Well done Laff

Not sure if this has been discussed earlier , i looked but couldnt find anything, imo a huge step in the right direction and should be applauded..
www.turftalk.co.za/gold-circle-approves-...-trials-stakes-hike/
GOLD Circle will be staging official barrier trials for unraced horses from as soon as the first week of November 2017. The trials will be held at the Kwazulu-Natal racetracks prior to the start of race meetings.

KZN Trainer and Gold Circle board director Paul Lafferty, who was instrumental in seeing through the long-awaited trials, told Turf Talk this morning: “We had an AGM yesterday and barrier trials were approved by CEO Michel Nairac. It carries the unanimous support of trainers. The vote was 100-nil!”

The trials will be held over 1000m on the racetracks proper (at weight-for-age in case of mixed ages), with full control from stipendiary stewards, and with official race videos produced for every trial. All unraced horses destined to make their debuts in KZN will be subject to being trialled in their racing silks before they can compete in a race. Trail runners must be extended (fully ridden out), but whips won’t be necessary. Race results with run-ons and times will be made available so that punters can have access to all the information they require.

Lafferty commented: “There are many advantages to barrier trials and the most important of all is that it will go a long way to restoring public confidence in racing. There is a perception that racing is crooked. Certain trainers refuse to talk about their unraced runners and when they win, punters believe they were placed at a disadvantage, that wool was pulled over their eyes or that vital info was withheld on purpose.

“Perception is reality. We want to eliminate the perception of unfairness so that the people who wager money on races can be assured that they are on an equal footing, they have all the necessary information at hand before they put their cash down.

“There are trainers who withhold information on their runners to plan so-called ‘betting coups’. I said to them yesterday, ‘How many coups have any of you actually pulled off? I don’t see any helicopters parked at your stables. Forget the betting coups, those days are over. We need new owners in the game!

“There will be teething problems and there will be incidents where actual race results won’t reflect the results of the trials, but the trials will establish form patterns for stables which punters will be able to follow with reliable results. They will be able to see which stables bring their horses to hand faster or slower compared to others, and so on. The main issue, however, remains the aspect of public confidence. The betting public wishes to see that the operator is doing everything it can to help them win!”

Lafferty also said that there stakes will be increased for races in Gold Circle country, planned for October, November latest.

Great news. Transparency is key if the sport is to grow.

Moving ALL unraced horse from Durban as of this morning........ thats 6 horses or R60 000 a month lost or R720k a year lost to the province......nice going laff

let us know when you over van reenens pass please

Been waiting for this day. I remember when they did barrier trials before the first race at milnerton race track. It does help. I hope that tellytrack will do coverage on it and not come up with stories.

easy wrote: Moving ALL unraced horse from Durban as of this morning........ thats 6 horses or R60 000 a month lost or R720k a year lost to the province......nice going laff

At 10k a month you should have moved ages ago...
More to the point if you feel that strongly about the public having an opportunity to not have to play completely in the dark when it comes to unraced horses then KZN racing wont miss you, completely offside attitude imo and strangely enough that is exactly the mind set the barrier trials are intended to eliminate, clearly it's working...so cheerio...

BATMAN wrote: Been waiting for this day. I remember when they did barrier trials before the first race at milnerton race track. It does help. I hope that tellytrack will do coverage on it and not come up with stories.

Batman you been in racing for ever bud

Titch wrote:

BATMAN wrote: Been waiting for this day. I remember when they did barrier trials before the first race at milnerton race track. It does help. I hope that tellytrack will do coverage on it and not come up with stories.

Batman you been in racing for ever bud

It feels like yesterday, getting to the track early, in the small official race card they had the the names in the race card, once in a while there were 2 races.I found a good few winners from there, some good horses that you could see greenness and the day they ran a official race you knew that he had a run and sort of what to expect.

nice for punters,but i saw on sky sports yesterday that a uk trainer and his son got a 4yr ban for cobalt use which they said has the same effect as epo does for an athlete.now i know we had multiple positives for cobalt use here,but nothing came of those positives or the trainers whose horses were found to have the cobalt positives.in fact the whole issue seems to have been swept under the rug and i feel if punters knew who the guilty trainers were,it would instill more confidence in the game of horseracing in this country than barrier trials where the trainers could still pull the wool over punters eyes by manipulating the trials.

what we need is proper policing of our game so that crooked trainers don't get off for major indiscretions like the use of cobalt and other illegal substances to win races and look like heroes when they are in fact big cheats.

winzip wrote: nice for punters,but i saw on sky sports yesterday that a uk trainer and his son got a 4yr ban for cobalt use which they said has the same effect as epo does for an athlete.now i know we had multiple positives for cobalt use here,but nothing came of those positives or the trainers whose horses were found to have the cobalt positives.in fact the whole issue seems to have been swept under the rug and i feel if punters knew who the guilty trainers were,it would instill more confidence in the game of horseracing in this country than barrier trials where the trainers could still pull the wool over punters eyes by manipulating the trials.

what we need is proper policing of our game so that crooked trainers don't get off for major indiscretions like the use of cobalt and other illegal substances to win races and look like heroes when they are in fact big cheats.

I cant see how that is even remotely pertinent to this thread???

Today in cape town there are so many short price favorites in most bipot lets, even a jackpot leg one is favorite.
This would help if we have seen everyone work on the track for 800 meters,today you might get to a race and you have banked a horse that is short just on betting and breeding and when you watch it go down for the first time you might never have touched it.
Eventhough there are costs to bring these horses to the track, the otherside is that today i wont be playing usual bipots which could be anything up to R1000 as to many first timers in the early races but soon with trials i would test my skills and without a doubt will play and probably spend more as i can make decisions based on what i have seen and think

Unfortunately GC are again way ahead of Phumelela - Finally, people are realizing that a clean sport is a strong sport - I wish them all the success they deserve and I will watch religiously when trials air