Blue

Is it that there's nothing outstanding in their pedigrees?

I only saw it in real time. A couple of horses were a bit unsettled then all seemed well but in a flash I thought shit, there's a rider off his horse, could see the tangerine and in that split second the gates opened. Sorry for punters.

These two should get automatic entry in next years main events. Swayzee deserves a shot at a threepeat in the Cup and if it was marketed properly it would bring the crowd. Just mho.

Can always go to the south island.

I think he prefers close quarters rather than space. Probably one of racing's worst kept secrets. Once may be dalliance but three or four times is just stupidity. I appreciate he's being protected by the kings of industry but nobody can protect him from himself.

Buckaroo Okita Soushi Sea King St George

Weeeellllll, it takes two to tango but OP has a bloody expensive method of keeping his weight under control - if it was only his weight................

Perhaps a bit harsh Nomates? I think it's been established if the grass was shorter or had been mowed close to raceday the problem may well have been alleviated. All history now anyway, just back to the drawing board.

Just as an aside, though he's a 2000 Gns winner, if he goes to stud is he likely to be stigmatised if the majority of his wins are on synthetic? Just wondering.

I presume this horrendous rain that has led to the transfer of tonight's harness meeting at Alex Park to tomorrow night has also fallen on Ellerslie racecourse? Makes the outcome of tomorrow's meeting even more interesting IMO.

I notice they have seven in on the poly at Cambridge today.

Couple of unraced youngsters have already headed to Oz.

Tend to agree. A while off the winners list to be aiming that high but he's got $2m plus in the bank and they can't take that away from him.

Isn't closer to the rail where the problems arose? Given recent rainfall It would surprise me a bit, at least for this meeting, though I shouldn't be surprised at anything coming from HQ of late.

Anyone opening a book on how far out the false rail will be? Or maybe how far in from the outside rail !

Seems a number of good horses lost recently to colic. Is there something in the high-powered feed they have today that's giving them a guts ache that can't be fixed or is it just coincidental?

Hooray for some sanity Maximus (though I doubt anyone will heed your message). My birthday is 23rd September. I've known since day #1 and I've tried on a number of the ensuing (almost) seventy-seven years to show people the error of their ways in thinking Spring is here once daffodils are out and lambs are born. That aside, until dates programmers use a little grey matter and take nature and history into account this current farcicle situation of three-race meetings will probably continue.

All this feedback I find very interesting. Firstly, through my years farming, 10mls of rain over several hours would barely penetrate the surface of the track unless it was pretty damp to start with so would make little difference, and secondly re the 'hard as F..." comment, there probably isn't one jockey riding today who has ridden on the 'hard and fast" tracks we regularly had over summer prior to, at least, 1980.

Is this narrative any different from what we have been served up on several previous occasions? Like most other racegoers I too am looking forward to attending racedays at HQ but until we hold a full tote meeting with full fields, run at race pace and without any problems I'll view this report with little more than a cursory glance.

Agreed on all fronts. It's interesting that jockeys can guage a gallop at 13 to the furling but can't count the number of times they use the whip.

Maybe. I don't know anything about his racing knowledge but he's easier on the eye and shows a lot more expression and animation than a deadpan Leith Innes who can only echo Sweeneys picks and whose delivery is as boring as hell.

Did I hear right? In the wash up at Ruakaka, Rodley mentioned the passing of B C to which Leith replied " probably the best mare we've seen for ten years." That's what it sounded like to me and so I wondered where he's been for the last ten years.

And speaking of trainers I notice at Ruakaka local horses now under Kenny Rae, no longer Rae/Williams? And I wonder what happened to Scandanavian jockey Per-Anders Graberg. Rode a winner on one of his first rides here but seems to have disappeared.

Would a vet not have a bounden duty to report an unusually large number of odd injuries on the same property? And if he had a series of different vets then that alone would lead one to ask why as horsemen generally stick to the same ones.