Chief Stipe

Melody Belle still on track for the Bonecrusher. Connections pleased with Belle trial NZ Racing Desk 2 March 2021 Star mare Melody Belle showed she was on track for the Gr.1 Bonecrusher New Zealand Stakes (2000m) with a solid hit-out at the Rotorua trials on Tuesday. The Jamie Richards-trained six-year-old beat just one runner home when not having all favours in the Gr.1 Herbie Dyke Stakes (2000m) at Te Rapa last month but seemed her sparkling self on Tuesday. The 13-time Group One winner relished the strong tempo set by Rhaegar in the 1230m heat and got the better of that rival late to win the trial, with stablemate Savy Yong Blonk powering home for third. John Galvin, who manages the Melody Belle Fortuna Syndicate that owns the multiple New Zealand Horse of the Year, confirmed that Troy Harris, who partnered Melody Belle in the trial, would take the mount at Ellerslie on Saturday week. “It was a very good trial. I think the strong pace set it up nicely for Melody Belle and gave her a good hit-out,” Galvin said. “Troy actually had a devil of a job to pull her up past the post. The feedback from both Jamie and Troy was all positive and she is right on track for the Bonecrusher. “Troy will be riding her in the Bonecrusher. He has won three Group Ones on her and is unbeaten on her. I have lost track, but he has had something like 13 rides in the Fortuna colours for 10 or 11 wins, so it has been a successful association.” Melody Belle could potentially clash with star stablemate Avantage in the weight-for-age Ellerslie feature on March 13 and her performance will dictate future plans. “The loose plan is that if she runs well in the Bonecrusher, she could then go to Australia where she is nominated on the second day of The Championships for both the Queen Elizabeth (Gr.1, 2000m) and the Coolmore Legacy Stakes (Gr.1, 1600m), so there are a few options once we get a guide from her run at Ellerslie,” Galvin said.

Some are definitely mistakes hence some leniency shown. For example one of the Cobalt cases the amount of cobalt in the supplement was either mislabelled or was a factory mistake. Not much a Trainer can do in those circumstances. Cobalt is a legitimate feed additive particularly where there is soil deficiency. It is also a part of the Vitamin B12 complex. There are different types of Cobalt molecules. The one that was thought to be used as a performance enhancing substance was Cobalt Chloride. A salt given intravenously in large doses. Now there is little or no evidence that the Cobalt does enhance performance but Cobalt Chloride is sure as hell toxic at high doses. Because it occurs naturally in blood a threshold level has been set for testing. It isn't and can't be a completely prohibited substance. Unlike morphine or the synthetic equivalent Tramadol which don't occur naturally in blood. Now morphine can be picked up from poppy seeds and pods from natural foraging. There have been numerous examples of this occurring in all three codes both here and in Australia. The fact is that the levels that the morphine has been detected at in tests is so minute that it has zero therapeutic effect on a horse. Same with the positive Tramadol test. Environmental contamination is increasingly an issue particularly as the sensitivity of the tests are increasing exponentially. In my opinion "zero tolerance" is a cop out and needs to be addressed. If you get all the scientists and vets around the table and ask them what is an acceptable threshold level they would be unanimous in agreement that zero is no longer an option. If it stays at zero then the punishment for what may be inadvertent administration (e.g. through contaminated feed) far out weighs the crime. The recent thoroughbred case of Vamos Bebe is a classic example of this. The mare has been disqualified with a loss of $32,000 in stake money and the removal of black type from its record. All for a level of morphine that was detected that in no way offered any advantage therapeutically nor performance wise. It is impossible to check every slab of hay or every inch of a paddock before cutting. Don't be surprised if Trainers stop feeding their horses hay or even grazing their horses while they are in full race work.

I did find one. His name was Young Barton. The son of a Westland Racing Club committee member.

For a start you do better than the following statement from Woodham. For a start is Woodham really unaware that other Trainers are being investigated? I find that doubtful however if he is unaware then he should have said he wouldn't be commenting until he had talked to the RIU. He also should have made it quite clear that the vast majority of harness trainers and drivers were hardworking and followed the rules. He could have demanded that he was quoted in full or not at all. Now if he is unaware then the "leak" must have come from someone inside the RIU. Otherwise ethically the Journalist could not have written the story. I find it unscrupulous but typical of the RIU to do this. But then that is what we have come to expect where all through INCA and other recent cases someone has been leaking to the Press. That does not garner much respect from industry stakeholders in my opinon. Woodham also asks "for anyone with information to come forward" - I'm surprised he didn't quote the 0800 DOB-IN number. He basically hangs his sport out to dry. Here is what Woodham said: Harness Racing New Zealand chief executive Gary Woodham was unaware a group of trainers were under investigation and asked for anyone with information to come forward. “I do not want those types of people in our sport. If there are people out there doing it … if there are whistle-blowers, they should be getting in contact with myself or the RIU.” The damage the allegations caused to the harness racing industry was “suboptimal”, he said. “If this is what’s happening, we need to remedy it as soon as possible. We need to get a different perspective of who we are and what we want to be going forward, and we need to take action now.”

