The most important part of Next gen is Increasing ownership numbers.  Increase ownership participation & you increase demand for horses & increase punting revenue.  For the policy to work we need new owners to be successful.  No fun in investing in horses that  don’t race or can’t win a race.  We want them to become repeat customers & encouraging them to buy stock from unproven stallions decreases their chance-of success, Therefore the incentive to promote new stallions runs contradictory to the goal of increasing ownership. 

Merry Xmas to everyone and especially you Scooby. Your efforts in providing a forum which gives us all a great deal of pleasure is to be commended, robust discussion is healthy and to be encouraged. Thanks again, All the best for Xmas and the coming year.

Thank you Leigh 😘  Cheers John   Thanks muchly to Ponderosa ... thanks to everyone that has made this year for us all on RaceCafe, enjoyable.. whether we agree, disagree, have a poke at each other, or have a laugh, it's what a forum is all about and we'd be so much sadder without it   Have a safe festive season all and may the new year bring you so many things that you are hoping for            

Thanks Nelli, I was thinking along very similar lines.   They are trying to achieve 3 specific goals with one policy. 1- increase ownership numbers 2- Promote young trainers. 3- Promote new stallions.   The first two are necessary goals but I’m not sure about the 3rd.  I believe the best way to achieve these objectives is to have specific policies for each goal rather than intertwining all 3 into one confusing & contradictory policy. 

Video on here…. https://www.racing.com/news/2024-12-23/news-review-persian-caviar-231224

The Black Caviar story lives on. Her 7th foal wins on debut at Wangaratta, her first to do so. Looked good too.  

The launch of NextGen today demonstrates yet again more half-baked ideas even though the intentions are admirable.   1) I can see the rationale of restricting the scheme to sale horses, since NZB Standardbreds are major sponsors, but why restrict it to progeny of stallions in their 1st 3 seasons in NZ? For example, if you are after a trotter, this restricts you to a choice of just 22 horses with half by expensive stallions (a big windfall for the sellers).  2) Why the G1 restriction on the trainers when I think what they intend is to promote young trainers. This means 21 year old Zev Meredith in his first year of training is ruled out but very successful 80+ year old Luk Chin is eligible (not that he ever needs to buy a yearling with his great breed). 3) The alternative option is having a partnership of at least 4 owners with 30+% of the people under 40 years old and who have never owned a horse before. This of course is easily achieved by adding a couple of grandchildren on the ownership papers. A nice thing to do but will it mean more owners racing more horses in the future? I'd be interested what RaceCafers think.

Forget the car 

What is everyone’s best bet over the festive season….. just one tip to bet on…. 

Yes mate. They have been known to be wrong on occasion, so we’ll see. Up to 20mm now. Does look like a wet Wednesday and Thursday for most.

You couldn’t make this shit up. Doubt he knows what “diplomatic acumen” is…. This follows Kushner, Walker, Guilfoyle and Fertitta all into cushy jobs with no experience. Just waiting for some country to say “ You want a relationship with us and we get this ?.. “    https://www.theweek.in/news/world/2024/12/22/who-is-mark-burnett-the-apprentice-producer-appointed-by-trump-as-special-envoy-to-uk.html

Is that for Ellerslie? Current going is Good 4, Soft 5 at Otaki and Heavy 10 at Wingatui.

JOHANNES BRAHMS was second to LAKE FOREST in the 2023 Gimcrack at York - a race starting to look very good. He’s bred to get a mile - there’s a filly half called TATTYCORAM (ex Camelot) who was a very promising third on debut at Ascot in September to subsequent Fillies Mile third BALLET SLIPPERS. She’s in my notebook as a middle distance prospect for next year and as she’s trained by Arc winning handler Ralph Beckett, she’s very much in the “could be anything” folder. I hope we see JMac at Ascot next summer.  

Hong Kong Jockey Club. James McDonald closed a highly successful short-term stint in Hong Kong with a quartet at Sha Tin on Sunday, crowning his stay with two Group 1 victories while amassing more than HK$72 (A$14.8m) million for connections during the 11-meeting cameo. Acclaimed as the 2024 World’s Best Jockey, McDonald slotted four winners, a second and a third from nine rides at Sha Tin to finish his visit with 19 wins and 21 minor placings from 89 rides for overall prizemoney earnings of HK$72,033,605 – a figure bettered this season only by Zac Purton (HK$81.9 million). McDonald, who dominated at the Hong Kong International Races with victories on Romantic Warrior in the G1 Hong Kong Cup (2000m) and Voyage Bubble in the Hong Kong Mile (1600m), scored on Super Legends, Lady’s Choice, Divano and Johannes Brahms today. The New Zealander is scheduled to return to Hong Kong to partner Voyage Bubble in the G1 Stewards’ Cup (1600m) on 19 January after serving a seven-meeting suspension for careless riding following an incident at Sha Tin on 15 December. “I’ve absolutely loved every minute of it except for last Sunday (15 December), it threw a bit of a downer on the whole trip but we loved it – it’s been brilliant,” said McDonald, who sits in fourth place in the Hong Kong jockeys’ championship behind Purton (51 wins), Hugh Bowman (26) and Vincent Ho (21). “Those horses (Romantic Warrior and Voyage Bubble) have been the highlights, but I really enjoyed every meeting – most meetings, I got winners so it was good.” McDonald opened his account aboard Danny Shum’s Super Legends in the first section of the Class 4 Hibiscus Handicap (1200m) before adding the Class 3 Pok Oi Cup Handicap (1200m) on Lady’s Choice for Michael Chang, the first section of the Class 3 Tulip Handicap (1200m) on Francis Lui’s Divano and Johannes Brahms for Pierre Ng in the Class 3 Spruce Handicap (1400m). 2025 BMW Hong Kong Derby (2000m) hopeful Johannes Brahms, who was formerly trained by Aidan O’Brien in Ireland, earned a PP Bonus of HK$1.5 million for his first Hong Kong win.

