Tauhei Notts

Stodge, your response about an hour ago on Tiger Roll's weight is appreciated. Don't apologise for long windedness when your writing is a joy to read. If I want to read shite I will turn to the daily papers.

Stodge, your comments on the weight allotted to Tiger Roll in the Grand National would be appreciated. The owners seem to have gone out of their tree on the impost placed on their horse.

I read Shane McAlister's comment several hours ago and thought it was stupid. But, since then I have given it some considerable thought. We have seen many name changes over the past few years and the time has come to remove the word whip from the Rules of Racing and insert the expression "Corrective Aid". Just as fudge packers must be referred to as Gays, whips must henceforth be referred to as Corrective Aids. The English is clumsy, but we live in clumsy times. Then I started thinking about some of those depraved aristocratic Englishmen who need a corrective aid administered to their buttocks by their highly paid dominatrices. Hurt me yelled the masochist. No replied the sadist.

Hey Stodge; What is a Bumper race?

It is usual to treat a group one event with more attention than one would pay to an Omakau maiden race. I believe the problem is that TAB staff do not know the difference between a group 2 race and an Omoto maiden. Their response will be an ambivalent; "shit happens". Shit doesn't just happen; it is caused by arseholes.

The Auckland Trotting Club have a huge problem. What should have been a showpiece of harness racing developed into a sick joke. When the fourth worst winner was at 5 to 2 ON, anybody with a room temperature intelligence quotient would know that this is uncompetitive racing.

Any comments welcomed. I thought David Jewell had done a good job for the Manawatu Racing Club as manager.

Of course Jesus Saves, but Moses invests.

If that is the end of HQ then it is very disappointing. The view is wonderful. Their Human Resources Manager needs congratulations as that person has gathered together a great bunch of likeable, efficient and pleasant employees. One ALWAYS finds interesting people to chat with at HQ. Taking into account their huge occupancy costs, the prices charged are quite reasonable. No need to comment about the Mine Host. I have dined there on a few occasions and the food has never been less than excellent. I'm travelling from the Waikato and want drinks with a family friend or a barrister or a funds manager or a company promoter or an investment banker or a solicitor or an accountant; there is only one place to go = HQ.

It is a damp statutory holiday so I read the internet. Berri, many thanks for bringing that English Medical Journal article to our attention. I have also been reading about that convoy to Wellington and I am astonished at the unbelievable support the convoy has generated. One thing I noticed was a large number of Maori independence flags amongst the supporters. So the main stream media cannot write it off as disgruntled white trash. But the support that the convoy has got makes me think that we might see an unusual upheaval in our next general election. Let's see what the local body elections bring out. There seems to be a huge groundswell of dislike for current politicians. Let's see how our good mate Leo goes in the Auckland mayoralty. I am hoping that he wins and if he does it will be illustrative of that groundswell of dislike. The possibility exists that if Leo can harness that groundswell that he might well defaecate all over his opponents. Or, to use the vernacular; he might shit in.

Rules are for the guidance of men, and strict observance by fools.

I am so old that I recall my mother telling me to look after my pennies, because then the pounds will look after themselves. Sort out the minor details, then everything else will go swimmingly. What is the name of the outfit, obviously run by derelict dickheads, that allowed such an idiotic error to occur. Tell us their name, so that we can avoid them next time we want a lovely decorative rug made. Those rugs last quite a few years, and the winning owner will look at, over several years, it and wonder how the far quits who made it are still in business. But look on the bright side; I think those Vadamos horses might be the real thing.

I hope this is not off topic but here goes. The Chosen One has stake earnings THIS SEASON of $385,333. Mali Ston has life time stake earnings of $148,735. Guess how much weight The Chosen One must give Mali Ston in the Thorndon Mile? Answer; zip, zero, nothing. Indeed, Mali Ston must give The Chosen One 2 kg. It is just another farce that we we are all becoming used to.

