We're Doomed

Haha, they changed it. They originally listed 13 down as all being balloted. It did look strange.

Just looking at the fields for later in the week and I notice the maiden 1,600m races at Timaru start 13 horses, whereas the rating 65 1,600m stars just 12 with ballots. Unusual situation. Any ideas why they would do that?

Very interesting article. In this modern PC world it is rare to see people's privacy invaded so dramatically. As a racing person I did find it interesting, but there is an uneasy aspect to it. There is obviously some particular event that has encouraged him to write the article. I can see both sides to this argument. As an aside, I am always impressed with how well the young Australian jockeys speak when interviewed on the TV.

I would love to know who the person was he thought he wasn't good enough to call any meeting that looked a bit "flash" in NZ. If they are still about they must feel pretty stupid by now.

I did say he was the best I have seen. I'm sure others have seen better and have differing opinions but I can only comment on what I have seen.

The best NZ jockey I have ever seen

Who relies on daily newspapers for their form-guides? Who actually buys a paper except perhaps in the major centres. Papers hardly exist in the provinces anymore.

Thank you for your encouragement pound, I am sorry I don't post so often these days, although it is one less disappointment in your life I had always assumed we could only really afford a Geelong or Pakenham type surface somewhere like Matamata. If we are going for a Moonee Valley type surfare surely that would have to be at Avondale or Ellerslie?

I take it you are trying to say in your own subtle way that you don't necessarily agree with my thoughtful comments. If an all weather track was built somewhere, say Matamata, then it would be expected to be used about 24 times a year, or more, as horses who discover they quite like the surface will need regular opportunities on it. Matamata currently has about 12 meetings a year. I imagine they would still want to hold 6-8 of those on their existing grass surface so that does leave up to 18 meetings that will have to come off other clubs around Auckland and the Waikato. Rather than taking a couple of meetings each off nine clubs, surely it would be easier just to close two or three tracks down altogether.

I imagine that if there was an all-weather at Matamata you wouldn't need Te Teko anymore would you? This meeting would have been scheduled for the all weather in the first place. Several tracks would probably become redundant if an all weather was built. No one seems to have factored that in so far.

I never realised Tim Barton was working for NZR. How does he manage to keep a straight face?

Sadly Huey, if that was all they didn't understand we could probably tick away ok.

Basically Idol what will happen is that reasonably regular racing would be scheduled on this track throughout the year, much as they do at Pakenham and Geelong. They don't stop racing at Caulfield and Flemington during the winter just because they have those synthetic tracks, and I can't recall a metropolitan Melbourne meeting ever being transferred to Geelong or elsewhere. During the winter it would provide a reasonably consistent surface just like Ruakaka does, although hopefully a fairer surface and more centrally located. It won't be some super track that means summer type horses can continue to race all year round. And I don't imagine it would be a Shatin type surface located at Ellerslie. So in short it won't actually solve a lot of Racing's problems. It certainly won't be the great saviour that some people expect. It would just provide one tiny improvement in a currently disfunctional racing structure.

Isn't it a joke

I find it interesting that it is somehow considered a demotion if a stallion gets sent from NZ to Australia.