scooby3051

He is like you on a short leash and as long as he continues to contribute meaningful stuff he will be fine here. He has been told that and so far is totally ok.

The race needs to retain its status too right I think that is the biggest issue, and no for me there is plenty in the NI without the risk, it used to be they were a part of a pattern which has long since been destroyed, so now its not the grand finals anymore that they used to be.

It may survive in some form or other to tie in with the Trotting Cup, but I think the Guineas is near a done deal that they will leave, the costs associated with getting one down there now make it really not worth the effort when so much money is on offer up north.

That was the gist of it I think, some of the ones I know there dont like for any of their better horses and train on it carefully

Awapuni trainers...they thought it would be a great training aid during the winter.

But how to effect that change???TM seems to never want to leave.

So then she is being punished for not getting advice and reoffending...then it that case the system worked???

I hope many members will participate in these threads the more input the better.

At least it is more than they were doing...keep it up the more heat the better Integrity,please keep the personal criticism to yourself it does not help the argument in any way...stick to the facts, stick to showing the facts and this will move forward. And if they do not go and reoffend you would hope they get more next time. But a suspension I am sure that will sting a bit.

Good coverage NM. My two cents worth to add is I think that Hastings will get a lifeline as it is the only reasonable spring surface for the triple crown and unless it all gets moved to Ellerslie I dont really think there is another option Awapuni is too wet and weather is awful in the spring and none of the good horses would travel to trentham. As for the smaller feeder tracks for the CD Waverly seems to be in the mix and also Hawera as they spent money on irrigation there at those venues. Foxton is absolutely needed at a minimum for trials and levin jump outs are always run with huge numbers so close that what does it achieve it costs the NZTR nothing as it is but both are a huge asset to the owners and trainers who need them to get educated horses to the races, isn't that the goal?? I agree there will be a huge push for north of Taupo, its already started, but if they close places like Matamata they will lose even more of the country folk and farming communities that have been lost over the last few years. If the Guineas stay at Riccarton for two more seasons it will be surprising, they have not had decent fields to retain their status for years.

Thats not Peter Kellys call...LOL.

I remember getting up in the middle of the night as a youngster to listen to Balmerino run in the Arc with Peter Kelly calling the race.

Trainer Brian ‘BJ' Smith retires after legendary career www.racenet.com.au Https://bitofayarn.com Charismatic trainer Brian ‘BJ' Smith has been all over the world but he still reckons Brisbane's stables are the best. The Brisbane racing community will farewell Smith when he officially retires at the end of this month, just a few days shy of his 84th birthday. He will still take care of two or three horses for his wife Emma but when his trainer's licence expires on July 31, you'll more than likely find Smith swinging a club at Nudgee golf course in Brisbane's northern suburbs rather than working at the stables. "I'm nearly 84 and I've been everywhere around the world a couple of times but I just don't want to do it anymore," Smith told Racenet at a Brisbane Racing Club luncheon held in his honour at Doomben on Saturday. "I want to enjoy a bit of life where I don't have to wake up and worry about what work I need to do." The BRC function also paid tribute to Jim Roberts, a Brisbane track manager who will soon retire after 38 years of service. Top trainers such as Kelly Schweida, Chris and Corey Munce, Barry Lockwood and Tony Gollan all took time out from their busy Saturday schedule to drop in at the lunch for Smith, a quick-witted character who started his training career in his native New Zealand more than 50 years ago before eventually moving to the Sunshine State. He has been all over the globe but still rates Brisbane's stables as being like a five-star hotel for horses, with Sydney co-trainers Richard and Will Freedman trusting Smith to look after their prized gallopers during countless Queensland winter carnivals. "I haven't seen better," Smith said about Brisbane's equine facilities. "I've stabled a lot of horses for the Freedmans over the years and they all come up and win. "They just settle in overnight, they think it's a farmyard." Champion New Zealand racehorse Balmerino, ridden by Graeme Boyd on the beach at Coffs Harbour in 1977 as he was being prepared for an overseas campaign. Picture: Supplied Smith had some classy gallopers at the peak of his powers, including Balmerino, Circles Of Gold and Bikkie Tin Blues. Balmerino came to Australia in 1976 as New Zealand's champion three-year-old and the following year he ran second to Alleged in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in Paris. "It wasn't a fair dinkum race, my horse should've won," Smith said about Balmerino, who competed in New Zealand, Australia, England, the US, France and Italy. "He won 12 months of the year, nowadays trainers set their horses for a race. "But he won every month of the calendar year as a three-year-old in New Zealand, Sydney and up here (in Brisbane). Fourteen wins in 12 months In total, Balmerino delivered 22 victories and 13 placings from 47 starts before he had a successful breeding career in New Zealand. The champion galloper died in 1996. "I was lucky enough to get his son Kessem," Smith said. "He didn't get his chance to show how good he was because he got hit in the eye by a plate after he won the Hong Kong Cup (in 1990)." Smith, who once had an audience with the Pope at the Vatican in the early 1960s, vividly remembers visiting the famous Champs-Elysees in Paris with a mate years before he became a trainer. "It felt like I got a bolt of lightning down my spine, I couldn't move," he recalled. "I said to my mate ‘I must have had a vision, I must be coming back to win that race' (the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe). "That was in my head when I got Balmerino to the race as a trainer years later. I'm not religious but I believe in fate."

