rdytdy

Anyway Barryb will be too tired to go to Te Rapa on Sunday after dressing up as Frankenfurter and dancing the time warp at 10pm on Saturday night in Victoria Street.

Really sad news indeed. I caught up with Tony at Baggy's funeral. Champion bloke. RIP Tony.

Yes, well done Michael and agree entirely on your thoughts re the track. 20mls on the Friday on top of a hard pan, what did they expect.

Well spotted!!

As i merntioned in the other thread Crusty, both have eyes so they can see how the track is playing, they can look at the replays, ask the other riders who have been out there for their opinions and they could have gone out and walked the track between races. No reason they couldn't do any homework prior to riding. Sam Spratt obviously did, as she couldn't wait to get O'Marilyn off the fence as fast as she could.

They both have eyes like the rest of us Crusty and Sam Spratt couldn't wait to get away from the fence. I heard Butch Castles say he rang Tim Mills and then he put the track issue down to wear and tear...Please!!! How does wear and tear create soft patches?.....that's something that water (irrigation does). Anyway I believe work started on Monday digging up parts of the track so more sand slitting can be done. It is Imperitive that they get the track right this time!!! A. to get rid of that hard pan so that water can get into the track and B proper drainage so excess water can flow into the drains and get away.

From this morning's New Zealand Herald The Riccarton track helped shaft punters in Saturday's $300,000 New Zealand Bloodstock 1000 Guineas. Three days racing in a week produced a sub-standard surface for one of the season's most important group one races. It cost the $1.70 pre-post favourite O'Marilyn any chance of grabbing her first group one victory, with rider Sam Spratt declaring the high-class filly "hopeless" in the footing. And well-fancied Bonniegirl injured herself struggling through what rider Mark Du Plessis described as a rough patch of track on the home bend. Du Plessis eased Bonnie Girl down believing she had broken down and the pair finished 24 lengths back last. To be fair to the Canterbury Jockey Club on their biggest day of the year, it had to make the footing as forgiving as possible for all runners after two big days of racing, the previous Saturday and Wednesday. The way the surface was cutting up - despite a good 3 official rating - it was clear irrigation had been applied. In the grandstand, trainer Stephen McKee thought something had gone wrong when O'Marilyn struggled to get to the leaders on the home bend and started to paddle at the 375m, her well-known brilliance completely missing. O'Marilyn finished seventh, 6.3 lengths behind winner Platinum Witness. "Sam Spratt came back and said the filly had proved hopeless in the footing," said McKee. "I said, 'It's not that bad is it?' and she said O'Marilyn couldn't hit out at all like she has in her previous races. She said she simply never stretched out." Co-trainer Andrew Forsman said Bonniegirl was very sore in her hindquarters yesterday. "Mark said he was following O'Marilyn and saw her go through a rough patch on the home bend, which he thought he'd missed and he said O'Marilyn looked unbalanced. "Mark thought Bonniegirl had broken down so he eased her up." Unlike Bonniegirl, O'Marilyn has come through her race in good shape, the pain in her case being in the wallets of the thousands who backed the classy filly. The disappointment for the connections of the fillies affected on Saturday is that a win could increase the horse's residual value by $200,000 to $600,000. McKee said another problem his camp has is not knowing whether O'Marilyn can successfully negotiate Saturday's 1600m. "I don't wan't to be critical of the club because they try their best, but Saturday was a bit disappointing for a group one day. "The upside is that we still have a filly." Lisa Latta declares her Guineas winner a stayer, but not one to take to the Derby at Ellerslie. "No, I won't be making any plans because you don't know how they come through these trips down south," said Latta yesterday. "She's going into the paddock for three weeks and depending on how she does we'll set her for the Desert Gold Stakes or the Levin Classic. "After that there's the Oaks, but I'm not saying the Oaks here - there is Sydney and the Queensland Oaks in the winter. We'll see how she does." With so many fillies having trouble handling Riccarton, Platinum Witness had a saloon passage up the middle of the track, but she had to be good to maintain a sustained finish from the back of the field. She kept it going right to the finish under Darryl Bradley, underlining Latta's contention that the further the filly goes the better she will get. Darci's Dream did a great job fighting on for second after contesting the lead on the home bend. She held her place from Belle Miraaj with Matakana displaying staying talent in running on strongly into third. Punters take a bath *Hot favourite O'Marilyn could not accelerate in the home straight at Riccarton. *Bonniegirl was injured in trying to cope with the footing.

