A close second in the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1T) when stuck on the inside, Motorious will likely go favored in the Joe Hernandez Stakes (G2T) at Santa Anita Park.View the full article

Taking advantage of a leisurely early pace, Windy Walk had just enough left to hold off grade 1 winners Power Squeeze and Soul of an Angel and score a 14-1 upset in the Dec. 26 Rampart Stakes at Gulfstream Park.View the full article

Possibly not the greatest card of horse racing we’ll ever see at Taranaki this afternoon. Unless I’ve miscounted, the first six races currently have a total of 36 runners which is what you often see at American Dirt meetings 50 miles west of the Backofbeyond. Anyway, could be a chance to up the winning tally in the maidens so a few unoriginal choices: 12.49: DERRYMAN 1.24:  PINK GIN 1.59:  BRIGIT 2.34:  BORNINASTOR, 3.09:  ONE BOLD GIGOLO 3.44:  SAKURA DANCER

The Grade 1 card at Kempton overnight had 46 runners in 6 races so it’s not always about quality or quantity. Looking at the scratching, the likes of UTOPIAN WINE and TRUCE ran yesterday - not sure about some of the others.

The good ones might all be being saved for the second day.

I see Phil is driving today at Gore. Not something you see very often. He was a very good driver when he first started out. And usually on pacers rather than trotters.

Good grief. Imagine how far out it'd be if the horses were wide apart, or having to use both cameras to seperate three or more horses in a photo finish. 

Ditto. Although neither runner helped me 🤣

Otaki was only filling in for Awapuni in Palmerston North , usually their 3rd day of their cup meeting . Their track is being re-laid .

Did you measure that first with a turnip then check it with an orange? Full circle = 360 degrees divided by 4 = 90 degrees.  Clue; running rail, so as to run parallel to itself = 180 degrees. A line at right angles to the running rail = 90 degrees.  This will NOT help you pick a winner.

First time back after the renovation work so it may take a little time to build the atmosphere back though it got some decent coverage on the main evening news. As for the racing, couldn’t fault it for drama and in SNAZZYTAVI and LA CRIQUE, you have two seriously good horses and any rematch should be hyped for all it’s worth. Otaki rather got lost in the day which is unfortunate - I’m sure it’s a meeting with great tradition and history but sometimes less is more. As for Wingatui, there looked to be a decent crowd and LETSBRINGTHEBLING in the last was, along with TOMMY SHELBY in the first, ridiculously easy winners, I know heavy turf can exaggerate superiority but the latter in particular won so easily he’ll probably have done himself out of a handicap.

Our pool of "talent" is so small , Rodders has to be careful , never knows when there is a scrap falling off the table for him to grab . p.s. I should add , we used to have a very robust media , long gone .

Marvelloue achievement, Samantha, hearty congratulations. Your drive on Piccadilly Pete was an absolute peach. Re an earlier comment, it was February 8, 1954 when Douglas Clifford (D. C.) Watts drove 7 in a row on an 8-race programme. A record that, I believe, still stands today.  

My first ever New Zealand Boxing Day and I watched a fair bit of the Trackside 1 coverage. Overall, not too bad and certainly no worse than you’d get from the specialist racing channels in the UK. Good move to have only NZ racing in the early part of the afternoon ensuring as much time as possible but if a race goes off five minutes late it does throw the coverage - it shouldn’t and in the UK the BHA would tell the other courses to let the start times slip a couple of minutes. The drone coverage at Ellerslie added a valuable dimension to the early part of the races - if you were playing in running, you could see how badly MALT TIME fluffed the start. Obviously, they wanted to give the Ellerslie races as much time and coverage as possible but it was good to see the on-track presence at both Otaki and Wingatui and they made a good fist of trying to build up the atmosphere at Ellerslie - the stewards’ enquiry after the dead heat added a nice layer of drama. In the UK, we hear the testimony from the jockeys and the questions asked by the stewards - that would have been good to hear. The woman at the start on her horse isn’t something we have in the UK - usually it’s Leglock Luke Harvey keeping you up to speed at the big meetings but it’s incredibly helpful for punters to know which horses are sweating or edgy behind the stalls. How to deal with the betting side? The BBC tried to ignore it for years back in the day but following the market moves is vital information for players and while hearing everyone’s quaddie in each race a little over the top, keeping the information about the market (would be nice to see liquidity) is helpful. Nice to get a word with the groom (not “strapper” please) as well as they convey the emotion better than the jockey, trainer and owner on many occasions.

Wexford concentrating on NZ racing now instead of being a feeder stable for Paul in Hong Kong. Hence why the stable is firing.

Tudor Fisk, race 4 👍

Only at Hokitika!

For some reason not only does Taranaki have poor fields every Xmas but they get 2 days of it, one wonders why.

Small fields too😵 Just had a look......two races with 8 runners all the other races between 4 to 7 runners.  Everyone gets a cheque for running today even if last. 

Is it just me or is the Ellerslie carnival now missing a bit of the buzz? The Zabeel Classic was a good race but with the Railway moved it feels like New Year's Day is far from the raceday it once was and that they're throwing everything at Karaka Millions night when the overseas buyers and corporates are back in town.