Slim Shady

Thank you for your comments.
I/We have "enjoyed the ride" but the time had come as Alyson, kennels official, and I have been heading to Addington now for over 130 meetings a year for quite a few seasons. A total of 25 years between us and it felt just right to bring it to an end while we were still able to enjoy it. That was my same philosophy when I retired from teaching. We had paid our dues, as the saying goes.
Today was strange as we watched and listened. It was pleasing to see the greyhounds loving their work* for their owners, trainers and handlers.
For the first time in a very long time I could not say that I had been to the races at Addington and made money.
*Bad luck Danziger. Next time!
 

Ive got a 12 bay kennel block with a feeding room on the end that im wanting to move on....good start for a young fella as the price will be right.

Ive got a 12 bay kennel block with a feeding room on the end that im wanting to move on....good start for a young fella as the price will be right.

your best to get involved with a horse syndicate

Just for the elite kennels and members of the round table.

I agree with you on that Forest. I would like to see the NZGRA put together a mentor &/or an apprenticeship scheme where young trainers or people who want to get into the industry as a trainer. Most of the other industries in the country have them so why don't we?

Unfortunately i dont think the nzgra actually care about younger trainers leaving the game otherwise they would be more proactive and approach these people seeking a reason why in the hopes they could do something about it before the arse completely falls out of the game.

The sport does not appeal to the young ones unfortunately. Especially when you look at young trainers like James black and Alisha Steele and matt roberts who have had a lot of success and still struggled to pay the bills. Even the like of callum weir have had to work still and he has had some of the best dogs in the last two or three seasons in NZ

In regards to the training reference you make, its surely no secret that its actually not difficult at all to TRAIN a greyhound as you have pointed out...however it is very difficult for a novice to prepare a greyhound and present that dog to the races 100% SOUND and INJURY/NIGGLE  free in order for that dog to run its best possible race for you...this "mastercraft" takes years and years of practice to perfect and some are leagues above others at carrying this out....in my opinion the countries leading/top trainers are the best because they have mastered the art (through years of practice) of checking over dogs properly, its not easy to detect some injuries and being able to do this effectively gives you a huge advantage, you can not only start treating the injury at an early stage but your knowledge has given you the ability to detect it before it potentially "ruins" the dog. 

John ..Karen Walsh lives 1.5hrs  south off the Bombays and lives in South waikato.....

What a stupid comment as the only trainers I could think of north of the Bombay's are craiks, mullane and Smiths. Maybe Phil Green? And they all have travelled alot. Also last time I checked, Tirau wasn't pass the Bombay's

John Goode i agree with re racing at auckland very boring 318m races race after race no disagreement but you seem to have a thing about aucklanders not travelling please name the trainers. the only trainers i know of in the auckland area are trainers with only 2/3 race dogs such as the cleaver boys.Halley mullane is in the Auckland area and is down at wanganui racing today and travels to Palmy.there is no one else to my limited knowledge who trains in the auckland area certainly no big trainers maybe craik not sure if he lives waikato or auckland but saying that ben has done thousands of ks or miles over the last 30 years.sp please name the lazy trainers who will not travel that reside in the Auckland area ???
 
 

It's a ballroom....John is living in the past..something that happens to older people who need a pat on the back....his last trip to auckland we didn't even have a motorway...he has bred sprinters trying to breed stayers and is now angry at everyone......he even has trouble peeing..lol

And of course Slim, who was a constant at Waikato for years

In regards to the training reference you make, its surely no secret that its actually not difficult at all to TRAIN a greyhound as you have pointed out...however it is very difficult for a novice to prepare a greyhound and present that dog to the races 100% SOUND and INJURY/NIGGLE  free in order for that dog to run its best possible race for you...this "mastercraft" takes years and years of practice to perfect and some are leagues above others at carrying this out....in my opinion the countries leading/top trainers are the best because they have mastered the art (through years of practice) of checking over dogs properly, its not easy to detect some injuries and being able to do this effectively gives you a huge advantage, you can not only start treating the injury at an early stage but your knowledge has given you the ability to detect it before it potentially "ruins" the dog. 

Thats where the problem lays i guess....catch 22 but lets be honest what do those sort of fields do for greyhound racing in general? On the flip side you could be like me and keep them as pets!!! Hence the reason ive given up training, i cant cut ties with some these dogs so no point accuring anymore!!

Welcome back,  you missed my point...i was saying theres no excuse for lack of noms due to travel here in the north given its an hours drive.