Beers with a mate who has an eighth share in three horses. "I've had a huge amount of fun with my mates with the horses over a number of years. It's been worth the huge cost. BUT, with these changes I will give very serious thought to whether I take a share in another horse if us mates can't get on the piss with one another when a horse runs."

I thought Crustyngrizzly was a humorous pseudonym. Until today I had no idea it was a succinct description of that contributor's character.

"The track topography" Any idea of the difference in elevation between the 1200 metre start at Trentham and the winning post?

I applauded Sir Mark Stewart's appointment as chairman. BUT, following this recent chief executive officer's appointment I now have my doubts about Sir Mark Stewart. A CEO must have a real good knowledge of the industry that he/she is involved in. Wagering is a weird industry and I doubt whether Tod would know that Aussies bet more on quinellas than they do on trifectas. That is, from a perusal of his curriculum vitae, he has no knowledge of the unbelievable intricacies involved in the wagering industry, and your eyes would water over if I typed up four A4 pages of just a few of those details, all of which are important. Without that knowledge he will be unable to determine whether the multitude of reports submitted to him by underlings are bull dust or not. I think that Tod would be very good at running an outfit like Foodstuffs, where textbook management decisions can be made. No school of management has ever been set up to educate any "high flyer' in the unusual details of a wagering business. My greengrocer at my supermarket told me that they have run out of lemons. I am scared that Sir Mark Stewart may have grabbed the last one.

Stodge, what an awful thing the loss of that brilliant SNOWFALL. This racing game can build you up to great heights, then kneecap you.

JJ Flash, your criticism of Sorting It is unwarranted. As I have written on here before, and JJ Flash this particularly applies to you; "IF you know the difference between your and you're you know your shit. If you don't know the difference between your and you're you know you're shit."

The gap between the starting stalls and the end of the 1200 metre chute seemed to me to be bigger than it has been in the past.

Nostalgia. I first visited Tauherenikau in spring 1973. I saw a horse by Indian Order win, in a spectacular manner. Nothing really though, as Indian Order appeared in Timeform with a rating of 53 and was described as a poor handicapper that stays 13 furlongs. He had been imported by Cliff Parton. Two years later that horse, Fury's Order, won a Cox Plate.

I read an article from an information technology expert, addressed to cabinet ministers. It goes; "If you want to fix the IT sector, then there is one key thing to focus on: Stop trying to FIX the problem. Find out what the bottlenecks are, remove those, and allow the people to fix the sector themselves." Substitute the racing industry for the IT sector and you have the answer to the discussion document that Baz brought to our attention.

Thank you Baz for bringing this matter to our attention. I have spent the past two days worrying about it. This seems to me to be a preposterous expense to put on our trainers. I have done accounting work for trainers in the past and the thing that I noticed was that they needed the commission on sales out of their stables to achieve a minimum working wage. In short, it is a tough lifestyle. And how fast the economic circumstances have changed. In the 1985-86 season our filly did okay. She won a group 2 race. The trainer's stakes percentages exceeded the trainer's fees on that filly for the season. Nowadays for that to happen the filly would have needed to win TWO group one races. Stakes percentages are not as significant as they were 35 years ago. There is an awful sentence in the report that is really troubling me. I am not as thick as pig shit, as I have a knowledge of binomial theorem, a smattering of French and Greek, real good mental arithmetic skills and a sound knowledge of N.Z. geography; BUT; "High performing horse trainers will no longer have to compete against those who have a lower cost operating model." WTF does that mean? That seems spooky to me.

That richest 2400 metre open handicap on Saturday; Eight acceptors! Top weight is 57.5kg. One runner has won a group three, placed third (unlucky) in another group three then won another group three. Is it the topweight? No. It is the bottom weight. Give very serious thought to our dreadful handicapping system and then say why we only have eight acceptors for that group two race.

Stratford; that grind from the 600 metre peg to the winning post; it can find out a few horses. I backed a thing that was two lengths clear at the birdcage gate and it didn't make the first three home.