And therein lies the problem , why was he employed in this role ?? But as we know from having BS in the role , real understanding of the industry guarantees nothing .

And Ballsey wouldn't have the faintest idea what the basics of racing are anyhow. He thinks you can just promote it like Casinos. He obviously has no concept of the infrastructure involved.

Last year, Alabar put their NI Stud Farm on the market, for lease from the 1st September this year, they also offered 30 mares, that if you paid for an Alabar service fee for them they would be yours after positive test and payment. They have also sold horses to China and sold on Gavelhouse, the yearling sales, and I have not looked but probably, the weanling sale coming up. Last week there was an email offering to giveaway 3 mares, they are not infoal, and were born in 2012,  2009,  & 2005, the oldest mare is La Joconde, Dam of Alto Orlando, $1.153m. Obviously they are exiting the NZ breeding scene, but I don't recall seeing any announcement.

New Plymouth hardly ever has a race meeting let alone jump outs, they are held mostly at Stratford...another one they are trying to get their grubby hands on.

Their talking to the experts first .

What a joke this lot is….😆 Claytons discussions…who would believe these pricks ? https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/4/28/trump-china-tariff-war-whos-winning-so-far

Do we need trials to be held at a CD track in Taranaki? I know they have regular jump outs at New Plymouth and sometimes at Hawera but would owners/trainers be happier with trials?

Played really well all 3 trial meeting's they have had there over the last few months. Always presents well as well. Usually well represented with numbers. Between Foxton and Waipuk we have 2 good trial surfaces in the CD, throw in the Levin track for jumpouts which always gets around 20 heats and we should hold them on a weekly basis on a rotation system.  Foxton is good for lower CD especially with Awapuni still out, Waipuk brings in those that train there and Hastings.   

I know what yuh mean Lamour re Franklin, wasn't the deadline for 2 thursday's ago?    Cheers Iraklis

Whoever got the job had to be a Entain lacky, What's the board doing in terms of direction to operational staff, that's by far the most important issue here

If it does fold it will be the fault of the disastrous development they undertook & their failure to obtain the amount they need from land sales to get themselves out of debt.  Speaking of which, we haven’t heard how the sale of Franklin  is going. I have a feeling it may be a case of no news is bad news. 

Back in the day...early to late seventies , radio receptions for racing was the norm , I made a few bucks off the bookies then ...Had a transistor Radio that could pick up most  stations , made a dash to the bookie  before they played delayed coverage ...Home they rolled ...OOOhhh  the good times!!  

Now the truth with what's really happening and Trump winning again

He has already spelled multiple times and come back with a string of wins. He passes the eye test, and there are no sprinting stars in Australia currently. Briasa won the TJ Smith, and whilst a nice type in the making, not close to being up to Ka Ying's level. I'd be happy with $1.90 on race day, so I'd prepare to wait for acceptances.

If and its a big if he turns up in Sundays form yes he will be very hard to beat, but there is a ton of water to go under the bridge before then, he needs to come back to form after the spell, needs to travel well and then turn up in the same form come Everest day...no such thing as a certainty in racing...but he is a huge chance for sure.

Track at Waipuk looked outstanding for the trials there today...what a sad waste.

