conversations with him about imported mares. As with everything you're only as good as your weakest link. He was trying to buy quite well related mares from the US for buttons. The result was that the mares he was buying were pedigrees without performance nor conformation. Two missing links. US form is very different. If you go to the early 1990's NZ studs had a love affair with American stallions. They came here in their droves....Crested Wave, Racing is Fun, Spectacular Love, Pompeii Court, Mi Preferido, Indian Ore and Defensive Play are a few that drip off my tongue. Patrick even got in the action by buying a half to Ferdinand, Castel Cheline through Moroney and me .Our argument was that if you go after American blood, make sure its the best of the best and drug free.
    1 point
  44. Prior to Sunday Silence being sent to Japan, a long list of UK Derby winners and broodmares were exported to Japan. In one single year, Japanese owners purchased 46 broodmares from the Keenland sales followed by another 81 the following year. 19 of them were group winners with three being the best of the best. From memory one cost approx $5m. But the others who weren't group winners were seriously related. Then they went to both Ireland and France to raid their coffers. Both Northern Farms and Shadai have been at it. Their aim is to win the Arc with a Japanese horse. Now on to the Japanese bloodstock mission....stayers. They've realised that stayers appeal more to customers than sprinters. Japanese horses ripped Aussie apart a few years ago. Since then travel and Quarrantine has been tricky but their base is now in place. This is the sort of thing NZ should strive for
    1 point
  45. That's not really the central issue although it is a very compelling argument. Stakes are pathetic in the UK but the breeding industry and sales are booming. The rest of the World is sourcing horses from there because they have a defined pattern of racing (good handicapping and staging), two rating systems that keep each other and the industry honest, and the best bloodstock in the World. A bloke like P4P may disagree because we always debate this, but sprinters aside, there is a valid argument that through franking the form and the UK pattern identifies a bench marked validation process that identifies the merits of most horses in the UK and Europe. This means that the intrinsic value of any horse is established, especially after those horses have been competing so successfully in other jurisdictions like Australia and the US. Why do you think almost 60 yearlings were sold to US based clients in the recent sales? Why do you think the Book 1 sales averaged 230,000 guineas ($442,000) where 44 yearlings made over a $1m when the average racing stakes is much like ours but in UK currency? It's all about the prestige and the ability to place horses in a pecking order. The number of Aussie people buying yearlings was amazing. So if we injected 200 well credentialed European mares in NZ, what would the effect be on our racing/ breeding over the next 20 years? The standard of our racing? The prestige of those horses also going to Aussie to compete?
    1 point
  46. Tell us any " journalist" in general terms who has a full time job The pay is horrific - the hours are terrible, so why would anyone want to be a journo, let alone a racing one. There is no money to be made.
    1 point
  47. gubellini

    Trackside Presenters

    I think it is high time that Trackside looked at it's model for selecting presenters. NZ Racing would be the only major sporting code not to employ former elite participants in the roles of presenters. Across the Tasman Michael Walker is currently presenting on their racing presentations. Peter Moody was recently employed as well. Their expertise is invaluable in such roles. Francesca Cumani and our own Jayne Ivil ditto. I would like to see Trackside employ former successful participants as presenters. Sure they would need some media training. Suggestions: Michael Coleman and Nigel Tiley in the North. Recently retired Group 1 winning trainer Andrew Campbell in the CD. No reason why recently retired Riccarton trainer Kevin Hughes could not be used at the upcoming Riccarton Carnival. I am sure others could add names of other highly experienced racing people who could do an admirable job as presenters.
    1 point
  48. It isn't just about the racing stakes, although that has a longer term effect in reinvestment in stock due to disinterest in the sport. It also isn't about the bad racing surfaces, although that may well be a determining influence to some who find racing nice horses on bad tracks unacceptable. Where we've fallen over badly is the replenishment of our breeding stock. Time and time again I will remind people that over the last 100 or so years NZ has imported bloodstock that it could afford. I recently bought an old stallion publication and went through the stallions that were standing. Honestly, I wouldn't have given you two bob for a lot of them. Horses like Pakistan, Copenhagen Sovereign Edition Foxbridge Oncidium Battle Wagon Le Filou and other stallions like Volksraad, Noble Bijou, St Ledger and Martial make up the genetics of our thoroughbred base. The real shame is that our esteemed leaders haven't even bothered to get all the data together about our stallion forbears in one place so that a bloke like me can get into looking at these images and get the info. I dragged these images off the web. Back to the story, this is the genetic make up of our breed. How can that compete today? They were quite well bred, but weren't top class race horses. Some of them are down right ugly but the most important thing is, are they relevant today? The type of horse that succeeds to day is quite different from the yesteryear. People have become impatient, the distance of the racing has decreased, the feed is different, the training conditions different, the racing surfaces and venues....different. You've got imported race horses racing in Australia that are rated 120+ and we expect to be able to compete with our genetic base being produced by horses who weren't even rated!! So you might ask, how do we improve this? Buy better stallions? A bit hit and miss for me but you're still relying on the stallions genetics to dominate. So we've got to reach for the broodmare band in order to pick things up. The importation of mares into NZ, where the mare is closely related to horses rated better than 120+, has produced most of our headline racehorses in recent times. Zabeel was out of an imported mare, as was Octagonal and that whole family, Waverley Star, Eastern Joy and more recently Tavistock. If we produce a program to import international mares, whose stallion lineage are all champion international stallions, whose female families are closely related to horses rated 120+, then we will see more proper group one winners in NZ. Quite simple really
    1 point
  49. The fools running the racing Industry are like the morons running the country. They have no idea. A lack of quality horses is due to a lack of stakes money. Why race in Tauranga Awapuni new Plymouth or any regional track when you are racing for 20k on a premier Saturday or 10k on a mid week race. 7000 gets you to Brisbane 80 to 100 a day for a trainer and racing at Ipswich on a Friday a 1600mtr race is worth between 30 to 60k and fields are average. Eagle farm and Doomben your racing for 60 to 80 k for a maiden race so why race here. As long as the powers that be remain the same the industry will always be in decline. If you can win a race at Ellerslie your good enough to be a metro horse in Brisbane. Why stick around. Puke and Ellerslie have got it right. Terapa Matamata and Cambridge need to do the same as do Taurangs and Te aroha. Hastings Palmerston Whanganui Otaki all need to change. When egos are put aside and tracks are merged costs are reduced then stakes can be increased then its worth while racing a quality horse in this country. Till then we will pop across the ditch and enjoy the fruits of the Aussie tree
    1 point
  50. the trouble is that we can all sound like stuck records. Similar people making similar comments to the same people. Unfortunately there is no case to be made that anything said on this site will have any effect on any matter. Only the stupid think that doing the same thing will instigate change. That is what has been happening. I watched the Great Northern Hurdles and Steeple Chase today. What a third rate, mediocre, lacking in class presentation of what should be fantastic. And we should have been celebrating the winners...but what happens....we cut to greyhounds. And the betting dribble needs to stop. They still don't get that because people generally lose betting, it's short sighted promoting betting the way they do. This should also be an entertainment business and its about the horse. The ivory tower has inept horse power in its pillars. But no-one will listen...or do anything....or even think about this post because no-one really cares.
    1 point