Cobba

Hope so

Wonder what the cost of the sky tower usage is? Seems to be tons of money to throw around but I am getting a bit worried where it's being thrown. Lot's of back slapping going on the last few days. Apologies for being a negative Nelly and sincerely hope my concern is not warranted..

Hastings & Ruakaka are high cost travel alternatives & certainly no guarantees those tracks will fit for racing either

Hardly a surprise but terrible for the owners & workers …. Was it ever considered (like yesterday or Friday) to transfer to the AWT with the Tauranga track condition & weather forecast?

$1,500 ???? Going by past positive swabs $1500 appears a very light penalty.

“Good for the Punter and that's who we want to embrace and hold onto! “ What is mostly forgotten is if there are no owners there will be no need for punters.

There has been a "plan" available for 2 years but no one wants to follow it. The "strong & competent leadership" part is a huge problem but Winston keeps pointing the mob in the direction of the "plan" but none of the sheep will lead the rest to run & jump through the gateway.

Better hope for some huge turnover on the greyhounds this month.

So 100's of horses have arrived back at stables today & the blacksmiths are flat out shoeing them all. Send those bills to the owners. Then we hear from RITA tomorrow or whenever they choose to share their information with us, that we are racing for $5000. There will doubtless be a long & loud outcry from the trainers but .... I can already hear them saying "the horses are here now & we've got all the staff back so we might as well just carry on." RITA has nicely called the bluff of all of them. Had the horses stayed in their paddocks this week it would have made little difference to the trainers bottom line for the week but saved the owners a few hundy per horse & there was some ammo on the side of owners & trainers. But na. The trainers all want the advantage of returning to work earliest to get racing soonest. Bad move. Pike has copped plenty at times as the President of the Trainers Assoc. but when he has a strategy in place, any support out there? No. Not even from the trainers that have been so out spoken previously that we need to strike. Was now not the perfect time to withhold the product? Stake levels might not have been able to be challenged right now because the income dried up due to Coronavirus but the very least we might have got some traction on holding RITA & other racing administrations to account over their excessive staff numbers & salaries & various other expenditure. Well played RITA.

“listed” not lusted ;-)

https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/sc/scl/transport-and-infrastructure/tab/mp Select committee members are lusted on this link with lots of other info. Video links .....

The FB page has now been edited. Was slanderous or bordering on it I think.

https://www.facebook.com/Own-A-Race-Horse-Friends-170804877106076/ Have a read of that. On a public Facebook page.

She looks to be progressing through the grades nicely. Had a couple of goes at Group races. No joy yet but she still seems to be progressing. Trainers usually get flack for being over ambitious :-)

Which races would you have sent/send her to?

A gentleman much respected & admired. Rest in Peace Mr Morris

Yes lets. Millions has been raised for the victims of the Christchurch horror. Surely we can get some thousands together for this young girl whose life has been turned upside down by a trackwork accident.

The above sums up what really frustrates me. I acknowledge punters are a very important part of the industry but without owners and their horses there is no industry in the first place. Your Joe Average owner supplying the product gets a really poor deal - particularly on raceday. When the owner is shelling out tens of thousands a year to race a horse - to be treated as "on the outside looking in" is unacceptable. Some may think it's a very small part of the picture but I reckon it turns more people off than is acknowledged. Regards The Messara report - I don't like the idea of the proposed grabbing and sale of assets but who has got a better fund raising solution that can be put into play immediately? The situation is dire.

Hastings for me. Travel cost maybe a bit more but no Auckland traffic to navigate & no sand kick back. More midweek winter racing at Taupo would be a good option too IMO.

Sky not working - have been thinking about getting rid of Sky anyway as only use it to watch racing & might as well use Watch & Bet all the time. So no Trackside available therefore no money spent through my TAB account yday. Granted it wouldn't have been enough to prop up the industry for long :-) but I bet there were probably thousands of others like me who did not spend yesterday after giving up waiting for Watch & Bet to come back online = many thousands of dollars lost income for the NZRB.

PD People Operations Administrator_December 2016.pdf Have a read of this job description. It's for real. How can anyone advertise a position where the first offer is "a good dose of crazy". Whoever approved this does not have much respect for the organisation let alone those of us further down the food chain. Whoops this pdf doesn't quote "the good dose of crazy" but certainly the first page of the job advert on the NZRB website does. People Operations Administrator - Wellington What we do: Here at the New Zealand Racing Board, everything we do supports racing and sports in New Zealand. Through our operations, we help promote, take bets on, and fund these great Kiwi pastimes, providing over $140 million a year to racing and sports. As a totally Kiwi organisation, NZRB directly employs more than 870 people from across the country, working in a broad range of roles and functions. From betting to broadcasting, technology to retail, marketing to finance, and everything in between, we offer a unique and diverse workplace. The New Zealand racing industry is a significant contributor to our economy, both at a national and regional level. NZRB is at the heart of this, and is committed to working with the wider industry to build a sustainable future for all. What you'll be doing: You'll be responsible for creating all employee relationship documentation and often be the first point of contact for people leaders and staff when interacting with the People team. You'll also support the People team with team administration and always be looking for improvements and better ways of working where possible. What we are looking for: If you love love admin, hate being bored and always want something to do then this is your role. We're looking for someone with stellar administration skills and a keen eye for detail. You'll also be curious to try new things and focused on making things easier and more efficient. What we offer you: a good dose of crazy plenty of opportunity to be involved and provide input into new things challenging and interesting work a commitment to doing things differently a fun, social environment fully subsidised health insurance an onsite cafe with the best priced coffee in town How to apply: Click on the Apply Now button to register and apply with your current CV and covering letter outlining your background and interest in the role. Applications close on Sunday, 15th of January. Job Details Reference # 13164 Posted: Dec 23, 2016 Closes: Jan 15, 2017 Location(s) Wellington - NZRB Office Expertise Human Resources Work type(s) Permanent More details (document) PD People Operations Administrator_December 2016.pdf

Tragic. My heart goes out to family & friends.