Racing reporter Matt Smith looks back at the wonderful, the weird and the worrying in racing in 2015.
Three best races
1. It's tough to keep bringing this race up, bearing in mind the tragic circumstances of Wingatui trainer Steven Anderton's death a few days earlier, but The Diamond One's White Robe Lodge Handicap win in February was the race of the year for anyone with a heart. Jockey Rory Hutchings extricated the mare from a difficult spot on the fence, and the last furlong brought a flood of emotions from everyone at the track.
2. Xtravagant's Two Thousand Guineas win in November can be described with one word - wow. What he could do in Australia is pretty exciting, considering the Australian performances of 2014 winner Turn Me Loose.
3. Adore Me's Ladyship Mile win was fast. So fast that the time - 1.47.7 - not only set a record for all pacers in Australia, but gave a name to an entertaining podcast put out by a couple of harness racing fans in Victoria. She had it all against her, including her archrival drawing well inside her, but her performance was brutal.
Three worst races
1. Plenty has been written about it already, but the New Zealand Trotting Cup was generally disappointing to watch, as driver after driver sat on their hands. It took Smolda - who broke at the start - to inject even a hint of life into it by popping up to sit parked for the last lap or so.
2. Melbourne Cup: it was hard not to love the back story to Prince Of Penzance's win - Michelle Payne becoming the first female jockey to win the race, and her special relationship with her brother Stevie - but the race itself failed to live up to the hype surrounding the big two-mile event. Again, several highly rated horses did nothing to further their reputations at the end of the biggest race in Australasia.
3. The Interdominion Grand Final this month. Great run by the winner, Lennytheshark, but there were too many sub-par performances in the race (bar Avonnova) to get too excited by a series that had failed to capture Kiwis' attention anyway.
Three top identities
1. Dexter Dunn. 2015 World Driving Champion. Drove more than 200 winners again last season. Even won races in Ireland while on holiday. Honorary mention to outstanding jockey James McDonald.
2. Hasselhoof. Awesome name and awesome horse. Unbeaten through five races, and that could continue at Ellerslie on January 1. One of the most exciting horses to come out of New Zealand in several years.
3. High Forty. He put White Robe Lodge back on top of the national jumps scene with his brilliant Grand National Steeplechase win.
Must do better
1. Cost-cutting. The purse strings at the NZRB have definitely tightened over the past year, which was much needed. However, even at code level, there is still room for improvement. One story from New Zealand Cup week suggests members of one code board mostly arrived at Christchurch airport at similar times but took separate corporate cabs to the meeting. Unnecessary.
2. The books need to creep back to the black at Forbury Park. The last financial year was a tough one for the Forbury Park Trotting Club, which recorded a loss of more than $200,000 before depreciation.
The track is strategically important for not only Otago, but also Harness Racing New Zealand and the New Zealand Racing Board, as it provides a venue for night racing that fits into a schedule on Thursday and Friday nights. Perhaps HRNZ and the NZRB could recognise that a little more.
Questions for 2016
1. Just how successful will the Government and the NZRB be in trying to collect levies from overseas corporate bookmakers?
The figure of $300 million is thrown about as the amount being fed through these overseas bookies, and even an extra few million in the coffers through levies will make a difference on the NZRB balance sheet (and subsequently the codes).
2. Which horse will travel out of the Otago region and win a group race in Canterbury or further north?
Maybe it's one of the stayers like Sureasyouwereborn and Wild Bill in the thoroughbred code.
Meanwhile, New Years Jay and Titan Banner get the nod as the best chances in the harness code, although there is always the chance of a good trotter appearing from Phil Williamson's stable.
3. Will the sun shine at Wingatui on Melbourne Cup Day in 2016? Former Otago Racing Club chief executive Andre Klein always thought past president Dean Lawrence was the jinx, but perhaps it was Klein himself?
Just plain odd
1. The phantom race meeting at Ascot Park in December. Try as I might, I just can't even think about enjoying a race meeting without horses running on the track in front of me.
Part of the thrill is hearing the horses thundering past as they gallop down the straight. Well done to the Southland Racing Club for making it a success, but it's not for me.
2. The Triple Trio bet type began with a hiss and a roar at the start of 2014 and is now an obscure novelty at greyhound meetings. How long before it goes the way of the now defunct Six Pack?
3. The bloke who kept paying training fees for a non-existent horse in New South Wales for SIX years.
That was soon followed by the trainer who scratched his horses because he couldn't get a free sandwich at a country Victoria meeting. As the kids on the Mitre 10 TV ad said, ‘‘Aussies, eh?''.
