Hesi

R1 - 3/5 R2 - 4/8 R3 - 1/2 R4 - 6/7 R5 - 5/7 bb R6 - 9/12 R7 - 2/14 R8 - 3/13 R9 - 8/14 R10 - 7/9 bb Changed picks after R2 Good luck today Pete Let's bring it on home Dreamers Thanks PJ

Brett contributing $100 towards the comp fund

20 on @ $2.40 fixed

So with all this superb analysis, anyone got any value bets. I note the TAB offering a top run scorer double Roy/Williamson of $10, but if you multi up their individual prices you are better off at $10.50

Racing: Future of TAB under the spotlight 13 Jul, 2019 5:00am 8 minutes to read Punters enjoy a flutter at the Hastings racecourse during the Hawke's Bay summer festival. Photo / Duncan Brown NZ Herald By: Michael Guerin The future of the TAB and the way Kiwis bet on racing and sport is under the most in-depth investigation in its history. But those expecting quick changes or a wholesale outsourcing of the TAB's activities to overseas operators could be in for a shock. The Racing Industry Transition Authority took over the running of what used to be known as the New Zealand Racing Board last week, the six-person RITA panel replacing the former NZRB executive on July 1, a change that will have gone largely unnoticed by most punters. But RITA will now be charged with deciding the future path of the racing industry and which recommendations outlined in the Messara Report, released by Racing Minister Winston Peters last year, can and will be implemented. While there were initial calls for the Messara report to be implemented in its totality, that won't, and almost certainly legally can't, happen. Several key recommendations around betting levies, race fields legislation and the formation of RITA have already been put in place and the Weekend Herald understands RITA met with the TAB's leaders this week to ask some hard questions. The answers they glean about the TAB's performance, both in the marketplace and internally, will help with their eventual report to the Minister around any potential outsourcing of the TAB or the creation of joint ventures. Outsourcing of the TAB was one of the hottest topics post the Messara report, especially as many in the racing industry are disappointed or angry at the TAB's performance, costs and returns to the industry. Those returns would seem unlikely to grow this year although the exact funding figures for the new season are yet to be released. There have been very vocal calls for the whole TAB business to be outsourced, which would mean a lot less costs but would result in the industry being controlled by an overseas betting agency. As that conversation has matured the appetite for a total outsourcing has waned in many quarters as it has become more apparent while the licence to bet on New Zealand racing and sport could be granted for a set period of time, once the local TAB is dismantled, there would be no putting it back together again. The thoroughbred code has been by far the biggest advocate for outsourcing but they failed to get their preferred nominated rep on RITA and the six-person panel now has a neutral look to it, whereas an NZTR rep would almost certainly be a vote for outsourcing. Instead it looks more likely RITA would advise the Minister that rather than outsourcing the TAB as a whole, all and any joint ventures should be investigated and any future bidding process for betting rights should be open to all parties to increase competition and boost the price. The Australian TAB, known as Tabcorp, are certain to bid for the licence and most other facets of the TAB's business, while Sportsbet, like Tabcorp, put forward an initial soft offer when outsourcing was first investigated by a committee from NZRB and the codes last year. The Weekend Herald understands those initial offers, which were always going to be lowball, were of around $100 million for a 25-year licence, including broadcasting and digital media rights as well as the right to programme New Zealand race times. While $4m a year doesn't sound a lot of money, the real benefit to the industry was seen as the cost savings. Betting industry insiders suggest at least two other massive overseas bookmakers are investigating bidding for the New Zealand betting licence, one reason RITA will want any tendering process to start with a clean sheet of paper. While that TAB entire package could still potentially be up for grabs for the right money, RITA's members are more likely to suggest to the Minister he protect the independence of New Zealand racing first and look at joint ventures to increase returns to the industry without dismantling the TAB. That could mean protecting the likes of broadcasting and the times local meetings are programmed, inside a co-operative framework with Australia, which already takes place. Complicating the matter is how any overseas operator who won the licence for betting on New Zealand racing and sport would meet retail obligations — running your local TAB or pub tab. Retail outlets are expensive and nowhere near as