karrotsishere Posted January 3, 2022 Share Posted January 3, 2022 1. What is your involvement in industry, a) fan b) punter c) something else? Punter only, although went to the sales one year with Roger James to buy a yearling but got outbid. Will get involved in ownership at some stage in the future though. 2. How long have you been involved & what got you involved? Ever since Silver Knight won the Melbourne Cup. 3. Think you were the original set up of this site, how did it come about, the short nice version? Yes, things were going south on BOAY, as a few on here will remember. I had been on Racecafe since 2007, so was happy to just disappear into cyberspace. Then it became apparent, that PJ's comps may not have a suitable home, so I asked Pete if he wanted to start a new site as an option for PJ. Pete knows computer stuff. We were originally with vBulletin, but were having technical issues with PJ's comps, so moved to Invision, which is what the other 2 sites are on. I can still to this day remember Pete's response, when I started asking questions about moving to Invision. The site would have died on vBulletin. 4. Do you have any hopes for the site? Or were you nervous about setting up a site, that you may not have enough posters at the beginning? Would like to get up to 200 members, with most as active posters. The worst thing, is setting up a site and not getting enough posters, then the few you may have, lose interest. These sites are all mainly about ego. People post, then want people to see what they post and have others reply, the more the better. If people don't reply, people stop posting. I don't worry now, as we have reached a critical mass, thanks in part to yourself and the new harness people. 5. Would like to thank you & Pete for the money you personally put up monthly for the operation of the site, some of us including myself get a lot of entertainment from it. Is there anything that could happen to have the site closed down? No worries, it is only $30/month each, and no ads. Very intuitive question, that second part lol. If negativity and personal abuse became endemic, I would consider the site a failure and want to close it, but then that's totally in our own hands. The template, in my mind anyway, has always been what Racecafe was like when Ange and Dave started and ran it. Many make reference to that. Pete and I have other stuff to do, other than to continually monitor the site, it is a hobby after all. Things run smoothly the way we have it now. 6. What is your biggest punt win? $2,000 on Zonda to win the 1997 Derby. Roger James told me in June it would win. It paid $2.20 7. What is your most vivid memory in industry? Watching Zonda win the Derby. The video footage is apparently lost. When I was on BOAY, I asked the person (Anthony Corban), who was responsible at the Racing Board (TAB), if they could be found. Apparently, decades of historical film is in a container in Wellington, slowly degrading and will be eventually lost forever, as the cost to digitalise is very high, what a tragedy. 8. Have you watched the movie Phar Lap? No, but will. Have watched a lot of the other racing movies. 9. Is there anything else you could add? What's your name? Almost everyone on here is known by a first name, don't be shy. 10. A bad or negative experience in industry? General decline in thoroughbred racing in NZ. Used to go to every meeting in the north, not now. Part of it was to see some of the great horses that have graced our turf in the last 50 years. I have a photo of Zonda in the parade ring with Vinny Colgan up, just before it went out and killed them in the Derby. 11. Most happy memory? Ellerslie infield on Boxing Day. Bayer Day at Levin. Twilight meetings at Avondale. 12. Something we don’t know about you? I have a business growing flowers to sell at the Auckland auctions, I co-ordinated the phase out of CFC's in aerosols in NZ. They are the chemicals that were causing the hole in the ozone layer. 13. What is your favourite Harness & Gallop track? Harness - Claudelands saucer, 800m from memory. Used to go there quite often when I was going out with Peter McMillan's daughter, who stood Scottish Command Gallop - Would have to be Ellerslie, till they stuffed it up. 14. Biggest regret? That 2 of the foundation members, John and TC, could never put their differences with others to one side and continue on the site. They were both interesting and intelligent people, and well liked by many on the site. TC still holds the record of 19 consecutive victories in head to head PJ comps 6 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karrotsishere Posted January 3, 2022 Author Share Posted January 3, 2022 (edited) Troubled Hesi to participate lol. As figured he had not participated. Figured should really cover his story. So here we go folks. Hesi Question 9 lol. Not telling hehe. Question 4 - really - oh fank you - and yes us Harness folk on here are fun to have around now aren't we 😄 Edited January 3, 2022 by karrotsishere 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hesi Posted January 4, 2022 Share Posted January 4, 2022 Photos I took a long time ago of Zonda before he went out and gave one of the most exceptional performances in the history of the race, to win the 1997 NZ Derby at Ellerslie Looks like a young Lance Noble in one of the pics 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hesi Posted January 4, 2022 Share Posted January 4, 2022 And after the race, a packed infield, a very young Roger James, and a slight distraction 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hesi Posted January 4, 2022 Share Posted January 4, 2022 To be that young again, Roger James, Lance Noble and the incorrigible Vincent Colgan, all 3 in their finest hour in racing, all captured on film 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VC! Posted January 4, 2022 Share Posted January 4, 2022 18 minutes ago, Hesi said: To be that young again, Roger James, Lance Noble and the incorrigible Vincent Colgan, all 3 in their finest hour in racing, all captured on film I remember travelling in the float with RJ a few times, from Matamata to Ellerslie he was foreman for Jimmy Gibbs, they would load our horses at Wexford first then we would stop off at JGs to fill any vacant spots, I remember when I first met him as a 17 year old I thought he was battling for the same team 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hesi Posted January 4, 2022 Share Posted January 4, 2022 He used to be a banker didn't he? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VC! Posted January 5, 2022 Share Posted January 5, 2022 3 hours ago, Hesi said: He used to be a banker didn't he? I vaguely remember something like that, I’ve always followed him throughout his career, he’s done extremely well Zonda was definitely a goodin😊 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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