Jape

He will be very much missed. It is a long time since that I first met him in the box at QEII in his Radio Pacific days. Still going strong today. Best wishes.

I don't remember being able to have a one cent bet on the old site. Or a 10 cent multi. Or a Bonus Bet. Or a Double Up. Or watching the races on the laptop. Just saying. I had the usual problems when it was first introduced but it suits me now. (No, not the tiddlies. They're just for fun). It seems primarily to be set up for sports betting so we have to live with that. What concerns me most, like everyone else, is the cost, both present and future. "They" got caught out at the TAB when they went to upgrade the original system. I remember how we were told this could happen, that could be done, and all sorts of things. It appeared to be a home-run when, suddenly, it all fell over, at a cost of several millions.

Going by the various comments on this topic it is very much a case of : To each his own. However, I am intrigued by the reference to VIP punters and I think you may well be wrong, Lights Out. How much influence should the VIP punters have? When something called Flexibet was first presented to the TAB management by the Board it was rejected because of the negative response from the VIP punters. The TAB Board members thought otherwise and persisted. The result was: the introduction of Percentage Betting as it came to be known.

I am not at all sure where you get the "downhill in the early 90s" and "outsiders with no interest in racing or even betting" from. Check the Annual Report for 2003. Dedicated racing people with a passion for the industry. Record turnover. NZ still supplying great horses to take on, and beat the Aussies e.g. Ethereal and Sunline. Sadly, it was the dissolution of the RIB and the TAB and the formation of the RB that led to the features to which you refer.

This awful drama has turned into The Theatre of the Absurd.

Yes, a remarkable race, a stunning finish, probably Keith Haub's best-ever call at the line. To top it all off, there was, of course, only one LaZboy for the winning jockey so the two jockeys, Michelle and Wayne, hopped in together much to the delight of the crowd.

I find it hard to believe that GOM has gone. That is so sad. To the family, my best wishes, my condolences. Rest in Peace.

Excellent, chiknsmack, to see you are finding the Formguides so very useful, which they are. But do not dismiss so summarily the Comments Lines which are not produced by "some random stranger". Those comments are there to help people looking for information about a greyhound race field. The more experienced punter, like yourself, may not need such information as "Wide runner not suited to box 1" because you already know that. For so many others, though, that is an informed comment on which the reader can then make her/his own judgement.

No.

Randwick r1 -- 2 r2 -- 12 r3 -- 5 r4 -- 13 r5 -- 5 r6 -- 3 r7 -- 12 r8 -- 9 r9 -- 17 Flemington r1 -- 10 r2 -- 5 r3 -- 11 r4 -- 8 r5 -- 10 r6 -- 11 r7 -- 15 r8 -- 2 r9 -- 6

I hope you caught up with the FormGuides for both Cambridge and Addington today. They are severely abbreviated but every dog is covered and once you get the hang of it, you can follow it quite well. There is a huge amount of info there. Btw, I presume you people check out the Punters Lounge each day to find out what is available. If not, you should. I hope you have been taking note of the Comments Lines for all meetings except Addington. As well, there have been very good interviews. One with Marcie Flipp very good. Also Mark and Philippa going through the fields providing more informatio as they did today. I did Comments Lines some time ago now for a couple of months and they are/were very time consuming - several hours' work - but at least there was a payday at the end of the day. I am not at all sure this is the case at the moment. Just people trying to assist in providing the information for punters to have an informed bet and not just bet blindly. It is called generating revenue. That is the life blood of the sport/industry we call Racing.

Don't give up yet, Everton et al. There have been Comments Lines at the northern and Central meetings. Palmy again today and Wanganui tomorrow Then Cambridge on Thursday. Sadly, no Addington.

Check the Annual Report 2003. Record turnover. Percentage betting came in then. Yes, there had been 50pence/cents doubles previously but nothing like the breadth of % betting as it developed. I am sure many on here remember being at Addington and holding a double ticket on the first-leg winner and ready to exchange. Out would come an employee and we would watch as he manipulated the divs according to the influx of betting. Oh, number 6 has come in. Number 8 is going out. Quite exciting it was and occasionally, very occasionally, we would make the right choices. As I have said previously: Those were the days, my friend, we thought they'd never end ...

Excellent to see the Comments Lines back for the dogs at Wanganui on Friday and I see they are there for Manukau tomorrow. For those people looking to have a bet on the greyhounds they are very worthwhile. Dare I say it - essential!

I was on the NZGRA Executive when the Racing Bill was formed and discussed so was not really privy to the what, the why and the whatever. I had to relinquish that position when I was appointed to the TAB and at that point it was assumed that the Bill would become the Act within weeks or at most a couple of months. Things can take their time in Parliament and Racing is rarely a high priority. (It never ceases to amaze me that the politicians are so unaware of the amount of money that racing puts into the Government's coffers, for very little input, as well as boosting the pay packets of some thousands of employees. And their tax take). I do remember that the RIB did not seem as tight a group as the TAB certainly was. More than twice the number of people and some personality clashes. Maybe a code disagreement or two as well. But none of that would have suggested to me that Racing was necessarily going to be "improved" by the abolition of the RIB and the TAB Boards. The old adage, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" comes to mind. There was a period when merging and amalgamation became the new norm - remember the Local Councils? - and I suspect Racing came into this category. The resulting RB (Racing Board) bore no resemblance in personnel to what had gone before and that was Mistake Number 1. Add some awful appointments and then some wagering decisiona including taking Trackside off Free-to-Air and the downward slide was underway. Somehow it became a scree slope.