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Bit Of A Yarn

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    • harold park must have been a great viewing venue in its time ,with the crowd being so close to the action. i actually thought forbury(dunedin) was the best track to view harness racing, in nz. their main grandstand was only abou 30m from the track and was positioned about 100m from the finish and with it being only a 1000m track it was great. i remember near the end there,jumping over the taped off areas in the stand as it was deemed unsafe,and watching the races,but often you had someone from the club come along and tell you,you can't sit there. seemed ok to me.strangely the toilets in that grandstand were considered ok to use but not the other parts of that grandstand.  And of course if you took your car there you got to park in front of that stand ,only about 20m from the action in a great viewing spot. My parents used to enjoy going there because of that. personally i thought it sad that hrnz didn't give forbury better dates so they at least had a fighting chance financially.They used to have good food,but that went to the pack in the end as well. hutt park,(wellington)i  think they gave up their long term lease or something like that in return for the local council wiping their rates debt about 20 years before they were shut down.. I remember mr mckenzie paid for a new grandstand after that,but then the council decided they didn't want the harness people there and without a lease agreement,harness had no come back. actually the grandstand there was also in an ideal position for the public to view from.The only problem was the new grandstand was glassed in quite a lot,especially on the sides,so if it rained then you struggled a bit to see the horses as the glass was covered in rain and the lights being on the rain made it hard to see . Acrtually the lack of a well positioned grandstand is the main reason we never go to the races these days. i don't like sitting at or past the winning post and virtually all the tracks have their grandstands there  these days. The well positioned grandstands have all gone from tracks all over nz. banks peninsula grandstand is ok,but its still such a big track that your a long way from the horses and the drivers and being close to the action.Southland have a couple of better positioned grandstands,but their tracks are inside galloping tracks so they too lack atmosphere and are also too far from the action unless you have binoculars.
    • War Machine wins the Stradbroke Stradbroke Handicap winner War Machine. Picture: Grant Peters/Trackside Photography.     By Racenet 06:17pm • 14 June 2025 Comments Dominant favourite War Machine gave supporters little need for worry when scoring a commanding win in the $3 million Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap (1400m) at Eagle Farm on Saturday. War Machine is trained by brothers Ben, Will and JD Hayes and provided the famous Australian racing family with their first win in Queensland's signature race. The late Colin Hayes and his son David, Ben Will and JD's father, are both Hall of Fame trainers but neither have won a Stradbroke. War Machine was close to the speed throughout before surging to the front with 300m to go and was never getting run down, defeating Yellow Brick with Private Eye back in third.   https://bitofayarn.com/topic/141198-war-machine-wins-2025-stradbroke-for-nz-connections/ War Machine was ridden by Tim Clark and the victory was his sixth from 13 starts, taking his earnings to more than $2.4 million. https://bitofayarn.com/topic/141198-war-machine-wins-2025-stradbroke-for-nz-connections/      
    • A tidy fourth by ex-New Zealander Desert Lightening in the Straddie as well.
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