Tomorrow night will be a test to see if Butch Castles fronts up on a major issue and questions the CJC's continuing irrigation cock ups. Yesterday just continued the saga of track surface stuff ups due to excess water or uneven water dispersal on the track. This was highlighted with the watering of the outside section of a heavy track this winter. To have 35mls of water applied in the 48 hours before race start seems excessive, particularly 20mls being applied on the Friday. The watering onto a hard pan below the surface caused the chipping out of the track that we saw and as it does not drain evenly due to the soil structure caused soft patches. The track was good the first two days of the carnival but on the big day, Cup Day, they have got it horribly wrong and spoilt what would have been a great Cup week down there. If it was an isolated incident one could accept but for their irrigation woes to be seemingly ongoing then it becomes a major concern. Will the Butcher front up on this?

Hoorang was actually in 2008 Crow, but yes a remarkable recent number of wins coming from the region.

Matakana was very unlucky in the 1000 Guineas when held up for a run and in the end had to change ground twice in the straight to get a run and hit the line better than anything else to finish fourth. Had she have got a run when Opie wanted it, in my opinion she would have been a good show of winning. This is a nice staying filly so stick with her when she steps up over more ground. Nice Oaks type filly.

Good 3 declared this morning but the track is off on the inside section of the track. After the first couple jockeys were saying it is soft in patches and you could see it chipping out quite badly. Heard Michael Pitman say he was biting his tongue and that he instructed Hayden Tinsley to come out just past centre track to get good footing after Southern Sav's race. On Wednesday night they had 3mls of rain and then applied 12mls on Thursday. On Friday they applied 10mls in the morning and another 10mls in the afternoon. Thats a total of 35mls of water going onto the track in the 48 hours prior to race day. Hmmm!

Good luck all. Thanks for the comp Leigh.

Bugger, just realised the 1000 Guineas is not one of the races. R2 Ollie's Note R5 Perfect Start R8 Silk Chardonnay

Rdytdy thanks Mr Cubes for his generosity. As Rdytdy doesn't do the South Island form he is staying with the NI horses and will go with the best race on the day in the 1000 Guineas. Can the Baker/Forsman stable make it a Guineas double having won the 2000 Guineas with Turn Me Loose on the first day? They have two runners in the 1000 Guineas today, Bonnie Girl and Matakana. It is Matakana with Opie up that I will go for however and hopefully make it a stable/jockey double. She was hitting the line strongly over the distance at Te Rapa on a good track when finishing third last start. The 1600m on the big track today will suit. Rdytdy noticed last night that the bookies were offering $16FF odds on Matakana, so Mr Cubes can we spend the $20.00 thus. $10.00 win bet at fixed odds on Matakana and a $10 quinella with O'Marilyn/Matakana. Rdytdy says any collect can be split 50/50 with Cubes. Have a good day's racing.

Q5 Opie Bosson, Jonathon Parkes and Rosie Myers

Cubes would keep them apart. It would make it a stressful day for him though as well as trying to back a winner.

Q6 2 Q7 All have ridden the winner of the Canterbury Gold Cup

Q6 1 Q7 All won the NZ Cup more than once

2. 54.20 Ticklish

10. 151

4. 51

1 Hoorang

Neighbour's text A man received the following text from his neighbour: I am so sorry Harry. I've been riddled with guilt and I have to confess. I have been helping myself to your wife, day and night when you're not around. In fact, more than you I do not get it at home, but that's no excuse. I can no longer live with the guilt and I hope you will accept my sincerest apology with my promise that it won't, ever happen again. Harry, anguished and betrayed, went into his bedroom, grabbed his gun, and without a word, shot his wife and killed her. A few moments later, a second text came in: Bloody autospell! I meant "wifi, not "wife"

Well done to Lee Somerville and Danielle Johnson with Addictive Habit's win in the G1 Coupland's Mile this afternoon. Lee stated before the Triple Crown this was a G1 horse and the horse has now lived up to that opinion and perhap's "Roughie" was looking over him today also. Danielle Johnson is riding extremely well and did a great job again. Congrats to Lee, Danielle and Addictive Habit, thoroughly deserved.

Exactly Turny. The shame with all this technology that Pogo has referred to is that more and more people are becoming completely disconnected with the horse itself and new comers have no connection with the animal at all. Instead of going to the track and getting up close, studying and learning about the horses, they have no feel for them and as such they just become a commodity, a product to bet upon.