Ludwig

And some pretty average fields on the rest of the card, now leaves the meeting looking pretty flat.

Certain vested interests have decided that an AWT will solve everything in the south. But Timaru to day suggests otherwise. Here in Oamaru, there are fewer meetings, no radio or newspaper coverage, no TV for the poorer folk, and maintaining any interest or enthusiasm for racing is becoming hard. An AWT track at Riccarton, in my view, does nothing to tackle the real issues.

And how many days of winter racing does it take to get Riccarton munted.? Perfectly good tracks like Timaru and Oamaru sitting idle. Time to share the meetings round a bit.

No I did not know that they met there, but thank you for that priceless information. I was more interested in Twitfords "success rates" in challenging roles and thought this might be a place for his talents

Dr David Clark and Phil Twyford will be looking for new jobs

Nice gesture on his part to hand the colours to Matty .

Well done to Matty Williamson for training Flossie, his first win as a trainer. Oamaru's finest and I'm sure there are plenty more winners ahead.

Definitely. Still locally owned and it shows.

It's like the "hipster" organisers of the Caroline Bay carnival in Timaru. A few years ago, the headline act was to be 1960s country singer, Eddie Lowe. Good grief,he's even older than me. And then they look dumbfounded when teens, among others, show no interest. The same ,stuck in the past mentality.

I agree with those last words, a bit of life. My last few times at Riccarton, Ashburton and Timaru have left me shaking my head. The racing itself is fine, it's just the total package that's being offered for a day out is just so stuck in the past. There is such an urgent need for new ideas and marketing to get the next generation involved. For many, it is a big turnoff.

77 horses going round at the Oamaru trials, but neither I nor the other two spectators allowed to watch. Crazy. Then they want our betting dollars. In a word, No.

Good luck with that. Stables wrote the book on doom and gloom.

He will have to wrestle that job from our athletic minister of sport

At some point he would have retired. Surely that would have been the time to make changes, unlike this totally undignified way

So Gerry Brownlee?? He could pass for a jockey.