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Well done to Hall, Warren and Idolmite. A Kiwi-like effort from Hall. Amazing performance to come from the clouds like that. Great work Scooby and Say No More. Win, lose or draw I really get a lot of enjoyment from the comps.

Smiling Collector . R5 ( 3 g T M L -Commetu Veaux ) Watch his first start win. https://racing.hkjc.com/racing/video/play.asp?type=replay-full&date=20220306&no=05&lang=eng

Crusty, Really really sad to hear about the passing of Des Riordan today. As a youngster he was my hero alongside his foreman,(and Dad) Mike Claydon Like you said Crusty , Mateland, Mannix , Heflu, Grizzly Arralucca, Set, Ocean Monarch , Bonnybard, Le Fripon the half brother to Le Filou, Gaydrill, Wattle and how about Grasshopper, Des's last winner as a trainer, D A Peake , from a mile last at Te Rapa, gets up down the outside fence when Te Rapa used to be a bog . And all the advice he had for his great mate Jim Mouat who trained Danzapride. Mind you I had a heap of advice over the years as well and yes Des , it worked !! Noel ( Il Tempo), Johnny(JP) Sailing Home and Summer Regent who won a Cox Plate and then there was Des, Rider of Baby Dakar and Keith and trackwork rider of MAINBRACE .. Des trained Grizzly to win the George Adams Tattersalls(Now the Thorndon Mile) on the 1st day and then Grizzly and brother Noel come out and win the Telegraph on the last day ! Absolute Legend and an absolute gentleman, looked after everybody he could in Te Awamutu and the Waikato in everybody;'s later years RIP Des

I think Trackside should replace The Whale who has gone badly stale, winners one in a blue moon at microscopic odds with Jason. Jason throws out some bloody good priced winners in his Raceform column both trots and gallops both North and South. Thanks for Henley and Three Sixty yesterday J.T

Premier meeting today, Auckland Cup and Railway, and Trackside coverage consists of Pip Morris presenting out of what sounds like a tunnel, all muffled. Surely they could have got someone on course ?? I know greyhounds are the 3rd cog off the bench ... but really !! ... WTF do NZGRA actually do to promote the sport ??

Des Riordan trainer/jockey passed away today . Mateland,Mannix,Grizzly,Heflu come to mind amongst others. Would have turned 90 on 1/4/22. One of the last links with the Mighty Mainbrace who he rode in trackwork on a regular basis and often strapped him on raceday after riding in earlier races. Also won a division of the GTNorthern Oaks on Chickadee trained by Jack McDonald.

Sad day TA proud

Thanks Scooby - I don't do it for any recognition - I enjoy doing it. However I will take you up on your offer and send you a bet for next Saturday. Any proceeds (or half thereof) I will get you to donate to the Sisters of Compassion Wellington Soup Kitchen - an amazing charity.

OMG I am so happy have been at Petanque for the last 2 Saturday's totally forgot last Saturday so happy To be where I am "what a clever Lady" come and get me lol thank you to all who is running this and thank you scorer much appreciated

Wouldn’t be the first time…so drunk was Cross at the Cambridge Jewels one year and he was bottled by someone in the thoroughbred code. Might be able to call but he sounds like he may have a fair opinion of himself from what I’m told.

Quite impressed that this Race thing has attracted your attention WD......still some 5 weeks to go before the event. Obviously you have caught some of the 'teasing' publicity that went out before the race was confirmed and they were calling for interest among slot holders. In recent weeks most of the 'big race' winners have been suggested as possible starters ,so the publicity is ongoing.....I think only 3 x horses confirmed as certain as they were waiting to see if any Aussies would come over following the Miracle Mile weekend. Of course that race postponed due to weather so bit of a hitch there but with covid and travel uncertainty the Australian involvement totally unknown in this first year. The timing of the race and its place in the calendar...around Auckland Cup time and after Australian features .....is one of the attractions of the Race , which is designed to help retain the top pacers in NZ....cos currently they leave in droves for the better opportunities in Australia. Thats a no brainer currently. So Year 1 WD can not be expected to be a 'game changer' of significance , which will give the naysayers plenty to whinge about. Doom and gloomers will be on to it...at least most of the stake is paid by the slotholders . Some already are missing the Jewels which received a fair share of flak ,I personally thought it a great day and concept .The bulk of Funding for that day came from pokies ! Keep up the casual punting on Harness WD and the HRNZ website contains regular references to the race thing ,as does Boxseat while the TAB has a market up which should create interest if any Aussies accept. If you found this post interesting mark 'like' OR if 100% dribble mark sad !

