Chief Stipe

Worked it out. The update doesn't update your existing installation it creates a new one.

Geez went to stop and start the app and now it says I need to update. Click update and it's in a continual loop.

Well I was forced to upgrade the mobile app today. Does anyone else have an issue with the viewport? That is the screen moves left and you end up with white bar on the right. You can't refresh the screen to get rid of it. I hope the changes include fixing the Trackside graphics so they at least scroll through to include very horse. If you wanted to back Mach Shard at the Trots on Friday you wouldn't have known it was at over $150-1.

Only 13 noms. These Synthetic Track Innovation races will be easy for you @Freda.

Yep that's how I got introduced. Dad and I at the Westland Racing Club meetings in Hokitika. Not to mention the complicated math he got me to do at the fund raising Calcutta's! Or going up to the course on a Saturday morning to watch Johnny Hurren and Cathy Wildbore gallop their charges. Sometimes a working bee to follow.

With 13 entries the Synthetic Track Innovation races might be a bit light!

MEETING NEWS Riccarton Park Synthetic Trials Cancelled The Riccarton Park Synthetic trials scheduled for tomorrow (30/04) have been cancelled due to insufficient entries. (13 entries)

It's a nonsense. Especially when the CEO says it is essentially a synthetic track! Perhaps they should sow seed on the AWT's? That's basically what they have done at Ellerslie. My understanding of what a Strathayr is has been totally upturned. I didn't know the top layer was largely sand with a plastic mesh. What happens to that mesh with all the mechanical intervention?

He's no slouch but getting on a bit in age. There are countless examples over the years where a horse of his ability snaps a race out of the blue. Just because he was paying $150-1 doesn't mean he had zero chance.

You obviously can't read a race at all. "20 lengths" - you're surely kidding?!! No - why would I? It was value in that race because of the skew towards the large amounts on the two favourites. The fact is instead of you objectively looking at the race you immediately start making inferences around swabing and something nefarious occurring. The horse isn't a slouch, has won at Group level before and a 1:53 mile and a quick final 400m isn't beyond its ability IF everything goes its way. Move on - nothing to see here.

You don't have to imagine it - it happened. Not exactly a mug horse as it's won over $750k and broken 1:50 for a mile. Including a Grp 1 in OZ. As I said it got a very soft run early, got a drag into the race and they ran home in 29.

If you had read the Stewards Report you would have seen there was pre-race blood and hair testing as well as the the three place getters in the Taylor Mile were swabbed.

Why wouldn't a Grp 1 winner be swabbed? Or are you trying to find reasons why your bet lost?

It means they all appealed. Seven different trainers in Delaware. 3 different trainers in Maryland including Wagner. Don't you think it is odd that an easily detectable substance has been found?

Sunshine Coast to host Hollindale Stakes 26 April 2024 SHARE Racing Queensland and the Gold Coast Turf Club have advised that the up-coming TAB Hollindale Stakes Raceday on May 11 will be transferred to the Sunshine Coast. Staged as part of the Queensland Racing Carnival, the Hollindale Stakes was successfully run at the Sunshine Coast last year, establishing a new wagering record for the meeting while the Gold Coast course proper was being rebuilt. Having conducted planned drainage works and sand grooving immediately following The Star Gold Coast Magic Millions in January, significant rain and humidity has impacted the return to racing at Aquis Park, with stakeholders committed to undertaking a cautious maintenance programme. “The decision to transfer the Hollindale Stakes from the Gold Coast to the Sunshine Coast is in the best interests of the course proper for the long term,” Racing Queensland CEO Jason Scott said. “Whilst we had every intention of returning the Hollindale to the Gold Coast this year, the climatic conditions have conspired against us. “At the same time, it’s important that we provide certainty to our participants who can now target their horses towards the Sunshine Coast.” As part of the Queensland Racing Carnival, the GCTC is also scheduled to host a night meeting for the first time on Friday, May 24. A decision on whether the night meeting will proceed will be determined in the coming weeks. “We’re obviously disappointed in losing our second biggest raceday on the calendar,” GCTC CEO Steve Lines said. “However, having successfully worked hand-in-glove with the Sunshine Coast Turf Club last year, we’re confident that another highly successful Hollindale Stakes can be run at Corbould Park. “We will reassess the course proper in a fortnight’s time mindful of the first ever Night Racing meeting on May 24 but given the significant investment that has been made on the course proper redevelopment, we will continue to do what is best for it in the long term.” Further information in relation to ticketing and hospitality for the TAB Hollindale Stakes Raceday will be made in the coming days.

