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Thanks Cubes. Very nice. Lovely ride.

Legend encourages Kiwis to switch: ‘You Aussies have a different DNA to us' Despite his recent retirement champion New Zealand trainer Murray Baker will be watching Saturday’s Doomben Cup closely. Picture: AAP. As legendary trainer Murray Baker prepares to put his feet up in retirement and cheer on warrior stayer The Chosen One in Saturday’s Group 1 Doomben Cup, he has laid bare one regret of his grand training career. The New Zealand training genius, 75, is enthralled by the success of Australian racing and in awe of the achievements of former Kiwis Chris Waller and James McDonald. Baker wishes he had also made a full-time move to Australia at some point. In retirement, Baker plans to encourage the next wave of talented New Zealand trainers and jockeys to take a chance and up stumps and move to Australia in search of greater racing opportunities and riches. “People in New Zealand racing often say to me they are thinking of going to Australia, what do I think, I say just go,” Baker told News Corp. “In 15 years you can’t look over your shoulder and think I wish I had gone. “Personally, I do wish I had given it a crack. There is a lot of frustration with New Zealand racing, the Government is not over-keen on it, prizemoney is bad, anyone will tell you they have to address it. “Prizemoney is so good in Australia, even if you get an average horse you are still in front. I’ve got the greatest admiration for Australian racing, you are so unbelievably lucky. “It is well managed and it seems to be at all levels.” Murray Baker has some strong views on racing in two countries. Picture: AAP. Baker, fresh from a visit to the dentist’s chair to fill a couple of holes in his teeth, told how his regular FIFO visits to Australian carnivals over the years had rammed home the monumental difference in attitude in racing Down Under to in his Kiwi homeland. For instance, when Baker has often jetted into Auckland for a trip to Ellerslie races, the taxi drivers have little or no interest in racing. READ: MASSIVE BARNEY OVER EVICTION OF GROUP 1-WINNING TRAINER FROM EAGLE FARM It’s a very different story on the dozens of Group 1 missions that Baker has made to Australia. “You get into a cab in Sydney or Melbourne and the cabbie finds out you are a horse trainer, they say they will pull the cab over because they want to find out what races my horses are in and if they are worth backing,” Baker laughs. “Australians love betting and they love to own a horse, they love to be part of the action. “You Aussies have a different (racing) DNA to us, you love to have a punt and love the fizz of it. “People want to be involved. Australian racing – is there anything better? I don’t think there is. “The number one thing in New Zealand is they have to address the prizemoney, because we now have a lot of horses going to Australia and they are raced by New Zealand owners. “Once they get touched by Australian racing they don’t usually come back again, because of the prizemoney.” In retirement, Baker is planning some European travels with his Swedish-born wife Marianne. He also has a flock of 11 hungry ewes to tend to on his four-acre property. Even as his own training career wound up, Baker continued to enjoy the success of former Kiwis Waller and McDonald. Murray Baker always knew James McDonald was going to be a smash hit. Picture: Michael Klein. Baker has clear early racing memories of both – and he knew almost from the first minute he saw them that they were destined for big things. “James is a Cambridge boy and there is no-one better, I thought from day one he was destined to be a superstar,” Baker said. “He just had such a natural talent. Even at a young age he was very well rounded and he had a good head on his shoulders. “I also knew Waller from when he started off. I remember he was always very thorough and he knew what he was doing, I always thought he was destined to make it. “He might become the greatest trainer ever. He doesn’t make mistakes does he? “His horses are in the right races and they are winning.” Murray Baker says Chris Waller simply doesn’t make mistakes and could become the greatest trainer ever. Picture: Getty Images. When he was in the twilight stages of his career, Baker trained in partnership with Andrew Forsman who has The Chosen One racing on Saturday as a $23 chance in the Doomben Cup. It is hard to see The Chosen One knocking off $1.50 favourite Zaaki but Baker isn’t entirely ruling it out. “The Chosen One is a modern-day Marco Polo, he has campaigned a bit,” Baker said. “But he is a good quiet horse and he has performed admirably without getting that really big win. READ: MASSIVE BARNEY OVER EVICTION OF GROUP 1-WINNING TRAINER FROM EAGLE FARM “One thing I will say is that he does go well fresh. I will watch The Chosen One on Saturday and I will watch all my former horses go around. “But I made the right decision to retire, I had a fair lick at training, 44 years. You can look over your shoulder and think you have some nice horses and think what about next season? “But that just goes on and on and on. It was time for a new chapter in my life.”

