karrotsishere

Probably best not to regurgitate that over. Focus on other things re The Race. Re stable driving, its not cheating, while by some it can be perceived as so but ultimately its within the rules of NZ racing, so unless HRNZ change that rule, people will continue to stable drive to their advantage. Like you I cant stand it. And I call it out, whoever stable does it. Gawd just took a peak & talking non-sense. HRNZ didn't fund The Race last year, they did not put a cent in. Waikato/Bay of Plenty Club & the slot holders did & Cambridge got product sponsors Grins. The extra $100,000 needed to put up the stake money to $1 million this year has come from a great idea by Cambridge with a sweepstake. They sold tickets. And the draw has been done. The winner wins $50k 10th place gets $2k. So all 10 people win $. https://www.nightofchampions.nz/sweepstake/ Its called a slot race for a reason. Its independently funded. If HRNZ put any in this year it would be a very small percentage of the $1 million. For those local after having the Jewels taken off them which when was run last time at Cambridge, it was the highest ever turnover for Jewels & the 2nd highest ever turnover for the year by a club behind Cup Week. It gives locals their time to shine. Something exciting to look forward too & 2 local pacers in. Nicolas Cage & Kango. There is alot of North reps 6 if include ex Northern Triple 8 now Aussie rep Old Town Road, Copy That, Nicolas Cage, Kango, BD Joe, ex Northern Triple Eight. The entire community in Cambridge get behind it & make these days a success. One big day a year, that they Cambridge took up, put their hand up for. NOT HRNZ, BUT CAMBRIDGE. HRNZ had nothing to do with this. So they do not get the credit. Its all Cambridge. Ticket sales are expected to be a sell out crowd of 5000. It gets new people to the track & it gets people talking positively about Harness Racing. The turnover will be interesting with ONLY 8 RACES HRNZ/TAB gave them, after 120 noms. Obviously some missed out. Also consider punters $$ majority of $ comes from the North people! The Northern Punters are funding Harness racing in NZ! Cambridge prob aren't worried about some know-all self-proclaimed expert punter in the South anyway. Repeat the money comes from the North. Great to see initiative & a Big after party with a TOP NZ singer/song writer M James. DJs playing too thru- out the nite. Great way to try to get new young demos to the races & involved.

How will Gronkowski go Thurs Winton? Bad draw to over-come. Would have to loop the field at some stage & keep going. Not many horses can do that. Do you think Gronkowski can?

Thunderbirds are GO. Betterzipit. In true Thunderbird - Grimson fashion. He is going around telling people & telling journos & texing people that he cant see Betterzipit lose the big SLOT race West Australia. He has also said that Betterzip it is his best horse yet! Also there was a rumour going around that Grimsons stable hand or close contact prior NZ Cup 2022 was going around telling people that Majestic Cruzier was a shoo in. (nearly won too 2nd!) came wide, wide and was still running. So pleased Copy That won! Wonder why they were and are so confident????? Considering so many viables & this was prior the draw he was saying this. No idea if draw has been done yet. But A Butt said that now Grimson has stated this & its been made public, the Western trainers & drivers will give his horse s..t hahaha. Good. And if they get a chance to do what they did to Laz they will & post him 3 wide whole race if poss. Hahaha.

North desperately need their own admin or group as they are putting it. 120 noms for Fridays meeting. But only 8 races. So how many missed a start? A post from G Knights twitter regarding it. How is this fair? Not fair. On a related note, can't help but be frustrated that officials (see: TAB/HRNZ) have put a hard limit of 8 races for this meeting. This week coming there will be 41 races in the South Island and 8 in the north. NI trainers/drivers/owners already hurting & this doesn't help.

Yes an interview with A Butt who thinks that based on Z Butcher not saying anything oppose stating he will lead at all costs means he will hand up. But A Butt says he will prob make him work for it a bit, & its all pendant on how he cross number 1. Also said that if gives Copy That an easy lead, then pretty much hands race to Copy That. Will have to make him work a lil, but not too much that it stuffs both horses. Enough so he can get his shot up the passing lane.

