Scotch Thistle

Probably Super Bowel, given the merits of Vorhees' post.

Poor effort of the club in not having the DVD cover you rabbiting on, and spilling your drink, in the president's suite.

What are your credentials for judging the system a lemon? You say the track manager and the leading local training partner judge it a success, why should anyone take any notice of you?

Perhaps it has something to do with the danger a jockey will fall asleep on top of 500kg of horse during a race, and bring down half the field. It's bad enough when they don't nod off, but "see" silver objects in the hands of the winning jockey after a big race.

Ditto

Well said. With the benefit of hindsight, Winston's/the taxpayers' handouts benefitted the connections of the handful of winners and placegetters in the sponsored races (Derby, Guineas, etc), and some breeders, but at the expense of obscuring the fundamental problems of the industry. The industry must look to self-sufficiency first and foremost. By all means take money from the golden gooses of the moment before (like Winston, Kelt, and Seripisos) before they are seen to be just feral geese. Milk the pokie trusts before they get reeled in, regarding each cheque that doesn't bounce as the one before the one that does. But don't rely on fairy godmothers. Wishful thinking will hasten the rot by distracting those competent to achieve beneficial change, or by giving those who need to be galvanised into change excuses to procrastinate.

I would love to see Gavin groomed by Trackside to take a leading role on channel 36. Coppins, Laing and Bisdee are all getting long in the toothe, and, anyway, are well beyond being fresh and original. The likes of Tan and Prattlewell are not up to it. If Radich continues to opt out and Anderson and zzzzz stay locked out, the cupboard is bare.

Thanks, solid answer.

Under the standard weight-for-age scale, fillies are allowed 2.0kg from colts and geldings [reference]. Perhaps the 2000 Guineas is validly an exception, and Anabandana and Kasumi are correctly allowed just 1.5kg less than Burgundy and the other colts. I would be happy for someone to point me to the authority that overrules the official handicapping policy in this instance.

The local dairy owner (in Wellington) told me on Monday morning that the distributor is Gordon and Gotch, who don't deliver on public holidays, so he wouldn't be getting any until Tuesday. Presumably the TAB knows of Gordon and Gotch's practices, and is happy for the hoi polloi to go without them and hold back Te Rapa's turnover. And, yet, make special arrangements to get copies to themselves in Petone?

The reasons why Twilight Savings has a rating of 96, and Banchee had a rating of 86 (before today) are: Twilight Savings has won 3 races against horses other than in her 2yo or 3yo age groups: a Listed Race WFA; a R90; and a Group III; Banchee had won no race against others than in her 2yo or 3yo age group. I suppose you think Fort Lincoln, stakes $597K, should have had a rating higher than Anabandana, stakes $348K, after their 2yo season? He won a $6K maiden and the $1M race for Karaka sales products. He was rated 82. She won 4 Group races, including 2 Group Is (in one of which he was 2.8 lengths second, in the other he was last). She was rated 90.

Varro, all Banchee's wins and placings before today were at set weights against horses of her own age, i.e. 2yos then 3yos. She ran against older horses only once, at WFA against fillies and mares, finishing midfield. Before today, Balerune won his last start in an open handicap with a $20K stake. In doing so he beat horses then rated up to 98. Some would say that many of the opposition were poor, or just going round to get fit for later targets, but the handicapper has to deal with the bare facts. How could the handicapper say "that win was a fluke, zzzzz's tinarsed this, the thing's a goat, I'll just put him up a couple of rating points." But if the handicapper did, and zzzzz knew the horse was thriving after a problem had been rectified, was aiming him for the Coupland and waning to get him up the ratings to make the Coupland field, zzzzz would be spewing. Although Balerune and Banchee were both weighted 59 kg today, at weight for age Banchee actually carried 4kg more than Balerune. This is made up of the 2 kg allowance mares get from horses and geldings at WFA, and the 2 kg apprentice allowance claimed on Balerune.

There are faults in the construction of the handicapping system, but the handicapper seems to apply the system consistently overall. Anabandana was rated 86 after her first Gp I win (as was Banchee when she won the same race). Anabandana was rated 90 after her second Gp I win as a 2yo, and stays 90 after braining the 3yo fillies in the lower-graded Gold Trail. It amazes me how many people intimately involved in training/owning/"playing" know sweet fa about handicapping.

Agreed, coverage was very good. Could be even better next year, by including brief updates of progress with the punter of the year competition, and by Brendan Prattlewell being elsewhere.

Like you, I hope to find there is another site. When you can get through to the NZRacing site, the buffering of replays takes forever, the sound quality is atrocious, and the vision is pathetic (if you expand the size beyond passport photo scale). To top it all off you get told you need a better screen, when yours is 1080P and their technology is third rate.

