Chief Stipe

Why shouldn't it have happened before?

Hardly. She didn't take a trail she was one out off the rail until she went to the front before the turn. Not that taking a trail behind the leader was an option. I just thought the trial might have a chance to trail her but on reflection she drew the inside so not much option but to lead all the way.

I had my doubts the moment James Macdonald talked her up as being better than Silent Achiever.

Well the cock up theory seems more implausible than the vandal theory. It would only take 15 litre back pack sprayer to do the damage in one go and even I could walk straight lines across the track.

More likely your bandwidth rather than the browser. I've noticed that the performance improves or degrades relative to the quality of the internet connection. Some browsers will compensate to avoid buffering. The other fly in the ointment is the CDN Cloudflare - it also compensates which can end up with a scrap going on. When you download the video you obviously avoid any network speed issues and the buffering scrap. Shame the networks don't actually deliver the bandwidth they promise without trying to fudge it. Spark is the worst.

Disappointing that NZTR can't provide better quality video. The times are pointless too without sectionals. I'm surprised they haven't tried to teach Alabama Lass to trail. From now on in her career it gets harder to lead all the way at the elite level.

Please no! @Thomass will still be "investigating" in 10 years time!

Are debating guilty of an offence or the penalty that was given? Moran is guilty of an offence under the harness racing rules. You seem to be suggesting he gets a slap with a soggy race book!

Even the stuff up explanation has weaknesses. Residues of glyphosate (Roundup) was found. Yet the affected area seems to be a perfect 16 metre wide piece of turf. Which is two boom lengths. How do you spray one 8m piece then either turn around and spray another or back up and doing another length without leaving traces of spray outside the square (pun intended). I remember spraying some weeds on the edges of a lawn once. A couple of weeks later I noticed a set of boot prints across the line. Obviously I had walked in the area I had sprayed while it was still wet and walked back across the lawn!! So to make the square with a boom sprayer on a tractor you'd have to drive one length and then do a U-turn and do a second length. Then not drive over what you had just sprayed. For what reason would you only spray a square like that for legitimate reasons? Fungus? You'd spray the whole track and surrounds. Same with insect pests.

Well it is obvious he is guilty of breaking the rules. He dropped his leg out of the sulky and hit the leg of the horse he was driving. @the galah do you want us to pass the hat round to cover your bet?

Talking to some people that were on course at the abandoned meeting and when it rained everything was flooded. Torrential. Hopefully they get some luck on Friday.

Didn't NGH get a gong at New Year?

Only in your head. There was no clear option ahead once the horse was on the rail. Sadly that's another thing you fail at - form analyst.

You are being selective with statistics again!!! The industry doesn't need you or your BS. Wanganui has had two more meetings December 2024 than it did in December 2023. You are once again being selective in your comparisons to justify your warped agenda.

It may not be the only video evidence. There can be additional Stewards video and even the video you have seen in the replay will be at a higher definition than the public get to see. It should improve the Stewards image. They disqualified a horse under the rules of racing because the driver was caught hocking. Whether deliberate or accidental or careless is irrelevant. Now will there be an appeal against the disqualification? I don't know if the rules allow it but there could be. However it is clear that the rule was broken and the horses leg was touched by the boot of the driver. That is illegal. What would it have done for the image of racing if there had been an outcry from all and sundry about how a driver in a race kicked a horse and nothing was done about it!!!! In saying that, not that I have read everything you have written on the subject, I think you don't disagree with some action being taken just think that the disqualification was over the top.

Interview with HRV Chief Steward Peter Chadwick regarding Captain Hammerhead's disqualification. Timeline_19qmro.mp3

Really? Yet when an INCA race was reviewed subjective opinion determined that there was match fixing and the drama went on for years. The rule is quite clear the driver couldn't do what he did. Disqualified.

Have you seen ALL the video evidence? The stipes will have. Hang on a minute are you saying because some punters screamed loudly the horse shouldn't have been disqualified? The driver knew the rules and had no reason to drop his leg and as said by the stipes touch the horse with it. It was a deliberate action NOT accidental. Peter Chadwick, Chairman of Stewards for HRV, explained the post-race scenario when stewards delayed the all-clear on the race. “Following the running of the race, the Shepparton Cup, stewards did delay all clear. The reason being that the driver of the first past the post David Moran, his right leg became detached from the sulky and appeared to be there for quite a significant point of time,” Chadwick said. “The film was quite evident that the foot did become detached and there was contact with the horse’s hind leg on a couple of occasions. We also believe Mr Moran’s foot stayed in that vicinity of the horse’s legs… “The stewards believed the rule 170 part five should be invoked and as such the horse was disqualified. There’s no part in that rule that actually says the horse can be relegated, it talks about the horse may be disqualified. Race5-NEATLINEHOMESSHEPPARTONGOLDCUP(GROUP3).mp4 “It is a big race, we understand the impact it has upon those involved and the connections of that horse that was first past the post, but equally we have to be fair to all the other participants and administer the rules as they are.”

Uh? I don't believe this. @the galah is advocating for someone who clearly cheated amd broke the rules of racing. Hitting a horse with your leg can accrue a major advantage. Only one option disqualify horse and driver.

Uh? So Grylls hunts Orhestral up 2 lengths at the 800m to trail the leader closer. The leader is stacking them in a sit sprint what is Grylls going to do next? Wait for luck while losing momentum? No if he had hooked back and started to go round them at say the 600m at worst he'd be 4 wide but with clear air and will have put the mares staying ability into play. Although obviously not apparent in race 1 in later races the winners were trucking down the centre of the track.

Two lengths off the leader is pretty handy!! In my opinion Grylls should have hooked back and improved wide. But there aren't many doing that at the moment at Ellerslie.

Here we go another one of @Yankiwi 's fantasy conspiracies.

I imagine the IT systems at GRNZ are as archaic as the ones at NZTR and probably HRNZ as well. At least GRNZ didn't waste over $2m trying to put a new system in like NZTR did.

https://loveracing.nz/RaceInfo/53934/Meeting-Overview.aspx 30 Heats kicking off at 10:30 and not finished until after 4pm. 260 horses in total!!! 2 yr old progeny of: Zonza, Rondinella, Guiseppina and the $2m dollar Avantage filly (Avantaggia). El Vencedor Alabama Lass Captured By Love Age of Discovery Master Fay Move to Strike Babylon Berlin Damask Rose

Never will be resolved to your satisfaction however you let us hear about it for the next decade like the rest of your very limited repertroire!