Major Change

Hi Des, all I know are the details advised at the recent AGM's - refer to my threads on these for more details...

Notes from today’s syndicate AGM held at Alexandra Park:

• Belle to attend workouts on either 3rd or 9th September (I think they probably meant Saturday 10th) but she is a work in progress and will be monitored carefully.

Notes from today’s syndicate AGM held at Alexandra Park:

• (Bettors Pocket) as advised by Tony Herlihy, Posie is now off for a 6 week spell and will be back up racing by Christmas. Tony confirmed what we already knew that he has improved this season, but the attitude from Tony still seemed a bit lukewarm on his ability – but he did think another couple of wins were likely next year. The syndicate members are, I believe, more optimistic than the trainer in this horses abilities especially after last Fridays career-best run.
• (The Faithful) as advised by stable assistant lady (sorry cannot remember her name - no not Katrina) Jack is doing very nicely and is currently scheduled to attend the workouts on 20th August and to race on 26th August.

As for the NZ Cup - Belle is a day-to-day work in progress so there is no way they are going to enter her in the Cup and pay the progressive nomination fees until such time as they see that her leg can stand up to the extra pressure that will be exerted on her in a race. There is no guarantee that she is going to make the grade yet and various therapies are still being used on her daily to assist her recovery.
There has been no mention of Jack being entered in the Cup and I would assume they would look for targeting the better staked class races on offer around November / December.

I agree that it was a more enthusiastic effort from Major Change. What has happened with Some Change? I thought that he was off to the Cambridge trials. How far away are The Faithful and Ideal Belle? ... they must be getting close to the workouts by now. Are The Faithful and Ideal Belle going to be entered into the N.Z. Cup? If Ideal Belle gets back to her best there are lots of top mares races both in N.Z. and Australia for her. The Australian mares are not that good and it would be good to win an Australian Group One race after her aborted Breeders Crown trip as a three year old.

Yes it was a better run by him tonight but he needs to do the same again at the next Cambridge meeting in two weeks time if he thinks it will save his racing career.
It did look rather odd the way he hung so badly round the final bend - we have been told previously that he is only suited to the Cambridge direction of the track. The final bend may throw out that theory - either that or else he was trying to make a quick exit back to the stables (the stables gate is just round the bend) in order to get ready for home early. Jack gave him a smack on the bum with the whip and he straightened up and shot down the outside to finish fourth.

A better run by Major Change at Cambridge tonight, running home with enthusiasm despite hanging on the home turn.

Jack McKinnon drove him in the best fashion- allowing him to settle back early and putting in the long ones on straightening up.

Maybe, just maybe, the beach environment is suiting him- certainly better than Franklin mud.

Classic pizzas are $5 at Pizza Hut, Ray.

Looks like one of our intrepid punter members has spent the pizza money already. Currently 3rd.favourite on the tote at $4.80 and $1.20.  Hope springs eternal !

Des I agree about the selling of The Faithful and Bettors Pocket - selling would be absolute lunacy, unless the money was at a level that it just could not be turned down. Any normal market value offer - forget it I would rather have the pleasure of racing two talented horses.
As to Major Change winning - good luck with that theory. I tell you what, if he wins by 6 lengths I will shout you out to dinner (I will post you the cash if necessary......)

New trainers, junior driver, outside barrier ... for the first time in 4 years I may not  attempt to watch the race live. Why am I still paying for this horse and not still paying for Major Star ? As for the idea of selling The Faithful and/or Bettors Pocket ... surely they are the types of consistent, talented horses that we hope to end up with when we join the syndicates. If Ideal Belle (the racehorse) gets back to somewhere near her best, we could have three contenders for good class races around Christmas. If we sold the other two and Ideal Belle is also sold as a broodmare to new owners, we would be left with the unknown six from the latest two syndicates with one of the six already seeming doubtful. I would, however, agree to sell The Faithful and Bettors Pocket for $100,000 each and Ideal Belle for $500,000 with the option of purchasing her first foal at cost. With my $14,000 (less agent, trainer, management fees) I would buy into a local Perth syndicate or form a syndicate to purchase one of Ideal Belle's next foals ... otherwise let the current situation remain. (Minus Major Change). PS If Major Change wins by six lengths please disregard this message.

He never seems to kick on when pushed along early.  But from the draw it was certainly worth a try.

Is there a queue of people wanting to take him on as a hack?  Always a delicate matter, bearing in mind owners' responsibilities for animals under their care.

Hopefully a satisfactory outcome can be realised.

He had his chance in the amateur drivers race tonight but only battled in the home straight to finish well back. I am assuming that his future will be discussed at the syndicate AGM next week. I think it is very timely that he is retired as a hack - does anybody disagree?

Racing on Sunday in the amateur drivers lottery. Being an amateurs race anything could happen and probably will at some point in the race - he would have to be an each-way chance in this type of race but is not liked by the Trottech selectors to be in their top three.

ray the beancounter wrote:All things considered that wasn’t a too bad a run by Change today....
This is the effort we need to see from him on a consistent basis.

Haha, Des I didn't say that today's effort would be his saving grace. His lifeline will be to provide similarly consistent efforts between now and the AGM.
If he falters I suspect it will be "gone-burger".

