TOM(the other Molloy)

Someone will know this - how come Scapolo has a 102 rating(only two rated higher) but is the number 12 ranked in order of entry? Pretty good horse who has earned his rating but if the handicapper says he is a 102 how come the WFA scale says he is the 12th ranked? I'm not a student of this type of thing so trust someone will enlighten me

Though not in the class of El Chico The Governator was another example of M Pitman and team turning a cast off around. Arrived at his place from up north with four duck eggs beside his name and was soon back at Trentham for Cup week starting three times in the week for two wins and a third. Tragically had to be put down afterwards but those days at Trentham were some of my best times in racing(I was lucky enough to have a quarter share in the horse with Michael and John Carran) and i wasn't even on course.

That is what someone( I am not saying who) who would know told M Pitman at the time. I hope Michael does not mind me repeating the story. Bearing in mind that that deal was done before Kawi was even born. El Chico - a great success story for some of my favourite people in racing - John and Evelyn(who sadly passed away last year) Carran and MR Pitman.

There is no better example of that than the aforementioned El Chico. John Carran brought him cheaply on Pitty's recommendation. I think he had won 2 or 4 races and maybe $40k. M Pitman won another 18 or 20 races with him and $600k. AND they told him at the time they called him El Cheato. Remarkable training performance for one of Pitty's most loyal owners.

Thats not very charitable Portfolio. Cubes can have his horses wherever he wants. The man who does the paying does the saying. Good luck with your horses Cubes. I hope the next one is a dead set champion whoever trains it. Clearly you have a sense of humour and I would love to see you at Reefton one day.

Don't forget saw

I've pissed him off in my time but he has been a good friend to the Reefton JC. The motto is don't bite the hand that feeds you. Greymouth was the Club that lost his usual boxes to fire then told him there were none available when he wanted some. His reaction? I won't come back. There are plenty of better stake racedays at Riccarton anyway. Closer to home and a vastly superior track to the Coast and/or Invercargill.

Just proves there is a place for everyone(although not sure exactly which place suits the halfwits running the industry)

Talented Commentator??????? Every single one of them is unbelievably talented. The Justin Evans really is a find though like Matt Cross. NZ racing might be rooted but one thing we do have in abundance is class in the commentators box. Not a terrible lot of ability among the administrators.

Putting them all into one venue will standardise the racing and pretty soon everyone will be bored to death with it. The crowds will fall and it will just be a Riccarton situation with a few hundred diehards in attendance at any meeting. Kumara would not be Kumara for instance at another venue. And one venue means paid track staff as well(You are not going to get the same level of enthusiastic volunteers when some other Club is hammering your track) All good as a dream but unlikely to fly I'm afraid. Anyway the facilities(not the tracks themselves but he public areas) over here are perfectly adequate for the meetings we run.

TAB was certainly not the issue with Kumara Pam. They(TAB) were moving to Reefton anyway and would have been happy to shift. It was the KRC itself that refused the offer. Having said that they(TAB) were the problem a few years back when we gave them five or six days notice that we needed to shift to Greymouth. They reckoned the Truck driver's hours was the problem - wrong excuse when the Reefton Committee includes two truck drivers and a Transport company owner. Realistically shifting venues is only an option with a couple of days notice. You cannot just do it on the morning of the races with the current TAB setup. Maybe if the totes went to all TAB caravans but there is still the TV's setup, Trackside and staffing to consider.

there was a bloody interesting article on Hec Anderton on Facebook a month or so ago. He reckons a lot of the slipping is to do with the shoes they wear these days. If you are on facebook try the White Robe Lodge site.

Pike misses the point continually made - those (four actually not three) courses on the Coast cost not one cent to run. It is entirely(and I mean entirely) voluntary. The only one paid is the Secretary. Closing them will not save the industry one single cent not will it provide the industry with one single cent to invest elsewhere. He somehow mixes them up with the example he no doubt sees at Te Rapa or wherever where there is a myriad of track and admin staff. I appreciate that the Coast probably has too many tracks and that they are too small but it is false economy to think that closing them will benefit the industry. Maybe it is time for racing that is more tiered(City/Country) but looking at Riccarton's fields for Saturday(and Te Rapa's yesterday) there does not appear to be a desperate desire for more opportunities in a metropolitan racing environment. And the complaints re the state of the facilities are generally pointed at the Metro clubs as well certainly not the country venues. Having said all that Messara makes some very valid points and the issue of NZRB and its desire to be all things to all men in terms of the codes is something that I have not considered before. Maybe it is time for the codes to take over control of their own destiny. Three separate gaming operations maybe?

Listen you halfwit you have been here for a week or so and generally talked utter piffle(and this is a classic example) If you cannot keep up with the theme of the thread you should get off the forum And if you are going to stay on learn to use correct spelling, punctuation and construction of your sentences. Capitals where appropriate for a start.

Commissioner and Olga Korbut(I do recall her) were not bloody harness racing hall of famers! Get with the bloody gist of the discussion!

The horrifying thing was Steven Joyce and (apparently) David Bennett(such a non entity I couldn't recognise him) sitting with Ellis yesterday. National had nine years of showing not a spec of interest in racing and those two are there in the limelight!

I assume you are comparing the harness horse to Commissionaire. If so I suspect , given that I have no memory of the harness horse you mention, that there is no issue. Commissionaire the galloper was an outstanding horse trained by Noel Eales, and I think owned by a Mrs Aynsford, but I would not be anywhere near as offended if another trotter used that name as using Show Gate. What I am talking about is hall of fame horses in one code having their names duplicated in the other not something that once won a stakes race having its name replicated Show Gate, Sunline, Caduceus, Delightful Lady, Lordship not something that just held on to win a maiden at Reefton.

10% of a sale price for the trainer is not unheard of is it? Not often an extra 10% (effectively) for the training organisation. Must be one of the great gigs training for Te Akau(certainly in NZ terms). Endless stream of well bred, well educated young ones through the gate , no worries about whether someone is going to pay or not or how you are going to pay the wages, the float, the vet or the feed bill

It wasn't when I had one with Te Akau. Well not that I remember (mind you I don't remember too many $550000 winning stakes either)

Hmmmmm....... I see that Delightful Lady thing. I suspect I might have been a bit too nice to the NZTR mob. That is another one that should never have been allowed but clearly there are thick pricks on all sides.

I reckon NZTR are more onto it than that. I never noticed this Caduceus example but there are not many others. As I said try Kardigan Bay or Noodlum or something and I bet they would stop you. Though of course that fails to take into account the age of those approving names who may never have heard of those horses. I guess the world continues to be dumbed down all the time so one never knows but replicating Show Gate?

Give me some galloping examples.

Re read the post. It is bordering on offensive to allow Show Gait as a name. It is not fair suck of the sav chee zee elmut or even puma pants it is Show Gate for God's sake!

I happened as I was driving along to be listening to Addington early tonight and hear a horse's name 'Show Gait'. Nearly ran straight off the road! And I thought NZTR were thick. How the hell did HRNZ not pick that up? The unfortunate nag won I see but those are enormous boots to fill and if I was to ask for kardigan bay for a thoroughbred's name I suspect it might be rejected.

There is that 'Craiglea' mob in Rockhampton as well isn't there? They had 7 in a race one day and 6 started with 'Craiglea' Poor old Reon called Burletta Quite Regal all the way down the straight and to win in the 1000 Guineas in 1983. Similar colours but if you were the Quite Regal owners listening on the radio you would have been quite excited I imagine. Must be mortifying for the Commentators to make such mistakes (but entirely forgivable).