Just a note to advise that the reason there have been no recent updates of the site, is that a new Secretary has yet to be appointed.

When you’ve been involved in various ways in a job for more than 36 years, or about half your life, it is a bit of a wrench to give it up. However, for a number of reasons, I’ve decided that it’s time to call time on my time as Secretary of the Trainers & Drivers Assn, as I have no wish to simply hang around until I’m not capable of doing a decent job anymore.

Pretty much everyone knows that driving a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol or drugs is fraught with danger. Doing the same when driving a horse in a race, or anywhere else come to that, is arguably even more dangerous to both the person and other drivers.

A three hour session specifically tackling mental health in the racing industry will be held at Addington Raceway next month.

After more than a decade of asking for it to happen, the T&D is pleased to advise that a Canterbury Programming Committee finally caught up with the rest of the Country. and met for the first time earlier this week.

As always, a wide range of issues were discussed at the recent meeting, including the appointment of a new Secretary for both the Greater Canterbury Branch and the National Council from 1 August.

As part of a recent meeting of the National Council, the recently appointed HRNZ Chair Phil Holden and Vice-Chair Cam Bray, asked to present their vision for the future of the Board and the Industry.

Have you got an R35 to R50 pacer that you’d relish the idea of lining up in a $10K penalty free race with only 10 competitors? Well, next week, you get that opportunity.

There has to be questions about the value of the recent Sapere reports that were commissioned to investigate the viability of racecourses in Southland and Canterbury. I have no idea of the costs involved, but judging by the results to date, on the face of it, they appear to be too high.

It was disappointing to see the timing of the Christchurch edition of this event (9.30am), particularly from the point of view of horse trainers. On enquiring from the TAB, I found that this situation was brought about by the late planning due to having to wait for the Ministerial approval,