Major Change did a lot of work to get to the death seat and then battled on ok. He finished just behind Thomas McBride who had a much easier run despite a small hold up around the turn. There were a couple of nice horses in front of Major Change at the finish and so to have that difficult run and be within 3 1/2 lengths of the winner was an improved effort but was it enough to save his racing career at the July annual meeting?

All things considered that wasn’t a too bad a run by Change today. He had to do some work at the start of the race after starting from barrier 5 and then becoming stuck 3 wide, working forward to sit parked, only to then be shuffled back to second or third last.
Taking the shortest route on the markers rounding the final bend and up the straight saw him finish 6th.
He was able to do work at the beginning of the race and was still able to finish off the race without throwing in the towel running a competitive time of 2:43.2 for the 2200m.
This is the effort we need to see from him on a consistent basis.

The idea of nominating for the Grass Track Graduette was a good theory while it lasted, but alas no he is not nominated for that race. Onto Plan C, D, E,........

Is it a coincidence or just that the current team is not up to previous standards , but I cannot help but notice that the trainer's move from his private contoured track at Patumahoe to the level surface at Franklin has seen reduced success?

Maybe I speculate unwisely.  Performances from the future team will test that thought.

Des I believe that you are probably correct about nominating Change for the Grass Track Graduette Series at Alexandra Park on Friday evening. They are running 2 separate races, a C1 – C2 race and a C3 – C6 race so he is eligible for the higher graded race as he is a C3.

I say this in the hope that they do in fact have some sort of plan formulated in regard to his racing in the immediate future.

As regards to moving him on it is my understanding from comments I have heard that he is already effectively on the market and a buyer being sought. Somehow I don’t think the buyers will be queued around the corner trying to buy him hence the proposed idea of running him in amateur races with the aim of getting some more attractive form on the formline to make things look a little better.

If this doesn’t work then I think it an absolute certainty that his future in the syndicate will be discussed at the upcoming AGM.

Currently Major Change is either racing without heart or trialling poorly. Either way is not good viewing nor making much financial sense. I also would vote to retire or place a low claiming price on him but do not know how to go about this. Is somebody planning to raise this at the next meeting or are moves already in place? I also don't understand why you would scratch the horse from a race for prize money ( he was selected in second place by Trottech ) and trial him out of his depth for zero prize money unless there is a surprise nomination planned for Auckland this Friday in the Grass Cup series.

The heading " Other starters- not necessarily in finishing order" drew me to the video in case he finished close to the placed horses.  Alas, he was well gapped  but did  manage to finish ahead of the winner of the following race.

The video is already up on the HRNZ website showing Major Change's efforts at the workouts today. Yes the last 400m at 26.9 sec was too quick for him but he was already gone and was battling at the 400m mark. The second to last quarter from the 800m to the 400m mark was a leisurely 33.4 sec so there is no good reason for him to be gone by that point.
It is interesting that he is listed as finishing 5th but in reality was a long way last and was gapped by 100 metres.
If I had to vote on his future then I am sorry to say that he would be retired.

I notice that Change has now been scratched from the Amateur drivers race on Tuesday and will be going to the workouts at Pukekohe tomorrow instead.

Further to recent discussions logical thinking points to your views being correct ones Ray, but I have the impression that where horses race only intermittently in amateur driver's races their value is not impaired too much, if at all.  Horses such as Shesa Sprinfield, Shards Phoenix, Elliot Daniel, God Forbid ,Joanednobettor, Celtic Warrior and Shantalia Knight would not be regarded as being out of their depth in general class racing (other than Premier class racing).  However those which race almost exclusively in amateur drivers' races could be regarded as a level below.

With the high sales  volume of moderately performed horses to Australia I often wonder as to how much  detailed study their buyers (or agents) actually do , in their urgency to buy one of ours.

I believe Kobe only raced once as a claimer which would have been on 17.6.11 where the conditions were that only horses with a claiming price of up to $75,000 ( yes Seventy-five thousand dollars!) were eligible.
As you wrote, Ray, similar races are quite common overseas but I think it was a one off in New Zealand and races at this level of eligibility were not persevered with, despite attracting a field of 9 starters and run at a 1m56.3 mile rate (over 1700 metres).
Looking at the field I doubt that any of them would have reached the claiming price limit.

Chesterton was the winner, with Kobe 4th. and favourite.

I am surprised to hear Kobe was a claimer - I didn't know that.
It is a pity that we don't see higher value claimers races here in NZ, as are run overseas where you can see $30,000, $40,000 and $50,000 claimers going around. In NZ we rarely see claimers over $9,000 and more often than not they are $6,000 or less.
In NZ claimers are only included in a hope of increasing the field size in order to get enough horses available to run a race. There is very rarely a claimer-only race run.

Kobe Bryant was a claimer back in the dark ages, from memory at $40000, but there were  no claims at that figure.  The handicapper must have been in a good frame of mind at that time to put on a race which allowed for him to be eligible.

He was subsequently sold privately but I can't remember as to whether or not a meeting was held to approve his claiming status. Ken Morris may remember. There probably was.

I hope to do some research on claimers which have had some reasonable success in good races whilst so classified. Moment of Truth and Genius are 2 which come to mind readily- there should be others.

Conwell, realistically I would likely also vote in favour of a claiming price being put on him. I was just saying that an approval from a members meeting would be required before this could be done.
I would rather see him running as a claimer than in an amateur drivers race.