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With regards to Jockey Managers. If a Trackside Presenter is also an active JM, then perhaps they should be barred from tipping in a race that has one of his/her Jockey clients riding in. Just a thought. This would keep the integrity at a higher level don’t you think?

What about Aiden Rodley’s summing up the chances of the 2 main chances, Love Affair and Lilylamour, and using the “ratings” as the reason one will win over the other. Neither won the race

Probably helps the Breeders when older mares win the Group races and gain black type - if it can be called that.

Mostly, when a CEO or Chairman has been in control for a term (say 5 years or more), they are judged on what they achieved for the organisation they controlled. A Legacy that can be built on. One that continues to build the business and allows a successor to further enrich the organisation. Of course, there are times when there’s been no Legacy and as a result, an incoming Leader recognises this and has to adopt a new approach and embrace major change - often resulting in necessary pain in order to refloat the ship and get it back on track. If after all these years there’s a change at the top ( which should happen every 5 years imo) what do you think will be the Legacy left behind? Is there a list of major changes made and a list of beneficial achievements? I mean, to give an example, the unemployment rate in Queensland Australia has dropped a bit. But on close examination, it also shows the Govt has added about 25,000 new public servants and an additional $1.4billion to the public service wage bill. Is this an achievement? Many would say no. So how will NZR chiefs be judged?

So where does this leave NZTR and NZRB? If Burnie is a current Board Member and Dawson a past Board Member then they surely must inherit some responsibility for allowing the current mess to develop? So now you have this new “special” Ministerial Advisory Committee, the NZRB and the NZTR! Appointing the MAC then surely is a sign that the Minister has no confidence in the current Administration of NZ Racing? If so, then he joins most participants in believing so. So why isn’t someone sacked? I can’t imagine P4P assembling an Advisory Committee in the (unlikely) event he had numerous complaints about food quality served in one of his eateries! He would act. I think he would review the complaint and either sack his Chef or ban the complainers! :)

The fact it even started at Beaudesert tells the story!! Best thing about Beaudesert is that it’s close to Kooralbyn Golf Course - a great golf course! (Former haunt of Jason Day)

Credit where credit due please, the trips to Ireland etc are going to be a great help (Only ttp ). They should be looking across the ditch and nowhere else.

Another thing. Why all the talk about tracks in Ireland. Why not focus on closer to home, Australia, which has quite a number of poly track surfaces and Strathayr in use. But really, tracks are just “one” part of a wider problem with NZR. A clean slate is needed and an understanding or vision of what type of industry is best suited to sustain a healthy and profitable operation that looks after all who participate in it. Throwing $600k here and there is not going to cut it. That’s just rubbish and almost shameful.

Some interesting comments so far. Some still looking back rather than looking forward. Age shouldn’t be a barrier for NZ Racing’s version of V’Landy. Based on some of the comments to the list P4P provided at the head of this post, it’s quite clear that there’s general agreement that the Industry is on its knees. So instead of recycling what we all know, instead of throwing “5 loaves and 7 fish” to the thousands who rely on the Racing Industry for a living, a V’Landy must be found because right at this moment, there’s nobody driving the bus. It’s not up to the Minister to drive it and so far, nobody at NZR is even on P Plates! It’s getting that stage for all involved and the Leader must found from within. Who is that person?

I think I can answer you Winx21. Firstly, you’re right about past Racing Ministers but looking back doesn’t help going forward. The current Minister can only be judged on what he does to work with the Racing Industry and improve it under his watch. His speech (shown above) contains little we don’t already know. Secondly, “who is the V’Landys” of NZ Racing? Who is going to be the driver? The person who doesn’t give a rats about who he/she pisses off whilst rebuilding the Industry? Who is that person? The person who can set out a Plan that will reinvigorate the Industry, get the Govt to buy in, the Industry as a whole to embrace and provide a realistic and believable timeline to realise the recovery plan. Until the swamp is drained and someone like V’Landys is put in charge and given a blank canvas, the status quo will remain. Winston is not the solution but he is definitely part of the equation. The one thing he could do is sack the entire NZ Racing Board and start from scratch. Who is the V’Landys?

Re Point 16: If the Industry is going to get any help from WP, I doubt much would be revealed until an election is due. That way, WP could go to the Election with a big basket of goodies promising to implement during the next term. So nothing would have to be done for the next 5 or 6 years, assuming there’s no change in Govt. Change can only come with action from within the Industry itself, so who is leading the ” V’Landy” like charge from within?

Aware of that Ohakason, but the main racing is conducted on Strathayr. Regardless, the experience of “Synthetic” tracks in Oz is that the big punters don’t bet on them and trainers don’t like to use them to race their horses on.

Don’t confuse AWT with Strathayr. The latter is a grass track. I’m assuming by AWT, P4P is referring to “Synthetic AWT’s?” If that’s the case, the Oz experience with AWT’s is mainly in Victoria ( eg, Pakenham and Geelong) where winter weather is crap. The only punters who bet on AWT are “mug punters” sitting in a bar with a pint in front of them or sitting at home with nothing better to do than punt whilst waiting for Gods doors or the gates of hell to open ( not sure which one has the 72 virgins?). The bigger punters will not touch AWT’s when punting. As far as trainers go, they would rarely race any good stock on them for fear of injury. Only have to look at Toowoomba, who put one in against the advice of legendary Toowoomba master trainer, JJ Atkins, and had to pull it up after the trainers boycotted it due to horses suffering so many injuries! The examples of tracks able to have safe racing after heavy rain are Moonee Valley and Shatin and we all know what surface they have. If NZ put one in each centre closest to the main horse populations are or, spent some dough on tracks where natural drainage is a bonus surely that solves a problem with winter racing? Foxton has the room, has soil like the great Melbourne sandbelt golf courses and is quickly accessible in reasonable time due to the surrounding flat terrain. Obviously, due to soil, Strathayr would need to be used in The Waikato. The South Island I’m not sure. So, my summary is Awapuni Race Club sells up and moved its operations to Foxton in a joint venture. Create a training and racing home, with stable’s in the centre ( go to Eagle Farm and have a look at the beautiful stable’s there). The Stable’s could be sold to trainers by way of shares, with a covenant that they must remain part of the Body Corp as Stable’s. This would give trainers are chance to have some Capital When retiring from training. Alternatively, lease the stable’s. Just a thought but I really think parts of NZ are not suited to racing in winter. Foxton overcomes that problem and is within 30mins drive to many towns. Most Melbournites spend that and more getting to the races.

Although either would be nice to have a share in, given the choice, I think I’d rather go for Probabeel.

Typical of BarryB to use Oz as a whipping post. The article from the Courier Mail is 5 years old. I think you’ll find that since then, legislation has been put in place by Australian Racing, requiring owners to find a home for retired horses.