Alf Riston

The Inters at Auckland in that era was probably the biggest collection of great horses racing at one time. I'm not sure what they collectively would total in stake earnings converted to todays terms, but it would be staggering. Sadly the Inters aren't what they used to be

For Pardon My Dust AUH 1. Otaki R2 4 * 7 2. Otaki R5 7 * 8 3. Te Rapa R3 3 4. Te Rapa R5 5 * 12 5. Randwick R2 2 * 7 6. Randwick R8 11 BEST BET 7. Randwick R10 14 8. Caulfield R4 5 BEST BET 9. Caulfield R5 1 10. Caulfield R6 5 11. Caulfield R8 1 12. Caulfield R9 12 * 14 Thanks John & Scooby Go well Murrays' partner Jack

1. Otaki R2 5 * 7 2. Otaki R5 6 * 8 3. Te Rapa R3 3 * 7 4. Te Rapa R5 3 * 10 5. Randwick R2 11 * 12 6. Randwick R8 4 7. Randwick R10 10 8. Caulfield R4 10 * 11 9. Caulfield R5 1 10. Caulfield R6 1 * 7 BEST BET 11. Caulfield R8 7 * 8 12. Caulfield R9 13 * 14 BEST BET Thanks John & Scooby, and good luck to our opponents. Best of luck partner, let's see if we can maintin last weeks standard Happy punting all!

Thanks Neil - it is great to see some action being taken to drive change from at least one group. I'm not sure if it's me feeling under the weather or not, but the outline of who's ultimately responsible is very confusing and I guess accountability gets buried in the murkiness of it all (as does votes of no-confidence?? Personally I think it is time to kick the whole thing to touch and implement a whole new business structure (my JRA thoughts for example), but your suggestion probably has more chance of getting off the ground. Best of luck with your endeavours.

Yes Neil, it could be said, a very successful career in taking the necessary actions that keep him Parliament - not sure if the longer term outcomes have been as successful as the job retention strategy??

Sounds good Neil One of the issues in driving change would be managing to get the attention of Winston. Deputy Prime Minister Minister of Foreign Affairs Minister of Racing Not sure how much 'attention and care' would be there for Racing with those responsibilities? Definetly 3rd cab off the rank and Racing in that portfolio looks nothing more than a 'tack on' because he had been there, done that. Surely for it's size, Racing should have someone with sole responsibility?

Thanks Pam I haven't looked at the model in France but I will take a look with interest tonight. What we currently have is splintered, disfunctional, and clealry not working. I'm not sure anyone would claim it as a success? This level of restructure necessary could, and would, need to be driven by the Minister of Racing. But there is no united industry voice calling for change. The so called leaders that we have are happy to continue to the bottom on the HMS Racing, arranging deck chairs and playing 'PR managed music' until the lights flicker and die...

Couldn't agree more about the 'total refresh', so how to bring about change is the big question. Strike action was put out there to promote discussion and draw out ideas about how change could be induced but it would never happen, I knew that. And as for ideas coming forward... Like others on here I'm considering finding other ways to spend my time and money, rather than endure the frustrations and BS of the shit show it's become.

And for those Chris Rea fans, this version is awesome!!

Thanks Pam - and I agree that there would need to be 'specifics', and where to start would be a challenge. For mine, it would be to challenge the existing structure of how the industry is managed and 'kick the ladder out', starting from scratch and designing a model that can be much more transparent and accountable. I feel the overarching issue with where we have arrived at today is that there are so many splinter groups (cats that need herding in your terms), that are either looking after their own interests only, or not bothering to do much at all. I proposed that the JRA model https://japanracing.jp/en/jpn-racing/jra/pdf/chart.pdf could be implemented in NZ as a National body responsible for everything racing (including betting, no third party involved) They also have the NRA in Japan for 'local' racing but for NZ purposes one such structure would be sufficient. Again. JMO.

As a collective, Australians don't take shit lying down as we do so this is probably one of the major reasons they do things better. Imagine, 'let's move the Melbourne Cup to a Saturday' for some hair brained reason .......I don't think so.

Maybe the Owners Association (s) need to lead the way - ultimately they are the bill payers who continue to suffer from the decline in stakes (in real terms), and get screwed over the most by abandonments. The owners could tell their trainers to leave the horses at home for a specified week and also serve notice that they won't be opening their wallets at next years sales. Jockeys could also play their part by planning a weeks leave to somewhere sunny at the same time the owners plan to boycott racing. I'm not wanting to come across as a militant, but if the status quo remains, a lot of time and money could be saved by pulling the curtains down now (JMO).

Thanks bigrig ... 'the whole shebang is up absolute shit creek' sums it up perfectly. The spate of recent abandonements is only a small part of The House of Shit Creek that we now reside in , but it inspired me to propose what could be done to turn things around? The industry has been 'bleeding out' a slow and painful death for numerous years now, and there is NO accountability for what is happening. Inaction, and poor actions from the top are accepted by all of the various industry associations and groups, which by their inaction, contribute to the present state of affairs. Owners, trainers & jockeys should as a united front, be sending the message THIS IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH. My idea of a week long strike was just a thought around how something radical might bring things to a head. It certainly would raise awareness and be a lot harder to ignore or smooth over with pre-prepared press statements. Is there a strong leader in these organisations that can drive change and accountability? Or are they just old boys clubs that will just grumble and groan until the last dying breaths of the industry are taken ......?

Thanks Winner - I went to click a like, but apparently I have been over reacting and am done for the day A long way to go for sure, but let's see if we can back it up next week