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A look at the Thoroughbred Racing Economic Indicators report for the third quarter suggests that the rising tide of sports wagering is not lifting the pari-mutuel boat.View the full article

Another can of worms . The driver on a galloping horses is best to Steer it into another runner while it's playing up, and cause interference to get a false start and therefore get another go at the race. Yesterday at Ashburton in the last race , the second Favourite Radioactive Jaffa from the 2 Alley,  galloped fiercely on Ricky May approaching the start point , and initially displaced the trailing horse behind it out the back of the field. But unfortunately for Ricky, Sam Thornley astutely steered around him on that number 11 runner and got back in line just before dispatch point , and so there was No false start , and Radioactive Jaffa and all the punters tickets on it were confetti. he was way out the back.  There's been a few instances this year when a galloping runner in the score-up , causes trouble to those around it to get a re-run. Stewards weren't happy. But it's smart thinking really by a Desparate driver 😅. 

Jmac likes the polytracks. Randwick (Australia) has a Polytrack surface inside its racetracks and champion NZ jockey James McDonald is a huge fan. “A lot of winners are starting to come off that Randwick Polytrack now because it is a consistent surface for them to train on,” says McDonald. “And they are good to ride on.”

I remember seeing Chautauqua's last race when he just stood there poor punters lol . But I remember a trotter of Luk Chins may have been Alana in her early days . She always just stood there and refused to  move at all and was never declared a non runner . But here's another one that most would know . If a horse gallops in the score up and checks a horse , They ask the driver if he wants to stay in that position or go on the unruly . But here's the thing , if it gallops again prior to the start if the driver opts to stay in the same position its late scratched  Personally I think any horse who gallops in the score up prior to the start and has no hope should be late scratched 

Corumba that's the horse thanks PS . Wow I didn't realize how many winners he has had . The way he is going no doubt he will hit the 1,000 in the near future 

Didnt mind Stefi, Craig and Tom.  All got nice barriers too.

ASCOLI PICENO is much the best for the Japanese and has beaten CORAZON BEAT three times. How does the draw bias work at Rosehill? LAKE FOREST in eight looks reasonable - young Cieren Fallon gets a big chance. His dad was champion jockey over here. LAZZAT is a serious runner - won the Maurice de Gheest at Deauville in August.  Had BEAUVATIER and FLORA OF BERMUDA in third and fourth and both those placed in the Champions Day Sprint at Ascot ten days ago.

I'm more at 127 for her in all honesty. She beat PROGNOSIS eight lengths and he's off 119 while DOCKLANDS, a further three lengths back, runs off 115. Yes, she was eased down so I don't know if they've added 5 lbs for James MacDonald's celebration so as we do over here you could add a "+" to the rating indicating there's further improvement available. I can see where you could get 132 if you take the line through the 2023 winner ROMANTIC WARRIOR and MR BRIGHTSIDE. Last year, MR BRIGHTSIDE finished a short head behind the winner, this year ten lengths further back. ROMANTIC WARRIOR is rated 123 so you could see why VIA SISTINA is 132. MR BRIGHTSIDE is rated 120 and PRIDE OF JENNI 116 so yes, given the amount they were beaten by VIA SISTINA would again suggest a rating in the low 130s. As always, we need more evidence and IF VIA SISTINA bolts up in the Melbourne Cup I'll be more than happy to put her up accordingly though the trip is the question for me.  NO doubt she's a very good horse on this evidence and I'd love for her to come back to the UK for the Prince of Wales next summer.

I bet you enjoyed rugby more in the days when not a single All Black would even smile whenever they scored a try. Not even the try scorer. Nobody would congratulate anybody else or show any emotion. They'd just turn around a job back to the half way line. Maybe, as amateurs on a daily allowance, they didn't consider they were earning enough to warrant a smile 🤣

JAN BRUEGHEL out - failed the vet check today. The news has just broken on the Racing Post website. 'We're extremely disappointed' - huge Melbourne Cup blow as St Leger hero Jan Brueghel is ruled out after failing vets check | Racing Post

@scooby3051 - can we move this to the main Melbourne Cup thread, please?

