L.J.Shannon

sorry I forgot to put my best bets in. my best bets are comp. R2 and comp R5

I cant see any positive advantage at all , You have to wonder how many Passionate Club Members, supporters, committee people , locals etc. that have some sort of ownership in racehorses and will feel aggrieved about this situation and finish their association with NZ Racing? The Messarra Report : I'm not exactly comfortably taking business advice from an Australian whose own business in Aus. is based around selling his produce to the same clients NZers are selling to and need to sell to to survive , Surely We are competing for the same market! To Me that like DOMINO'S PIZZA having PIZZA HUT as their business Mentors or consultants!

R7 The Mitigator R8 Terra Sancta R9 Ferrando

R1 5 10 W R2 1 10 W R3 9 10 W

Used to see a few around , Are there any still being sold or hired?

1-3 2-8 3-6 4-6 5-3 6-2 7-6 8-2 9-1 10-8 11-3 12-4

R1/ 1, 3, 4 R2/ 1, 4, 12 R3/ 1, 5, 9

R1/ 5 R2/ 2 R3/ 4 R4/ 4 R5/ 1 R6/ 5 R7/ 2 R8/ 1 R9/ 9 R10/ 1

R1/ 2, 4, 10 R2/ 2, 14, 15 R3/ 1, 3, 6 R4/ 4, 9, 17

R1/ 8 R2/ 2 R3/ 3 R4/10 R5/ 4 R6/ 2 R7/ 14 R8/ 6 R9/ 9 R10/ 6 R11/ 3 R12/ 4

Completely agree with what you say here Gubellini I have been saying the same thing for years about irrigation of racetracks ? The Otaki debacle last week is just another example of a racing club being forced into a process that some shiny arse in an Sports Turf consulting office in wellington has charged the industry tens of thousands of dollars in consultation fees for producing a " pretty bowling green" I would put money on it at shorter odds than "Winx" that this shiny arse doesn't even mow his own lawns , let alone have any financial involvement in the racing industry other than fleecing in with exuberant consulting fees. "If its not rooted its rooted" I have the upmost respect for Michael Pitman he is the only Industry Professional that absolutely nailed the situation on Public Television in a interview with Andre Neil , he said when asked what the biggest problem in racing was he said " The irrigation of tracks" Our tracks are substandard . 30 years ago No irrigation, very few abandonments and trainers were happy to race on firm tracks , mind you firm tracks then had a good deep grass root system which fractured the soil structure beneath the grass giving it a bit of give. Now days no root structure you have a hard pan straight underneath the grass roots that are going horizontal along top of ground giving you the Carpet on a varnished floor problem.

R1/ 2, 6, 8

R1/ 6 R2/ 2 R3/ 11 R4/ 3 R5/ 10 R6/ 8 R7/ 13 R8/ 4 R9/ 1 R10/ 14 R11/ 2 R12/ 4

Agree with everything you have said Lindsay , the whole problem is about the root system , the irrigation causes the the roots to stay on the surface as a horizontal mass they don't go down at all in search of moisture . With the roots going horizontal along the top of the soil it forms a hard pan beneath them , this causing the same situation as a mat on a varnished floor ! You see it time and time again. I remember watching a rugby match where each scrum that went down they were peeling up the whole top layer of turf , I am sure they put the blame squarely with the turf experts at the time ," If its not Rooted its Rooted" was Murray Mexted's quote. WE are in the same situation here taking advise from these shiny arsed so called experts who sit in an office in Wellington or Auckland and charge an amazing fee to come up with all these ideas and different machinery and irrigation methods to make you believe they know what they are doing and deserve there exuberant charges. Michael Pitman said in an interview a few years back when asked what is the biggest problem for NZ racing ? He said "The poor condition of our tracks caused by irrigation". Why would you risk running a full set of trials at otaki? this has got to be a recipe for disaster ! Any rain between now and then must make a shifty track even worse surely . Maybe what they should do is get a good deep set plough and plough the whole track up, let it lay fallow for 6 weeks disc it up, plant it in some traditional local pasture grasses similar to what used to be used on racetracks before we started taking advise from shiny arse's, let the root system establish , while your waiting for that to happen pack up all the irrigation gear and drop it off at the local scrap dealer .