This is good Historically there appears to be an environment of distrust and self-interest, but there is clearly aburning platform for change. Some good quotes from survey people. “...It can and must get a lot better but will need courage , the right people in charge and an honesty from people involved now to commit to a positive future...” “I would love to be involved ... to revamp the future of the game from grassroots to the top level” "HRNZ needs to listen and take action on ideas produced from the North Island.” Interesting stats re ALL North & South in slow decline or big decline bar Waikato (Cambridge). Average Starts per Horse Across the regions only Waikato (+28%) shows an increase Total Races By Club shows only positive trends in Waikato Bay of Plenty, with others hit by covid and/or HRNZ strategy, and most struggling to get back to previous levels Horse availability data tells us there are 510 racehorses available in the North Island vs 1,499 in the South Island. Wow numbers in horses available massive difference.

My concern would be that they are aging that's all. But yes living longer. Yes agree & as per the report recommendations it says to target everyone all ages, gender & race. Great idea.

Thanks for sharing. See Karrots on the money hehe. Looks really good. Well done to D Branch & his team at Cambridge. Agree Rusty D Branch for CEO HRNZ. Thats a good idea having 2 from each club for the North Island Group. That way ATC cant try & take it over, but could be out-voted ha. The full report says they have requested their grass track meetings back. Interesting that majority of those partook in survey were owners at 85%. Aging population too mostly NZ European (93%), males (72%) aged over 60 years. Big enthasis on getting young people involved also as per full report. Here is a good quote on full report “Definition of insanity - doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome. Things need toc hange, and fast! Under full report Strategic Issues or Opportunities identified as Priorities 1. Improve governance and leadership of HRNZ (e.g. review costs, staff and operations; increase listening and action; address integrity issues & conflicts of interest) Voted - 266 Priority 1st A survey was sent to a database of North Island harness racing participants generating a healthy 446 responses with over 119 hours of input. The workshops were conducted in early March at both Palmerston North and Karaka, with in-person attendance reaching around 80+ industry stakeholders. “S Beaman presented this report to the Board of HRNZ on Thursday and it was well received,” said Branch. “We have a commitment from HRNZ that they will come back to North Island stakeholders with a response to the report following their next Board meeting which will be held at the end of April,” he said. 1. Raise governance and leadership awareness and obtain a commitment to change d) Do HRNZ and TAB want harness racing to be successful and sustainable into the future? If so, they need to commit to driving change. 2. Develop a formal North Island collaboration group with ongoing two-way communication. b) Makeup should include two individuals from each of the three key regions (Manawatu, Auckland, Waikato/BOP) that collectively reflect the varying stakeholder groups (e.g., trainers, drivers, owners, breeders, clubs, sponsors, metro and country, large and small industry players, gender mix, and diversity of age and experience) and including a respected independent person as Chair. 3. Create dedicated North Island focus and accountability within HRNZ 4. Quickly review and make change to the handicapping and ratings system a) Get a small taskforce of people with the necessary expertise (e.g. HRNZ currently involved, stakeholder voice, retired experts etc) to quickly address the current system so it starts to deliver more fairly. Here is an interesting stat - in full report Who we heard from • From across the North Island, mostly NZ European (93%), males (72%) aged over 60 years (58%) and with over 20 years involvement (73%) in Harness Racing. • We heard mostly from owners (85%) and breeders (37%), along with various licence holders (39%), some sponsors (7%) and some club committee/staff (8%) across the North What to Stop: • Ending back-to-back race meet schedules What to Keep and the value of grass track racing 5. Develop an integrated North Island Calendar and influence its implementation a) Get a small taskforce of people with the necessary expertise (e.g. HRNZ NI rep, NI collaboration group across all 3 regions, TAB rep, modern marketing expert etc) to develop a revised racing calendar.

