Linda Jones the jockey was first granted a license to drive in the 1978/79 season and it was following on from that, that women were granted a license to drive against the men.
The earliest woman driver in the North Island that I recall was Nola Agnew and that was well before ladies were licensed. She worked for Bob Barry at Ardmore and if my memory serves me right she drove, possibly Miles Gentry, in a time trial at Alexandra Park in an attempt to be the first woman in Australasia to better 2 minutes. I stand to be corrected on this but it's how I remember it
Pleased to see Thenamesbond has been retired, he didn't want to be there any more. And I feel TD is in the same boat. I don't think its an age thing, it's a mindset. So setting an age limit serves no purpose.
The one thing I do wonder about, how can you have race fixing involving only 2 drivers in the race? What about all the other starters? There is no guarantee that one of them isn't going to come along and win. It seems rather odd to me. Race fixing presumes that most of the drivers would be in on it. Otherwise it's nearly as much a gamble as betting on a straight race anyway.
And there maybe a perfectly good reason for the difference in weights but how is it decided? I am thinking of the weights for the Winter Cup. Two mares, on the same rating,, same number of wins, similar stake earnings although the higher weighted one of the two has won about 30k less and is one year younger (6 as opposed to 7).
Must be one of the tougher jumpers of recent times. What a wee cracker of a horse, he never gives up. But I rather fear weight will get the better of him sooner or later.
I do think that most of those cheaper ones weren't commercially bred. Fine if you are breeding one to race yourself but no point in trying to get good money for a foal with little breeding on the dam's side.
Iraklis, I get frequent notifications on my facebook page from a group that tries to save standardbreds from being slaughtered. NZ horses often pop among the ones they are trying to raise funds for. In fact it was nice to read recently that a horse from NZ's original owner paid the money to save him.
And you know what happens to most ex racing standardbreds in the USA when they finish racing?They either end up being a buggy horse for the Amish and are worked hard and then go as live meat export to japan or they go straight to Japan :(.