I don't have Sky so I won't watch it. I shall continue to watch harness racing on the TAB website. I prefer that anyway cos you only have to tune in just as race starts. Miss all the whale garbage!!!

NIce

this great news . First real promo to help keep harness racing alive. instead of the wiping of any form of visibility eg. friday flash.gone,newspaper fields and results long gone, radio broadcasts, gone hr weekly, gone...TABs closed or closing. (the accountantseducing costs and ignoring the damage to peoples interest in ownership/sponsorship and of course punting. BIG THANKS TO THOSE INVOLVED

Racing have to stop giving themselves uppercuts, for an industry with poor public acceptance they just add fuel to the burning fire on a regular basis Crazy stuff

I had a look too They drew 1 & 2 I think, read what you will into that The winner just inserted itself into the hole behind the leader on the turn, simply because it was going better CWJ didn’t lose any forward momentum when he switched out after he realized he’d been beaten to that run up the fence, and after the line the winner was far stronger Not sure how many Mulebacker has ridden but in this instance I think he’s manifestly wrong and should withdraw what is quite a disparaging and unfair comment

Channel 83 is currently the Face TV channel on Sky, so anyone with Sky should be able to watch it. I hope there'll be more interviews and aftermath wraps of races, I find those interestin and entertainin, a dedicated Harness channel I'm lovin the idea..... Cheers Iraklis

New Friday night Harness TV Channel 18 May 2022 , News A channel broadcasting harness racing, and only harness racing, will be launched this Friday. For every Friday night for the next six weeks Trot Night will be broadcast on Sky Channel 83 from 5.30pm to 10.30pm. It's a trial its backers hope will become permanent. This week it will feature the two meetings at Alexandra Park and Addington, with all races broadcast live. "Your Friday nights won't be the same," says Jamie MacKinnon, the Auckland Trotting Club president who's behind the new show, "there'll be no greyhound racing or racing from unknown parts of the world. It will be wall-to-wall harness for five hours." MacKinnon's been working on the concept since 2019. "Ideally we want every Friday night to have a live harness race every 15 minutes just like the thoroughbreds have on a Saturday afternoon." Trot Night will feature co-hosts, Karen Teague and Jason Teaz backed up by reporters Jo Stevens at Alexandra Park and Nigel Armstrong at Addington. The TAB have agreed to allow the show to tap into Craig The Whale’s preview of every race, as well as broadcast each domestic race live (complete with dividends). The show will also be available on Facebook and Youtube. Trackside will broadcast the two meetings as per usual. The new show will be funded by the ATC, HRNZ and sponsors Woodlands Stud and Stonewall Stud. At the end of the six-week trial an in-depth review will be conducted with the clubs involved, HRNZ and the TAB. “If we are successful in attracting and growing the audience expectations are that Trot Night will become a regular Friday night event,” says MacKinnon, "but we realise that six weeks is not long to build an audience." The next 6 weeks looks like this on Sky Channel 83 from 5.30pm - 10.30 pm. May 20 – Alexandra Park and Addington May 27 – Alexandra Park and Addington June 3 – Cambridge June 10 – Alexandra Park June 17 – Addington June 24 – Addington

OK TM. I presume you will be dodging the cameras. No doubt you will in the TAB where they can't find you. Or the Lone Star?

Cheer up eljay......more time and information etc available to encourage more betting ! I heard the cameras will be scanning around the oncourse crowd to see the happy folk enjoying their night out with special focus on your lounge and in particular your table to gain some insightful comments on each horse's chances. So have a shave ,wear your best threads and take your trial notes along and remember to smile !

My god, that Sharrock sounds like an arrogant bastard. One can only presume they intend to sell off the land for housing to help fund the AWT. If I was a local trainer I would suggest boycotting the opening of the AWT. The best approach would be to accept for the races on opening day and then scratch everything on race morning. Show a bit of trainer power. Manawatu used to be a highly regarded club. I doubt this would have happened in the days of Bennet as President and Freeman as secretary.

I won't watch because I can't but it still a great idea. Harness needs to be marketed far better than at present. There are so many good things in the industry, newsworthy and interesting personalities but none are promoted and they should be household names. Just a few I can think off the top of my head: Michael House, clever, innovative and intelligent man, the glamorous Tomlinson sisters, Luk Chin... a legend what a story!! There are many more...

