Red Rum

Top effort , never heard a bad word about him from circle of punters I know . I really like his style and he will be a winner in Hong Kong for sure. Looking forward to start of their new season .Wonder if any from here will fill the void in Singapore ?

OM , Ashburton makes sense , cuts out probably 3 hours travel in total for likes of Anderton and Tyler stables who I'd guess they would like on board for filling fields , lot of savings in gas and wages that would be . Only thing with Ashburton is trots club as well. Iam guessing turf would come up and sand go down but construction may cause disruption with trots so that's more groups coming to party , it never ends does it.Riccarton would be inside main track.Cannot get my head around investment verses usage though , it must be used regularly so who's going to give way. Want to be positive like I said but so many ifs and buts. Iam not tied into industry financially but have had few decent shares in past and my plans for when kids are set up and work can take the back seat are regular racedays and racing shares in the odd horse again so in this respect I really hope it works out .

AWT very much the low grade stuff back in UK , improving a bit with few listed races around the tracks like Lingfields Winter Derby and big easter all weather championship meeting . Plus Northumberland Plate at Newcastle . The surface at Chelmsford very well spoken of and the top Newmarket stables use it to kick off their top ones from time to time and Godolphin use it for private trial races.For most part though it's a if nothing else on I will have a punt on it but gets ignored on a Saturday by most punters. Kempton , Newcastle and Wolverhampton floodlit so caters for night out crowd. Southwell fibresand surface worse in my book, deep surface lowest quality horses , poor stuff. I suppose they will have to decide polytrack ,pro ride ,tapeta or hopefully not fibresand. Strathayr amazing way it races at Kranji, absolutely hoses down and still seems great surface that would be the ideal IMHO.

The ODT reports states that the Minister of Racing told the meeting the racefields legislation is not going through. My understanding is the racing board borrowed millions to up stakes about 9 months ago on the belief that this legislation would pass , it did not go through under the last parliament and is now effectively dead. As that was the income stream from big overseas bookmakers to pay the loan that paid the stakes where is the loan for prizemoney going to be paid back from ? Three all weathers, Pakenham is quoted in the ODT at almost 10 mill to build track in 2009..Without checking off top of my head was Pakenham the track in Victoria that relocated so cost comparison might not be a good one If it is just the price of track surface plus 100 k per year to maintain that's some coin going to be needed to build and maintain three.The number of fixtures required to make a benefit would need looking at , plus horse population. Uk have 6 AWT and next year around 320 fixtures on them. So clubs will need to work together agree funding and maybe give up race dates. I want to be positive about it but why would say Riverton chip into a track at Riccarton that may mean trainers relocating away from them in future.Or is there a zone like if you are further away that Timaru your club don't have to chip in.

Had a big say this morning , iam not sure about it I tend to be with OM with this. Goal line tech to clear up crosses line or not great . Something like this morning it's back to ref determination and maybe his gut feeling in real time better. Iam not really sure pen or not today but if pushed I'd go with rough on Croatia but pen correct, arm not in unnatural position , didn't appear to move towards ball however stopped it going across goal maybe into the covering defender in behind him into net or keeper fumbles and scraps picked up by French. But iam then into the ifs and buts spiral. As a supporter though iam comfortable best team lifted trophy on whole tournament. I've heard someone on radio good few years back ( think it was Miles Davis ). Guts of it was tough unfair decisions in sport teaches you something about real life , life's not fair all the time you got to move on .I've used version of that in kids sport from time to time when something costs team in this manner you either get on with it and try harder or give up and you don't wanna sit home next Saturday morning when your teamates are having fun winning next week.. I have used that in kids sport since then. Seems to work.

Nah OM taking the p### about TAB offering that price Surrey, started thread on it last week. It's ridiculous ,I think it's pushed out now but agree it's 250 at best. England poor today , yep not at level Belgium France at moment IMHO . Good on Kane he has to slot them and glad as he seems decent bloke but not a golden boot winner to go down in legend , but as a pom 4 th was better than I expected.