In 1897 the oncouse tote turnover at the Westland Racing Clubs Summer Meeting Day 1 was the equivalent of $400k in today's money. 2,000 people on course!

Some perspective..... April 1896.

LOL in 1887 two steamships the Wallabi and the Kennedy travelled to Hokitika for the Westland Racing Clubs Easter Meeting. Also a steam train travelled from Greymouth. Surprising the Wallabi made it as the year previously trying to get to the Greymouth races it ran aground at Cobden. The Kennedy.

Most of you are probably bored now but there is so much of this historical stuff online. Some of it is really funny and really interesting. Just read the results from the Westland Racing Club 1876 meeting. 200 pounds was bet on each race = in today's money $30,000. The winner in one race paid 11 pounds to win or $1,650. Yes it was the outsider! 2,000 people on course for the meeting!

Reefton - were you on the job in 1936? The entrance looks in good order!

Match Fixing West Coast style 1885. Those Greymouth stewards were always dodgy bastards! Where was the RIU?

This is from the 1890 Grey Evening Star. It talks about 10 race meetings on the Coast in a given year at 5 venues. 5,000 pounds in stakes - an average of 200 pounds per race in prize money. I just did a conversion of that to today's money. The total prize money for the Coast would have been $890,000 or approximately $30,000 a race! It seems even then the West Coast Club weren't working together!

Yep dear old Stan was a relation (although I do have an out as I was adopted - my birth family are from prominent Waikato Thoroughbred owning/breeding stock). LOL I was actually in the movie Bad Blood about Stanley - played an army cadet involved in the final shootout. My cousin is a Policeman and he was on his first placement in Wellington after finishing at Police College. It was the day of the Aramoana shooting where I think 13 people were killed. One of my cousins colleagues walked past and said "Looks like your family has lost the record!" Stanley shot and killed 7. My cousin responded with good old laconic dry wit - "Yeah but we still hold the record for shooting the most Policemen." I guess that story isn't particularly PC nowadays. Took the Army, Airforce, what was left of the local Police force and a team of local farmers to capture Stan. Even then "capture" is a moot point as having been shot about a week earlier he was suffering from gangrene and blood poisoning and many believe he was handing himself in.

LOL I'm still chuckling after reading that letter to the West Coast Times. History repeats! The only thing we learn from history is we don't learn from history! Nothing new under the sun! LOL!

Hell looks like even in 1892 West Coast Racing was getting screwed by the big Metropolitan Tracks! A Letter to the Editor, West Coast Times, 7 December 1892.

What were the farmers doing this year at Reefton? Gone to the Melbourne Cup maybe?

The track is cutting out a bit Reefton!

Newspaper clipping for the January 1916 Meeting of the Westland Racing Club. Some good tips. Thomass should take note that they were BEFORE the meeting. Heck he could have ridden the top weight in one race - 10st 12lb (69kg's). (

Hell look at the crowd at Greymouth! This doesn't look like Omoto - Reefton might know but was the original course where Victoria Trotting Park was?

LOL this is fun! My Great Grandmother Mrs Graham was the first female publican in New Zealand. She owned and ran the Kokatahi Hotel which was 15 mile inland from Hokitika. Looks like she even had her own racecourse!

Okarito must have been fun - they had bagmen - bookies!

Doing some research I found this of Hokitika in it heyday! Didn't realise there used to be racecourses at Okarito, Hari Hari and Kokatahi! Hell must have been some circuit in those days!

Where did Michael Mein come from? Or was his name Graeme?

You didn't mention your brother. Are we only looking at those who had a certain number of wins?

Rule Number(s): 638(1)(d)Following the running of race 7 (El Cheapo Cars Weight for Age Classic) an Information was lodged by Mr Goodwin alleging a breach of Rule 628 (1) (d) in that Mr O’Malley allowed his mount DEERFIELD to shift in when insufficiently clear of AVANTAGE which was crowded inwards onto CALLSIGN MAV who were ... (Feed generated with FetchRSS)View the full article

Rule Number(s): 869(2)Following the running of Race 6 an Information was filed by Stipendiary Steward Mr S Renault alleging a breach of Rule 869(2) by Open Driver Mr D McCormick. The information alleged; "Driver D McCormick (MAUI) used his whip with more than a wrist flicking motion in the home straight.” Mr McCormick signed ... (Feed generated with FetchRSS)View the full article