john legend

AK Club had good intentions on friday night with poss new owners invited to take part as part owners for a race of a horse selected no doubt to give them all the feeling of success. To be safe the Club chose the ultra talented and consistent Prime Silver to give them the wonderful feeling of owning a horse. The stage was set and as "owners"they would have invested on the tote on their horse. All was going to script until the 400 metre mark with PS. in trail having done no work alas something went wrong and PS finished a lonely last ! As an owner since 1968 ,this was a very accurate feeling what harness racing can be about. There are many lows and no guarantees of success .It is not easy but when you get wins it is the greatest feeling in the world. So although the aucklanders in the dummy ownership got a real experience of ownership (perhaps too real for the club) it is hoped they are not discouraged.

may need to explain ; the field of 8 dogs in the chase were allocated draws 1 to 8 as per normal but in this strange race 1 raced 2 , 3 raced 4 etc. so ineffect there were 4 individual 2 dog races where time meant placings. with conditions changing with rain this was a bizarre event held in Whanganui on last friday night. Only good thing from greyhound owners viewpoint there was 60000.00 dollars to win and some donation to charity which noone seems too clear about. !

Lets hope noone on harness racing comes up with the idea of afield of horses racing 2 at a time with 7 minute intervals against the clock .Only advantage would be some drivers could not get parked and many trotters may actually be able to trot the whole distance. Even Addington track could handle 2 horses at the mile mark and could put Jewels back where they belong.There could be some advantages. Mick G. could pick quinellas successfully , but seriously what a waste of industry funds which hurts all codes. For example Turnover on chase approx$ 30000, a thoroughbred race same week turnover$ 300000 both stakes around 60000 Whats goingon?

Mark always liked plenty of Cullens in his stable.!! lol.

may be better to go back to ashburton for a 1609 mobile start if the experiment is a failure !! instead of the 2 course industry mindset'". Pigs will fly"l

Blocker my dementia is in remission but thanks for your concern.Jason Teaz chose to respond to me on a personal basis and he still had his shovel in hand. i chose not to give him publicity .

one of the reactors could help you blocker ..

A minor matter. but .......Not sure who it was.(please inform) but the comments by a selector relating to Marshal Star before and after the last race last thursday were both insulting and ignorant to say the least He did not obey the old cliche "when you in a hole stop digging". He was annoyed that MS. was made hot fav. as he was only a central Districts horse and below the inferred high standard at Dunedin. After the race which everyone knew was a MS benefit Claiming race except him, He still would not shut upstating sev times there must have been something he did not know about. What he could have and should have known that MS has won 15 races and now $100000.00 He may have in last 18 months raced in CD but is originally South Island horse having competed many times at Addington. He also was rated 86 against all rest of field up to 57 so was a 3 to 4 class above rest of field. Horses are not bred in CD and come fron all over NZ so to say they cant compete with Forbury horses is plain stupid.

as recently as april the dunn Bros. drove Johnny White and no argument that Robt would like to retain the flexibility as to drivers especially with Dexters imminent departure (if Trumpy will let him in !!) Obviously Matt knows the horse well > it is only a question of when a driver becomes more than a stablehand and could be regarded as co trainer when two stables operating in north and south.

yes not an area hrnz would want to get into.other names like Abernethys and Butchers come to mind in the north.It is logical for families to work together and eventually end up as trainers or partners but who can blame drivers to keep options open as except for top 10 little reward for them,if not winning regularly.

also race 7 Dunn boys first and third John white Robt Dunns trained nowhere. (can assume John and dexter had better options than Dads horse.. ) John will have to make decision to be a trainer or driver (freelance) as bad look for punters.

Can anyone explain why a punter puts 2000 place on the tote early.Hashe or she npt heard of ff.? see race 9 at Alexandra Park with 40 cent return. on Seaswift joy.This happens on a regular basis but with the non cancellation rule it does not make economic sense to me. by start time you may get 1.10 return but?? It seems to be 1 punter.

at least someone reinstated the dual meeting at Tauherenikau so small plus but why did it have to disappear this season (clash with a track 700 km away !) before the bad decision rectified.10000 people expected both codes last jan and may not return 2019.