The TAB blurb says "we'll deposit $20 into your account for you to bet on their next game". That suggests you choose your own bet. Also, it seems that if you don't use the $20 to bet on the next pool game it will evaporate from your account.

Perhaps the right the TAB has to transfer your money comes from the rules which apply to you as a first four "player". Similarly for those "playing" lotto. The alternative would be for each first four (and trifecta, treble, quaddie, pick 6, ..., lotto draw) to be a terminating one. No bonus days, no jackpots, so an even sicker racing industry.

It's always been BYO for the snorting powder.

I subscribe, and it's reliably in the letterbox Friday mornings. As to contents, at least it should be doing ok from stallion advertisements. The articles are mostly by well worn hacks (O'Hearn, Ryan, Vitesse, Jenkins, etc) and lack vitality. Coppins contributes a weekly account of what his listeners blathered about on his show the previous Sunday (complete waste of space). Trackwork coverage is patchy (in mid winter this hardly matters). There is little attention to the sort of stuff that might whet punters' appetites, or grab new readers from those who go racing, such as interviews with leading trainers on their stables' up and comers, and what they are expecting of their teams in the new season. Overall I guess it will battle, unless it listens closely and reponds to its current and potential readers, as resources permit.

On this matter the moderator is clearly in the stupider half, indeed in the stupidest decile.

How about having Saturday and public holiday meetings allocated to clubs on the basis of an auction system, whereby clubs bid to hold meetings on the basis of how many dollars they themselves will put into stakes across their programmes? This could also apply to other popular racing days, such as over Christmas/New Year, Melbourne Cup day, etc. The aim would be to ensure that returns to owners are optimised. The most deserving (i.e. flush) clubs would get meetings ahead of has-been traditional date holders which put up pathetic stakes. If owners are keen, fields will be larger and of more punting interest, to industry benefit. For unpopular mid-week dates, the running of trials programmes, etc, a Dutch auction system could apply, with clubs submitting figures as to how much NZTR would pay them per starter to run a programme. If the focus were on the number of starters, there would be incentives for clubs to produce good surfaces and otherwise seek to be on side with trainers and owners. In the same interest there could be major penalties for cancellations, false descriptions of track conditions, stall malfunctions, etc. Some clubs might - from the off or after a while - get no meetings or trials dates, in which case industry rationalisation is achieved. Painlessly too, from the perspective of gutless industry administrators and politicians.

He is a half brother to Thebigbadbobydee and Winawinachikndina. The owner is McKenzie Bloodstock.

Seems to me this is a topic which merits a lot of thought. With an all-weather track, would it be possible to "dial up" predetermined ratings, eg Dead 5 for mid to late autumn, Slow 8 for winter, Dead 6 for early spring, Good 3 from October to March ....? Or would there still be elements of pot luck, depending on how much rain, or fine weather with drying winds, happened along? Would racing on an all-weather track in the north be conducted left-handed or right handed (or both, at alternative meetings)? Had an all-weather track been in existence in Auckland/Waikato last weekend, would the races have been transferred there from Ellerslie? I would hate to see the Waikato and Cambridge clubs not continue to benefit from the marvellous way in which the Te Rapa track performs with rain. Also it would upset to see genuine winter horses deprived of plentiful opportunities in natural conditions with good stakes for the best. The stake for the Cornwall was criminally low.

When I saw Tinsley was on the stablemate, carrying 57, I reckoned it was because Tinsley couldn't make Red Courage's 55 1/2 (without taking a pill). For mine, the jury has to be out on how good Red Courage is. She has "failed" twice on Heavy tracks, which might reflect more against Breslin than her. Bosson told the stipes Red Courage wanted better ground. Clearly the winner Makkura, also a 3yo filly, and a first starter today, has the wood on Red Courage in sticky winter going.

It is common to see horses finish down the outside fence, especially later in the day, at winter meetings. If that's where the best going is, jockeys almost have an obligation to get their horses there if they're going well enough. Given that a lot of the outside fences are constructed of wrought iron or tubular steel or other unforgiving materials, there is a recipe for disaster in having tired horses slogging their guts out along the outside fence, especially with green apprentices aboard. Imagine if Patrick Holmes had been head down and arse up and Seaflyte had run into an outside solid metal fence rather than the inside aluminium running rail. Think of a rerun of an incident like Troy Harris getting smashed up after a fall into a solid wood structure. Perhaps there is a case for movable false outside fences, a few metres in from the actual outside fences, down the home straights for winter meetings. Or for the actual fences to have padding or deflective materials added. Or to have light uprights, taller versions of the inside "running rails" used by the gypsies, located a few metres in from the outside fence to give a buffer area. The inconvenience and cost could be small compared to the cost of ACC levies for the remaining lifetime of a tetraplegic ex-apprentice, and to the already-poor public perception of the industry.