I thought and did exactly the same! I see he's out to $71-1 (earlier 101-1 then 51-1)

Ok - I've settled on, bloody awesome tipsters experiencing an unusually long dry spell 👍

Even l noticed that about the Cox Plate, and I'm not that observant much of the time 🤣

Well whatever you settle on applies to you as well as me 

It's a shame they couldn't run the Channel 9 Australia coverage for us on an extra channel. As it is we miss a lot of the colour and atmosphere from Flemington because as you mentioned Trackside 1 will likely have Ellerslie, Wingatui, Randwick etc all packed in. Hopefully it won't be as bad as Saturday when they took a race from Doomben and the Cox Plate lead-up got edited so we had the horses being shown in the parade ring before it cut to them in the gates ready to jump.

I'm trying to think of a polite way to say.......bloody useless 😄

?? Following the installation of a limestone base topped by a clay pad, the dirt surfaces at Saratoga now respond exceedingly well to extreme weather while the clay pad offers a more forgiving surface. According to The Jockey Club Equine Injury Database, the dirt surfaces at Saratoga have been the statistically safest among NYRA tracks each year since 2021.

Very tough criteria, I think if this was implemented in all horses for all races they'd be struggling with horse numbers even more, but of course I doubt that would ever happen, can't have injuries in one of the show pieces of the racing world,

Personally I thought that he was killing him as a 4 year old and I still think that the damage has been done BUT when I learned that he had a "'bug' all through his 4 year old career i put $2 to win on him in the Cup at $100 to 1. So notwithstanding  with what I thought of how Rogie handled SNS last year I still think that as a three year old he was a hell of a horse and who know what can happen in 11 days time.

Get another contractor FFS…..🙈

And my guess is that it will be Tapeta Tracks, or at least I hope so, as from what I know, they are the safest. Iv'e published this before but I think that it's worth repeating: When I asked the leading driver of the first All Weather track [Cambridge] on why they didn't chose Tapeta, when the fact's point to Michael Dickinson's invention currently being the best his answer was;  'because Martin Collins is in Australia and it is an advantage to have someone local, rather than someone overseas'.

You can forget Sought After ran. Loomed up but I think it was just too wet for him in the straight. He'll keep.

Thanks for the tip Pete. I didn't like the favourite at all, but did really like Savaglee. Your tip and my selection made for a nice quinella on an extremely rare mid-week bet for me, outside of the Melbourne Cup, NZ Trotting Cup etc. It's rare to have a half-decent race to bet on mid-week locally, and it was the only race l watched. I don't think any horses were that well suited by the surface. How did it play for the actual Te Aroha races?

Thanks PS I didn't realize Neroship won the NZ Cup . Bob Cameron he was very talented as we know with both training and driving . I will never forget Ermis one day at Addington who did everything wrong and went over the fence halfway down the straight , it was a wonder Bob wasn't badly injured . Hands Down forgot about him too what a tough horse he was . You are right when you talk about Owen . When I worked for Len Bayer and Brian Barlett he was the junior driver from memory who drove for them . I used to back a horse he drove called Remarkable am sure you would remember him . I wondered what happened to him , he was unlike his brothers and just had enough of driving and from memory he had a farm in Pukekohe not sure if he stood a stallion there or not . But I love the GC as well I have been there many times and wouldn't mind retiring there myself one day . Old Harry didn't recognize him in the pic . I remember drinking with him and a few others Barry Nyhan etc at the Hutt Park Hotel when we used to go on the circuit , talk about pissed , couldn't handle that these days lol

What do you call those so far down they don't even appear on the list?

A couple of likely lurkers down the bottom of the handicaps 😉

Avondale's November Meeting to Move to Pukekohe Due to ongoing delays with the restoration of power at the Avondale Racecourse, New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing (NZTR) and Avondale Jockey Club (AJC) have made the decision to relocate Avondale’s next scheduled race day on Thursday 7 November to Pukekohe Park. Following the fire to the grandstand in 2023, AJC have been working through the significant work to restore power to its grandstand, but unfortunately the contractor has been unable to confirm completion of the work in time to ensure a meeting could go ahead with confidence next week. “The decision is very disappointing for AJC given the time and resource they have dedicated to getting the track back ready for race day.”-NZTR COO Darin Balcombe “Unfortunately, the contractor completing the work has missed several deadlines and, although they have made assurances the work would be completed by Friday, it would not allow enough time to relocate the meeting should the work not be completed in time. “The decision to move the meeting needed to be made today to give stakeholders confidence the race day would go ahead.” Avondale have completed their necessary Track Return to Racing protocols and, once power is fully restored to the venue, will be available to run their next scheduled race date. The course will still be available trials through this period.

The 12 Grand finalists are listed below but if you're not among them you are still welcome to throw an entry in - you'll be in the "also rans" pool   1    SingaporeSling 2    Richie 3    Kloppite 4    Pete Lane 5    Stoyd 6    Jack 7    Ohokaman 8    Insider 9    Arjay 10   Manfield 11    Say No More 12   Gubellini  

Please take note of a slightly different Regular Scratching rule below, for the Grand Final.  No subs for regular scratchings - up to you to replace them prior to the posting deadline.  Australian scratchings are through by 10am - 10.30am (NZ time) so you will have at least 4 hours to check for scratchings.  It's a Grand Final and we'd rather have it won by picks you're made, not by a sub from a regular scratching.   1.  Pick three horses in each of the 10 races listed below - in each race you will have $5 each way on all three picks, a $2 boxed quinella and a $1 boxed trifecta.    2.  You will have two best bet races where your bet is doubled.  They can be any two of the 10 races listed below. Posting deadline this week is 2.30pm.   This weeks 10 races are as follows.   1. Flemington R2 2. Flemington R3 3. Flemington R4 4. Flemington R6 5. Flemington R7 6. Flemington R8 7. Flemington R9 8. Rosehill R7 9. Rosehill R8 10. Rosehill R9 Please enter horse numbers, with some form of punctuation (eg. / ) between each number, and don't forget to mark your two best bet races.   Regular Scratchings - any regular scratchings need to be replaced prior to the posting deadline.  If you don't replace them you will be a runner (or two or three) short in that race. Late Scratchings - any late scratchings can be replaced up until the posting deadline.  After that you will get the sub, or the 2nd or 3rd win favourite if you already have the others.  If there are equal 2nd or 3rd favourites on the tote the one with the lower saddlecloth number will be deemed as the more favoured. Abandoned races - we need 5 races to be run for the results of the Grand Final to stand.  If races are abandoned before the posting deadline you can change a best bet race, but after the posting deadline that is just the rub of the green.  Weather forecast looks good and these are Australian tracks so shouldn't be an issue.