Category: Opinion – De Lore

Messara makes impressive oral submission to complete four weeks of hearings

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by Brian de Lore Published 6th March 2020 After 900 written submissions and around 90 oral submissions, the Transport and Infrastructure Select Committee will now deliberate and adjudicate the changes required to panel beat the proposed Racing Bill legislation into a more acceptable shape. Some hefty blows with a sledgehammer in this instance will be more appropriate than a few taps with the rubber mallet. An impeccable source of information tells me the alterations will be substantial and far more acceptable to the codes than the diatribe put to parliament…

Racing sends a strong message to Select Committee

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by Brian de Lore Published 21 February 2020 The oral submission hearings held on each of the past two Thursdays have sent a strong and impassioned message to the Transport and Infrastructure Select Committee, and that is: that the racing industry is far from happy with the Racing Bill legislation in its current form. And the process is far from complete with further submissions taking place in Auckland this coming Thursday before the Select Committee. Following that, and no doubt in consultation with Racing Minister Peters, the next phase of…

Codes present strongly at Racing Bill hearings

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by Brian de Lore Published 15 February 2020 The first day of the hearings of evidence from RITA and the codes in Bowen House Wellington this past Thursday, before the Transport and Infrastructure Select Committee, was a game of two halves – the first a very shakey and at times indecipherable presentation and Q and A from RITA Executive Chair Dean McKenzie, and the second a well-orchestrated presentation from all three codes on a united front. It was a well-produced Facebook live stream and the Select Committee had very obviously…

Racing industry comes together to protest legislation

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by Brian de Lore Published 24th January 2020 The broadening and noisy furore coming from the racing industry, after getting its head around the implications of Racing Reform Bill No.2, is symptomatic of the current parlous state of racing and breeding in New Zealand. Racing Minister Winston Peters has been in the job for two-and-a-half years but today, as you read this blog, racing is in the worst state it has been in its 175-year history. No tangible benefits have accrued back to the stakeholders in this Minister’s term of…

Racing Minister Peters reassures racing he’s staying true to his word

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At Karaka 2020: the industry’s ex-jockeys now trainers who would love to see a rise in NZ prizemoney: From top left Stephen McKee (one trial ride), Graham Richardson (one race win), Lance O’Sullivan (Champion Jockey), Bob Vance (Outstanding Jockey) and at right Grant Cooksley (outstanding Jockey) by Brian de Lore Published 31 January 2020 When Racing Minister Winston Peters made his speech to open the Karaka Yearling Sales last Sunday at 10.50 AM, it was a typically hot and humid Auckland summer’s morning in rising temperatures. But within seconds of…

Racing needs its own ‘Magna Carta’

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Prioritising the problems with the Minister’s legislation and delivering a united racing industry rebuttal by Brian de Lore Published 17 January 2020 The racing industry currently faces the biggest challenge of its existence because it has only until February 11th (25 days from the day I write this blog) to unite in every sense of the word and issue the strongest possible objection to the most draconian aspects of the Racing Reform Bill No.2. The keyword is ‘unite’ because, without an agreed and united approach, it’s unlikely a fragmented ‘herding…

We all lose unless the legislation is drastically changed or thrown out

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by Brian de Lore Published 10th January 2020 Whatever degree of decline you thought racing was in before December 5th, the entire future landscape of the racing industry changed for the worse on that date upon the release of the proposed legislation after its rubber-stamping by both Cabinet and Racing Minister Winston Peters. What this 100-page document is essentially saying is that racing is not capable of running itself, so here’s a Marxist left-wing decree that dismisses the majority of the recommendations of the Messara Review and negates the serious…

Racing under siege with this proposed legislation

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by Brian de Lore Published 27 December 2019 Someone phoned Newstalk ZB talkback radio earlier this month and said, “Don’t be fooled into believing the elected government is running this country; it’s the bureaucrats, the bosses of the 45,000-odd public servants in about 35 government departments – they are the people really in control.” Numerous lunatics call talkback, but that remark resonated and is probably truer today than it’s ever been. Think about the control exerted by Treasury, the State Services Commission and Internal Affairs (DIA), and especially the DIA…

Winston drops the ball with try-line open

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Winston Peters playing rugby for the Parliamentary team in 1988 aged 43 by Brian de Lore Published 20 December 2019 From all accounts, our Racing Minister Winston Peters was a pretty good rugby player in his day. He played alongside All Black number ten Mac Herewini when the captain of Auckland Maori and regularly turned out for the University Club in the early 1970s before he graduated as a lawyer later that same decade. In those days, he could obviously catch the ball and one could imagine he had a…

Q&A with top racehorse veterinarian Douglas Black

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by Brian de LorePublished 13 December 2019 Douglas Black is widely acknowledged as one of the best racehorse veterinarians in New Zealand. He is a specialist in performance issues in young racehorses and has done exceptional work for a number of leading stables, and has been for many years has been the ‘go-to‘ vet for Te Akau Stables at Matamata. This week I asked Doug a few questions, and this is what he had to say: You graduated from Glasgow University Veterinary School in 1983 What is the background story…