I got a txt from the TAB later in the day saying that they'd loaded my account with a Bonus $10... so I immediately went onto the site and the only race left was the last at Riccarton ... so scrolled thru and saw Pam's horse running... so put the $10 on FF Place at $8.50.... so collected $75.00 after they took away their own $10.. Happy but also now wished I'd gone each way...!!!!

The article states it is available on both Facebook and You Tube so should be accessible to most. 6 weeks is quite a short trial , but it starts with a Group 1 night and better fields than recent weeks. Every race will have extra lead in times for people to have a bet. The new channel probably won't be shown in TAB's and Sports Bars and may give folk even less reason to go to the races. But on-course attendances often quite bleak in winter.

So John Durjam is a conspiracy theory? Hunters laptop is not real? 2001 Mules doesn't exist? Twiiter doesnt have fake accounts and bots and cencensors the truth tellers? These are the biggest stories on the planet ATM that the MSM are too scared to reprt Idiot! as usual

Tasy being ironic here inadvisable. haha

Surely this subject has to go to the tenancy tribunal. The nature of whether it is horses or people changes nothing in relation to how a lease is applied. I would has at a guess there are more personal challenges involved here, again which could be resolved legally through a tenancy tribunal as it is a commercial tenancy. Years of acceptance is an informal contract, and clearly Mr Vile needs some good legal advice.

So the people of the world can see all of Hunters emails and the crimes but the corrupt fake news won't touch it of course hence why idiot Ohokaman has no clue what is happening. Here you go read the real emails for yourself. https://bidenlaptopemails.com/

speaking of messengers.. @JFHaughey on twitter, tweets some interesting tid-bits in regards to the sussman trial at this point its hazy as to who's who... and whats what.. but as time goes on and various pages unfold... the turning of the tide will occur dont forget your popcorn!! *winks

Sums it all up perfectly

I've had a look too. Twice. Totally agree.

Very well said. He speaks total sense.

I've heard and read complaints that there are no grass track meetings in Canterbury for 7 weeks , during the time that regular meetings ...3 in June , 2 in July.....are held on the synthetic track. This comment appears to be untrue. In June there are grass meetings at Timaru and Riccarton , while Ashburton races in July . In addition between now and the National week starting early August there are grass track meetings planned for Wingatui x 3 and Oamaru x 2. And before National week there are at least 3 x meetings where most races are worth $30k - $35k. As to the smaller field sizes racing on the Synthetic , naturally there have been some nervousness and misinformation as to the suitability of the surface for racing. Once this has been overcome , those willing to race should improve. Even if it doesn't ,wasn't the main reason for them to assist in traning and to ease the burden on winter tracks and limit postponments of trials and racing during inclement weather. Yhey were never intended to 'save' NZ Racing in their first year ! Like my trainers I want to see my horse burning up the grass tracks of Ellerslie ,Randwick and Flemington but sometimes our horse is just too slow for that !And we hate admitting it. ! Good to see 9 x connections pay their training fees for 2 x months today and some excited ones indeed eg MHouse !

Are the ATC encouraging patrons NOT to turn up to Alex Park?

Yes, we know the latter part means you and your braindead mate…..you’ve proved it often enough…..

Spelling hasn’t improved either……

Decent analysis - hard to see a queue of trainers wanting extra boxes in the current environment ? And if there were presumably a landlord would negotiate with the existing tenant and saying there is demand - the price is going up etc etc and have a commercial negotiation. The fact they aren't doing that leads you to conclude that either there has been some bust up in the background here, or they want to do something else with the land ?? Can anyone comment on whether or not the area where these stables are could be subdivided off the racecourse ??

Thanks for posting this.