profitable as ever-growing online gambling but are still seen as an important link between betting and the general public. That is just another piece of a very complicated outsourcing or joint venture puzzle and one that RITA looks increasingly likely to start working on with a clean sheet of paper. And if overseas examples are anything to go by, the process could take more than two years to complete if a major outsourcing, or more likely joint venture, was entered into. WHAT THE CODES THINK Mauro Barsi, chief executive, Greyhound Racing NZ: Mauro Barsi. "There is merit in investigating the outsource option, and we should definitely complete a proper due diligence process for the industry, one capable of clearly communicating the risks and rewards of such a major transaction for an iconic New Zealand owned business. Outsourcing is, however, only one option of many. This type of choice is a once in a lifetime decision. Once outsourced it would be very difficult to return to the industry and while there may be substantial monetary rewards initially, there are also questions to be answered about commitments to ongoing investment, control of the racing calendar and the place for "industry good" in a more commercial environment. Overall, we welcome the discussion and believe that the outcome of a robust process — whatever that might be — will be good for the industry." Bernard Saundry, chief executive NZ Thoroughbred Racing: Bernard Saundry. "Outsourcing is not a true description of what we are attempting to achieve — in effect, the racing industry is seeking to partner with an international operator to run the TAB. This would allow continued investment in the betting business to stay relevant and compete. We do not have the scale to compete successfully in a global betting and entertainment marketplace. Improving returns to the 50,000 people involved in NZ racing is our priority. Partnering with an international operator will provide operational synergies, access to better technology and an improved customer experience for punters on and off the track while ensuring we can control our industry and its future." Peter Jensen, chief executive, Harness Racing NZ: Peter Jensen. Photo/ Race Images "Our focus is on improving returns to our stakeholders and the key to this is growing distributions, in a meaningful way, from the wagering operator. We are agnostic on whether this is achieved through improved performance from the TAB or via an outsourcing or joint-venture arrangement with an off-shore operator. Punters in New Zealand now have many options in terms of who they choose to bet with so the focus must be on innovation, improving engagement and ensuring the local offer is competitive. As an industry we cannot take a short-term view on this decision. While we need an immediate injection of new funding, what is equally important is that we are building a sustainable industry that our participants are able to invest with." $400m dilemma for industry It is the industry money maker nobody seems to be talking about and many punters won't want put in place. But banning New Zealanders from betting with overseas agencies could be one of the quickest money makers for the struggling racing industry. At present Kiwi punters enjoy some of the most liberal internet betting laws in the world and many, including those at the top of the three racing codes, bet not just with the TAB but with overseas bookmakers, most via the internet. Latest estimates suggest more than $400 million a year is lost to overseas betting agencies and while the new point of consumption tax and race fields legislation will claw some profits back from that, if that $400m was bet with the New Zealand TAB, the returns to the local industry would be enormously higher. Of course not all that $400m would bet here if the overseas options disappeared but put simply, if Kiwis could only bet with the TAB here, the racing and sports industries would make a lot more money. That would effectively give the TAB a monopoly on all racing and sports gambling conducted in New Zealand and has a second, hugely important benefit. Officials from overseas agencies set to bid for a New Zealand betting licence have confirmed they would pay significantly more for those rights if they were a monopoly, which would translate to a much bigger up-front payment to the racing industry. Of course, having only one bookmaker available to New Zealand punters could see them at the mercy of markets set to brutally high percentages but that could be tempered by rules around setting markets and even a punters' watchdog agency, who ensured markets and restrictions on winning punters were kept in line with overseas norms. Closing New Zealand punting borders would require a legislative change and wouldn't be popular with the punters who currently enjoy a myriad of options. But it poses the question for punters: are you willing to cop less choice about where you bet if the whole industry profits?

