When I was at Trackside, our presenters used to get a bit of stick from viewers about talking over the national anthem. When it's being performed at an increasing number of meetings throughout New Zealand, you can hardly blame the presenters for talking over it.
All Tony Barron wants at Forbury Park tonight is a bit more luck than during his last visit north of Balclutha.
Even in the cut-throat world of commercial thoroughbred breeding, there is still business being done based on old connections.
Nomination fees have been dropped for lower-grade thoroughbred races in New Zealand from the beginning of March.
The Otago runners may have disappointed in the Wellington Cup on Saturday, but there was a reason to be happy in defeat for Brian Anderton.
Alexandra Park beckons for popular Southland pacer Franco Ledger after his sizzling win in the group 3 Invercargill Cup on Saturday.
Brett Cusdin's phone has been ringing off the hook, but he is not quite ready to part with Franco Nattai. Cusdin (30), of Christchurch, has the Courage Under Fire gelding all set for Motukarara tomorrow after the 4yr-old produced a eye-catching run for second at Addington on January 18.
A reader noticed a large number of female jockeys at the Gore meeting on Saturday, which led her to wonder what the record number of women riding at a meeting would be. In all, 11 women rode on Saturday, outnumbering their male counterparts by one. New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing advised me it does not keep records on the number of female jockeys at a meeting, but it did get me pondering.
Inferno is a long way from home, but Brian Anderton is trying to make things as familiar as possible for the mare before she tackles the $200,000 group 2 Wellington Cup tomorrow.
Southland looms large in Saveapatrol's short-term future, but the impressive pacer may find himself campaigning at Addington or in Australia before the season is out.
Rugby and racing were foremost in the psyche of many New Zealand males for much of the 20th century, and former Highlanders rugby player Matt Saunders is reforging that link by plunging headfirst into harness racing ownership and training. He talks to Matt Smith about how he got involved with the pacers and trotters.
Whare Creek could add to the value of her yearling half-brother when she tackles a 1200m maiden at Gore today.
The handicappers at Harness Racing New Zealand are not always a trainer's friend, but Margo Nyhan was happy to praise them yesterday.
Home advantage is hard to beat, and North Otago trainers made the most of their knowledge at the Oamaru grass track harness meeting yesterday.
Steve Hardiman and Neville Hazlett could not have asked for much more as first-time breeders at Oamaru yesterday.
Juvenile pacing races are often the domain of the big stables early in the season but Michael Cunningham is not what you would call a big trainer.
Robert Dunn's team have found their feet at Woodend Beach near Christchurch this season, but another type of surface should help Falcon Crown in the Oamaru Cup tomorrow.
An act of kindness several years ago gave ''Noddy'' Orr one of his best days in harness racing at Ascot Park yesterday.
If Terror To Love was vulnerable in last night's Northern Southland Cup in Invercargill, he did not show it. At least, not to the public.
Geoff Knight has been pinching himself since lunchtime on Tuesday - and a brief look at the Addington fields for tonight explains why.