Here is another - Thunderbirds are Go. With Ladybird. Race 2, Winton - Non win race - 065980 The Ladybird 17 starts 1 placing. Changed stable to T Dewe, had 1 start for T Dewe last start. Suprising didnt win 1st up for him, but note race review - states it broke when traveling. Race review (3pegs, brk whn travelling trn)

Righto. I like Old Town Old. Why can't he lead? Why does Copy Thats have to lead? Why not park Copy That as Spirit did. Why potentially gift the race to Copy That. Old Town Road, most times Iv looked has had crap draws, finally gets a good one. Hes just as speedy fast as Copy That & has drawn inside Copy That. And he has sustained long runs keeping up a top speed, coming wide in races. Id be public announcing tactics if I was Z Butcher saying I'm leading at all costs. So Copy Thats connections know, not to come looking & if they chose to they can expect to end up parked & potentially pulled up again. Or they could not take that risk in speed dualing for lead winding Copy That up if leads not there, sit parked initial stages & wait for cover to come as it will being a $1 million race. All Stars would mid-race move at some point.

Agree. And yes he is the grass track specialist. Lighter weight perhaps the key? As well as gd tactics on grass. Agree. Suspect that grass getting track racing back in North was voted a priority after many meetings were taken away. But cant confirm for sure. In any case once North get own management team (hypothetically speaking) to focus on North, those running it can put pressure on TAB etc to get back. Was TAB wasnt it that took away to centralize. They can really go into bat for North re TAB. Is it true majority of punters live in North? But bet on South? Therefore money is coming from North to pay the South. Eg punters money majority comes from North, but stake prize money lions share is given to South. Thats what I heard. Agree. Took a look at the board & some are just corporates, not ness have Harness expert knowledge. Therefore agree must have those that have a passion & not self interest at heart or conflict of interest. Or matey with people. Noticed there is 6 of 8 live in North on Board. How did that happen? Not fair needs to be an even split 4 North, 4 South. If North get their own team to take charge & control with Branch running the ship, one would think it would be steered in right direction. Its exciting really the prospect for them.

Wonder how the meeting went this week, you know re leadership was voted top improvement needed. Guessing voting & any announcements re North Island would be in a month or so. Feel the force is strong with North Island getting their own management.

Back to subject. My money is on North Island getting their own administration set up or something similar. Happy, Rusty, Addy who usually we all agree on topics have disagreed they wont be sucessful in this desire. Anyone else back North Island getting their own representatives with me, Lightening is a for thinks it will happen. Before casting your vote, Iv taken into consideration voting board. 2 from ATC, 2 independants, plus C Bray & Chairman (from Waikato), thats majority needed there 6 of 8.

Hahaha, yes. How good was it when Spitty finally got his 1st win. And then to top it off a 2nd win to finish his career in fine fashion. Not the 1st time the self confessed expert has got it wrong & it won't be his last.

Oh I think you are meaning you typed something, then deleted it as cant say what you want. And yes there is something we are not allowed to say, or make a joke of. Morning Craig, nice to hear from you, RIB haven't made my mind up on them. They do good job, then sometimes not so good. They just got it handed to them by the High Court. The Wigg case. I always supported Wigg & agreed the sentence was too much for offence. In which High Court also agrees. Now as a result Burrows recently applied for a review to his sentence & guess Anderson will follow. A positive to come from it all is that now the RIB wont be doing the reviews/appeals, something they refused to change until this high court decision. They handed down the sentences, then did all the appeals too. How fair was that? Conflict of interest. So now it has recently been changed & an indepandant who will do the appeals. Your are right, have been a bit negative lately. Take a look at the past 5 years UDR & the top 10 ish trainers, who is down among them. A pattern occurs. Look for trainers with 15 or more starts with multiple horses. There is a saying when something is too good to be true ... But totally cool, we all have our own views and thoughts on it. And I respect that. Re Easter racing I'm not following it sorry, just kind of zone in some things takes my interest. Eg The Race, RIB head will be partaking in overseeing of the draw NZ time Monday. But someone else may have a view Easter Racing channel etc.