The latest from Brian de Lore Racing administrators not guilty on the grounds of insanity by Brian de Lore Published 12 July 2019 When it comes to being under the control of the DIA (Department of Internal Affairs), you can bet things will be moving very slowly. That’s the nature of the beast. Racing in New Zealand is in that predicament despite its desperate state. The clutches of a government department and its bureaucratic lack of inertia is the thing that will sink racing before any well-conceived RITA plans hit the road running. What’s it about? Well, think about the expert advice John Messara advocated in his Review delivered to Minister of Racing Peters on July 27 last year; yes, it’s only a couple of weeks short of a year ago. Messara in making his suite of 17 recommendations stressed full adoption and urgency of implementation for a successful outcome. On page 10, he stated, “…it is critical that the implementation of the recommendations be pursued urgently and in their entirety, as this is the step at which previous reform efforts have failed.” Wasn’t it Albert Einstein who said, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.” The industry has done exactly that, and racing is now lurching from Messara’s expression of being in ‘a serious state of malaise’ a year ago to today’s predicament of ‘a perilous domain of demise.’ Last week’s revelation that nothing has yet been put in place to collect racefields or (BIUC) (betting information user charges) or POC (point of consumption) levies is the problematic outcome of being DIA controlled. Information received from the NZ-First office said it would take six to 12 months to get the necessary agreements. Last year the Minister wisely decided to adopt the Messara Report, but after consultation with governmental bureaucrats, the urgency factor was deleted from the formula. It is now apparent the recommendations in the report have been somewhat remolded to suit that bureaucratic process – at the expense of the owners who the Minister has previously identified as the most critical people in racing. Racehorse owners today are markedly worse off compared to 12 months ago. Stakes have remained constant on borrowed money, but everything else is rising in costs around them, which impacts every owner. Veterinary services, feed costs, transport costs, and the impending 15 percent rise in ACC levies for stable staff and trackwork riders have all gone up or going up. And the buck stops with the owner. Trainers, too, are worse off with a diminishing pool of owners, rising rentals with some subsidising the cost of the horsebox in the cause of staying actively involved. What’s the state of the racing nation, you may well ask? The revenue streams that racing has talked about as being urgent are apparently not urgent if you judge it on DIA’s mode of operandi. DIA is the designated authority to collect the levies – that was a ministerial mistake. NZRB had taken its overdraft facility up to the maximum of $25 million this season with nine to $10 million due for repayment at the end of this season – a challenging situation for RITA to inherit, perhaps. With only eight to $10 million cash-in-hand, the chance of repaying that money is virtually nil – RITA will have to renegotiate a roll-over of that overdraft facility. Where does that leave stakesmoney for the coming season or how long can the current level of stakes continue without those new revenue streams in place? That would be a good question for RITA to answer to the industry ASAP. But the answer may not be forthcoming because presently RITA is not talking while it weighs up its options. For this and last season, the NZRB borrowed a total of $22 million to make the minimum stake $10,000. Would it be logical to assume that to keep stakesmoney at its current level RITA would need $11 million from somewhere or just run out of cash by about November? Is this racing industry broke? The answer is yes. Do most people involved have a touch of the ‘denials’ and a hint of Ostridge about them? The answer is again, yes. Is there any significant evidence of urgency to fix things coming from this bureaucratic ensemble of revenue collectors? This time the answer is no. RITA will be urgent about fixing things but the fact that John Allen and his salubrious bunch of overpaid executives have thrown the RITA team a hospital pass is likely to have provoked a lot of head-scratching. The FOB platform has been operational for six months, and it’s clearly evident it hasn’t fulfilled any of the John Allen promises. The NZRB budget will be shy by something like $20 million, and although TAB turnover on sports betting has risen in recent weeks, it is not delivering a good enough margin of profit. Information supplied to The Optimist says the margin on sports betting has been only five percent in recent times. By CEO Allen’s own admission, it was only three percent for the first three months of its operation (January to March). It cost $50 million plus to build when you correct the NZRB creative accounting, but an even bigger worry is the total $17 million in annual running costs that they signed up for with Paddy Power and Openbet. One of those contracts runs for 10 years and the other for five years – a substantial ongoing commitment, and a headache for RITA. The new website is a ‘dog’ as many of the TAB’s long-standing customers have judged it before defecting to one of the Australian corporates. A lot of the issues with it are unfixable, and when you add to that the poor customer relations record of the TAB and its 2018-19 performance, the long term prognosis for increased returns to the codes is merely fake news. The bottom line is that the doubling of stakes for New Zealand racing isn’t happening anytime soon. The way this saga is panning out, it will be a superlative effort by RITA if they can hold stakes to the current level for the entire season. The first thing that should happen is for the Minister to relieve DIA from its role as ‘Designated Authority.’ Put a body of people in charge of that critical responsibility that know what they are doing – take some of the insanity out of the equation and replace it with common sense. Even holding stakes to the same level is losing ground. Not only do the costs rise, but every time an Australian jurisdiction announces stakes increases, New Zealand loses ground. NSW’s third tier of racing is ‘Country’ which last week announced the total prizemoney allocation would rise to A$81 million, which is an increase of A$48 million commencing in August 2019. The NSW Racing Media Release is reproduced below: MEDIA RELEASE Tuesday, 2 July 2019 Major prizemoney increases for feature country meetings. Racing NSW today announced major prizemoney increases to country racing carnivals right across NSW as a further boost to country racing which will commence from 1 August 2019. With this announcement today, total annual prizemoney to be paid for country racing in NSW will now be more than $81 million which is an increase of $48million or 145% since 2012. Country racing has received the largest increase ofany sector during this time. There will now be eight feature Country Cup races with prizemoney of $200,000 at the following racecourses: Port Macquarie, Goulburn, Albury, Wellington,Tamworth, Wagga Wagga, Scone and Grafton. In addition, prizemoney for Grafton’s Ramornie Handicap, the Wagga Wagga Town Plate and Scone’s Dark Jewel Quality will also be increased to $200,000. The Coffs Harbour and Muswellbrook Cups will receive an increase in prizemoney to $150,000 each and the Taree Cup, Dubbo Cup and Snake Gully Cup at Gundagai will receive an increase in prizemoney to $100,000. Also, the feature meetings at Lismore, Coonamble, Coonabarabran, Mudgee, Moruya, Bega and Orange have received significant increases for their Cups and support races at these meetings. At each of these feature country meetings, there will now also be a $50,000‘Country Magic’ race which is restricted to country-trained horses only. These ‘Country Magic’ races will ensure country participants have an extra opportunity to compete at these feature meetings. These latest announcements follow on from recent increases to minimum prizemoney levels to $22,000 per race and 40 Country Showcase meetings per annum with each race being at least $30,000 and the introduction of races restricted to country-trained horses only such as: – $1.3 million The Kosciuszko- – $500,000 Country Championships Final – 7 x $150,000 Country Championships qualifiers throughout NSW for total $1,050,000 – $75,000 weekly Highway races – $40,000 maidens for country-trained horses only Racing NSW will also provide marketing and promotional support to these country race clubs. These events are also supported by Destination NSW to ensure tourism is brought into the local region. The event will get the local community to get together to celebrate everything great about their town. Racing NSW Chairman, Mr Russell Balding AO, said: “A key strategic priority of Racing NSW is for country racing to continue to stage great carnivals and Cup Race meetings and to ensure that thoroughbred racing is widely celebrated and enjoyed throughout all of NSW, not just Sydney and the Provincials. “Thoroughbred racing, dressing up, heading to the races and having a bet is part of what we do. “The prizemoney increases for these meetings, along with the marketing and promotion of the Carnivals themselves, particularly to the younger demographic, will lift NSW Country Racing to a whole new level. “In addition, the promotion, through Destination NSW of the particular regional attractions and experiences leading up to and during the actual Country Racing Carnival, will be another reason for people to visit regional NSW and make Country Racing part of their short stay or holiday whilst in the region,” Mr Balding said. Minister for Better Regulation and Innovation, Mr Kevin Anderson MP, said: “The increase in prizemoney is not only good for racing, but has great flow on effects for regional communities. “It’s no secret that our regional communities are doing it tough, especially given this unprecedented drought, so investing in racedays can help drive tourism and increase bed nights which is crucial to our local economies,” Mr Anderson said. “Racing is more than just an event in regional communities, it’s part of the culture, which is why we want to continue to make racing as enjoyable and accessible as possible.”

