Blue

I would have thought by the time you have a teenager you probably wouldn't want to go there again but as a man with a wife and four adult daughters I can honestly attest to knowing exactly nothing about how women think. Reminds me of the joke where a man claimed that a kick in the balls was the greatest pain imaginable. The woman claimed it was nothing compared to that of childbirth. The guy said a kick in the nuts just about paralyses you and you never want a repeat dose whereas, he said, a woman goes through the trauma of having a baby but then, a couple of years later she wants to do it all again.

A mate had an interesting analogy on this thread. A guy had a colt, a very good colt, won his way to the top though after a while lost a bit of form, got too colty and was put aside. Folks almost forgot about him until, out of the blue he reappeared, showed new vigour and regained his previous form - as a gelding.

His weight has always been a difficult one and TA have retired or sold a number of their toppies so perhaps he'll get shared around a bit.

Couldn't agree more. I doubt they'll do away with it completely but until they do something like 'held in the bottom of the hand and only used on the shoulder with both hands on the reins' then a horse can more easily be straightened if it runs away from the whip. Until that happens there's no integrity in the policing or charging of whip offences.

We had one different phrase re 'the engine room' whatever that meant but for mine he was no worse or no better than our locals. No pressure on him, only seven horse going around mostly in a canter in the heavy ground. Always good though to have a variation of visiting commentators. Just mho.

I remember something like that at Trentham, mid-60's. Only three starters with Hanut the only one to get around cleanly. Cinnaman (Jim Hely) ran off but rejoined the race for second while Knight (Peter Wilson) ran off once and fell twice but still managed to collect third money. So, while you think Saturday was a doozy, it's all been done before.

Jason trained a trotter to win at Cambridge on Thursday, another trotter to win at Alexandra Park on Friday and the galloper to win on Sunday. Must be some kind of record surely.

We have five kids. We were utterly committed and kept going until we got one we liked.

And two already from Rogie at good odds.

$500K for Sans Doute, $20K The Victress.

I was interested in this fellow too. Was disappointed in his first start and though drawn wide yesterday cruised to the front into the straight but gave it away the last 200. I expected better. Jury is out for mine.

Too far down the track now I think Ned. Those in "control" should be made to stay there and sort it or go down with the ship. Not fair to put new management in there at this stage. Just MHO.

I'm told there's a fair pull towards Te Rapa. The Butcher seems to pretty well run NZRB these days.

Where do cafers think this will be held in the new season? Possibly Trentham or will it be another relocation to Te Rapa, Pukekohe or Ellerslie?

I think we can work out the answer to that one.

Aahhhh yes.........but it will have the carrot of a $200K bonus package attached to it (ffs).

DH has a somewhat murky past too. Certainly not the right person for that interview I would have thought.

Not if he's nervous and would Emily work with him?

Look out for some surreptitious sign language.

If she can only go in a bog it certainly limits her opportunities of emulating her Dam but this effort must certainly give connections a measure of optimism.

Interested to see the whole deal. Can they not talk the moment they go out for prelims, or within say five minutes of advertised start times? Gonna be fun policing this one.

I think Auckland field sizes and (un)attendence levels can answer that one easily enough.

And if you really need a positive TA comment, the Avantage filly turned things around and won nicely at Tuesday's trials.

I've not seen anything that resembles marketing of the Harness Racing Industry for many, many moons.

Not really a statement Insider, more of a comment to the question of getting the Trainers and owners involved. Not sure what they can do about the receday track situation and there already seem to be experts galore unable to come up with an answer.