Not sure what you mean Happy. Im not deleting it. Cant see the problem with? Its all public info. These races replays I have mentioned are all public too. Iv asked a question whats the magic sudden improvement. You answered saying not sure. Anyway no more Deep South watch posts then. But come on, if its grabbed our attention then who elses has it grabbed?

127 noms for the big nite of champions. Noted last nite had 12 races, so plenty of noms. Back to back Camb meetings. Says just 8 races. Cambridge becoming the main stage track in North is starting to take shape. Good money too for Cambridge. Makes it look like its a case of people just not wanting to race at Alex P small fields & all. On a different note Son Of Mac shares are available. Who is heading off to Aus to compete in Victoria Derby & Breeders.

Yes great idea. Here is public made info incase anyone out there needs to go to spec-savers as HRNZ are putting up incorrect info under T Dewes 2023 stats. HRNZ has up that he only has 4 starts & no wins & 1 second / UDR .1389 Incorrect. T Dewe actual 2023 stats 15 starts / 7 wins / 1 second / 2 thirds - URD = .5481 C Ferguson 2023 stats 19 starts / 9 wins / 3 seconds / 2 thirds - UDR = .5965 C Fergusons 2022 stats 50 starts / 21 wins / 7 seconds / 2 thirds - UDR = .5111 Get this C Fergusons 2020 stats 34 starts / 1 win / 2 seconds / 3 thirds - .0915 & his 2021 stats are average. So he suddenly out of nowhere got a magic winning formula from 2022.

Wow wee, just watched Mile at Camb & what a beaut race it was. I'm more used to mile racing now & like that Camb are adapting & putting on shorter distance racing. Better use of the current horse population, can back up week after. How good was it tho. What blistering speed Copy That showed down the back. Nicolas Cage held up & pushed back at a vital stage. Looked like he could of possibly gone with them too ... BD Joe, did well, went with them, but got pumped out 4 wide, then 3 wide last corner, that was telling. Old Town Road was big too, worked hard early & moved with them. Akuta a nice run too. What was the driver of Simply Sam trying to do? Weird tactics fresh up - Gut buster. Wonder if he was instructed to set it up for stable mate Copy That to swoop? A Poutamu isn't the best with stable driving, recall him trying to set it up on Tommy Lincoln for Copy That, staying in-front at all costs, but failed miserably, only to fade & held Copy That up & Amazing Dream won. That's 1 reason why I don't like stable driving. Its such a bad look. How good is N Rasmussen. Shes my top rated driver. So good. Nice to see Self Assured get the win.

Sniffing around & C Ferguson gets a trifecta. R2 Deep South horse called Gronkowski, out of curiousity watched replay after looking up todays results. Noticed the horse under a hold the whole race & none of the others in the race were 1 bar. The commentator said the leader had them running along. Yes had a nice run, but couldnt help but noticed just how well it was running along. The commentator states Gronkowski the one they have all come for. Looks like a sure thing just missed as driver didnt pull out in time. Not blaming driver. Just noted its form 858055 & it started from the 2nd row! Yet seemed to have been punted in to 2nd fav. Took at look back at Teddy Bakers 1st up run for same trainer, looked similar was running along well just like todays Gronkowski. What is T Dewe doing to make his horses run along so well during the running, to a point the drivers have to have a good hold on them? As soon as they start for him, they go from no form to instant winners or like today a just miss. And why did the punters come for this horse as the commentator stated? Same thing too for C Ferguson, how is he also getting horses stable changed to then 1st up with no form win easily? What is their magic trick? Grimson I see Betterzipit won some big ish race & is all the talk for some slot race in Aussie. Got to be joking. So if Betterzipit had of gone back to NZ & raced in The Race he would be a possible top 3 player? The old Betterzipit, not a chance. What are these 3 trainers doing to get such amazing results? I dont believe that Grimson whispers in the horses ear (horse whisper) as Iv read online, that that is the reason they suddenly improve out of sight. Get real. Changing gear eg putting blinds on or off doesn't suddenly improve a horses stamina ten fold. Get real.