How to trash an economic superpower in 100 days Analysis by Allison Morrow, CNN  4 minute read  Published 4:00 PM EDT, Mon April 28, 2025         New YorkCNN —  The president doesn’t control the economy, right? Every election year, that’s the reminder voters get from historians, politicos, journalists and academics of all stripes. It’s practically a cliché — voters make choices based on gas prices and grocery bills, even though those things are largely out of any one politician’s control. The political adage isn’t wrong, per se. It is, in fact, difficult for a single president to drastically improve the economy writ large. But President Donald Trump is proving that a politician can absolutely harm the economy when they lack any regard for the consequences, borne largely by the people who elected them.       RELATED ARTICLECorporate America is sounding the alarm on tariffs Tuesday marks the 100th day of Trump’s second term. In those 14 weeks, the president has unleashed an economic agenda so punishing that the only way to understand it in a historical context is not through a lens of policy but of plagues. If the Trump tariffs remain in place, the negative shocks could eclipse the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. While Trump campaigned on a pledge to “immediately bring down prices, starting on Day One,” the White House has made scant progress on that promise beyond a broad executive order demanding federal agencies “deliver emergency price relief.” Trump’s only major economic initiative, a sweeping tariff agenda, amounts to a massive tax increase on American consumers. And it has landed the US at the lonely center of a global trade war — the sole aggressor, lobbing tax bombs at friends and foes alike.     The “sell America” trade — in which global investors yank their money out of US assets like the dollar and Treasuries, worried about the country’s stability — was practically unheard of before Trump’s second term. But over the past month, it has helped wipe out trillions in market value. Despite Trump’s tariffs, the US economy remains, by some key metrics, in good shape — unemployment is low and inflation has cooled to around 2.5% this year from a pandemic-era peak of 9.1% in 2022. Of course, unemployment was low and inflation was falling under the Biden administration, too. Economists say gauging the impact of Trump’s tariffs, at least in the near term, will be difficult, in part because consumers have been shopping more to try to get ahead of price increases. That rush of spending may not last. But longer term, the chances of a recession, according to virtually every economic forecaster, are higher now than they were 100 days ago. Estimates vary between a coin flip and 70%. Prediction market Kalshi currently puts the likelihood of a US recession at 57%. Businesses are paralyzed, unsure whether to believe that Trump’s on-again, off-again tariffs will stay in place. Consumer confidence — which had held strong even under generationally high inflation during Biden’s term — is wavering.     RELATED ARTICLETrump took the US economy to the brink of a crisis in just 100 days Absent from Trump’s tariff plan is anything that would immediately address the cost-of-living pain that voters overwhelmingly cited as their reason for re-electing him. Much of the public is now angry. A new CNN poll conducted by SSRS found that 59% of the country now believes Trump’s policies have worsened economic conditions, up from 51% in March. Tariffs, in particular, are not going over well. Price increases are already being felt, with 60% of US adults saying Trump’s policies have increased the cost of living in their community. Just 12% said Trump’s agenda has helped to bring prices down. The CNN polling tracks with other readings of the national mood. Consumer sentiment in April hit its fourth-lowest level on records going back to 1952, according to a closely watched University of Michigan survey. Inflation expectations reached their highest level since 1981. While that kind of polling isn’t the kind of “hard data” policymakers typically rely on, the way people feel about the economy matters, especially when it comes to prices. When people expect the economy to sour, they tend to pull back on spending, which slows economic growth. Right now, nearly 70% of Americans think it’s at least somewhat likely the US will go into a recession in the next year, according to the CNN poll. We can see that caution already playing out: Airlines are cutting flights ahead of the summer travel season as fewer people plan trips. Companies are lowering or altogether scrapping their earnings guidance, citing uncertainty around tariffs. Shipments carrying goods from China to the US are expected to fall dramatically in the coming days. According to Ryan Petersen, CEO of logistics conglomerate Flexport, ocean container bookings from China to the United States were down more than 60% industry-wide in the three weeks since the US’s 145% tariffs on Chinese imports took effect. Trump’s “Liberation Day” speech on April 2 promised a renaissance of American manufacturing that few outside the MAGA faithful believe is possible, or even preferable. But Trump offered one prediction that day that turned out to be truer than he could have imagined. “This will be an entirely different country in a short period of time,” he said. “It’ll be something, the whole world will be talking about it.”              

It amazes me how HRNZ think having races with huge stakes will attract people into Harness Racing especially in the North . That may work for the bigger stables but not others . I like Trackside but that has destroyed many clubs with on course turnover and who wants to go to an average meeting when you can sit home , keep warm and watch them on TV . People who have been paid over many years are that arrogant they haven't listened to people in the game and this stems back to over 20 years ago , even Steven Reid left North to go down South . I can see Alex Park in the coming years fold completely which would be a tragedy . I never thought I would ever see this happen 

Yes. How many fans did the J Dunn drive lose us? That was one of the worst drives I've seen. Get The Chocolates had zero chance driven like that. punters robbed, multi bets gone. He didn't give his horse a fair chance. And it was a G1 race. He should have been charged in my opinion, but stipes said nothing! I guarantee Australian stipes would've acted, he'd get six months on the sideline. Shocking!

BH Interview: Mark CutlerView the full article