Rob the people who run it are their own worst enemies...there way or the highway...ends up outcast.

And he never even knew Ross's correct name..to me that said it all.

Lets help some of the regular hardworking daily toilers get their chance to get some recognition for the day in day out hard work they do most times for not that much money and for the love of the horse. Do you know a hardworking member of stable staff that deserves to have their work celebrated at racing’s biggest night? Calling all trainers - nominations are open for the New Zealand Stablehand of the Year Award Supported by Saddlery Warehouse Cambridge & Tauranga, show your appreciation for the stable star who deserves to be recognised at the New Zealand Thoroughbred Horse of the Year Awards. Each regional winners receive $2500 in prize money, travel, accommodation and tickets to the awards night. The national winner will also take home an additional $2,500 in prize money. Nominate now https://form.jotform.com/251767693898886 Book your tickets nztr.co.nz/awards

Remiss of me to say I really feel for the unlucky rider at Trentham Michael Roustoby...he was treated really badly and used as the fall guy by the stewards...yes he made a mistake but so did the course managers...but he has now lost a win in a feature race.

Not far off the mark in some aspects.

Great racing surface...facilities disgraceful...they only have themselves to blame...sorry.

So I wonder where this sustainability plan is...or have their consultants not finished it yet.....

That part we can agree on...

yes great result its poetic justice and congrats to Chris and his team. One part of me wanted him to win but the other part of me wanted the champ to hang on...great finish virtually just a bob of the head after 4800m.

The stuff you are talking about does not still happen today, yes riders are breaking the current rules but not as you keep stating.If we are to move this issue forward we need to deal in facts and actually what is happening every day now not 10 years ago.

I think that is becoming more and more clear.

After After reading it again, I am actually dumbfounded not a mention anywhere of consultation/discussion with racing clubs, big or small, breeders large or smaller hobby breeders who breed to race and sell, trainers, owners and these are the backbone of keeping this show on the road, punters also a huge component in the industry being successful, country folk like Farmers who used to always attend the local meeting and have a horse or two in work, city folk who attend race meetings not a single word anywhere. I am convinced all we will see is more selling up of assets, less tracks, more push for higher stakes at the top end to try to encourage horses from Oz to come over, maybe good for TAB turnovers but bad for local owners as even less chance to get a return on anything, sorry but I can see now why the other open letter was sent as they are getting ready to do some things that maybe many people are not going to like, and thats the poor old plebs who are the lifeblood of the industry that they targeted with the letter.Its like we are the bosses we will do as we want, end of story, or thats how it seems to me now. Sorry for feeling this way but when you put the two things together that is what it feels like.