The carnival is over . . .
So, another season of holiday racing is behind us. What have we learned this summer?
There's no substitute for good weather. After my first two years on the circuit were blighted by some questionable weather, this season's offerings were magnificent, and the crowds duly turned up. The introduction of the Banana Boat sunscreen stations were a genius idea, particularly for those who had left their tube back in Dunedin. Cough, cough.
Country tracks can be just as good as metropolitan surfaces. Kurow, in particular, produced an outstanding track. Look out for more on this in the ODT next week.
Nothing beats close racing. Examples include the Central Otago Trotting Cup, the Clare Memorial Gold Cup - despite being a six-horse field over 2700m - and Onedin Onyx's win at Roxburgh.
The passion that exudes from owners after the judge reads out their horse's number first following an aforementioned tight finish should be bottled and waved under the nose of anyone considering getting involved in horse ownership.
National anthems. Oh, never mind.... . .
for another 12 months
Roxburgh Trotting Club continues to set the standard for looking after those working on the day. Jimmy's Pies galore and some lovely cold cuts kept this reporter very happy indeed. The Central Otago Trotting Club also did pretty well on the food front.
Internet coverage, internet coverage, my kingdom for decent internet coverage. Guess I'll just cross my fingers again next year.
When it comes to those manning the microphones as MCs at meetings, just remember, sometimes less is better. We don't need the smallest amount of detail about the terms and conditions of one aspect of a prize reiterated six times.
We've also learned long-term Otago thoroughbred starter Peter Kennedy has hung up the button/red light/starter's paraphernalia. Peter's done the job for the last eight or so years, but started working on the gates when he was still at school almost 30 years ago. He's a bit of a character who is always ready with a quip, and will no doubt be missed by his gates crew and jockeys alike.
Lazy Five
rAs mentioned before the holiday break, I'm going to tweak the inconsistent Lazy Fiver. Originally I was trying to find something paying double-figure odds, but even when I picked a winner, it would be in the vicinity of $4-$8 for a win. So I'm going to hunt down horses paying $4 to $5 and the idea now is that you should plonk that $5 on the nose, as opposed to the old theory of an each-way bet on a roughie. Because I'm lacking in imagination after the holidays, we'll still call it the Lazy Fiver. So, without further ado, I'm tipping Johnny Fox in race 10 at 7.04pm at Nelson tonight, after a solid second behind the talented Mossdale Conner at Rangiora on New Year's Eve.matt.smith@odt.co.nz