1 – SOUTHPORT TYCOON – Ciaron Maher – Craig Williams – 15 – 57.5kg 2 – VEIGHT – Tony & Calvin McEvoy – Harry Coffey – 18 – 57.5kg 3 – TOM KITTEN – James Cummings – Ben Melham – 2 – 57.5kg 4 – OSTRAKA – Annabel Neasham & Rob Archibald – Chad Schofield – 13 – 57.5kg 5 – GRIFF – Ciaron Maher – Dylan Gibbons – 6 – 57.5kg 6 – ENCAP – Gary Portelli – Jason Collett – 1 – 57.5kg 7 – XIDAKI – Peter Snowden – Tom Sherry – 10 – 57.5kg 8 – CHRYSAOR – Chris Waller – Regan Bayliss – 14 – 57.5kg 9 – KINTYRE – Gary Portelli – Reece Jones – 3 – 57.5kg 10 – WAR MACHINE – Michael Moroney & Glen Thompson – Jay Ford – 7 – 57.5kg 11 – PORT LOCKROY – Annabel Neasham & Rob Archibald – Adam Hyeronimus – 9 – 57.5kg 12 – LAZZAT (FR) – Jerome Reynier – Antonio Orani – 12 – 56.5kg 13 – CRAIG – Trent Busuttin & Natalie Young – Nash Rawiller – 5 – 56.5kg 14 – LAKE FOREST (GB) – William Haggas – Cieron Fallon – 8 – 56.5kg 15 – STEFI MAGNETICA – Bjorn Baker – Zac Lloyd – 4 – 55.5kg 16 – JOLIESTAR – Chris Waller – Kerrin McEvoy – 11 – 55.5kg 17 – MAKARENA – Michael, John & Wayne Hawkes – Tyler Schiller – 20 – 55.5kg 18 – SKYBIRD – Mitchell Freedman – Beau Mertens – 16 – 55.5kg 19 – ASCOLI PICENO (JPN) – Yoichi Kuroiwa – Joao Moriera – 17 – 54.5kg 20 – CORAZON BEAT (JPN) – Shizuya Kato – Tommy Berry – 19 – 54.5kg  

He'd have been fined here too I think. Obviously, once you're past the post and especially in the winners' enclosure the celebration is fine - Dettori's famous "Flying Dismounts" for the Group 1 winners were part of the theatre by the end. Ryan Moore, the polar opposite in public, tips his cap to the "lads" and Aidan when he comes in and of course it's a wonderful moment and we shouldn't be too po-faced about a jockey celebration once he or she is off the track and even more so once weighed in and the result is official. Too often, however, they have to ride in the next race so it's back to business after the debrief with connections and interviews with the media.

