High Sparrow

Thanks so much for the interesting comp Liz. Gee, thinking caps on... Lot 14: Diamonds Galore. Lot 74: Fatal Attraction. Lot 138: Indecision. Lot 155: Justlikeyasister.

What a great finish Foxmerts, Montydrum and Black Kirrama put up in the end. I thought you had timed your run to a nicety Rev but maybe one short? Real class the three of them. Thanks to the sponsor(s) and to Scooby and Say No More for keeping these comps ticking along - and this one was for a great cause. Well done to all involved. Kind regards and good punting in 2024 to all.

R1: 1, 3 R2: 1, 3. R3: 1, 3. R4: 2, 4. R5: 2, 5. R6: 8, 14. Thanks again for the comp.

Thanks to Liz and Joan for the comp. Thanks again to Scooby and John for all your hard work. Trentham R1: 7, 8 Trentham R2: 4, 5 Trentham R3: 10, 11 Trentham R4: 1, 4 Trentham R5: 10, 11 Trentham R6: 8, 10 Trentham R7: 1, 14 Trentham R8: 1, 8 Trentham R9: 9, 10

Habana wins too. Make that seven! Brilliance personified that man.

Wow, wow and wow. Genius riding by Warren Kennedy. Six wins and a fourth from seven rides including the Railway so far, and we aren't finished the day yet. The patience he showed on Waitak was a mercurial piece of riding. Always great to see fine horseman get the rewards they deserve for their craft. Warren reminds me in many ways of the late, great Bob Skelton, for those of you old enough to remember him that is. Happy New Year people. Thanks to Scooby, Say No More, and Ponderosa for your wonderful work during 2023 - and to others who contributed to the comps in one way or another. Kind regards. HS.

I remember when I first met Tony. He came into the judge's box at Hutt Park one night (Bob Fannin was the judge and I was his assistant) and said that if we saw someone standing on the roof outside the judge's box then not to be alarmed because the club had given him permission to practice his commentating (tape recorder around his neck) out there. I think Alan Bright was the official commentator that night. Later on he would come back in between races and play the call back on his tape deck. I saw him many times at race meetings in the interim and of course, the rest, as they say, is history. Peter Kelly was my favourite commentator of all of them, but Tony was right up there in that vein. All the best to him for the future. I used to commentate at trials and it is a far harder gig than the public could ever imagine (especially when Peter Scaife turned up with four horses all wearing the same colours and all with red caps on, the day I got an 11th hour call-up to commentate at a Wairarapa HRC meeting at Opaki after the official commentator called in sick! That's the stuff of nightmares.

With the sword of Damocles hanging over my head with only one week gone (having labelled two winners last week), I'm thinking an all-up on my three stabs below this week. As I languish at the back of the field and take another mouthful of oats, while at the same time being able to chat with the quality performers Say No More and Black Kirrama alongside me, I am reflecting on the obvious quality of those ahead of us! Whanganui Race 1: Sheaf. Whanganui Race 8: Mary Louise. Te Rapa Race 10: Agera.

Pukekohe Race 4: Velocious. Pukekohe Race 5: Johny Johny. Whanganui Race 3: Scelta De Elena.

Well done to Mainland Rookie and Pure Steel on their respective victories. Added a good bit of interest to the Addington races for two days. Thanks again PS.

Thanks again PS. Back with some more stabs. Race 1: (5) Buffy Northstains (had to do the washing today) Race 2: (6) Ain't No Angel. (true dat) Race 3: (9) Point Break. (...and don't I need one) Race 5: (8) Casino Action (any action from my lot would do) Race 9: (10) Love N The Port (might need some port by now) Race 12: (12) Alta Meteor (finishing like the proverbial rocket).

Thanks for the opportunity Pure Steel. I'd like to say "six of the best" but that was usually restricted to the teachers at school who wielded a cane like the proverbial Zorro! Good Luck to all. R2: (4) Carrera Rapido. R4: (16) Mandalay Bay. R5: (10) Donmaro. R6: (3) Triple Gee. R7: (2) Aardiebythesea R11: (12) B D Joe.

Well done to Pure Steel and Memphis on your marathon effort to head home a class field. I imagine that's the equivalent of winning a Melbourne Cup in terms of the quality fields you have to contend with in Race Cafe competitions.

RIP Rex. Great trainer from the deep south. Master horseman.

Thanks for the interesting comp to the organiser and scorer. Here goes: 1-3-4-5-7-11-15-20.

Just went to look at some Aussie racing tonight and the TAB website has a message up with the graphic "You're in the game" but I'm not in the game and I doubt anyone else is either! How ironic. Maybe someone in IT at the TAB has a slightly warped sense of humour? But the joke's on us apparently - because it looks like they have a serious outage happening. App not working, website via the computer not working either. How many years since they built this expensive monster and still it has more bugs than a Paris bed during a Rugby World Cup campaign.

Thanks John and Scooby. R7: #3 $250 each way.

Thanks and good luck to all. Hastings R2: #12 $125 each way. Hastings R5: #6 $250 win.

Thanks Scooby. #14 Tycoon Evie for me thanks. Good Luck to all.

Wow, that was a tough day out, two of mine thought they were racing on the flat and forgot to lift their legs and fell. I hope both horses and riders are OK. A lot of ground to make up now, along with the 26 others who find themselves equal last with me! Thanks again for your scoring prowess Say No More.

Thanks for an interesting comp SNM. Te Rapa R1 #2 $50 ew Te Rapa R2 #5 100 win Te Rapa R5 #9 $100 win Te Rapa R6 #5 $100 ew

Thought this might interest some Race Cafers. https://auctions.dunbarsloane.co.nz/1745/catalogue/0120 Some great names from the past on the NZ St Leger trophy. The one I especially remember is the 1968 winner Whiti Te Ra, ridden by John Harris. John took the horse to a 25 length lead and then gave him a rest across the top, allowing the others to all but gather him in, before booting away again in the straight. A superb front running ride by John. Four of us then college boys got the cane for listening to the race on a transistor during a Science class at college. The give away was two fold (four adjacent desks all with their lids up at the same time) and the lad with the transistor (who had backed Whiti Te Ra) forgetting where he was and jumping to his feet and saying: "You beauty, Whiti Te Ra just won the St Leger". Six of the best (worst) for all of us. We never got our transistor back either. But it never put us off - we all ended up working in the racing game.

Congrats to Sayer - a terrific display of consistency and form. Well-deserved champ. Great job Say No More. All the time and energy you put into scoring and administration of these comps, with regular updates etc is truly mind-boggling and amazing to an old technophobe like me. Rest assured it is so greatly appreciated by so many here. Thanks again Scooby for all you do too.

Good luck to the semi-finalists and thanks again for an interesting comp. Great work throughout Say No More. 1. Eagle Farm R1: 1-5 2. Eagle Farm R2: 3-4 3. Eagle Farm R3: 3-8 4. Eagle Farm R4: 5-14 BB 5. Eagle Farm R5: 5-7 6. Eagle Farm R6: 1-2 7. Randwick R8: 6-9 8. Eagle Farm R7: 6-14 BB 9. Sandown R7: 1-9 10. Randwick R9: 9-10 11. Eagle Farm R8: 9-14 12. Eagle Farm R9: 13-14 BB

Great effort Say No More. The cream rises to the top in the championship semis and the plate semis aren't looking too bad on the score of class either. There is a lot of depth in these comps.