Blue

Agree to some extent SM but a whip is a whip. A rose by any other name is still a rose. It's the perception the tree huggers get from watching a race regardless of how harshly it's used. Just the same in harness when a driver is hitting the shafts or dust sheet with the whip. To the uninitiated it still looks like the animal is getting a beating.

You can use all the analogies and comparisons you like but I think we're generally agreed that the use of whips in NZ racing has a limited life, tb or harness.

Exactly. Need to be a step ahead of the animal rights crowd for once.

Amen to that.

Depending, of course, what stable you're with that may be just while the horse is working. Some can be well above that once the horse is in full racing mode. I suspect though that some of the bigger Aussie trainers also charge plenty. Caveat emptor.

Nobody's business.

And I would think if it was well publicised they could get quite a crowd at the jumpouts too. Would be a big step in the right direction.

No doubting his horsemanship but there are a lot of duck eggs in a number of their formlines and I've yet to see any trainer make a hell of a lot from other people's cast-offs. having said that, it takes time to get a young team up and running and time costs money.

Handy horse though from memory his first winner in six weeks and none of his six starters flattered last night. Probably the hardest place in the world to get a foothold. They're only interested in winners.

No chance. There's only one Miss Jools.

hahaha, postponed - postphoned,.... potato, potaaato...........

Actually a letter wasn't left out. A letter was ADDED. PostpHoned. Just sayin'.

I guess you could say they were Long but they weren't very tall.

I notice a Fastnet Rock filly in the last heat today named Akenehi (Maori derivative of Agnes I believe) I recall a mare by that name racing in the late 1950's. An open class sprinter if my pre-teen recollection is correct. Maybe Gubelini has some info on her.

It's October, maybe the broodmares paddock

We get used to the same ones week in and week out, year in and year out. I dont have a problem with TL but people have been hired and fired for a hundred years and it's a fallacy to think there's not someone just as proficient waiting in the wings.

Just raced in Tokyo. Yeah, that's pretty much what I say watching some of the horses I back.

Further to this I can see the day when the whip might only be used in the back of the hand , on the shoulder with two hands on the reins at all times. Jockeys would then probably need to ride with their feet right home again, maybe drop their irons a hole or two and learn to kick. We still refer to 'hands and heels' but there ain't no heels.

As said earlier, we all have a use-by date. Often what we see as their oversights in not mentioning horses in a finish can also be attributed to the fact that sitting in our lounges we get a very different view from what the commentators get. In recent times I though Mark Mac was very good placing a tight finish. Just mho.

Dynastic didn't really come up last season and no reason to change that opinion on his two Aussie starts. Ordinary ride on Savoir Faire I thought though possibly not trying too hard. Finished off ok though with little room so I'd watch him next start. Jmo.

Doesn't auger well for future winter racing does it?

Might be behind the eight ball but will this new surface at Ellerslie allow any jumps races or is that now completely finished there? Another thing that comes to mind, if it's going to be the all-weather surface it's purported to be, will it then make it unneccessary to travel all the way to Ruakaka for a good winter surface? Just wondering.

I think they only read NES-cafe

Only an example NM, but not a bad one imho.

And when the trotters are running 2.10 MR you can see why they're only running for that amount.