Hesi

Investigation underway after Ellerslie abandonment Joshua Smith, LOVERACING.NZ News Desk 10 April 2024 An investigation is set to commence tomorrow morning (Thursday) into the abandonment of Ellerslie’s Wednesday meeting as a result of safety concerns following a slip on the venues newly installed StrathAyr track. A decision was made to abandon the mid-week meeting following senior jockey Opie Bosson’s report of his horse, The Storyteller, slipping near the crossing following race three, which the Stephen Marsh-trained gelding won. “Following race two we had concerns raised by a few of the jockeys in regards to the surface around the home turn,” Stipendiary Steward Lauren Selvakumaran said. “We convened a meeting with those jockeys and on the films it wasn’t apparent that there was any concern. At that time, they (jockeys) also agreed with that and were happy to keep riding. “Post race three, concerns were raised again. We convened a meeting with jockeys, club officials, Stewards and NZTR (New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing) representatives in which Mr Bosson outlined he slipped near the crossing, so we went and had a look at the track and identified a slip mark where Mr Bosson had stated it had happened. We also drove around to the 450m mark and observed a few marks around that area. “We weren’t satisfied with the surface being safe to continue.” Selvakumaran said the idea of moving the rail was floated, but it was decided that wasn’t feasible given the time it would take. “The rail was out 10m today which was the first time the rail has been at that position, so that may have played a part,” she said. “It was suggested a possible rail move, but we just don’t have the time for that as it would take five-plus hours, so we would run out of daylight.” Auckland Thoroughbred Racing chief executive Paul Wilcox was disappointed in the outcome and said the Club is working hard with relevant parties to rectify the issue. “Naturally we are disappointed in relation to having an abandonment. We pride ourselves on doing things right, so we let ourselves down when this happens,” Wilcox said. There were initial reports of horses slipping on Karaka Millions night in January, just the second meeting on the new surface, however, there have been no reports of such issues in subsequent meetings at the venue until Wednesday. “From what we can ascertain, it is the same issue where the grass is matted and joins the sand profile, which is causing the slipperiness. We thought we had that under control and we obviously didn’t,” Wilcox said. “All of those races subsequent to Karaka Millions night have been run without issue and all the jockeys have been happy with the surface. Today with the rail out 10m, which is ground that hasn’t been raced on, it has caused the same issue we experienced on Karaka Millions night.” The track is set to undergo further renovation over winter, however, Wilcox said the club will meet with NZTR and StrathAyr representatives on Thursday morning to discuss the issue and work out a plan to try and rectify the issue ahead of their next meeting in 10 days’ time. “After the last race meeting here (this season), which is the 25th of May, it (StrathAyr track) will get a heavy renovation and that will be focussing on removing that matting to ensure going forward that that can’t cause any issues. This time next year, it will be settled and hopefully racing perfectly,” Wilcox said. “We have had a discussion with NZTR and we have got another meeting with them in the morning to work out a plan of attack so that we can have the confidence of our jockeys, owners, trainers and punters in our surface.” NZTR chief operating officer Darin Balcombe feels for the participants affected by Wednesday’s abandonment and said the three parties will be working hard on Thursday to identify a remedy. “We had a quick catch-up late this afternoon on the abandonment. We are going to meet again tomorrow morning and we have got StrathAyr coming over from Australia,” Balcombe said. “We are going to have a look at what we can do going forward into next week and whether it is still viable to run that meeting next Saturday. “We have got to do better. We can’t have these issues coming up and we have got to make sure that we get these fixes and make sure the tracks are improving. “I am pretty gutted for the owners that would have gone to the course today and had to go home again without a race. I really feel for them. “We will work through the issues and come up with a plan going forward and we will get that out to the industry at some stage tomorrow.”

I think I read you saying that elsewhere. Can you elaborate more on how they deviated

If you look at the video 2.20- 3.40, it shows how a Strathayr track is constructed, including the specialist equipment required. The first 3 layers look standard for any drainage system, the growing medium layer specific to Strathayr and the turf grass selection based on climatic conditions, so it is likely they selected a turf grass suited to Auckland. But who knows, will we ever know

We are not privy to a breakdown of costs for the Ellerslie track. Costs that would have been incurred had they gone for a 'turf' track, and costs that are specific to Strathayr specifications, so I don't think anyone can comment on that. For example, they appear to have done a lot of sub drainage work. Would that have been necessary with a usual turf track, or was that a Strathayr requirement

Strathayr is a turf track, the only discernible difference is the 100mm square plastic pieces, and yes probably paid a premium, but a lot of that would have been in the huge amount of drainage work they did. We all saw pics of the mountain of boulders they excavated

Have a look at the climate graphs for Auckland and Melbourne, similar temp range, sunlight hours the only notable difference is as I said, a lot more rain in Auckland in Winter and Spring

Not defending them, just pointing out, that as you say a lot of money has been spent with good intent (why would it not be) but something has gone badly wrong. I'm pretty sure heads will roll, and i think the main one will be Bruce Sharrock, even though he probably had little directly to do with Ellerslie

Seems to work at Moonee Valley. Auckland has a similar climate except more rain in Winter and Spring, but these problems have occurred in Summer and early Autumn

Strathayr would have been closely involved in the installation, and still advising, so something has slipped through the cracks I'm just wondering, if it was that they seeded the grass in place at Ellerslie, whereas in Aus, Strathayr pre-grow the turf, then it is laid in much the same way as they do Ready Lawn here in NZ, except on a far grander scale

I think this is separate to the mismanagement of track maintenance and renovation and the allocation of money from Entain towards an overall track renovation regime. Ellerslie have done the right thing and spent a lot of money on a complete track rebuild, with a proven system. It is just that something has gone terribly wrong.

