Roger Sugrue

it used to be a Hawera ( or was it Waverley Meeting) - moved about 10 years ago - I assume because of no irrigation from memory both Waverley and Hawera raced 2 days apart that year In fact if I crank up my memory I think this used to be the Taranaki Anniversary Raceday, once a big day on the NZ Calendar.......the Cup being a big deal......Seven Forty Seven winning it on 3 consecutive years in the late 70's.....ridden by Ray Johnson..... I seem to recall Leggy - have a look at that last race from Trentham - Stewards View - the last horses who raced so far out there were Kumai and Peter Wilonyx.....tell me I'm wrong

Jim Stewart - W J Stewart.......or is it Bill

Just browsing the Woodville fields and shocked to see a race named the John Shannon Memorial and checking the Tararua Funeral notices I see he passed away a week or so ago John ( L J Shannon) has been a Racecafe participant for 25 plus years........I'm sure I noticed he put some picks in 2 or 3 weeks ago Bred and raced many horses.....a dyed in the wool passionate Woodville man......I would guess 30 odd years on their Committee, may have been President not sure Recent memories of John was that he was in charge of Parking, watching ( and betting up ) on his phone......and about 3 pm he'd be heading to the Presidents Room for a well deserved beer a true blue Heartland racing man RIP John

surely the topweight wouldn't travel South why run for a 100K conceding 7+ kg when you can run for 400K at WFA a month later @ Hastings ( Imperatriz and Babylon Berlin straight to Aussie) Cork then becomes the 'weight special' IMO

WM have you had your bet yet......and if so who ? these American Football girls are / will be sending me Bonus Bets and I need to put them to work .......and you've put a lot of effort into your Posts so I'd like to come on the ride with you for the next 10 days or so

I'm afraid this is an example of Woke Handicapping ( just add a bit more on)........and now Justaskme is within 2 kg of the Supreme Elite mare Imperatriz Just to remind you she won our 2 Iconic Sprint races brilliantly , the Railway and the BDC Sprint, the latter at WFA by 4.5 lengths, incurring 3 and 5 points respectively ....and the excellent Mudder Justaskme beats a Benchmark field in the mud in mid-Winter.........and gets 4 points........running a woeful first 800m and a magnificient last 600 beating a Benchmark field by three quarters of a length..............all Justaskme did was run up to his 101 Rating At the end of the Day Handicapping is just Opinion.........and for the umpteenth time over the years...... the Handicapper and I......are in disagreement perhaps someone can tell me where I've gone wrong..........LOL

let us know after you've had your bet.......don't want to spoil ypur price

I wish you the best WM and when you win please let us know

C'mon WM .........if you've been involved that long you'll know the Ratings will be out tomorrow morning the other thing you might like to consider is that no matter how impressive the winner looked to our eye........the reality is that he beat a Benchmark 85 field by a length.......woopty.doo on that basis he'll probably get 2 points but if I was the Handicapper I wouldn't penalise him at all.........how would that affect your bet

the other way of looking at it WM is that if Just Ask Me doesn't pay up for the race then Aljay ( 91 points) will be the topweight with 59 kg and it will be a perfect "Handicap" with the bottom weighted horse Rated 79 points on the minimum of 53 kg........that's how I see it anyway....and that would change the race shape completely....and more than likely the result IMO

I'd be fascinated to watch if indeed Shaquille stays with that trainer ...and why I say that is that I look at a horse like Nature Strip who was very good when with Weir but went to a new level when going to Chris Waller - quite simply Chris was able to teach the horse how to use / regulate his boundless energy You could say the same about Peter Moody and Joe Pride - amazing horsemen who have the infrastructure and nous to get " even better " out of an already very good horse In theory if Shaquille could eliminate or minimise his mistakes and harness that speed.....then he could be anything......it's only my theory though....as we know with horses the opposite can also occur......