Like the domestic Cup comps a draw comes out play the 11 in front of you , all this easy draw this and that . What would some people have England do, phone fifa say hey old chaps swap us into Brazil game instead playing Swedes. How about Rekindlings owner phoning Racing Victoria last year maybe , hey hes quite good bung us an extra kilo. Totally agree with comments hand of God , shootout loses , England have well paid back for "that" goal in 66. Not poms fault didn't play Germany or Spain they weren't there anymore, thats their fault.They done very well, lasted to last four out of 200 that started 3 years back.Croatia were the better side this morning hard to argue they were not and after two lots of 120 mins they gutsed it out with not a little creative guile and decent goals, good on them. Poms under 17 and under 20 World Champs, won big French end season age group comp last two years and in Gareth Southgate have a manger who's all class so future bright. Poms reached on or near their level at the moment IMHO. I've borrowed from my kids piggy banks, mortgaged the house , hocked the cars and put up my 5 buck win ticket on Surrey at 26 bucks this year's Melbourne cup as collateral and rolled it into France for Monday morning. Cannot see any other result, same applied if Poms had made it as would be hard to see them downing that French side. Football being football Giroud will bob up with a goal.

I've just had quick skim through pre noms market Melbourne Cup, Surrey 26 bucks to win the big one. Who makes these books. Say for example Alward , now I don't see that getting within 100 metres of the winner of cup but at least it's a decent Saturday stayer who ran well in Lexus last year, it's 100s. 26 bucks Surrey really, I cannot believe it, it's won a maiden and last time ran in highweight without success. I know we can choose value and ignore it but it makes no sense. How about maybe 300s about right. Not even qualified. Must be a mistake.

2 grand whacked on horse straight up like that I would have thought might be worth half a look by betting regulators , maybe even just to note it as regards other patterns as time progresses to see if something correlates somewhere else. Surely some form of eye is kept on odd wagers, I have not looked at the form and harness not my game but I have to get on the Rusty boat that it was different

No reported 6 to 8 deaths per year in NY marathon , that may make news I would suggest having runners dragged off every few miles , plus the death notices each year and any coroner enquiries. Having many a year worked the London one with thousands of runners I can tell you the death rate isn't that many and it makes the news on the odd occasion it happens .Up to 8 people dying in a marathon run in a big city is pretty serious with lots of crying family members.Anyway that's by the by . No issues with what you say about the fragility of horses, Ive been lucky enough to have decent share in a good bread and butter one and a slowish one both injured on gallops with no fault of anyone ending careers. Both happily had injury treatment paid for out of the pot of prizemoney and fees followed by second chances outside racing and I will be back into it again when iam an empty nester.. I really just had an issue with the completely wrong figures put around , kind of look at us we doing so much we are better than the rest when figures totally wrong. Even clearly wrong from own stipes reports. It misled people who read it. The industry has to be open, accurate and transparent or it will lose the public. Animal rights lobby in Australia lot more militant than here so industry has to be ready when questioned. I try to explain to friends from time to time how well cared for the vast majority of racehorses are .When it boils down to it I would much rather come back , if indeed that's the way it works as a racehorse rather than beef cattle or pig on pork farm, zero retirement options there. The industry leaders need to have the backs of those employed in it.Chevy I am as far from anti racing as you are no doubt and without it I'd have a huge chunk of my enjoyment in life gone.

Totally agree LZ and PR. With these days of social media it's a lot easier to find out the dark side. In Nov 2014 I read an article on Stuff , it was titled NZ racing not cruel to horses ,(rechecked still on computer if google but Iam a technical dinosaur so cannot link it) it was in light of the sad events surrounding that years Melb Cup. Now I've been following this sport since backing Soba to win the Stewards Cup at Goodwood in 1982 and I was a wee bit young to bet then , however as a Natonal Hunt fan my father and I travelled the UK visiting many courses, I know what can happen in racing and it's not nice at times especially over the sticks. Anyway this article stated from a spokesman for NZTR who was named , that it's more dangerous to run the New York marathon and only four horses died on track in that past year. I thought no , that's misleading , as I backed two horses one day at Ashburton that year and both those tragically died one inside the final 100 metres and one that resulted in serious injuries to the poor jockey. So two more for entire year cannot be right .I went through only three months of stripes reports and even then had totally discredited those figures put to general public. I e mailed NZTR and asked if they would correct this grossly misleading article . Basically got e mail back that was rather rude like it's not my business. Maybe not but I buy the paper and you misled me.To there annoyance I pushed it. They eventually admitted figures completely wrong and sent me NZTR figures and a RIU spreadsheet detailing fatalities. Investigation 101 cross check evidence , I found only a few on both lists , some missing , basically embarrassing bookkeeping, untidy in the extreme. I e mail asking if correction to press would be the honest thing to do. No answer to that , but said basically upping their game by getting Waikato Uni students in to fill in forms on track in cases of injury. I decided because I love racing and respect the hard working workers not to e mail the Press and embarrass the industry. I contacted the RIU a few years later and got a reassureing friendly reply that they have handle on it . I don't know do they ? I suppose they can at a flick of a computer keyboard tell me the full details of every horse fatality on the track this season. More dangerous to run NY marathon give me a break. I researched the NY marathon it is quite safe although not for likes of me , 35 kms too far for this old footballers knees.