Not really. Probably don't read the race cardcertainly had our winning dividends slashed but hey who cares its only money. Sharpest tack in the box comes to mind

Unless you are loaded it's a no brainer.I can advise you re the jockey Though.

Teaz is a very good commentator and also tips well His insights into sectionals is second to none Today M Cross comments R Todd has one starter, he had a runner in the previous race and this shows Cross does not do his form Reports from calls made after the races last night from Menangle Cross was very intoxicated Whale on his previews we receive he only tips 1.04 shots

Another win for Vintage Cheddar at Melton last night

Sure are

The 2nd horse was somewhat a victim of circumstances from the inside barrier......congrats to the winner but the best horse in the race ran 2nd in my humble opinion...but I guess time will tell...

Prizes: 1st: Hall - $200 bet 2nd: Warren - $100 bet (better luck this time) 3rd: Idolmite - $50 bet Recommend you message Scooby with your bets. One bet - win and/or place. Be sure to give Scooby enough time to see your bet and get it placed. Thanks everyone for taking part - very happy with the standard of the selection posts - made my job a lot easier. Replacing scratchings if you post early would make it even easier

The question is how can we raise the stakes across the board to make racing here more viable? The TAB provides the bulk but harness looks up against it with much fewer races televised than other codes (including none of the top trotting meetings in Europe and often missing top races from North America). Is this just supply and demand, or is it ignorance of what are races of note to us? IMO it is our industry leaders' responsibilty to be our advocates and to promote harness racing from the halls of Wellington to the man on the street: else we'll keep on fading away. But even we little people can do our bit within our own circles to show the positive aspects of racing. Else the tiny fields and abysmal punting we saw last night at Auckland will become the norm. Also, the clubs should be able to top up stakes. Small volunteer-run clubs that race a couple of times a year can convert their usual solid local sponsorship into well-staked meetings: but that is harder for clubs like Cambridge that race every other week. Alternate revenue streams generated from greater utilisation of club assets is possible when clubs own their land and buildings but as we've seen with ATC, this path has many potholes to navigate (and there are costs associated with managing and maintaining those assets that must be covered first). Perhaps clubs could share knowledge of what works and what doesn't so we all benefit.

The other horses Vinnie rode to win the Derby must have been champions.

hardly on it's last legs WD , even in NZ here it is halcyon days according to trainers and bloodstock agents, melb premier sale an example of the strength in the market. BUT for all the talk about the terrific prizemoney it's still massively disproportionate to returns , is it yearling prices too high or the lower end prizemoney maidens to BM 64/70/84 etc too low.? it's ok if you have a stakes horse but what % of yearlings turn out to be at that level. if you cant get a saturday class horse you generally wont recover your costs when a potential buyer asked racing media man Ken Callander his advice on buying a yearling he replied " only buy one if you can afford to get nothing back" the overwhelming majority of yearlings purchased never pay their way, that's the risk we take. why is it so

Evening 50 win No1 Yeah Tasman Man is not to far off the mark April 1 Meeting an Open Entry Hurdle 27 April at Hawera May: 4 Meetings: Te Rapa (7th) Wanganui (12th) Manawatu Chase & Awapuni Hurdles (PJ Meeting) (21st) & Wellington (28th) June 3 Meetings: Hawkes Bay )PJ Meeting) (6th) this was McGregor Grant & KS BROWNE Day, Waikato Hurdles & Chase (PJ Meeting) (18th) & Rotorua (26th) July 4 Meetings: Hawkes Bay Hurdles & Chase (PJ Meeting) (2nd) Egmont (10th) Wellington Hurdles & Chase PJ Meeting) (16th) Waikato (30th) August 4 Meetings: Riccarton (Grand National Meeting (6th - 10th & 13th) Rotorua (21st) September 3 Meetings Pakuranga HC @ Te apa R(PJ Meeting) (4th) Old Great Northern Meeting @ Te Rapa (PJ Meting) 18th Wanagnui (22nd) October 1 Meeting National Jumps Day @ Wanganui (2nd) In addition to this there will be 14 Highweights races from 23 March though to 25 May Cheers Paul Claridge National Jumps Coordinator

The season starts at Egmont 27 April , then early May to Wanganui and Te Rapa . It runs to 2 October at Wanganui. There appears to be 27 Hurdle and 28 Steeples races over 20 meetings. I guess the only ones set in stone are the big Premier feature races which have $50k stakes and upwards. Other stakes will be maidens @ $20k and Restricted Open @ $30k.......the type of races will depend on Nominations. Only South Island meeting is the Grand National Carnival..... 3 days in August. Check it out on NZTR / Love Racing website. Click on NZTR along to bar....into Racing Info , into Info and coms Click into Racing Progamme Guide.....that the key document. It all there on one page .....trials are somewhere close too !