THE TORCH

JF: says it was a "who knows how it would turn out" situation. Are you kidding me??!! $55M for a cross you fingers result?!

Listen her you knob, this is a public forum where we each get to share out thoughts and ask questions. I answer questions for some and ask when I am keen for an answer on others. Someone else might now they might not, it's part and parcel of this. Don't come out and have a go at me.😡 

KHAFEEF, who was fourth in the steeplechase, was bred by Shadwell up here and I'm sure they had bigger ambitions than running round northern New Zealand over fences.
He raced in France in 2019 and won a 2400m race at Le Touquet but that was his only win in four starts.
If you want to revitalise NZ jump racing come to the UK and Ireland and spread the word - at Stratford (the home of Mr Shakespeare) this afternoon the Class 4 handicap chase nets the winning owner less than £4k (or $8000) yet you have jumps races for £15k. Without being unkind, I'm sure there are plenty of NH horses up here who could compete with your chasers and hurdlers - I mean, if Willie Mullins sent over a plane load of his third-raters, he'd probably clean up.
Why not create a satellite yard for British and Irish jumpers in NZ - again, it's an alternative to our summer jumping for the fast ground types. Plenty of logistical issues but where there's a will there's usually a dead person (sorry).
Have a look at the French racing model - in France they have meetings with trotting, flat turf, ordinary jumps and cross country jumps races in the provinces. Imagine a venue where all four exist and you could stage any kind of meeting you like. I have to say the French trotting races (both Monte and Attele which mean ridden and attached so one is where there's a jockey and the other where there's a driver) seem well attended for all some of the tracks look to be in grotty industrial estates.
Just a few thoughts from a long way away but I enjoy jump racing and there's a place for it. I don't know how many of you watched the Grand National last weekend - it's not the race it was (that's another debate) but it's still visually spectacular. Run the Great Northern or the National for $2,000,000 and invite foreign runners - make it the jump equivalent of the Melbourne Cup.
Final thought - the grass roots - pony club racing, point to points - both have to be nourished and developed to keep a flow of jockeys and horses. Import two or three jumping stallions from up here.

Don't forget about Mark Oulaghan, a lot of his horses have been hitting the line very well in the heighweight's so far. 
Also Shaun Fannin seems to have a few nice up and comers as well. 

It seems the two main causes/issues are
1 They chose to grow the Strathayr from seeds and not roll in pre grown turf. This had never been done before.
And I think this one may be even worse
2 They never fixed the camber on the home turn to preserve the "chracter" of Ellerslie. I believe this is a large contributor to the amount of slipping on the home turn.
But hey not being anti Ellerslie or Negative, just would like some answers instead of the waffle they keep putting out to cover their proverbial.
I keep saying the industry MUST have this track at its absolute best.

And where has Shamrock been during all this commotion ...???Silence is deafening...or is he too busy with his own personal issues at present...seems very strange he has gone to ground.

I'm wondering if they should do the decent thing and hand back their race club of the year award.

This decision comes as a proactive response to recent track issues and concerns raised by stakeholders ...
A proactive response would have been to do the sensible thing after the partial abandonment on 10 April...ie transfer the Easter meet to another course and begin the "planned winter renovation" from 11 April.
Max travelled to Ellerslie from the glorious North on Saturday to support a mate (a first-time owner) whose horse was in Race 8.
Imagine the disappointment/frustration...and 5 hours on the road for sweet f-a. 
When the young lass fell off Opaea Joe earlier in the day, Max feared the worse. But mercifully her horse had 'clipped heels' and she was dislodged (or so we're told). 
Yes, the rain was steady/relentless and sometimes heavy, but on the 'old surface' the last two races would have likely proceeded (on a Heavy whatever).
To see the 'spin' here about a proactive response is sickening - though entirely predictable.
Max's sympathy is with all the connections of horses entered in Race 7 and 8.
 

I think they said at the end of today's Weigh In that he is to be a guest on next week's show. They should make it a phone-in for viewers!!

Well if common sense had been in practice they would have said they were moving the meeting yesterday , whole heartedly self interest was at play .
The most interesting aspect of this is the complete invisibility of one B Sharrock , I'm sure he is still the head of NZTR , he is isn't he ?

That was my first thought when I heard it , just send them out and hope like hell they all come back .
I wonder if the jockeys would have just gone NAH!
Or trainers not being prepared to risk their horses or even getting a race .

Haha , they talk shite , on weigh in this morning Guerin quoted PW as saying that they would definitely , DEFINITELY , be racing at Ellerslie on the 25th , as they needed to know what they were doing was working , almost emphatic that they would be racing there .
Barely 6hrs later the backflip . Seriously who's writing their scripts because the audience is bored with the stale bullshit . 

Alf Riston Credit Bet Mick will probably get the leading Racing Media award this season for being the chief apologist for the ARC/NZTR.

Some pretty odd comments in that video clip that leave me a bit bewildered.
MG - "I know it's a learning curve for Jason, because nobody in NZ's done this before"  WTF
PW - "We will give the track a very large renovation" FFS
The track is only a few months old and undergoing a 'large renovation' - defies belief.
My questions are :
Was this 'large renovation' part of the original plan??
Was the "winter stand down period' part of the original plan??
Are these additional costs covered by Strathyr??
I would have thought once racing got underway, after all the down time, things woould have been expected to keep going, with the track standing up to whatever Mother Nature had in store.
If these renovations were not part of the plan, one would suspect that the local tampering that they decided to intervene with, would probably void any Strathyr warranty and all this work and ongoing consultation is additional cost to the project.
A bit like servicing your own car and then expecting the Manufacturer to fix the subsequent issues arising from your incorrect process and materials used.
Maybe Tricky Mickey could ask questions like this rather than the (insert brown nose emoji here) usual 'play by the rules' ones.
 
 

A beautiful racecourse Stratford.

Paul Wilcox or 100% as we call him as whenever anyone asks him a question he says ....100% hahaha .....he said it 12 times one day on Weigh In ....and he never ever looks confident like a man in his position should.
He might be a good bloke (I have never met him but Mick seems to like him) but as far as running a race track goes he would be better off on the end of a shovel at the Manurewa council ......100%.
The 55 million Goat Track will settle down in time but obviously wasn't ready to race on in adverse weather .....100%.
And just when we thought the NZ thoroughbred industry was going forward our best and most prestigious track is a debacle......100%.
FF.

Its owned by them pull the grandstands down not needed these days and you have a damn good racecourse, that I dont remember meetings being called off...

LOL!!!!! 
And how confident are you that youve ballsed up a huge chunk of our industry Paul?
55,000,000% confident

Thats the problem in this country. The @#$%#,s from NZTR would have exterminated a smaller club and usurped their assets for the benefit of some one else to mis-spend.

They have to keep towing the party line...the truth always comes out.....let's just wait and see...better not discuss it too much or will be seen to resent the track or be seen to be negative...cant have that LOL.Imagine if this had happened at a smaller club??

Yep, but why have that wally on ??

Didn't even use a wet ticket .
The circle of people that have a racing profile in NZ is getting smaller and smaller , PW is seems has all but joined Weigh In team he's on there that often . 

Nothing hard hitting in this from MG as usual when it comes to reporting on his mates

Since the debacle at NZ Cup time, I think Riccarton has played extremely well. Winners from everywhere irrespective of the rail placement. Good to see some learn.

To be fair they have raced on it the 2 last weeks , one of them after the 230mls , the track looked threadbare . And visibility more the issue I think .
Ellerslie is actually supposed to handle 40mls on the day .