Chris Wood

Not happy with the 7 points TA, normal 65 winners get 5 points, I thought 7 was a bit harsh, not having won a race for 18 months.

I for one are happy, my horse has slipped down the rating, R 60 programmed, in like Flynn, and will be competitive to!

One of Racings good guys, Happy retirement Rob!

Well said and put Roger. The Roadshow that Bruce Sharrock ran was attended by a good crowd at the Cambridge track and the trainers were unanimous on their opinions on running R 60 races. They have had one up this way, I think at Avondale and the nominations were huge, showing there is definetly a need for them. Bring on the new season!

Weather bomb predicted, proactive response from the CJC, no use getting everyone here, then the jockeys calling it off with visibility concerns. Postponed till Thursday, everyone is happy! The real harsh weather hasn’t hit yet, a bit of rain, but what was forecast hasn’t arrived yet!

Got my wires crossed Leggy, it was the trials shifted, and they have been postponed today as we are due the weather bomb here today. I totally agree, wet tracks surely have their place on the NZ Racing Calendar, we don’t want to lose sight of that, not so many Head Hunters around these days, but those good old hardy breeds kept the industry going back in the day. With our track closures and renovations going on it makes for lean pickings throughout the North Island. And I do realise the Synthetic is not the complete answer, but it has been a blessing to get our horses up to scra

Like herding cats Scoobs, to many in this industry with their own agendas, Big picture, what Big picture!

Don’t worry, a lot of trainers have an abundance of shares in horses within their stables to, so they prop the game up to as owners. I cannot fathom why the industry let the likes of TeTeko go. Waipa not racing, TeAroha is under renovation, Ellerslie out, for a great reason. Leaves us short of tracks to be honest, nice to see Avondale pre empting things and moving their meeting to Cambridge on Wednesday, that’s the perfect scenario for the all weather track.

Trainers association sold their sole when the got NZTR to collect their subscriptions a good few years ago now. NZTR hold the power, end of story!

Gisborne and Wairoa were two bad decisions in my mind, the locals supported those meetings to the hilt, and do you think any family from either region is going to drive to Hastings to the races. Both courses run and managed by the respective committee’s, at bugger all cost to the industry. A set of people that will never experience horse racing in their lives, sad really!

Nothing wrong with the track, horse numbers at this time of the year dictate trial fields, and regular trials and jumpouts are now accessible with the surface. With a few tracks out of action, there are not to many alternatives! I can’t work out why they let TeTeko go, and what is happening with Waipa, another good venue gone west!

One could bring on the other when I think about it!

Def times, distances I am not sure about!

Sadly the times have never ever been accurate at Counties! Thats been the case for 20 plus years!

Let’s set a few things right here guys. I left this morning from Cambridge at 8.00am with 3 horses onboard. Rusavy and Side Eye to race, another taken down for an owner of mine to pick up from the track as she has been retired. I checked the NZTR website, a Dead 4, perfect. By the time I got to the outskirts of NP, I could see there had been a few showers, nothing of much consequence. I unloaded my horses and put them in the yards over by the 1600m mark, didn’t need to cover my horses as it was quite warm, and they were happy. Another couple of light showers occurred o