The Corner with Garry Chittick

Regretfully, last week’s Corner was lost in transmission. So at the risk of one of the two of you having read it, some of this week may appear a touch repetitive. My concern was the obvious risk that those who disregard the Covid dangers could cause the immediate cancellation of all racing. 

I watch with interest the machinations of a nation that offers a choice of a Federal Government supposedly supported by State Governments, each with leaders of different political agendas with more than one intent on undermining the Federation. If it wasn’t so serious, one would consider it a masterclass of the program, Yes Sir. But then it’s not really. Yes Sir conveys a subtle lesson on the bureaucracy where we can absorb the difficulties of Government, it does so with enough humour to retain our interest. You would think with a Central Government, seven states, there would be a couple of these leaders that would inject enough humanity and humour to be considered part of the Australian team. I love the Australian humour – it’s brutal, to the point, but fair dinkum funny. I know these are serious times but watching Chairman Dan, the women with unspellable names from NSW and Queensland, then we have West Australia close to seceding, my point is it is left to our beloved sport of racing to allow us stuck here in NZ to continue to share in all the good things we love about our mates. Imagine no racing and the above mentioned our only source of entertainment.

It’s even better when we continue to contribute to their sport with NZ-bred horses, we probably don’t win more than our share but our share encourages ongoing support from their racehorse owners. And so to next year’s sales. Waikato last year decided a spread of our product may mitigate some of the unknown risks, we are very grateful for the assistance we received from our fellow Australian breeders and agisters who managed our horses. Overall it worked for us with a remarkable clearance rate. As it stands right now, current Covid restrictions make it even more difficult, there will be a great deal of head scratching at Waikato in the short term. The industry’s dependence on the Net will never be more important. 

Well you, my loyal now four readers I believe might be Kiwis but if not, if you are okkers don’t take it to heart my view on your Governance. We don’t have a choice, we are stuck with the patronising tooth fairy daily re-educating us, wall to wall exposure, no vestige of humour and racing only just back on our agenda. We used to have a choice, if we weren’t happy we could have jumped the Tasman.
 G