Weekend Thoroughbred Racing Review with Michael Guerin (14/9/26)

0:00Michael Gehran, hello Mike. How are you mate? Morning tea. Morning tea. Hey, hey, I'm good brother. Look, I'm really looking forward to this week for a whole lot of reasons. Good morning to you, inter-ric and to all of our listeners. It's a weird sort of crossover week because once spring has sprung as they say, this sort of emphasis comes on the good voices that the well-writtens of the world and those type of horses and the flat horses. But there's still a hangover and it's a really important hangover from winter racing because this weekend at Keauahar first on Friday and then on Sunday we have what used to be called the Great Norwens, the now called the Great New Zealand Hoodle and the Great New Zealand Steeple Chase. So, that one Friday and Sunday. So, there's a little bit of wintery. And then in between them, you have all these massive big races for the flat gallopies, like Allosly, which of course races on about a soft five, soft six most of the time is smacked in the middle.

1:00So, all those things, you know, for the same place at the same time. But people who don't follow racing, who are listening to this, it's a lot of sort of crazy times of the year where they're literally playing crookedly at Eden Park on a Friday night and then on Saturday, they're playing a right-wing game type thing. So, it's pretty interesting. And for the jumps, people, this is their big weekend of the year. So, Keauahar has become the spiritual home of jumps racing. And though soon it won't, a little bit of rain just stick around so the tracks are a little bit wet because the jump is tender like that. Yet for the galloping trunks of the flat train, it's for everybody else. They're hoping where the kids don't prove, so over the next two or three weeks, when we start head down to Hawke's Bay for the big leagues of the triple crown, the tracks are getting good. So, it's a really unusual crossover time for racing. And among all that, we've got questions about New Zealand horses heading to Australia, what horses are heading to our big races, what horses are going to go to Rickiden through the down the line of the Guinness races. So, it's a really cool time, Tony,

2:01but it's a time with lots and lots of questions. I want to get back to the great Northern, in just a moment with great New Zealand as it's known now. But firstly, Tiago, big weekend for them, both sides of the Tasman. Yeah, well, they want to feature race at Rickiden with a law school tweeter thing, who is now one of the favourites for the New Zealand 1000 guineae. So, they often, because they have a surf on them, bass. So, Tiago has a bass in Victoria, the main basses at McMuttor, and they have a bass in the surf on them. And every year they've seen some water through to the surf on them, look at a reconnaissance party. They go down there, they race on what's usually draw a track and get ready for the cup carnival. It's work really well for them. So, they want the Kennedy Bulls to take the other day, but a lot more importantly, they want to race at Flemington with the horse called Lara Interpova, who is our best juvenile last season. It's important for a couple of reasons. Who's lead at least justifies our juvenile crop from last season?

3:04If we send our best two-year-olds as three-year-olds to Australia and they get their last kicked, people go with the New Zealand horses are no good. So, who winnings really important, but also because she won? That means she won't come back to race over here again on the spring. So, she's favourite for the New Zealand 1000 goodies. But she's no chance, more or less no chance, 99% no chance to tune up for the race. The other thing too is, of course, the ARC has set up a bass in Victoria, and they're really expensive things to do. And they've got like 70 horses over there, but you've got to get these Saturday wins. Big Saturday wins, Flemington or Rand Booker Rose Hill, that's what everybody wants, that's what the owners want. So, you need those wins after, but then, if they're smitten, so they had a big weekend on both sides of the test run. And it affects the markets for punters, because the TABs in a really tricky position, the TAB opens markets for races.

4:04And it's for horse like Lara and to pove it, get with the drawn from the market, that's okay. But in hell they withdraw it, the TABs sort of have to leave the horse in there, and get people the option to back it, even if it's not coming. So, it's a little weird thing, it's like, for example, if you were backing first Troy Scorer in the NRL Grand Final, and your first Troy Scorer was going to be lodged at two of our sheds. Obviously, he's not playing in the NRL Final, so he can't be first Troy Scorer, but until they definitively have him saying, he's no chance to apply, then they can't take him out of the market. So, it's a really confusing time for bookmakers, because once they open these markets, until these horses are actually physically with the drawn, they need to leave them in there. For example, well written, our best horse is the TAB favourite for the hat and mile at Hastings in 12 days on. It's a group one race, it's the favourite, but it's no chance of starting. But it's in the nominations, so until Stephen Marsh pulls the horse out of the race,

5:06and says, it would definitely not going there, but TAB has to leave them in the market. So, our job at the Hill and on radio shows up and says to tell people about most people, quite in no any way, but tell them that, so they don't end up putting money on a horse who's not starting. But again, it's not the TAB's fault, it's just the way the system works, because trainers leave the Lindeertone, just in case something goes wrong with the flight, and the horse ends up staying in New Zealand. So, let us see, lots of questions, lots of information going all sorts to the regions of the moment. So, what's D-Day then for well written, in terms of? Next Monday. Next Monday, yeah. Next Monday, so she'll leave a bit. So, she'll either be getting on a plane, next Monday or Tuesday, or she won't be. Now, she's absolutely going to sit there. But like, if something goes wrong, then she could possibly go ahead and mile, but it's 99 to 1, that keeps. But again, it's the tricky one for the bookies, until someone withdraws the horse,

