Always back the horse named self-interest, son. It'll be the only one trying
D-day has arrived for the Auckland Trotting Club. Will the Chinese developer pay the $90 million that will save the club or won’t they? It all comes down to this for the club that’s in debt to the banks for almost $80 million, secured by the title deeds to Alexandra Park. It’s triumph or bust. […]
What’s the world coming to when jockeys have to be paid to promote racing? They used to do it for free, as part of their commitment to the game. Not Willie Pike though. They say he wouldn’t get out of bed in the morning unless there was an earn in it. There certainly was one […]
Western Australian gallops trainer Roy Rogers killed 4 horses. At least that’s what the Stewards report said. The word on the ground is that he actually killed 24. These horses weren’t injured or anything, not to the point that they had to be put down. They just weren’t much good, and Rogers didn’t want to […]
On Thursday (Nov. 7), there will be no horse racing in France. Instead, representatives of both sports (trot/flat) will gather for a protest march in Paris. The reason is that the French government has announced plans to increase the totalisator tax. This will cost the sport up to 50 million euros per year, prompting harness […]
The Grubby Day appeal kicks off. Kerry O’Brien as usual chairs the panel. Diane Condon and Lindsay Hicks are the other two members of the panel. Darryl Griffiths is the Steward’s representative. He has some yank woman named Ballard assisting him. I assume she’s a lawyer. Grubby appears unrepresented. O’Brien tells Grubby to ask questions […]
Ballard the lawyer with the yank accent kicks off the QRIC’s case. She said that Grubby’s fine was well inside the range, and quotes a number of cases to support her argument. Then she starts raving. Judge O’Brien jumps in. doesn’t seem to know who Grubby is. He keeps calling him jockey Butler. O’Brien tells […]
Darryl Griffiths kicks off. He says that Grubby was definitely sighted at the track at around 1pm and then took off. In many years of Stewarding he had never had a rider leave without telling the Stewards. Griffiths then raises the elephant in the room. He tells the panel that the booze bus arrived and […]
Grubby Day tells the panel that he usually sweats in the spa at home, but Ewan being in the middle of nowhere (as he describes it) there were no facilities of that kind. So he had to go old school by wrapping himself in plastic and hitting the street to go for a run in […]
Justice O’Brien begins to deliver the Panel’s verdict. He starts by saying it is appropriate to read Grubby’s appeal submission in full. It’s much as we’ve already reported. O’Brien then launches into the Stewards decision to charge Grubby and find him guilty. He explains that Grubby doesn’t have to prove himself innocent, the onus is […]
Despite suffering a $20 million decline in wagering revenue in the past year as part of a national trend, Peter V’Landys oft criticized micro-management of Racing NSW finances has steered the organization to record a bumper profit of $12.6 million for the 2023/24 financial year. And he’s done while increasing prizemoney by $36 million at […]
