Chief Stipe

Cheltenham is here! Not 5 weeks to go. So I've locked the thread.

No I'm afraid it isn't the same nor semantics. At the end of the day I guess I've always gone for principles.

Well that's a little twist on the facts Alan. What I said at the time Alan was you were welcome to do whatever you want and I couldn't stop you. I also said I had the same opportunity and wasn't going to do it.

Sure can I PM all your members as well using your website?

Oh dear Hesi (Allan). Good to see you are in charge somewhere.

He’s spent more time away from home than he has at it in recent months, but Mark Purdon couldn’t turn down the opportunity to get behind one of his most exciting prospects on a fleeting return last week. And, concerningly for rivals of Enhance Your Calm this week at Addington, and for the rest of the season, the champion horseman couldn’t have been any more impressed. Purdon had a steer on the strapping three-year-old trotter to give him the final all clear to return to the races this week after a leg injury following a fresh up victory in the Orari Challenge Stakes at Geraldine at the beginning on February. “It wasn’t anything serious, he just sprained it,” Purdon said. “But it was enough for us to want to back off him for a bit. He’s got a big few months ahead of him. “He’s good now though; I had the chance to drive him last Saturday and thought he felt fantastic.” A winner of six from six thus far in his career, Enhance Your Calm was the dominant force of the two-year-old ranks last season and if he looked good then, there’s even higher hopes now. “We pushed on to the Jewels with him last season, but he had probably had enough by then. “But with a good break in him he’s really grown and strengthened and looks and feels great.” He resumes this week in the Sires’ Stakes Prelude, which also includes Hambletonian winner, Lotamuscle, but punters won’t be expecting much to change on the picket fence form line this week and Purdon seemed reasonably confident of a big showing. “On what I felt when I drove him, and the reports I’ve had, he’s right back on song and you’d expect a pretty bold display from him this week.” Whether there is a trotter around that has the all-round game to push Enhance Your Calm this season remains to be seen, but if there is – he might not have to look too far to find him. Across the paddock sits the exciting Oscar Bonavena who Purdon said is progressing nicely. “He’s just come back into work recently and is coming up just as we would like. The goal will be to have him at the races next month for the Derby.” Purdon, and his training partner Natalie Rasmussen will ease themselves back into ‘mainland’ life this weekend with four runners at Addington and then two down south at Wyndham on Saturday. Fillies, Bubbled Up and Kayla Marie will be out to lower Wainui Creek on Friday night while Letterkenny Boy will be out for redemption after getting wiped out down south last week. At Wyndham, both Copperfield and Flying Even Bettor give the stable a strong hand as they chase their sixth Kindergarten Stakes success in the past seven years. View the full article

I guess but then individuals do nourish these things. Nigh on impossible to moderate unless you go down the RC path and ban everyone.

Sorry I fail to see how this dialogue is "toxic." I wouldn't have had a clue where Thomaas got his picks from but my hunch would be true to form they wouldn't be his. But then it all degrades again for what reasons I have no idea.

Well I wouldn't expect you to grasp any argument.

From Waverley to the Waikato, all the way to Auckland and beyond, the feel-good story of Auckland Cup week was Glory Days’ win... Want to read this content? For free user content sign up here Free Online Content View our subscription options and get behind The Informant paywall Already a member? Login here View the full article

Gavin Smith is a very open and honest character and will call a spade a spade if that’s what the situation dictates. Want to read this content? For free user content sign up here Free Online Content View our subscription options and get behind The Informant paywall Already a member? Login here View the full article

The conditions of the Listed Yealands Family Wines New Zealand St Leger at Trentham have been changed this year, giving the well-performed stayer... Want to read this content? For free user content sign up here Free Online Content View our subscription options and get behind The Informant paywall Already a member? Login here View the full article

DENNIS RYAN GOLDEN AGE Hot trainer-jockey combination to add another win with a horse that should have won a race by now. RICHARD EDMUNDS EQUINOX R2 TRENTHAM Blue-blooded colt who impressed at this track before being tripped up by a wet track at Matamata. Should bounce back. MIKE BROWN NEWMARKET R9 TAURANGA Was a month […] Want to read this content? For free user content sign up here Free Online Content View our subscription options and get behind The Informant paywall Already a member? Login here View the full article

A home-town Group One remains a possibility for exciting mare Back In A Flash, who resumes in Saturday’s... Want to read this content? For free user content sign up here Free Online Content View our subscription options and get behind The Informant paywall Already a member? Login here View the full article

