Tauhei Notts

Hey Stodge, I have seen some controversy about the new conditions for the Windsor Castle Stakes. I thought the proposed changes were good. Not as harsh as the Chesham Stakes where the sire must have won over 10f or further. Your comments would be appreciated. My father imported a Chesham Stakes winner and he proved to be an abject failure at stud. An Exbury colt named Smuggler. But that was decades ago.

I questioned Buick's ride on Ombudsman, but his effort on Trawlerman was totally brilliant. HIs judge of pace was superb.

Ohokaman commented on me watching a replay at breakfast time. At my age one needs a leak at about 3.15 a.m. so the live coverage is ok. Please tell me if I am wrong, but I was not impressed with William Buick's ride on Ombudsman. He put the horse in an impossible position, so to extricate the horse from that position and win nicely meant it was a very good horse. Buick's skills in getting the horse out of the awful position Buick had put the horse in was very good. Ohokaman's comments on this thread are a pleasure to read, as he is obviously talented. Then, why are his comments on the Main Street Cafe so bad with his severe Trump Derangement Syndrome affliction.

That Ombudsman's win was brilliant. The prices were a bit skew wiff. Los Angeles started at 6 to 4 fixed and 5 to 4 on!, on the tote. The tote win pool was $3.04mil, so it wasn't an aberattion. One has to get up at an ungodly hour to see these races, but Los Angeles was in a bigger muck lather than the LA mayor during the wildfires. I note that the tote's quinella pool was about $2.5mil which suggests that there may have been big big Hong Kong money involved. Ryan Moore is a hero in Hong Kong, but not even Ryan Moore could win on a horse in that condition.

Out Of Sight won race 3 at Matamata today. Congratulations to the owners who have shown such perseverence. The horse had had 6 trials and 14 starts leading into today's race. It won a trial at Taupo 17 months ago. It ran 4th at Taupo 9 months ago. It had finished last or 2nd last in 4 of its starts. And it bolted in today. It is fitting that it won on a Sunday. I won 3rd prize for good attendance at Sunday School 66 years ago. Unless the horse improves it will be as much of a racehorse as I am a devout Christian.

Idolmite asked about on course only and other doubles. For several decades the double was The Bet. A.R.D Fairburn, a prominent N.Z. poet, referred to striking the double in one of his poems. Nowadays any poet referring to a double would infer that he had sodomised two bum bandits. From about 1951 one could take a five shilling (50 cents) double at an off course Totalisator Agency Board office, whereas if one was on course the minimum bet on a double was 10 shillings. Note that I use the full name rather than the abbreviation TAB. The TAB was an agency of the on-course totalisator. The George Julius totalisator automated system could handle win and place betting, but a double involved an exchange transaction. Totalisator systems, and this was long before digital information technology systems, could not handle straight doubles or quinella betting. To take a double on-course one would bet on the first leg, then before the jump in the second leg, one would exchange one's pick on the second leg of the double. But if one had had picked the winner of the first leg with, say, 10 bob, one could then take 5 bob worth of two horses in the second leg. I had observed the number of first leg tickets sold BUT not exchanged for second leg horses. That is punters on the grog, in the bar, who did not take up their opportunity to have a go in the second leg of the double. Being a nerd with a knowledge of binomial theorem in the mid sixties I looked at things like that. In those days the first leg of the double was usually an open staying race whereas the second leg was usually an open sprint race. Frequently the fIrst leg was race four whereas the second leg was race seven, so as to give on-course punters plenty of time to exchange their first leg winning tickets on the second leg. I hope I have not bored too many of you with my reminiscences. Many of these reminiscences are from an age prior to me being old enough to bet, but I had studied it in detail. At secondary school I found the study of betting systems much more rewarding than the study of Emily Bronte or Bill Shakespeare. Some will argue that the knowledge of the intricacies of the totalisator is the sign of a mis-spent youth.

On our way to Tauranga races I noticed they had named a road after H.N. Rauhihi. When my reading skills improved I found it was Ruahihi Road.

I thought Sovereignty's effort far more meritorious than Lambourn's effort earlier today. I hope they run Sovereignty as a four year old.

Is he "Serpentine" Mark Two?

What has happened to the Warriors? For nearly 3 decades they have promised plenty and delivered nothing. They had always been the best team on paper but their problem was the game was played on grass. That win against Cronulla was brilliant. An awful way better than that mob I saw lose heavily to the Eels at Mt Smart last August. A most remarkable turn around.

Domestic Gross Betting Revenue is the important figure. With the trend towards fixed odds betting turnover figures no longer have significance. To run a totalisator is a fairly simple task. Fixed odds betting needs a large number of people to do form analysis and seek strategies that minimise risk. I saw an odds boosted race a few days ago and worked out they were betting to 106%. That margin is too skinny to make money, when one considers the huge overhead expenses involved.

Wootton Bassett; is he shaping up as one of Britain's best stallions? 1st and 3rd at Chantilly. I have seen his name crop up on a number of occasions. A son of Ifraaj who was a good stallion in New Zealand, not a champion, but still very good. I had never ever thought of Ifraaj as a sire of sires.

We're Doomed is right to ask why horse breeders are advising a betting agency. I think a knowledgeable man like Rdytdy, who writes on this site sometimes, and whom I know to be an informed punter with a great knowledge of the betting industry. I'll wager big dough that Ted knows more about betting than any of the breeders mentioned. However his knowledge of breeding nicks and puffing up stallions and yearlings would not be much good. The aim of a betting agency is to regularly pluck the golden goose but do not, for God's sake, strangle the goose. It has also got to increase the number of geese. I have carefully observed the TAB's recent marketing and I think it is quite innovative.

Scooby3051, it would be a shame to close the Main Street site. Hedley has a problem. I had the same problem when I was 14 years old, but I was told that if I carried on like that I would go blind. At age 76 my eyesight is still good. I do not need spectacles to drive a motor car.

It was about 1970; Syd Brown was looking at Aussie, but he said what he really wanted was 50 or so stables at Ellerslie. He wanted stables handy to the rich bastards of Parnell and Remuera. Nothing increases one's interest more than going to see your horse train at 5 a.m. followed by a decent breakfast and a chat with friends who all have a similar interest in horse racing. I think that might be a reason why an interest in horse racing has decreased amongst the wealthy of Remuera etc.