Chief Stipe

Why pass on your competitive advantage? It's not a hobby - it's a professional highly competitive sport. Don't successful companies work hard to protect their IP?

But you wouldn't actually find any one thing or magic potion that would be satisfy your need for scandal. The best trainers do a lot of little things exceptionally well 100% of the time. They also innovate at a macro level (I.e. across all their horses and stable) and refine at a micro level (each individual horse). With latter how many trainers regularly test their horses blood and adjust feed supplements to compensate for any deficiencies? Not many because it is expensive and requires a high level of training and expertise to implement. Two hours at Purdons wouldn't tell you anything. A month probably wouldn't either but after a month you'd realise that the institutional knowledge he has learnt after 3 generations of horse training is very hard to write into a heavy tome let alone a 800 word essay for the general populous to read. I even doubt that some of these top trainers could tell you what they do - they have a feel for it. Instead of 25 years in the Police Force leaving with a pension the prerequisite for being an RIB employee should be at least 5 years working in a stable from dawn to dusk 7 days a week 365 days a year for very small wages when worked out on an hourly basis.

Aside from the fact why would anyone in a competitive industry tell the world what they do to give themselves an edge, the reality is probably most likely very simple. It's doing a lot of little things to make a horse healthy and happy. An eye for detail. Recently I have had the opportunity to see a lot more about how a top NZ stable operates. I knew they must have had an approach that focussed on detail and innovation but I was astounded to what level it went. The reality is the majority of trainers in this country just don't get close to that level. They have a system that they continually improve and every staff member is part of it. I would say Grimson has an eye for a horse that has issues that can be addressed and which will make incremental improvements. A 5% improvement overall can make a big difference. It's a thousand little things that add up. When asked most top trainers couldn't explain what it is they see. Mainly because it isn't one thing. I've met a few good trainers and they a closer to horses than humans. Also not to forget the good ones work very long hours 7 days a week all year round regardless of the weather. None of their critics do the same.

What questions would you ask? List them. I'll send them to trainers.

Bollocks! His income relies on selling muck. Doesn't matter what racing code it is. I'll say it now he is the one that is dishonest.

But you've said @Archie Butterfly is the only true harness journalist!

Really? Then why do you always post after @Archie Butterfly ?

But if the truth they write isn't your truth you class the journo as crap or in someone's pocket. WHERE IS THE EVIDENCE?

We don't deprive anyone of oxygen on BOAY.

J-Mac set for Hong Kong stint Ryan Reynolds 8:22am James McDonald pats Romantic Warrior One of Australia's leading jockeys, James McDonald, is set for a short-term riding stint in Hong Kong. Hong Kong stewards announced on Tuesday night that McDonald would be allowed to ride from November 24, 2023 to January 1, 2024. It comes after McDonald's dominance during Melbourne Cup week which saw him win the VRC Derby and Oaks as well as the Champions' Stakes. He also won the Cox Plate on Romantic Warrior. Champion jockey Zac Purton, who rides in Hong Kong, revealed last year McDonald was on his hit list of people he wanted to bring over to ride in Hong Kong. “You’re probably not going to believe me, but I’ve been on the phone to him the last couple of years trying to get him to come to Hong Kong," Purton told SEN last year. “At the end of the day when he looks at his bank account and he looks at my bank account, he’s stupid for staying in Australia. “It’s as simple as that. “As a sportsman, you have a small window of opportunity, and if you’re running any business anywhere in there world, you need to maximise your return. When you’ve only got a small window of opportunity to ride, like he does and like we all do, you’ve got to try and set yourself up for the rest of your life. “He can stay there, win all the trophies, get all the accolades, and at the end of his career he’ll still have a mortgage on his home. It’s as simple as that. Financially it just doesn’t make sense."

But there are. It is an immutable fact that there is electoral fraud in every election. There have been cases in NZ just as there was fraud in the USA. The question in the USA is whether or not the fraud was at such a level to have influenced the result.

Which are a measure of opinion. What are the facts supporting electoral fraud?

That's not a fact. Equally you could say 75% of Democrats think Biden isn't senile.

What about the improvement in American Me?

That's an opinion not a fact. What facts? Facts always prevail.

Well the irony is that the outsider you backed in the first was priced at good value. I looked at its form afterwards and its Addington form held up amongst that lot. As @Brodie said I took a Whale approach but it's a losing punter who has a bet on every race Cup Day.

Long day punting? @Gammalite has enough energy to back up today, tomorrow and Show Day!

What "obvious questions"? The @Archie Butterfly unfounded mud slinging type questions? The ones you get your lead on from the headlines.

I'm picking there is going to be more Media BS being printed soon. Why would Stuff Crime reporter Anna Leask do a soft fluffy piece on harness training at Woodend Beach?

Where's the evidence?

Rubbish. There are only about two true journalists left in NZ. The rest are biased opinion piece writers - or muck rucking bottom feeders. Only if you are shallow minded. Most of us are more interested in the facts not some biased opinionated representation of them. Geez you write some crap but this jingoistic ideological platitudinous waffle takes first prize.

I don't think it was an "unwitting acknowledgement" - it was an honest expression of the effect it has. The baseless inferences and innunedo, the open hate, the accusations, the constant criticism and constant scrutiny gets to all of those who bear the brunt of the tall poppy syndrome. The Purdons, the Dunn's, Te Akau in the thoroughbreds - it affects them all. By comparison the Thorougubred industry in Victoria and NSW seems to be above all that.

Given the number of quality well bred horses in their stable they do tend to bat below average or at least their potential. With regard to Cya Art the only thing you could do in two weeks as a guest of another stable is iron out some niggles. Perhaps that and a change in environment is all it takes. Again a comparison in Thoroughbred Racing is the recent purchase of Midnight Blue by Te Akau a 7yr old gelded galloper. In 3 weeks they believe they can be competitive in a couple of $500k Cup Races. Midnight Blue worked at Caulfield on Tuesday morning. “He’s an interesting horse… we just felt sometimes those older horses a change of environment,” Walker said. “He came in really good order but with Cranbourne’s facilities being second to none and maybe just working him out the back in the sand dunes track and the hill might be something he needs to reignite him."

On that note since it's clear @holy ravioli has no understanding of any number of things related to Thoroughbred Racing ....Topic closed. (Geez who would bother counting all the posts!)

That's what I thought but didn't want to challenge (too much) Chazza's impeccable knowledge on finding nits.