Basil

Here's MG's report: https://www.hrnz.co.nz/news-and-events/latest-news/7664-butt-runners-scratched-from-inter-doms I wonder how the owners will feel about the proffered 'apology'.? If it were me, I'd be inclined to suggest 12 months free training fees might be suitable compensation... Doesn't exactly do a lot for the reputation of harness trainers!

Unfortunately, you don't seem to agree with yourself. You correctly point out some of the costs associated with the disastrous 'war on drugs', but then advocate doing more of the same. As Einstein pointed out, the definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing and expecting to get a different outcome. My advice would be to read the evidence on the countries and regions that have tried a different approach — treat it as a health (rather than criminal) issue and legalise, regulate and tax, as is done with alcohol and tobacco.

Yes, but all that occurs because these drugs, unlike say tobacco or alcohol, are illegal — which drives up the price, drives down the quality, pushes all transactions underground, wastes an enormous amount of taxpayer money, and promotes conflict. When was the last time you heard of a shootout at a brewery or cigarette factory?

That is a beautiful boxer dog — likening him to Brodie is a mortal sin.?

Spankem, Franco N, Cruz B, Speeding Spur, Wilma's Mate. ??

Just to provide another perspective on this, it would seem that Mr Lamb's initial appointment had the strong support of drivers: https://www.pressreader.com/new-zealand/the-press/20071130/282454229647082 It might be interesting to know how they feel now. It would also seem that some of the perceived problems with standing starts can be attributed to HRNZ regularly changing the rules around starting procedures, often against the recommendations of starters. http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/sport/racing/286554/HRNZ-outlaws-walk-up-starts

I'll be on him, don't you worry about that!? Although after Enchantee's effort yesterday, that could be the kiss of death. I certainly didn't enjoy watching her race through blurry eyes upon my return from the beer festival. Thank gawd for Young Stranger...

Me tipping out horses is like Brodie advising on animal welfare, but does anybody else like Enchantee in R7? She's beaten most of these recently and was a close 5th in a much stronger field on Show Day. Sadly, I won't see any of the races live as I'll be doing my best not to get mothered at the SI Beer Festival this afternoon, but I'll watch the replays later with interest.

Thanks Andrew. Yes, when you surged to the lead in the penultimate race you just became a great big target for everyone else! I suspect a lot of teams thought like us — even if we'd run down the track in the last, we still had our original stake left, which made it a cheap day out, and so worth an all-or-nothing approach. I hear on the grapevine the TAB took a hammering on the last race, and not just because of my team. Sounds like R11 might not have been an awful lot better.? Good on them for opening it up, I say (obviously!), but you can see why they normally have restrictions on. I wonder if the same rules will apply next year...

Some good questions that I'll do my best to answer. First, the choices of Cruz Bromac and Dr Tim were initially the choice of our principal selector (the alligator shoe wearer!) Remarkably though, in these cases we were all in agreement. Everybody thought CB looked like a good thing after Tuesday's run, and while we differed a little on who we liked most in R12 everybody agreed that DT was well and truly overs and hence, in the circumstances, the best bet. But you're right, getting agreement can be a nightmare. Which is why we delegated the final say to our principal selector — the rest of us made suggestions (in my case, generally stupid ones!), but the final decision was up to him. The only real disagreement of the day was how much to put on CB (some of us wanted $5K, but the principal selector wanted a backstop to unload on Dr Tim, which he really liked). Galah — you're completely right about our strategy, although it's fair to say we stumbled on it accidentally. With the benefit of hindsight, it seems to me that, with fixed odds betting available, the optimal strategy is to stay in the game and then attack in the last, or at least as late as possible. The problem with having a big collect with X races to go is that you're basically wearing a big bullseye on your head — everybody else knows what they have to beat, and the chances are that, in a big enough field, at least one of them will succeed in doing so. Whereas if you leave it to the last, it's too late for everybody else. Of course, our approach wouldn't have worked under previous years' rules — putting $8800 on the tote would have killed the divvy! It also won't work in Las Vegas. I don't know the details yet, but it seems like it consists of a large number of $2 EW virtual bets in 150-odd races over 3 days. Kakama, Happy — thanks for the advice and kind thoughts.? Unlike some of my team, I'm not a very serious punter and so am still in a bit of a daze... I'd also say that, despite it being a relatively high-stakes competition, the atmosphere in the tent was excellent — everybody seemed to get a buzz out of somebody else having a good race.

