richie

Firstly,Thank you everybody for the emails and phone calls of support pre and post of this hearing
 
I must point out that Mr Neal was never the target,it was just in my view that he didn't handle the Touche incident as well as he could have.I do respect him and never wanted to infer that he was incompetent in his overall performance as a Steward.
 
I,like the majority of Cafers and fellow racing participants of our Industry just want it to flourish,so I believe it is time to move on and turn the page behind this.
 
I will do so by renewing my licence,which i had let lapse until this was finalised and continue to support the Industry by supplying some horses to race and enjoy Racing and continuing to socialise with the great people we are lucky enough to have in our Industry.
 
Finally,to the people the contributed to my Legal Expenses and Thank You i would like to know if you agree if costs are awarded that the donations go to the Injured Jockeys Fund or if you would like the funds refunded,if you could PM,i will do what you decide.
 
Thank you.

Not on that mate, but we'll agree to disagree

Turny, that's the very reason you go forward, to settle if going rough, there was nowhere to slot in, so it's a no brainer, we were taught that at apprentice school in the 60's

Not bad Magpies...... well played ,To my fellow chieftains ... heads up lads/lady...There`s only one way to go now and thats up...
 
See you all again next week!!

Ted I just want the best races.... and running around NZ in the mud and over jumps IMHO is not the best... I try to be fair but can't please all of the people all of the time hey...Scooby

rdytdy...
 
Just an observation also, but these are the ten best races available.
A fact remains a fact, whether it is palatable or not.
Scooby3051 appears to have a adopted a policy of "the best for the best", and I fully support and agree with this, if this is, in fact, the case.
The best (us) get to work with the best (best races run in Australasia) to decide who is the best (selector, or fluker, or both, which is most likely).
Sorry rdytdy...I'm getting my excuse in early for use after you win (again).
All the best.
 
Ashoka

Very sad news indeed.  Especially as I had a long and (relatively) profitable association with trotters from his stable!
 
I always thought the best horse he ever had (at least on potential) was Westland Sun.  Extraordinary ability, but appalling manners---lost almost as many races in the stewards room as he won on the track.  Exported to the US as an early 6yo where he ran a 1.52 mile.

Correct.  Fantastic fields for the 5 races that have been chosen.

Take out the "hot favourite" so another horse becomes the "hot favourite" so then remove it and it becomes the ever decreasing circle syndrome           

Well Done The Kauri Kats .... Onyah Betty , well played ... It may take The chieftain`s a bit of time to gel , but great effort team!!!
 
Outstanding effort Richie.... Welcome back Craig and a warm welcome to The Chiefs ... Sylvia and Mike 

There will be no holiday Biff,but if there was,i would be more than happy to have you as an entertainment officer.
 
This was and still is about Rider safety and horse welfare and if anything positive can come out of this,then everybody wins.

I ran a comp a few years back during cup week.It was on every race for week but for this one i think similar scoring but run over 5 designated races each week on a points system.Maybe 5-win 2-second  1-third per race.With 1 bonus point for picking 5 placeings  and 3 bonus points for 5 winners.
 
Then one roughie in first week not going to blow everybody to bits like a divvie based comp quite often does.and consistency will be rewarded.
 
If you have a divvy based comp,i think you have to run as 1 comp each week(e.g 12 different comps) as one roughie basically means comp over,as we have seen in past.

Mate it towed a flat tyre the whole race,Rory McILWRICKs horse  ran straight into his sulky wheel.Always read the stipes report before you bag drivers.Was left with little choice .

its there money idoit
miracles happen
newscastle beat off melboure, no?

Brodie i have been involved in the trotting industry in some capacity for over 30 years but even i would bet on the Aussie gallops on a saturday afternoon/early evening over trots at Addington.Did you ever go to Saturday night trots at Addington,some nights if it wasnt for the trainers there wouldnt be enough people to worry about opening the hotdog stand,So i take it you would have N.I trot meets on a Friday.Also with alot of  Sundays taken up with S.I. trot meets it might be a bit much to expect staff to get home close to midnight on a Saturday then away again down to Oamaru etc first thing on a Sunday.I cant really see that changing days is going to make the product any more attractive to the average punter,and cant see people wanting to go to the trots on a Saturday night in summer

Bimbo I have watched the video at least a dozen times and I am unable to see how you can come to the conclusion that the wrong decision was made.
I couldn't care less what Tom Woods or any other commentator says, unless he was in the room watching all videos and listening to the comments made.
 
Run around like a drunken sailor and take 4 horses out of the race, cause another one to run over a heap of extra ground and the wrong decision was made?.

Geez guys I think some of you need to get a lot better at reading a race from a video.
There is no way The Gin Keeper should have kept that race.
The 2nd horse had to cover more ground and was forced wider than needed late in the race, it was clearly going to win the race if nor for the interference.
The other 2 protesters had all hope of winning extinguished and were still full of running at the end.
Correct decision was made.
I was at the track right by the finish line and turned to the family and said protest coming here, the winner will be relegated.

Lloyd, I know this has been coming for a while so don't give us a thought. You know where you need to be and our thoughts are with you in your time of crisis. 
PJ and Sarah

I'm very,very sorry to read that, Lloyd ...praying for you both and for certain all our thoughts and wishes are with the two of you. You're like family to us, Lloyd. 

No way Forrest...  every team member got us to the semis not just about one match up.  Have a fantastic spring

woohoo go you wise man you

prefer chiefs but not bothered

The whole fixation on wins to move up a grade is nuts. Everywhere else in the world grading is on money earned. This system we have just encourages trainers to aim for second and third placings. 
Races should be on money earned, lifetime or in a specific period, and ages. It is not hard to do, and as I said, it works perfectly everywhere else.

1=1/8 (5) BB
2=1/6 (2)
3=3/9 (4)
4=3/14 (9)
5=4/13 (6)
6=2/7 (3)
7=1/7 (3) BB
8=5/6 (3)
9=2/7 (8)
10=4/13 (10)

Well done robert