Time to look back at a weekend dominated by three Group 1 races - the Poulains and the Pouliches at Longchamp and the Lockinge at Newbury. All three races over a mile or 1600m - two for the 3-y-o and one for the older horses. Poule D'Essai Des Poulains (French 2000 Guineas) : An embarrassment of riches for Godolphin and Charlie Appleby who follow up their 1-2 at Newmarket with a win in Paris. MODERN TIMES did this very well and heads for both the St James's Palace (and a clash with stable mate CORROEBUS) and then perhaps the Eclipse. He handles quick ground as he showed at Del Mar last autumn and the decent ground in Paris proved no obstacle as he was always well placed and undoubtedly the low draw helped. TEXAS ran a blinder from stall 15 (he was 113/1 in the betting) and I can only put this down to better ground. Andre Fabre had 3-4 with the Godolphin TRIBALIST in third but I was very taken with the run of ANCIENT ROME in fourth - he was staying on well and that looked a strong Jockey Club trial. LASSAUT and WELWAL looked the best of the locals on form and they ran okay without ever quite looking like getting involved. On then to the fillies and the favourite for the Pouliches was the English 1000 Guineas winner, CACHET. Poule D'Essai des Pouliches (French 1000 Guineas): A real bunch finish and while you can make every yard in one classic, it's much harder to do it in two. Would CACHET have won from a lower draw? It's hard not to think the effort of crossing from stall 10 to take the lead told in the final 50m. She's run another blinder and I'd love to see her in the Coronation at Ascot - the winner was well placed and the run was beautifully timed by Michael Delzangles. She's 9s for the Coronation with CACHET 6s in a market where INSPIRAL is 2s favourite despite not having raced so far this season. TIMES SQUARE was beaten a neck in third and that was her best effort since finishing runner up in the Marcel Boussac. With the first six split by a length and a quarter you'd be hard pushed to say there was a star among the 3-y-o fillies so far but we may know more after The Curragh at the weekend. On to Newbury and the start of the mile Pattern for the older horses which leads to the Queen Anne at Ascot and then to the Sussex at Goodwood. BAAEED proved a revelation from mid summer last year winning six races including the Moulin and the Queen Elizabeth II. He went off 4/9 against a decent field including the Group 1 winning fillies MOTHER EARTH and ALCOHOL FREE. Lockinge Stakes: This race has had some impressive winners in its time and BAAEED sits right up there on this performance. The time was very decent - 1 minute 35.71 for the straight 1600m, just over a quarter of a second below standard and he made some very good horses look ordinary. The likes of REAL WORLD and ALCOHOL FREE have mixed it at the very highest level and frankly BAAEED blew them away on his seasonal debut. He's 2/5 for the Queen Anne which looks at his mercy on this evidence. From there, who knows - a clash with CORROEBUS in the Sussex (one to savour) or a step up to 2000m for the Eclipse or the Juddmonte? It's a nice problem to have - I'd love to see him meet CORROEBUS (assuming the latter wins the St James's Palace) at Goodwood though the temptation for future breeding of having a 2000m Group 1 on the list is obvious. He's a full of course to HUKUM who races over 2400m so all the evidence suggests 2000m, especially at a flat track like York, would be right up his street. We've still got the Derby and Oaks to come and something might yet emerge from those two races (as Snowfall did last year) to break into the very top ranks.

It is behind a paywall. Cannot read the article.

What a blessing it was to see him on Weigh In again today. The guy talks more sense than the whole Trackside staff combined. Id even go so far to say he's the best sports presenter in NZ (not a difficult achievement when you reflect on it). He had 3 "rants" on the show - all three were full of informed, calculated, and logical statements. Why oh why is this guy not used more often??!! And to think a big-headed wanna-be was the catalyst to him leaving the channel all those years ago. Criminal.

Id say Trackside would be mad to do that.......it would only highlight the immature and amateur bunch of presenters we have had to put up with since Day 1 of the channel. Radich is far too classy for them. He is a lawyer who pops back to "Weigh In" and immediately hits key issues in a direct and meaningful way. A breath of fresh air compared to the stupidity we hear every week like "wins by panels" and "good shopping". Give me strength.

Yes he's a great talent. How good would it be if he had a weekly show to discuss racing issues, interview guests, look at international racing etc.

He is head and shoulders above Guerin in my opinion and should be used more often he says it as it is.

I thought he was very good on the show today too, his rant about the RIU advertising their "tell tale line" during prime time racing was particulary spot on. Makes a new watcher confirm their preconceived thoughts that racing is rigged. When we all know it is fairly clean.

I largely agree with you She hasn’t been the same horse since that amazing effort That said I think it’s important that we acknowledge the owner’s rights to do what they wish with their great mare ….and it appears Brae Sokolski is fulfilling his dream ….nothing wrong with dreaming if you’re in the racing game ….about 500 buyers do it every year at Karaka

After Screwing up the ride of Tiratore - who was by far the best horse on many different measures . Why is he still riding ?he cant see gaps or read races anymore