Living legends on my list to visit one day and I know Kentucky have a version of it with many retired champions. I like to think that if I was lucky enough to race a good one I would set aside some coin to provide for retraining , rehoming or its keep later in life if of course it was not assessed as unsuitable . If I had a big offer for a horse for Singapore or Macau , well that's a tough one. I suppose it's where you are at in life , kids all set up , mortgage gone probably be a no but once in lifetime chance to take chunk out of those bills it's a consideration. I love racing in Singapore , enjoyed the visits to kranji but got to admit had this nagging dig in my conscience what happens to that poor bugger that's ran last for forth race in a row. I know some are re homed at riding schools, some end up in other lower quality racing outposts I believe . It's a tough one alright. Living legends NZ would be great. Would be great to know the iron horses like Sir Slick and Scapolo of this world live long and happy lives.

The UK has brought in a very smart ex high ranking detective to investigate various suspected rorts in the sales process , and in law enforcement circles over there it's well known the betting ring is a great place for drug money to be cleansed . As time goes on the financial reporting requirements will become ever more tight.In answer to question though I for one care about how criminal gangs launder money or if people perpetrate rorts against unsuspecting victims. Hopefully most people who love this game or business if your livelihood depends on it will.

A good read OM , will have to keep eye on this site , hopefully a regular feature .

Hello LZ. Correct Nature Strip is a sprinter. It is clear due to the length of races it is entered up in , It was really just an off the cuff comment that if you've gone through 3 trainers and now have it at the champion of Victoria's yard maybe Mr Waller as champion of Sydney might be the other option. I am well aware of the others abilities as trainers and accord them the greatest respect for being the top of their chosen profession The caps lock , that I've been told by learned friends is in social media akin to shouting I will fully accept on the chin as a rebuke for not mentioning others. However although I am not employed by Mr Waller, having followed his success I would stick my neck out and say not every horse in his care has the same training routine everyday . He possibly employs different training regimes for the Who Shot the Barman's or Grand Marshall's of the yard as compared to the two champion sprinters he trained in Zoustar and Brazen Beau. Both of whom command healthy stud fees. Having had a good look at Nature Strip's record it appears maybe the owners had hand forced for first trainer change with the Robert Smeardon suspension. There probably are not many horses on forth trainer closing out 3 year old campaign but iam sure if digging is done a few could be found.

Nature Strip back again Saturday Flemington , was mighty impressive first up for Weir. It was first time I've had a real good look at the horse , it's a monster. However looking through the thread looks like it's been through a number of yards. If Weir cannot satisfy owners if that is the issue not sure where he goes, really only Waller left.

Sir Peter O'Sullivan was a legend and kept his cool calling his own horses home in big races back in the day. John Cleese and his outside broadcast racing team also did a great job once in the Queen Victoria Handicap , all runners wore same colours so was difficult job. Tom Wood would cut the mustard anywhere , doesn't go overboard but hits it just right I reckon.I am not a great fan of Tony Lee to be honest but each to his own no one has to like everyone, I like Darren Flindell in Sydney a mate of mind cannot stand him.

Withhold a Juddmonte cast off but went from Charlie Hills to Roger Charlton (a trainer with many successful Juddmonte owned horses over the years) after sale . He cost 170k guineas ( approx 400k nzd) at Tatts HIT sale so Roger Charlton and his owner must have known there's an engine in there. Khalid Abdullah has taken hard-nosed approach and seems to be culling his string if not top end or near to. Harlem and Foreteller a couple of decent cast offs and Lloyd Williams now has Midterm a one time Derby favorite from 2016. Roger Charlton won the Cesarewitch a big traditional end season handicap with him beating 33 others including some handy stayers over 3600 metres around one bend up Newmarket straight in October, then first up Saturday in "Pitmans Derby " over 3200 .A pretty handy bit of training. Nakeeta 5th in last year's cup beating best stayers we got down our side world bar pom import Big Duke had benefit of run but was beaten pointless by Withhold Saturday so not a bad plodder. Agree tho I wouldn't take too skinny price for November.All weather Saturday but clearly turf no issue for horse and easy lead helped. This time year with average racing it's great knowing only 8 weeks or so and the good ones start coming back. From UK perspective iam keeping an eye on Rare Rhythm for Charlie Appleby and Magic Circle same owner as Mount Athos.A few good pointers coming up in UK and France next 6 or so weeks.