You are way off the mark 3 reasons why.
 (1)mr goode your saying lazy auckland trainers will not travel to the waikato. have a look and see how many trainers are living in the auckland very few  have you noticed the prices of land in the auckland area? IF NOT MR GOODE have a look !. i say the this one of the reasons for ten races is because the over kill of races in the CD. palmy,yesterday,wanganui 14 races today,wanganui wed, & once again wanganui friday.!!!
(2) the fees nzgra set per pup $50 to register & and the silly price of $1600 to register a stud dog not mention straw prices and the cost of rearing. these costs are killing breeders!!.
(3) stupid quota system of 20 dogs imported per month!! .
we never had this problem before the quota system came in and Mr Dickison stopped exporting. Mr Roberts used to bring a trailor load of dogs up to the waikato every Thursday not any more we are now stuck with 10 races.it will not be long before we get 8 races at Cambridge and do you know realize what happens with only 8 races? the meeting is abandoned!!
The nzgra stated on their recent road show that there will be a short of dogs in 2021 well do not worry about 2021 the way we are heading there will be no dogs at waikato in 12 months time.
a change in direction is required urgently by nzgra
new committee urgently reqired at waikato before the club is made redundant.
We require new board members on the nzgra with in depth knowledge of greyhound racing.
no independant board members.!!
 
 

That was a quick change of tone going from 'he doesn't race his best at Auckland' to 'your jealous'. I say good on Cole for winning all the races they can. I wouldnt consider myself jealous of his accomplishments and chances are, Cole will only win more races as their breeding gets stronger. Still can't hide the fact that only around 50 of his wins have come from other districts where as the other 630 are around two tracks. Surely makes you wonder doesnt it? Especially when McInerney had to set up and establish two kennel facilities to win those same amount of races down south and in the cd

There are probably many reasons Steve but the club committee has to take a look at themselves. This trend has been apparent for a while now and the clubs response is what? Let's card a few more  distance features. It is a noble thought that has had a very limitted success and yet that is the only initiative they have shown.
      Keep dong what you are doing and you will keep getting what you have got.
The saddest thing about that is prominent trainers on the committee have dogs that love racing there and yet  Nero fiddles while Rome burns.
By the way Scooby you are quick off the blocks picking up indiscretions on this site that would go unoticed on the other two.

Slim our or should I say the clubs problem is lack off noms 109....it doesn't matter who misses out 109 is 10 races...my point is is there a problem and people want to race at Auckland and not cambridge....why ?? Wouldn't be my choice and we need both tracks ..one turn and 2 turn.....but for example I've finally got yaboha back and there's no race at Auckland for him...then I wanted nightroligy to race at cambridge and no race last week so he starts at Auckland yet they had 7 noms.....surley as a sport we should cater for the best......but low and behold this week cambridge and grnz allow a 7 dog c2 race....Defys logic

In regards to the training reference you make, its surely no secret that its actually not difficult at all to TRAIN a greyhound as you have pointed out...however it is very difficult for a novice to prepare a greyhound and present that dog to the races 100% SOUND and INJURY/NIGGLE  free in order for that dog to run its best possible race for you...this "mastercraft" takes years and years of practice to perfect and some are leagues above others at carrying this out....in my opinion the countries leading/top trainers are the best because they have mastered the art (through years of practice) of checking over dogs properly, its not easy to detect some injuries and being able to do this effectively gives you a huge advantage, you can not only start treating the injury at an early stage but your knowledge has given you the ability to detect it before it potentially "ruins" the dog. 

Worse thing is you will get to the track on Thursday and ask around and there will be 6 + other trainers that will say the same thing and more than likely for the same grade/distance you nomed for...makes me wonder sometimes...might be time they make the nom's a little bit more available for industry participants to view?..keeps it totally out there and open that way.

Just to keep it clear I nomed 11 dogs for cambridge and got 4 in....

In regards to the training reference you make, its surely no secret that its actually not difficult at all to TRAIN a greyhound as you have pointed out...however it is very difficult for a novice to prepare a greyhound and present that dog to the races 100% SOUND and INJURY/NIGGLE  free in order for that dog to run its best possible race for you...this "mastercraft" takes years and years of practice to perfect and some are leagues above others at carrying this out....in my opinion the countries leading/top trainers are the best because they have mastered the art (through years of practice) of checking over dogs properly, its not easy to detect some injuries and being able to do this effectively gives you a huge advantage, you can not only start treating the injury at an early stage but your knowledge has given you the ability to detect it before it potentially "ruins" the dog.