Jump on it
Despite some naysayers out there, it's not all doom and gloom in the world of racing. Even jumps racing - which has faced some tough times in the South Island in particular in recent years - is showing some signs of life, thanks to figures supplied to me by NZ Jumps secretary Andre Klein.
Nationally, 225 different horses have competed over jumps up until the end of August which is up by 19 from last year.
Pleasingly, the biggest growth has been in the South Island, with individual starters up by 30% and race starters overall up by 10% in the south.
Up in smoke
Racing Matters has been a touch clogged up over the last few weeks so I didn't get the chance to acknowledge the retirement of Smoken Up. It wasn't quite the fairytale ending you would hope for a great pacer like ''Trigger'', finishing fourth at Melton two weeks ago after going out in his usual fighting style.
But after banking $A3.6 million ($NZ4 million) in stakes in 153 starts in Australasia, he can rest his 12yr-old legs for good now.
If you want to hear a beautifully biased and scripted commentary though, track down the harness.org.au replay of his last run at Globe Derby on August 3 this year - it's Jimmy Jacques at his absolute best.
Spoke too soon
Maybe I should have tempered my excitement about the New Zealand Trotting Cup until this week. Between last Friday and Wednesday night, eight horses, including the highly-rated Besotted and Locharburn, were withdrawn from the nominations.
But then Wednesday night brought the most disappointing news - Themightyquinn is not coming, due to a mystery foot injury.
Quinny is like the hot girl in high school who promises she'll come to your birthday party year after year, yet ends up going to the movies that night every year with the first XV captain instead. And no, that didn't happen to me at high school - I knew my place on the pecking order.
Hashtag this
Not quite a Lazy Fiver, but after the political shenanigans of the last week - most notably Auckland Town Hall meetings with Kim Dotcom, Ed Snowden, Glenn Greenwald, Julian Assange and anyone else who felt like seeking political asylum - the omen bet of the week HAS to be at Alexandra Park tonight in race 9. The horse's name? Moment Of Truth.
Lazy Fiver
To steal a line from Freddie Mercury, it's a kind of magic. Two winners in a row. Again, the price was a bit skinny - I thought a Southland horse at Addington might not attract punters' money, but Phoenix Warrior went round paying $4 and won.
Red Ripper (Riccarton, Saturday, race 7), is heading in the right direction form-wise, and can cop the 1800m as well.