thanks Stodge I think that run of Shaquille was one of the more remarkable performances I've seen on a racetrack ( in a Sprint race) and I'm still struggling to process it Clearly it wasn't a fluke as he'd done similar at his previous start at Royal Ascot, although perhaps the rider was able to rate him and take him through his gears In the July Cup though.... that second furlong he has run ( bolted) 6 - 8 lengths faster than the field......and has pulled away from challengers running up the hill......that is never done and every horse that does that will tail the field home.........it's like he's run the entire race on one breath Interest for us of course is that he's by the shuttle stallion Charm Spirit.........the one I had a share in couldn't run fast enough to get warm....such is life Like many I can't wait for his remaining starts this season

if you ever need to find a needle in a haystack....just ask Brent

it was part of the Handicapping Review that was published about a month ago.....but I don't know where to find it...... Curious will be able to locate it

so for the few of us who adored Lovenvain and admired her progeny.......great to see Solidify ( Lovenvain 4th dam) step up again yesterday good luck to the connections.......let's hope for another Golden Sword

the other way of looking at it Andrew is that it entices those say in the mid to late 60's to have a go in these Open races especially now when field sizes are small the trick of course is knowing that no Open horses will nominate and if that horse ( in the 60's) wins or runs well ....it won't be crucified in the Ratings ( weights)......I thought I read somewhere that the most it could go up was 6 points compare that to the bad old days where winners of Woodville and Waverley Cups on about a 70 rating were penalised about 17 points and basically stuffed their careers forgotten the horses names but it was a Georgetti horse who won the Waverley Cup and a Zimmerman horse (Dancing Shoes maybe) who won the Woodville Cup

Prowess ( Oaks)

that's good research....thanks Bob and Chiknsmack.....when you see those pages there is certainly a bit going on but as you say Bob , needs a reboot be nice to see Royal Descent produce one like her........her sister The Warrior Woman has Lots 272 ( 2nd Dam) and 593 Angelic Miss ( out of Angelica Hall, by Savabeel) looked really special a year or so ago in Perth and would be an exciting broodmare prospect

Metservice Upper Hutt website will be busy today......currently 100 mls forecast between 7 pm and Race 1 tomorrow

Rawiller released from hospital | RACING.COM

good spotting Rev.... While you're engrossed in the Sales Catalogues ( or Racebook ) see if you can find me something from the Lovenvain maternal line

So much for me thinking she was Black, but just thinking about it I would have had my sunglasses on we must have been teenagers back then Bob.....that day at the Bulls Trials she was trained by Anton Koolman

Yes Mill Reef my everlasting memory of Danroad was watching him in the Birdcage of the Sires Produce he looked to be 12 months older than every other horse in that race.......and that he was a very very sexy autumn 2yo colt ( from memory he won that race and was relegated) I couldn't afford to go to him in the first few years and when I could he'd gone off the boil........but then many of his progeny had long skinny necks with his success in the last year or two I've thought how could this be......and I've just come back to his amazing physical as a 2yo plus the magic of Danehill speed

this is a good Topic Breeder I was giving this a bit of thought a few months ago when Alan Burnet passed away I saw his Vain filly Lovenvain at the Bulls Trials in the early 80's, a magnificent 16.1 black, her coat glistening in the brilliant sunshine and all fetlocks covered in white bandages Fast forward 15 years and hers is the hottest family in Australasia - Golden Sword, Greta Hall, Madame Valeta, Falkirk, Suresh and probably another 5 others as well who had big wraps on them From what I could see I think this family has fizzled out......which quite frankly I find unbelievable When Diamond Lover won the Railway about 30 odd years ago pages and pages were written about her pedigree and how she would become a breed shaper. Has her breed fizzled as well ? We've all had a go......it's mission impossibe isn't it........gives me a headache thinking about it now

Memphis3 I thought this fella deserved his own thread.........and I've spent the morning perusing the Aku Hoa scrapbook Trained by Bert Nicoll who was Murray Griffin's father - in -law Part Owner Warwick Beattie also did his apprenticeship with Bert Nicoll As Gube said 89 starts and in his 2yo season the best performance was a 4th to Sharif from 9 starts His 3yo season seemed to be placings in Highweights over 10 and 11 furlongs Presumably all this toughened him up as his 4yo season had 5 wins in Staying races and he progressed to Open Class As a 5yo he ran placings in the Country Cups against the like of Topsy, Purdie, Ayub Khan , Escameno and Jindabyne that I remember from my High School days I think the following year he was sold at Trentham Sale to Mr Seabrook from Waikato and carried on his career in the North as Gubellini indicated If you want any more info Memphis3 , let me know