Suspended: B Murray: From close of racing Saturday 16 March to close of racing Sunday 24 March. J Fawcett: From close of racing Wednesday 13 March to close of racing Friday 22 March. M Cameron: From close of racing Saturday 16 March to close of racing Saturday 30 March. J Lowry: From close of racing […] Want to read this content? For free user content sign up here Free Online Content View our subscription options and get behind The Informant paywall Already a member? Login here View the full article

Adelaide Cup winner Surprise Baby has provided a stunning return on investment for his connections... Want to read this content? For free user content sign up here Free Online Content View our subscription options and get behind The Informant paywall Already a member? Login here View the full article

The dominant performance by Glory Days in Saturday’s Gr. 1 Barfoot & Thompson Auckland Cup capped a special month for Graeme Hunt. Want to read this content? For free user content sign up here Free Online Content View our subscription options and get behind The Informant paywall Already a member? Login here View the full article

Like so many horses that have come before him, how he will handle his first look at Alexandra Park is the big question hanging over Canterbury pacer Rocknroll Rod this week. The Kyle Austin-trained three-year-old and hometown girl The Stunning Nun give driver Maurice McKendry a strong hand in the two feature three-year-old races at […] Want to read this content? For free user content sign up here Free Online Content View our subscription options and get behind The Informant paywall Already a member? Login here View the full article

The number of mares served in the latest breeding season remained steady compared to the previous year and with perhaps some light at the end of the tunnel... Want to read this content? For free user content sign up here Free Online Content View our subscription options and get behind The Informant paywall Already a member? Login here View the full article

Want to read this content? For free user content sign up here Free Online Content View our subscription options and get behind The Informant paywall Already a member? Login here View the full article

Want to read this content? For free user content sign up here Free Online Content View our subscription options and get behind The Informant paywall Already a member? Login here View the full article

For a start I was first referring to the sensationalist headline - "Embalming Fluid inside horse...." It's a common livestock remedy for healing infected hooves. Now it is doubtful that it has any performance enhancing affect on race horses. In fact there is scientific evidence to prove there isnt any and to prove at the levels supposedly found in the horse to have serious deleterious affects. Finally the "positive" was found through an uncertified test using "test strips". That is it isn't an evidentiary test that would stand up in court. It all doesn't add up. At the time why was a follow up evidentiary test done? If a blood test was done on you now they would find low levels of formaldehyde which you have absorbed from the environment.

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Eminent will need some of his champion trainer’s gold medal-winning form to have any chance at a Group One victory during Sydney’s autumn carnival. The son of Frankel is trained by Sir Mark Todd for Kiwi owner Sir Peter Vela. Star expat New Zealand jockey James McDonald said the five-year-old “felt terrific” after he gave him a workout at the Canterbury Racecourse quarantine centre this morning. The question is whether Eminent can recapture his form in time for March 23, McDonald said, to be competitive in the Ranvet Stakes at Rosehill. Todd told reporters the team still did not know what to expect since he had only taken the horse into his care in October. “We’ve come here knowing that at best he’s a very good horse, but we’ve still got some questions to answer,” he said. “Even when I was training I never ran a horse first up over 2000 metres, so we’re in unknown territory.” The dual New Zealand Olympic equestrian gold medallist, who has not trained racehorses in more than a decade, had to hurriedly get his licence before taking over from English trainer Martyn Meade. “Obviously he (Meade) did a very good job in his early stages. Eminent was a good two-year-old, a very good three-year-old,” he said. Todd has had previous success in training during the early 2000s before he returned to eventing, having won the Gr. 1 One New Zealand Oaks with Bramble Rose and the 2007 Wellington Cup with Willy Smith. A long-time lover of racing, he has also booked Eminent for a clash with champion mare Winx in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes on April 13. He says the team is under no illusions about how difficult defeating the super mare would be, but would love to give it a crack. “Winx is not just an Australian icon, she’s worldwide,” he said. “If we go well in the Ranvet and get a chance to run there, it would be an amazing occasion to be a part of it and hopefully our horse is good enough he can make it into a horse race.” Eminent had several wins including including a French Group Two race in 2017 before a drop in form last year left him unplaced in all four runs, three at Group One level. En route to stud in New Zealand, Eminent spent time doing dressage and jumps work with Todd before it was decided to try the entire in Australia for one last season. The 63-year-old will return to the UK following the Queen Elizabeth to compete in the Badminton Horse Trials but says he hopes to get a few more horses to train. “I’ve always loved racing, so we’ll just see what happens,” he said. View the full article