Was just thinking about the after party M James stage on track & people partying on track. Guess they will put down a fake lawn or something, wouldnt want to get glass on track. Heard a DJ duo George FM be playing too in between races from middle of program. Sounds like party. Fun times at Cambridge. Gee those Skylounge tkts are $350. If your aged between 18 - 45 you wouldnt want to be stuck up there, with all the old timers. You want to be down with all the party action ha. Im laughing as posting this on here. Having a bit of a stir lol.

Here the latest update re The Race & after party. A stage will be set up on the track after the last race The Big one at 9pm. And the after party will be on the track in home straight. How fun! Wish I was going. Be Karrots booging down to M James. Ticket sales are going well, and they Cambridge are confident they will sell 5000 be a sell out crowd. Shame no Lous in The Race. Shame The Bartender wasnt ready for it. Heard he had an op, on leg or something. So spelling recovering.

Dunno. Maybe this is why so many people are feeling the way they are & want change and now. Anyway whats the go with The Race? Taking a peak & tickets sales must be slow, as still all packages available & also general admin 2nd release available. Have Camb been too busy mopping up all the other mess left by others, that they havent been able to focus totally on The Race? Such an easy sell with M James playing after party. I don't understand. No one outside of horse racing that Iv been whatsapping who is a local Waikato has heard about it. But upon hearing M James will be playing are seriously considering going. Heck I told someone 40s & I said tell your son/daughter & the person said hell no, I wanna go myself. M James rocks. Camb need to utlize this last week and go hard! Last minute dash. Tips for them. Have their team who are mostly young & female team go to the bars in Hamilton. Pick 1 or 2 the most popular ones. Put up flyer up that shows M James & The Race, if they can walk around telling people about it be good too. Or give the owner or manager free tickets or something and in exchange that person can tell people about it next weekend. Call up or email work places that have alot of younger people work there. Hamilton is what the 4th largest city in NZ. Also what about those smaller rural towns eg Te Awamutu, Otorohonga - what about putting up a flyer at main local & same thing re tell bar staff, or manager, ask them to promote in exchange free tickets. There are so many companies to target that Im sure the young ones would love to go. (could even be those tractor driving places that have young dudes, that are single, on high paying jobs & just go sit around drink at pubs on their days off, as have deposible incomes. Go sit at The Race & drink next Fri 14th. Even workforce like the Police. Heck lots of young ones there, that party (drink) on their days off. Hit up the local Waikato station or East Waikato station. There are so many places to target. What about Hair Salons to get females in. Have a Camb staff member go in & drop off a flyer & tell them about it. Very embarrassing if the crowd is not BIG. It should be huge. Stop targeting the already converted, get the message out beyond that.

Saw a twitter post by G Knight that he disagrees with these changes. He also stated he knows for a fact the Hopes are not happy about it also being so close out to the actual date/s making these changes.

Actually, I see Cambridge Raceway recently went to Waikato Uni to promote The Race & targeted the Uni students. Therefore they must know them or have some sort of relationship. Go to Waikato Uni, & ask them their Language School Institute. The 1 that teaches English. Those studying go on tours in weekends or sometimes do 1/2 day trips local after class or if they have no class in afternoon. (A 1/2 day trip used to be the Horse Magic Show in Cambridge). It used to be a stop-over many years ago. Ask the Language Institute at Waikato Uni who is currently doing the tour groups. Also contact Auckland University - Language centre & ask same thing. That would be my starting point. Then go from there in suggesting a quick stop-over at the Hall of Fame. A key point to it is loo stop-over, give driver a rest plus visit the new to area Trotting Hall of Fame, plus see a horse. That is your in - Auckland to Rotorua tour groups or a local fun visit. You are after those learning English in NZ and are in NZ for short term stays. They usually will be staying with home-stays. Home-stays are not reasonable for taking them on sightseeing trips. Ps would need to get in touch a mimimum of a year out. So Id touch base this year. As they ususally have itineraries set out & done 1 year in advance. Simialar to racing calendar done for a year.