I think a lot of their young athletic talent gets bled to the big sports in USA, like the NBA

If you went on the names that are the colourful essence of cricket, the WI would win everything Gordon Greenidge Garfield Sobers(Sir) Seymour Nurse Rohan Kanhai As opposed to Steve Smith Ross Taylor etc etc

Sorry but I think it is going to be a thumping, they demolished a top team like Aus The poms have 6 frontline bowlers, not part timers and 6 in form destructive batsmen, maybe the most destructive Buttler is down on his game Compare this with what we have We would have to have everything go right to beat them........plus it is at the home of cricket Lords Went there once and saw Greenidge and Haynes put on a double century partnership as though it was grade cricket opposition, but it was England

Steve Smith nutmegged

The chief cheat is pulling them around

You know how it goes Maxi, as soon as you put your proverbials on the line, you can almost guarantee something like that would happen.. As I said what odds could you have got for India's big 3 getting 3 runs(yes I've dropped out the 2 extras), the NZ TAB would not have an option like that, but somewhere some agency would have(come in Mardi) So, I'll do it again, and say that was the Black Caps final, and they will come up well short against either England or Aus

Well, a match for the ages, never saw that coming, what odds on the big 3 for India scoring 5 runs. Sweet redemption for Guptill, from the depths of despair yesterday, lambasted on social media, to pure elation 24 hours later, his direct hit from 30m to run Dhoni out by centimetres, got NZ to the final. What a game!

Barry Hart, once darling legal counsel of the rich and famous, sponsored many races, struck off in 2013 for over charging Lisa Cropp, 3 time premiership winning jockey, close to 1000 career wins, plagued by P. Probably the saddest episode in NZ racing in recent times Anyone know what has become of them?

Here is the current state of affairs Outstanding prizes Sir G - $100 John - $25 plus $15 Tom - $20 Brett - $250(still deciding what to do)

The link with Saturday's racing, is that Baghdad Note won the Whyte back in 1970, on the way through to everlasting glory in that years Melbourne Cup

And, that is the thing I despise about social media, people are using it to have a go at Guptill, free speech I think they call it Sure, he is out of form, confidence which is a big factor in cricket is shot, but leave out the personal stuff. Cricket is a game of fine tolerances, these elite cricketers are very talented, they very quickly work out a batsmen's weaknesses and exploit it

Well above my unsophisticated level of betting Ian

The reality is, NZ might squeeze out 250 India will hunt that down with 5-10 overs to spare, with Rahul and Sharma scoring tons, Kohli and Dhoni to finish it off. Much the same as the Sri Lanka match And Shikhar Dhawan, probably the classiest Indian batsman, watching on

Some of the wickets start off fine, but then seem to slow down around the 30 over mark. Tennis ball bounce seems to be the term used to describe it

So if you added in all the other betting agencies around the world, it is potentially close to a billion on each match?

I see also, that India apparently dodged a bullet last night, chasing 148 in 20 overs may have been too much for them. Did the author of the news item, not realise, that India have such batting firepower, they are capable of scoring at 7 runs per over for the full 50 overs

Rugby, racing and beer, all on the decline big time.......and cricket I wonder what the new slogan will be for NZ in a few years

Yep that is 100% correct, let us know what you want $20 on this Sat Tom Can anyone identify what the connection is therefore with this Saturday's racing