Given all the controversy and talk around our two track options, I wonder why we don't have any dirt tracks? Some interesting points about the 3 surfaces used in the US in this article: A breakdown of track surfaces in the horse racing world Pete Monaco The Eighth Pole         I've always paid attention to track conditions and I've had some great success wagering in N.Y. on rainy days. But after years of watching races from tracks around the nation, I realized I knew very little about track surfaces. Grass races are my favorite contests and I love when they run on the dirt too. But I doubt I've spent a dozen days at racetracks that had synthetic surfaces and always wondered what they were made of. Earth, Sod and Rubber There are basically three surfaces we race horses on in the U.S.; Dirt, Turf and Synthetic. Dirt was the first surface invented for racing and remains the most common surface at racetracks across the country. It's more affordable than installing an artificial surface or maintaining grass. Horse players consider dirt racing to be more predictable than other surfaces and therefore it's more popular from a wagering prospective. Dirt races also tend to produce the fastest pace of the three surfaces, while turf races often see a slow beginning, followed by a sprint to the finish, and artificial surfaces usually play somewhere in between.   Turf racing is the most popular surface in Europe and we have a pretty good following here in the U.S., too. Weather can play havoc with track conditions and turf racing is the most affected surface of the three. Many veteran turf horses will get in a nice winning groove and develop a preference for a specific condition of the grass, whether it be firm, yielding or in between. Turf racing is easier on a horse's body than a dirt course, as the deep grass cushions their stride and there aren't clods of dirt and dust hitting the horse and rider. Race times on the green also tend to be slower as the deep grass will somewhat resist the hoof of a thoroughbred.   Synthetic racing surfaces can withstand drastic weather changes and are believed to reduce injuries to horses and riders. There are three main types: polytrack, tapeta and cushion. Polytrack is made out of silica sand and fibers made of recycled carpet, spandex and rubber. The entire mixture is then covered with wax. It's the most popular man-made track surface in the nation. Tapeta is a sand and rubber fiber mixture which is also covered with wax. This substance makes up the top several inches and is installed on top of porous asphalt or a geotextile membrane.   Cushion track is a mixture of sand, synthetic and elastic fibers coated with wax. The footing is approximately seven inches deep,followed by a geotextile membrane. All these surfaces have a gravel base with a drainage system and are somewhat similar. The system's purpose is to reduce the amount of standing water on the racetrack by having porous layers of surface that the water flows through quickly. There are also several variations of these surfaces which include: Pro-Ride, Fibresand, Visco-Ride and Rashit Tracks.   The Controversy Research has shown that less equine fatalities occur on synthetic courses than on dirt. But, like with some data in horse racing, there is controversy. Synthetic tracks are relatively new and it might not be fair to compare numbers from a new surface to a track that owns a 100 year old dirt course. More Eighth Pole:How I got into horse racing There are also trainers who claim the horses often sustain odd and hard to diagnose injuries from racing on the man-made surfaces and jockeys have mentioned a fall on the synthetic track "can be like hitting cement." Gamblers have also vented their unhappiness about the difficulty of handicapping races on a synthetic track, as well as trying to gauge horses going back and forth from dirt, turf and synthetic courses. No Magic Fix Catastrophic injuries and breakdowns can happen at anytime in our sport, no matter what track surface you run on or where you train. Breakdowns can also occur due to things other than surface and these reasons are often overlooked or ignored. Track surface is important, but so too is track maintenance. We sometimes see turf courses that are so dry, it looks like pavement. We also see deeply saturated racetracks, where any horse near the rail just seems to run in place in the knee-deep muck.   It's easy for a horse to take a bad step and get injured on a poorly maintained racetrack. Medications, overbreeding, unsoundness, poor training and basic incompetence, can also contribute to breakdowns. I'm all in for making things safer for horse and rider but unfortunately, there's no magic wand to make our sport 100% safe. I'm unsure about the future of synthetic racetracks but I am sure that dirt will be around forever.

Good grief Gruff. You might not have had a jab of Pfizer but you're definitely overdosing on something. You're so stuck in the past l bet you play at 78rpm, and not 33 1/3rpm 🤣 And before you bring up CDs, mp3s and other digital options, vinyl is cool again in 2024. Round and round and round we go......

Firstly chevey86 I don't believe 30% of patients are in hospital because of pharmaceutical interactions , simply a big stretch of reality but lifestyle such as gluttony, a sedentary lifestyle, illicit drugs, smoking and alcohol and you forgot old age that's the real biggy . Anyway Gruff will be impressed with me , no 3 today and I am expecting a rough ride , no 2 was tough going but worth it my PSA  dropped 20 points the Doc was surprised it's the first time he has used this chemo .

Too late .

Market reaction to an (all but) guaranteed runner I suppose?  It's one stride closer to the winning post than any other runner at this stage.  Not that you would catch me taking the 8s.  The opposite argument is 2023 Imperatriz in the Everest.  How many backed her while waiting for a deal to be done that never happened...

Rory Nairn  , so one  poor luckless soul comes unstuck and that should stop the world , move on Gruff try to get over it billions are still on the planet going well . Arderns gone never to return unless Hipkins has his way but she's not as stupid as him .

The book had a few differences upon opening - most runners were paying more than when they closed yesterday, but they have now returned mostly to how it closed yesterday with the exception of: Super Photon was 15s now 14s - in $1 Domain Ace was 13s now 14s - out $1 Captured By Love was $1.70 now $1.75 I guess the market didnt think the change of direction and track condition was enough to warrant any big changes