It would take a lot of research that I’m not willing to delve into, to find out if any horse trainer of any code in any Country, has prepared the winner of the same Group One race twice, with a gap of 42 years in between. If it has happened, it would certainly be extremely rare, and would probably involve someone from a high-profile family, like the Purdon’s.

Re: Final Race Meeting At Addington Raceway For 2021
The final race meeting for 2021 at Addington Raceway is scheduled for Friday 17 December with a 5.17pm start and finishing at 9.13pm (based on a 10 race programme).

See Professor Ben Sykes from Massey University explain the intricacies of gastric ulcer disease in horses.

After being talked about for a number of years and promised in a presentation during the last HRNZ Annual Conference, it seems that microchipping of horses is finally upon us, with the following announcement:

We are all aware of the importance of starting races on time, despite the fact that on many occasions in Australian thoroughbred racing, it doesn’t seem to be quite so critical. Most will have received a draft copy of the long-awaited new regulations covering race starts in this Country.

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.