Hollindale Stakes meeting moved again www.justhorseracing.com.au The featured Hollindale Stakes meeting … and integral part of the Queensland Winter Carnival will not take place at the Gold Coast … its traditional home … and will now instead be run at the Sunshine Coast for the second year in a row. Last year the switch was due to the fact that the Gold Coast Turf Club was in the middle of the construction of a new grass track. This year the reason is that, in its current state, the condition of the new track surface has been deemed to be not good enough to host the meeting. A switch to the Gold Coast Poly Track, which has been the go-to back-up for Gold Coast racing since the flaws in the grass surface were so blatantly, and sadly, exposed in a sandstorm of excessive sand kickback at The Jewel race meeting back on March 9 was never an option for a feature race-day. The Sunshine Coast, who have recently had troubles of their own with their track, have stepped in the rescue the Hollindale meeting, which will be run on its scheduled date of May 11. This development did not surprise anybody but, at the same time, it has reinforced a feeling of all around concern with the general state of racetracks in South-East Queensland. *The Gold Coast track curator Nevesh Ramdhani resigned on Wednesday. He will return to Sydney to take up a position with the Australian Turf Club.

Arguably the $14m could have been better spent on racing integrity systems, processes and testing.

Actually it did get a cushy run. Gliding along at the rear doing nothing. Gets a drag into the race to the top of the straight. The front horses walked home in 29. Merlin stuck on the slushy rail waiting for the passing lane. Mach Shard driven like it was a $150-1 longshot i.e. patiently at the back saved for the very last run. Obviously not many backed it!

But very few if any had anything to do with the $14m+ spend on INCA!!!! Some of the offences weren't even anything to do with Harness Racing other than the fact that those involved were licencees! Arguably the $14m could have been better spent on racing integrity systems, processes and testing.

Where you drain silt?...or sand....

Dave's Story May 20, 2019 Dave O’Sullivan is solid gold, a true champion who’s had a long and illustrious career training legions of world-class record breaking racehorses. Success at this level is fascinating, it propels people into another realm, making them appear almost god-like. How do they do it? What are their secrets? We spoke with Dave O’Sullivan at his farm in Matamata to hear his story and see if we could find out his secrets - and we did. At 15, determined to become a jockey, he begged his father to let him leave his job at a menswear store and went to work at the local stables. After six months probation, he signed on for his apprenticeship, serving a further four and a half years. In 1956, he says he attained his greatest achievement - marrying his sweetheart, Marie Davis. After a decade in the saddle, despite 125 wins and making it to 2nd leading apprentice (North Island), Dave’s description of his performance as a jockey is typically understated. “A bit better than average” he chuckles. Around 1960, Marie’s father who was also a trainer, became ill, and Dave started to take over the reins. His jockey career had been hindered by ongoing struggles with weight, so training was a good way to stay in the industry he loved. Dave remembers “I got my license in February ‘61, and in March I got my first win… matter of fact I trained three horses who raced that day, the first dropped dead and the other two won.” A textbook example of the extreme highs and lows of horse racing. “It was a tough slog from there, never easy, but I didn’t expect it to be”. It paid off. He won one premiership title independently and a further eleven in partnership with his son, Paul. Winning the 1989 Japan Cup was a crowning glory - the biggest race in the world at the time, and the only New Zealand trainers to have ever earned the distinction. He continued to excel, remaining in the top three of all NZ trainers for the last 19 years of his career. An extraordinary record, because it’s one thing to make it, yet another to stay there. You can tell straight away that Dave has a cheeky side to him, his smile gives it away. That, and the fact that he doesn’t miss a beat. Walking across to the stables, he pops his hat on, perfectly completing the classic look of gentleman and horseman. The familiar way his roughened, worn hands maneuvers the elegant gelding out of its stall reveal his many years of experience. There’s no doubt that Dave is a trainer with a gift. His other son, champion jockey Lance O’Sullivan, described it as the “gift of the old fashioned stockman, to be able to instinctively read a horse”, adding that “Dad was fiercely competitive, but I think his biggest strength was that he was a master planner who never took his eye off the horse, it came before everything else.” Much has been said about the trainer’s pioneering approach to feeding horses like athletes, and Dave maintains that this was largely a case of feeding them more regularly. “They were stronger and I could work them harder.” Renowned for the physical condition of his horses, Dave also placed a lot of emphasis on their appearance. When first starting out, he had four horses to work with, and he recalls the owner visiting but leaving in disgust, “I want racehorses, not show ponies” he said, promptly removing two of them from his stable. Nevertheless, Dave’s conviction that good looking horses attract good people proved to be true, and always concentrated on building relationships with excellent clientele. “My owners were extremely important to me. You’re only going to get wins if you get good stock, and you’ll only get good stock if your owner believes in you, and is prepared to spend the money.” It won’t surprise anyone that it was winning that Dave loved the most. “That’s what you’re there for. Imagine getting up at 4 a.m. to watch your horse run slowly” he laughs. It would be misleading to suggest that Dave O’Sullivan’s success was a solitary feat, and no one including the man himself, said so. Instead, his family, a great team of staff, and a bit of luck received all the credit. Lance agreed saying that his mum, was a rock and a guiding light. “She was incredibly wise, had a great business head and her clever decision making was hugely important to their success”. On top of that, Paul, who currently holds the prestigious place of 3rd leading trainer in Hong Kong, was his right hand man, with him every waking minute from the age of 22. “A tight knit family team that was second to none”. So, now you know Dave’s secret too. His story, like most who rise to the very top of their game, is one of natural affinity, perseverance, hard work, and unrelenting family support. It seems that’s always the secret.

Dave O'Sullivan has passed away.