6:06and then they have to leave it in the marketplace. So, that job in the Herald's morning is to say these horses won't start, these horses will, this is what you're actually playing into. Yeah, let's go back to Tiatoa, and you mentioned it there. It's now called the Great New Zealand, steeple chase, used to be called the Great Northern, and I get all nostalgic when I hear that, because it takes me back to the mid eighties, and Keith Hobb was a favourite of mine. I loved his commentaries on the racing, and he did the Great Northern on numerous occasions. And I don't know whether you remember it, but his call when Hunterville won the third straight Great Northern, in 1985, it's still one of the great pieces of sports commentary, where Hobb just kind of lost himself for a moment, got a little bit personal, because it meant a lot to him, and I think that's one of the things that made him such a special caller. You recall that? Absolutely. It's our red rum moment. So there's a horse, a red rum, who won the Grand National.

7:06It's a champion for you. Yeah. And very few horses, who pulled that sort of stuff off of it, and Hobb was greater than injecting himself into the commentary. As is George Simon, George Simon's really good at it too, to add that extra level of personality. And yeah, I'm not a people getting this to logic, about the fact that they used to go three times over the hill, where the others lead, were gone to that before on the show, the reason it was sold, it made sense, it's a straight-air track, the money they got from selling the hill, has helped secure racing's future in the North. So I've got no issue with that, even though it was great fun at the time. But Tiara has seems to be working, only down the last year on the Sunday, and it was a fantastic occasion, because it's a different type of racing jumps racing. It's a little bit like, some people love club rugby, and some people love the all-wraps. And some of those people are crossover people, but there's plenty of people going to the all-wraps, could have made a bit of a wooz, they're going to watch Maris play, Poms and Mean Club rugby, but the people who love it, really love it.

8:06And jumps racing's like that, there'll only be a thousand people with Tiara on Sunday, for the jumps racing, for the great New Zealand. But those thousand people will care implicitly about what they see, and it's a really important part of the industry jumps racing. So this weekend's a really big one. They've had a little bit of bad luck, because all of them are following the worry of the flag on Sunday, but it's racing up, starting at 6.05, that the race menu will be able to wait, because one of the really big factors, we'll understand this, because obviously this is an intense run show, is sports becoming so big deal, not only for people with fewer, but for hunters, that the absolute worst thing a racing club wants is to be smacked bang in the middle of a sporting event. Now definitely about the all-wraps, because the all-wraps play very good afternoon games, but the worry is playing on the afternoon, or Friday nights for the harness, or can cannibalise two-node. The great news is, the racing will be finished by five past six when we all go to Eden Park.

9:07So they've dodged a bullet there, but it's a really interesting one many people don't realise, is that when you put a massive sporting event and the worries of the all-wraps, of course, of the pick two, or during a race meeting, a lot of people change a channel and don't come back. The good users this Sunday, you can watch the great New Zealand, enjoy yourself, change channels, and watch a bit of the worries. I presume we'll be talking a little bit further about this on Wednesday, on the midweek, Mauraan. Mate, we'll give a big dive into the jump season, because it's almost done. By then also we'll know more about well-written. Now here's the crucial aspect for who are. She is set to the $1.5 million Epson at Randwick and Sydney in October the third. The wait for the Epson coming out today. Now the reason they're important is, A, what weight she gets, as in what handicap chest to carry. Who else turns up in the weights? What other horses are going to be there? And what weight she gets? Made it to them and what jocky

10:07is able to ride through it. Because all the good Sydney jockies want to ride well-written. But some of them can ride at different weights to other weight. So today's weights, which will be released in the afternoon, for well-written and the Epson, the next important step. And we'll follow all of that up on Wednesday. We could go up with the next week, Marlund and I'll leave it there. Here's you know. Yes, and I will look forward to seeing you then. In the meantime. You look forward to it too. You have a great week. And I will see you bright and breezy at 11 o'clock on Wednesday on Sport Nation mornings. Looking forward and by the way, last week on the show, we had one tip of the Wednesday show. We had Jasmine Force at Orange. She said, you should back this horse. Roll home and pay $4.60. So the last four weeks, at 11 o'clock on Wednesday morning, we've had four different tips to this. Three of them, their tip of the day have won. Radio listeners, if you want to make a dollar, stick around, we'll see you at the clock on Wednesday morning. Wednesday is quite a big morning for that, because as well as you,

11:08and the guests that you have on, who often have some very good information, we also have Dave Villesky with the golf as well. So it's, yeah, can be a very profitable thing to the show on Wednesday mornings. Thank you very much, mate. Well, I'll see you at the golf. I'll leave Dave to the golf. Yeah, I'll leave Dave to the golf. Okay, yeah, a hacker. Yeah, all right, mate. Good on you. He's not a hack when it comes to writing about racing, though I'm talking about it, he is the best in the business, Mick Aaron. And he'll be along between 11 and 12 on Wednesday morning, Sport Nation mornings.