Latrobe won Irish Derby overnight for Lloyd Williams . Trained by Joseph OBRIEN. Interestly after the Irish pundits discussed the Melbourne Cup and didn't completely dismiss it . I would have thought the Leger in Sept , Arc or Breeders Cup would be most likely targets as the normal route for Irish Derby winner .However Rekindling got in at 51.5 kgs , owner might decide to do something different and throw in a entry. Only guessing but as a northern 3 year old Irish Derby winner maybe 54 kgs ?. Should stay well enough by Camelot , and with that weight would be a very live chance.I would be interested on others thoughts on a weight that might be given to Latrobe. The race is on you tube.

Re NSW and Victoria returning the tax to the industry it must only be a percentage of the tax taken returned otherwise why tax, therefore it's the amount of tax returned that's at issue. If the whole lot is returned is it only then to the benefit of the bean counters not the people of NSW /VIC or the industry participants. The person on the street who's struggling to pay ever above inflation increasing rates, regional petrol taxes, etc etc must find it bit odd when they only hear of millions splashed out at Karaka each year or horses going to HK for seven figure sums , then the industry asks for tax breaks . Not sure how the industry makes the worker who is doing the hard yards digging a road on a hot day realise it is in fact struggling when all they see is the caviar and champagne on TV news come Feb sales time, and needs some of his tax dollars. It's hard to explain to them some poor buggers on minimum wage mucking out crap at some early hour in mid winter and they don't have caviar on toast from breakfast.

Landshark race 5 Brittania Handicap at big odds for me for a roll of dice each way. Last start Irish Guineas and form behind US Navy Flag last year. Jessica Harrington trains first start in handicap only downside is 32 others to get past. My undercover agent friend tells me Ladbrokes Australia odds boost 61s and 10s the place but don't grass me up to John Allen

Great ride by J Mac last night on Expert Eye, he's back alright when two of the most respected people of the Turf up their use him on a horse they have a lot of time for when he won his first two races last year. The horse went off the boil and he's now back aided by top ride last night. When you win at Royal Ascot in colours of Dancing Brave, Rainbow Quest , Midday Enable plus too many other champions to list your doing okay, in your chosen profession . Sir Micheal Stoute a legend. Up there with the late Sir Henry Cecil. Also how good is John Gunther mating planning, bred and owns best 3 year old miler in Europe in Without Parole St James winner and bred Justify, brilliant. Frankie will bounce back tonight, hopefully !!

Queen Alexandra is the champion bumper on the last day , longest flat race in UK or Ireland. 4355 metres of pure speed.Look for anything Willie Mullins has given a pipe opener to in a 3 mile 4 furlong Novice Chase at Thurles in mid winter mud. Good day for Frankie and the watches a few of the winning stable hands received looked tidy and well deserved , hope they are worth a few quid for them.Look, out for Monarchs Gen popping up in Aussie stable spring time , pretty sure Contributor won it few years back and Monarchs Glen might get stuck in twilight zone over there , valuable but not good enough for pattern races , but weighted to the hilt now.

I see Royal Ascot appears to have every race covered again on trackside so credit where it's due. I have always loved this meeting . My old departed Nan used to tell me she went once would have been pre war and all she saw some the horses legs whizzing pass as she stood in the riif raffs enclosure.Looking forward to seeing Eminent and Torcedor with NZ ownership but for Eminent I will stick my neck out and say he won't see which way Cracksman went on Wednesday. Iam having a minor punt on good old Frankie to be top jock. He's got good bookings especially Without Parole in James Palace , Cracksman , Stadivarious in Gold Cup and Wesley Wards lightning fast two year olds who traditionally go well. Ryan Moore will have his usual which Coolmore runner shall I pick would could scupper him.RedKirk Warrior should hose up , he's settled well back in his old home according to Ben Hayes on you tube. Anyone got any good tips or theories for next 5 days ? What with this and World Cup burning Candles both ends at moment.

I see on Wednesday we have South African racing . Now once African Horse sickness protocols are sorted they will be winning more races around the world and also fill the new HKJC training facilities with new blood , but they must be early maturing rogues because on Wednesday night they are all 2018 Bay Geldings with completely Australian parentage first up , every one in every race. Haven't checked the South African websites but could the TAB be taking the proverbial out of us punters again. I must admit I do miss the Japanese mud races inside the motorway junctions at Kawasaki they had a few weeks back.