The racing was as good as ever, the weather was fairly typical, cool but fine, but this years’ Cup Day was anything but typical. As one of the lucky ones to be able to attend as part of the Sires Stakes Board so I could maintain my 53 year streak of being there, being in a bubble was a very apt description of the day, like looking out at an unbelievable situation.
The Trainers & Drivers National Council met with Catherine McDonald and Gary Woodham from HRNZ this week, with a wide range of topics discussed.
Spare a thought for one of the nice guys of the game Carl Markham, who has recently taken over the reins at the Methven Trotting Club, and to date has had two meetings transferred to other venues through no fault of the Club
I was reading the other day comments by one of the few racing journalists still operating in this Country, saying he was disappointed that race fields couldn’t be finalised by Wednesday morning, for a race meeting the following Sunday. The situation was described as ‘messy’.
Some thirty years ago, after many years of lobbying, the NZ Harness Racing Trainers & Drivers Association, along with the other ‘Kindred Bodies’ was granted a seat on the Executive (as it was known then) of the New Zealand Trotting Conference (as it was known then), which saw it’s representative play an integral role in the decisions made during that time.
Despite travel restrictions for Northern Branch members, the bi-annual National Council meeting of the Trainers & Drivers Assn. managed to go ahead, with the assistance of the HRNZ zoom facility. Many thanks to Leanne Holdem for facilitating this.
Many years ago, in what would now be considered the ‘dark ages’, harness racing’s governing body mandated that anyone over the age of 65 would not be allowed to drive in races. This meant stars of their era, such as Derek Jones and Maurice Holmes, were forced into premature retirement, the latter proving how stupid the decision was by driving four winners at his last meeting.
As we all know, punctuality is an essential part of taking horses to the races, presenting them late on the track can cause all sorts of problems, and sometimes a loss of revenue, so it is pleasing to see that a recent crackdown on discretions this by the Stewards seems to have done the trick.
Just when we thought the grass track season was about to kick off, that all-powerful lady, Mother Nature said otherwise, with damage to the Mount Harding track rendering it unfit overnight.
Any of you that haven’t caught up with the latest Greg O’Connor series of “One on One,” featuring interviews with various Industry personalities are missing some gems.