Care to recant BR lol

If you went into Grey Lynn on a late Thurs afternoon, you could buy a Friday Flash

Also, there is a current trainer, who has a conviction for mistreating a horse back in 2005. Where do you draw the line.

The other aspect to this, is that 'eyes' are on the racing industry, and this sort of behaviour towards horses will be seized upon by those that wish to see the racing industry closed down. As I said, I'm not a horsey person, so I don't know what techniques are seen as acceptable around horses Even the great Sir Mark Todd sees it as okay to quite severely (in my opinion), hit a horse with a stick in order to train it. Seems to get quite brutal at 1.28

For what it is worth RJB is an ex-jockey with the initials LM. Now wouldn't that be the biggest hoot of the year if it was who everyone jumped to the conclusion it would be, but sorry to disappoint lol lol

Reading the reactions to this, it appears people in the industry are disgusted by the way he treated his horses. I'm not a horsey person so interested to know 1. Does this type of behaviour happen much in the industry 2. Is it something to do with the make-up of the person doing it, and therefore is it something that can be changed, or is it once cruel to your animals, always cruel to you animals. I could imagine that breaking in a horse is no fun and requires a strong make up. I have 2 dogs and would never mistreat them, that is because I have a genuine love for them

22 years old, but seems to have the wrong attitude, initially denied the allegations

Also got 2 months back in 2022 for presenting a fake vaccine pass

Summary of facts Circumstances On Saturday 30th of December 2023, the Racing Integrity Board [RIB] received a complaint from an NZTR Licenced Trainer regarding Kurtis PERTAB’s handling of a horse at the Matamata Racecourse that morning. The complainant stated that he and two fellow Trainers and the Track (Gap) Manager witnessed Mr Pertab giving a horse in his care a prolonged and excessive beating with a whip sometime between 4:30 – 05:30 hours that morning and that their concerns had initially been raised with the Matamata Racing Club. On Wednesday 3rd January 2024, the RIB commenced its investigation into the complaint interviewing four independent witnesses. The Respondent was seen riding a horse that was out of control. He was witnessed trying to correct his horse assertively while walking off the track. He was seen to be attempting to manage it and in doing so, struck it about the head twice with a whip. He was then witnessed walking the horse into the tie ups beside the swimming pool, where the horse is heard receiving a further beating, before being walked back out to the track where the Respondent has continued to beat the horse with his whip. During this period the Respondent was witnessed striking the horse – with a whip over the head a number of times, with the horse being in a stressed state. The Respondent was then further witnessed in the tie up area becoming very agitated with the horse. He was witnessed striking it excessively with the whip around the side of the belly, flank and across the shoulder, continuing for probably a good couple of minutes and estimated to have been 10 to 20 strikes of the whip. All four witnesses have deemed Kurtis PERTAB’s action in handling the horse that morning as excessive and unnecessary. Following the report of the incident to the Matamata Racing Club, an official from the club phoned the Respondent regarding the allegation. The Respondent denied the allegation, stating “It’s only what they say, it’s he said, she said”. The Respondent commented that he would be more careful in future. Matamata Racing Club records for the month of December 2023 identify that Pertab Racing Limited trained a total of 39 horses at the track, averaging 20 horses per day.” Respondent’s Statement [7] On Friday 19th January 2024, the Respondent was interviewed by RIB Investigators with the Respondent’s legal Counsel being present. A transcript of that recorded interview was produced to the Adjudicative Committee. [8] The Respondent has stated that around 04:45 hours on the 30th December 2023, the Respondent has ridden the 3-year-old bay filly horse – (Sire – Staphanos, Dam – Ashalini) at the track. [9] He has admitted to having to try and get control of this horse due to the horse “being a dangerous horse, having come to him to be straightened out.” [10] He admitted to having a whip in his outside hand, which he proceeded to push the horse around, kick the horse and whip it on the shoulder and hind. [11] He denied intentionally hitting the horse over the head with his whip, acknowledging: “- it’s unlikely but I could’ve, there’s a possibility, the horse’s head’s going everywhere. The horse was out of control, everything’s happening at speed.” [12] He strongly denied striking the horse excessively and claims that it comes down to “perception”. He believes his actions were justified for “self-preservation” and to regain control of the horse, claiming “that it wasn’t excessive for the situation”. [13] The Respondent has acknowledged that he is aware of his obligations regarding the care and welfare of horses that he trains as an NZTR Licenced Trainer under the NZTR Rules.

No

There are 3 more meetings at Ellerslie on April 10,20 and May 25, then a break until October. Most racing people would be amazed at how well Randwick handled so much rain, then raced on a softish track (times indicative) If I was Bruce Sharrock, I would be getting on a plane to Sydney and finding out how the hell they could manage that.

They would also had to bear in mind that several races were in the World Pool

Yep, ta

Interesting comments During the bad flooding in Auckland on Jan 27 2023, 258 mm fell or 10 inches. Previously in March 2017 Auckland saw over 4 inches in a short period (hours?), that saw the Auckland Cup postponed from the Sat to Wed, much to the delight of the connections of Chenille, who would have been scratched had it been run on Sat but ran and won on the drier track on the Wed

Would you put money on it? Tracks like Ellerslie, Awapuni and Foxton coping with 9 inches of rain over a 24 hour period.