I hope both Verry Stella and So Suave fly the family flag high. They are in the right stable. ❤️💙

Wow so close 

Don Goodwin, the breeder of 11-time Group 1 winner Verry Elleegant, has passed away, aged 86. Goodwin was a proud student of thoroughbred pedigrees, and it was this passion that led him to acquiring Verry Elleegant’s dam, Opulence, to send to Grangewilliam Stud stallion Zed, for whom he was a shareholder. It was purchasing Opulence off trainer Nicholas Bishara that set the wheels in motion for the formation of a lucrative partnership and friendship between the pair, which took them on the ride of a lifetime. “I had the mare, Opulence, we won a couple of races and she ended up flipping over in a freak accident in the paddock and hurt her spine, so she couldn’t race on,” Bishara said. “We put her in-foal to Towkay and we didn’t have land at that stage, so we decided to sell her. We put her in the sale and Don, who was into his pedigrees, bought her (for $14,000) specifically to go to Zed. “He put the weanling filly foal in the sales, so we snaffled that up (for $2,000) and she turned out to be (three-time winner) Black Lace.” Opulence went on to have a further six live foals, five of those by Zed, including Group 3 performer Verry Flash, Grand National Hurdle (4200m) winner Affluential, and most notably Verry Elleegant. Verry Elleegant showed immense talent from day one and won two of her three starts for Bishara before she was partly sold, with the ownership group expanding to include John, Mark and Rachael Carter and a group of their Auckland friends, along with a number of Australians, including Aziz “Ozzie” Kheir and Brae Sokolski. She was subsequently transferred to leading Victorian trainer Darren Weir, for whom she had four starts, including victory in the G3 Ethereal Stakes (2000m) and placed in the G2 Edward Manifold Stakes (1600m), before she joined leading Sydney trainer Chris Waller’s barn following Weir’s disqualification. Verry Elleegant was a very raw individual with her eccentric and ungainly galloping style, but under Waller she matured into a world-class racehorse and won a further 13 races, 11 of those at elite-level, highlighted by her popular victory in the 2021 edition of the G1 Melbourne Cup (3200m). Conquering Europe was on the minds of a few of her owners and the decision was made to head to France with the mare, who had an unsuccessful four-start campaign for trainer Francis-Henri Graffard before she was retired from racing and was subsequently served by Sea The Stars. Her performances on the track earned her a string of accolades, including Australian Horse of the Year (2020-21), Champion Australian Stayer (2020-21 and 2021-22), Champion Australian Middle-Distance Horse in (2020-21), and Joint Head of 2021 WBR Rankings (Ext.). Bishara, who remained in the syndicate of owners of Verry Elleegant with Goodwin prior to selling their shares ahead of her European campaign, said he shared some of his biggest highlights with Goodwin when racing the great mare. “We had a lot of good times together, particularly with Verry Elleegant,” Bishara said. “We had a magical ride. “The only regret we had is that we couldn’t get to Melbourne during COVID to see her win the Melbourne Cup, that was a real disappointment.” While they enjoyed plenty of memorable moments with Verry Elleegant, they also enjoyed plenty of success with her full-brother Verry Flash, who won 14 races, including the Listed Rangitikei Gold Cup (1600m), and placed twice in the G3 Winter Cup (1600m). “He was a terrific horse in his own right but was overshadowed by Verry Elleegant,” Bishara said. “I think it is an appropriate time to retire him now and he will go to Rowena (Smyth, former jockey) who rode so many wins on him, she will give him a great life.” Through the success of his breeding endeavours through his broodmate gem Opulence, Goodwin was named the inaugural winner of the New Zealand Small Breeder of the Year Award for 2020-21. While racing was Goodwin’s passion later in life, rugby was his first love, and he spent years dedicated to the sport. “He played and coached a lot of rugby, he was very passionate about the sport,” Bishara said. “He was in Suburbs Rugby and he coached the Carter boys (John and Mark of Jomara Bloodstock), and that’s how they got them into the (Verry Elleegant) syndicate.” While Goodwin lost Opulence in 2022 and Zed passed away earlier this year, he was excited about the prospects of their last daughter Verry Stella, who is in training with Chris Waller, who also has her full-brother, So Suave, in work. “Waller has got the cracking full to Verry Elleegant, and they tell me that she is a gorgeous filly,” Bishara said. “It’s a shame he (Goodwin) wasn’t around a little bit longer.” Bishara said Goodwin would be greatly missed, and he will forever remember the great times they shared. “He was a generous man who was into his horses and pedigrees,” Bishara said. “We had a great time racing Verry Elleegant, she was an absolute freak.” – LOVERACING.NZ News Desk

Forecast has 16mm rain Wednesday and another 10mm Thursday.

Great to see Tact Mcleod flyin the Kiwi flag agin the ozzies 😁 he had a bloody good win at Menangle on the 14th, and is now bein aimed at the bendigo Cup, GOOOOO! the boy I say...... https://www.harness.org.au/racing/fields/race-fields/?mc=PC141224   Cheers Iraklis

dalgety 64; S Thornley 62; W House 58. Close contest!