Blue

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.

While I certainly don't think she hammered the horse it's easy enough to take a peep behind and see that you're well clear of anything else and hands and heels should be enough to get him home safely, certainly in that case, and a minor victory flourish one stride from the post is hardly reason for a penalty imho. I'm more concerned about riders both over jumps and on the flat who continually put the stick on horses that are going backwards from the 400 or even before. Though I don't neccessarily fully agree, I can actually see the day when whips could be a thing of the past.

Isn't Smiling Joe back in Asia.? I think I read it somewhere.

He's by Niagara out of a mare named Wai so it's pretty simple. The use of Viagra is simply to illustrate the pronunciation Being a gelding I doubt viagra would help him a lot in the long run.

Yeah, a bit pedantic to some but I'm on that pronunciation kick again. Looks simple to me. By Niagara ( generally pronounced Ny-agra) but starting with a 'W'. Sherwin calls it Why- a-gara. Tony Lee called it Wine-gara last weekend. Not sure where he got the "N", bit think, Niagara, Viagra, Why- agra. Rant over.

I think his winner last week was his first for about five weeks. Not easy if you're trying to improve other's cast-offs. Time will be his friend I think.

Sporting Crystal was a good winner for him early on too.

Good fields for Cambridge this week. Perhaps it's becoming more accepted.

Former Northland President Peter Oldham won a race on his home track in the early 90s with a freelegged pacer he trained himself, Master Apollo. Incidentally, for those who knew him, Peter passed away just a few days ago.

Exactly what I said earlier and looking at today's results, last race winner Cleese was 1 for 1 on the track, but if you check first four finishers in every race the majority had never raced on the track previously or else been unplaced.

Naming the race should now be easy. It'll become the Un-Welcome Stakes.

I suspect that some trainers who are ambivalent towards the AWTs may find some of their horses performing ok on them after all. You never know until you try.

Very few people better at conditioning a racehorse I venture to say and has a lot of knowledge and experience at his disposal through his standard dealings to get the best out any horse with an ounce of ability. Will watch with interest.

Bloody hell guys. This thread is getting worse than Facebook tripe. Every commentator- that's EVERY commentator - has their own pet phrases regardless of racing , rugby, league, AFL or what have you. At the end of the day Aaron's placings are pretty accurate as were Mark Mac's and Jason's. If you don't like a commentary, turn the f#####g sound off and just watch the horse you've backed but I doubt this is a subject that warrants nationwide discussion or crucifiction.

Certainly will. An amazing opportunity but the bar has been set incredibly high. There will be pressure like he's not known before.

With the forecast fine-ish but cool one would imagine there won't be much drying so Rotorua tomorrow will be like glue and could even trip up a number of wet-trackers. Winter racing at it's best.

Personally I don't have a problem with three year old hurdlers. There's unlikely to be many of them anyway but I cant see a problem with a mature, well-trained horse going 2800 over half a dozen batten fences. I recall the odd one some 50 or more years ago. Not sure about purpose-bred jumpers here either. Anything can be taught to jump to some degree. Some take to it, some don't but tradtionally our jumpers have been re-cycled flat gallopers with former sprinters often being the best over the longer distances.

Not really sure how you can compare trainers. Firstly purchasing "top" priced yearlings is no guarantee of success. Walker hasn;t had the luxury of the likes of Avantage, Melody Belle or Probabeel. Promising two and three year old fillies from the previous season didn't really come up this season for whatever reason. On the other hand he's won a bloody lot of lower grade races, especially maidens, with largely untried three and four year olds that Jamie did very little with. A number of these were in the winter last year when the stable had previously gone into hibernation, plus a few over the jumps - a relatively new venture. All in all 170 odd winners with three months of the season still to run is hard to disparage. Just mho.

Walker today quoted as saying yesterday's winner Prismatic is a handy jumper and could later line up at the Bool. Another hint towards a Victorian move methinks.

Heard a whisper too and agree re the second part. Hard not to follow the money under our current situation but it may leave the stable here with a long line of second stringers because anything showing promise would surely go over the ditch. Of course only smoke at this stage - no fire.