I see comment from HRNZ CEO that Hawera loses a date due to low support this season. LOw support brought aboutby. . a manufactured stand alone situation. which obviously would never work but will ultimately destroy Whanganui and other grass track clubs in the central districts,Those Clubs in jeopardy are Otaki,Wairarapa,whanganui,Hawera,stratford and New Plymouth. The reduction of dates in the area will lead to a reduction in trainers and owners.and no doubt We are heading for 2 or 3 tracks North Island situation . HRNZ needs to fight for Clubs instead allowing the Accountants to dictate. When the total cake shrinks all suffer and trotting in NZ will only spiral downwards. trainers are losing owners ,breeders are losing purchasers and many in the industry are dismayed with the limp response by Board Members . I could go on but wonder if Harness Racing has anyone with any courage left. before it is late.

correct it is 1 big pot nowdays so turnover is 1 total figure and it is the profit after all overhaeds inc racing authority exhorbitant salaries are removed that trickle down to clubs. then ithe club % of turnover determines the payout for stakes etc. but the more turnover the better obviously. however I still think greyhounds appear to be treated very well cf smaller galloping and trotting clubs. It is the separation that should occur of all codes rhar would be fair.A ceo of the TAB told me some years ago greyhounds are polyfilla for racing (they fill in the gaps !) but now they seem through perhaps good presentations to be able to produce high stakes out of thin air ! (old split was around 8 or 9 % off course and 15 or 16 %on course )

its good you are interested KH. I will direct you to the last annual report 2016/17 NZ racing authority It is 53 pages long so you can print it out but before it puts you to sleep I will tell you there is no specific enlightenment on my original queries .

if the ff was available it could be used to calculate profits or losses for distribution tp individualclubs.Of course payouts would also be needed before adding to tote profits. AS ff is now approaching 50% it clouds the turnover figures and some transparency needed esp. if total code profit is split into 3 based on the profit as it should be. If the ff is not handled carefully (like real bookmakers)therecould be a big hole in the expected figures come july 31.

izzy dagg r8 tonight.paying $5 ff.

If churlish means offensive then I did not wish to be but perhaps Ms DC might like to answer the genuine question as to the source of large stakes which appear to me to be out of proportion with turnover. I have been a club secretary which struggled for turnover to get apayout that might keep the club afloat and I can only assume there is a cross subsidy going on. Maybe I should be churlish enough to seek answers under the official Information Act .On some wednesdays I havebeen the only bettor at adog meeting amd surprised to see 2500 stakes for minor races.

yet another enormous greyhound race today , $88000.00 with a turnover of less than stake .ff and tote so assuming the Duke has forgotten about the race and the sponsor put in no more than 5000 where does the stake come from. Like most greyhound races it must come from the the other 2 codes plus some from sports although individual sports are wanting bigger shares of turnover. Am I wrong or is it time for greyhounds to provide their own stake from their own turnover. Also why cant the ff turnover be published?(instead of these mysterious huge bets ) As many cafers are involved in greyhounds would anyone be prepared to clarify ?

your day job.

With the greatest goodwill in the world I have difficulty in being a fan ofMick Guerin. He canbe taken to task as the trackside/box seat producers all seem to think he is brilliant ??Last night he virtually stated the meeting at Cambridge was beneath him even commenting on it. For example he went to great lengths to describe the fact he took a miniscule bet on race 5 the fav and when it got second he was able to state loudly that other horses could win the race. so he bet only the tiniest of bets. Of course not once did the third horse get a mention other than to say it didnt hand up to the fav. quickly and made it work a bit hard. Surely there must be more intelligent presenters . Sorry Mick (I believe you are a nice guy)stick to

It has taken a little while but the somewhat radical system trialled and installed in the last 2 seasons is proving of great benefit to most horses.Sure there are always exceptions but I have been closely involved with horses who would have been off to the riding schools in years past. As an example Cerberus was rated a 61 horse in early 2017 when he put 2 wins together in short time.He then was finding it difficult to recapture that form and he needed to drop down to where he could be competitive again.(plus some illnesses ) .With some discretion applied for grass and race standard he went back down to a 43 ra.ting .This proved the making of him being in the lowest grade . He then won a $10000 race at the last race of the season in the CD. whichmakes him (i believe)a poster boy for the new system. Thanks to those such as Kevin Smith (chief NI handicapper) and others who stood firm against many knockers.

also my total was $19.80 no cigar but up from the dirt trackers !but alas never appeared in updates.

r1' 7 r2..4 r3..12 r4..13...5 Q r5...3 r6..5 r7..11 r8..8 r9..3..2..12..t ' ' '