We're Doomed

He does have one big thing in his favour. No "Stopper" on here these days tipping it as the next big thing.

Lucky you are but a youngster Lights Out. Back in 1991 the Cup was worth $300,000.

And as she said today and after Awapuni she wasn't all that keen to go for that race, so it was great that it worked out so well.

Yes, very remiss of me not to mention the great training effort as well. The Parsons have an amazing strike rate when they head north.

How good was that ride and how good is that horse? My only bet of the day. What a price. Win and a place from only two rides today; both in group races. An underused talent sometimes.

Now you're just being silly.

I notice 16 of the ballots at Wingatui today failed to gain entry into the fields. In fact only 3 ballots gained a start. Add this to those already eliminated. About 50 of the acceptors had to travel all the way from Canterbury as they have no opportunities locally. Five hours to travel to race for $10,000. Interesting to see a maiden stayer having to race in the open race at Riccarton on Saturday as there are no other opportunities. Helps to fill up what would otherwise have been a six horse race. One maiden race in the greater Canterbury area in a seven week period; quite bizarre.. Contrast this with the four feature meetings this weekend at Riccarton, Ellerslie, Te Aroha and Trentham, which have 12 races between them with 8 or fewer starters. One $100,000 race at Ellerslie with six starters. This all indicates to me that the thoroughbred industry in particular is appallingly badly run. And shutting down some minor tracks won't do anything to fix this problem. And I can't see anything rita is doing that will fix anything. Why can rita not send a "please explain" message to NZTR?

I think NZTR should allocate $500,000 or so for a really good PR team just to let industry participants know what they are up to.

It's all a bloody mess. I don't have the answer, but I think the dangerous ones are those who do think they have the answer. I'm not really impressed with any of the suggested reforms I have seen so far, and I do worry for those who think all will come right once the proposed reforms are implemented. It looks to me like everything is being run by Winston and a few no-names in his racing department. Having Racing run by those intimately involved in the game didn't work. Having it run by those with absolutely no knowledge of or interest in the industry was even a bigger disaster. Where to next? I do think a lack of leadership since the early 90s has led to this situation, and I just don't see a white knight on the horizon at the moment.

I notice at Wingatui this Thursday they may split the maiden mile with 30 noms, but no intention of splitting the maiden stayers with 24 noms. Pretty hard to get a start for a maiden stayer in the South. Is it any wonder the higher grade staying races sometimes have small fields. It makes an interesting comparison with Tauranga last Friday where 4 horses went around for $22,500. Perhaps that was because one of the favs for the Karaka thing needed to win some stakes money. Poor Mr Pitman had to start his 2yo against older horses to get into the Karaka race. I bet he would have loved a 4 horse 2yo race. I heard a trainer at Gore on Saturday comment that her horse missed a race at Omakau because they deleted the race. She should move to the Waikato, they are happy to run races for 4 horses up there.

I don't think the trackside presenters or commentators have actually noticed, which is a pity,

Seven in a row now I think, and keeps paying amazing money.

Surely you aren't suggesting the industry suffers from a lack of leadership.

And do you still roll your Rs?

And SI based. Even more unusual.