Thanks Newmarket, but my role was essentially that of the Fool in King Lear. And yes, luck certainly went our way. At this stage, we're all intending to go to Vegas. Gawd help us (and Vegas!)?

As an antidote to the doom-and-gloom that appears to be prevailing on all other threads, here's a story that should warm the cockles of anybody who’s ever harboured an ambition to take the TAB to the cleaners! (Disclaimer: I had squat-all to do with it and so can claim no credit) Some of you may recall my story about how my 'other team' had won the Methven heat of the KPC with a big place bet in the last race. I thought that had got me off the hook for the final, but that turned out not to be the case and so I duly turned up yesterday in my role as sober punter and drinks boy. For most of the day, we had enough rats-and-mice collects to keep our heads above water (after 10 races our $5K had become $7K), but with two races to go we were only mid-field amongst the 40 teams. However, we then came home with a finish that Inky Lord would have been proud of! First, after a vigorous debate over whether to put $2K or $5K on the nose of Cruz Bromac in the FFA, we opted for the relative safety of the former. Home rolled CB paying $4.40 fixed and bitter recriminations over not putting $5K on him. The entire $8800 was then rolled over onto Dr Tim for a place (putting that much on a single horse was a novel experience I can tell you!) DT promptly settled 3rd-last, stayed there for a lap, got into the 3-wide line that took him up to the leaders, hit the front at the top of the straight, and although eventually beaten a nose and a nose into 3rd, never looked like not being in the first 3. The really good news was that the TAB had allowed us to get on at $7.80 fixed, so we’d just collected a bit over $68K!??? Unsurprisingly, that was enough to take us to the top of the leaderboard and the big prize. But there were some hard-luck stories. One of the leading teams going into the last at a table near us had a big bet on Copperhead Rose that took them to well over $40K, which in previous years would have easily seen them home. They probably got a bit of a shock to discover that still left them $30K behind us… Took it in very good spirits though. Bottom line: our main selector may have a few personal idiosyncrasies (including the wearing of alligator shoes on all occasions), but there’s no doubt he’s the man with the golden arm when it comes to horses! And yes Brodie, I was thinking of you when putting the DT bet on — it took over a minute to go through and even the operator seemed surprised that it had.?

OMG, I agree with Brodie! (although I'm a bit surprised to learn he agrees with himself on this one...) The only way to eliminate this kind of behaviour is to take away the incentive to engage in it, which means relegating any drivers (and the corresponding horses) found guilty of excessive whip use cheating. Mix it with a version of the lapped-on rule and yesterday's Cup placings would and should have been: 1st Dream About Me, 2nd Thefixer, 3rd Tiger Tara. And my bank balance would be considerably larger.?

Correct. One should always read the fine print...?

Final Decision? Anyway, possibly more a great losing performance by TT than a great race per se — Happy is right about it being a bit of a procession (although when they're going that quick it's not too surprising).

Dream About Me? Seems a bit harsh — took the field through the first mile in 1.58 and then ran 1.56 for her second. Incidentally, I see the All Stars will be looking for two new drivers come Friday — both Purdon and Rasmussen put out for 3 days. That might give Brodie some hope.?

Right, although it's worth keeping in mind they didn't have the Dominion to back up to on Show Day in 1997 (it wasn't until the following Friday). This year's equivalent would look pretty decent too if all those holding their fire for Friday were added back in.

Ah, so late nominations are still possible (I mistakenly thought the cutoff was 1 Nov). Although, as you point out, requiring a decent chunk of change. Still, not an unreasonable amount given that the final is worth $500,000. The $64K (or in this case $20K) question is whether a restored-to-health UM is going well enough to justify laying out the dosh.

Unlikely, since he's not nominated.

Well, two actually. I see Tiger Tara is now the betting favourite for the Cup. This got me wondering... 1. Has a horse ever won the Cup for the first time at its 5th attempt? (I remember Robalan had a few unsuccessful goes before winning, but I don't think it was four) 2. Has a horse with a history of four unsuccessful attempts ever previously been pre-post favourite for the Cup? (this is obviously a bit more subjective since there wasn't an official pre-post favourite prior to the advent of futures betting) I'm hoping some of you old-timers out there will have this information at your finger-tips.?

Yes, not happy. Already had a text from the bank manager about a Monday morning appointment...

That's definitely a shame. I take it the timing of the Interdoms means there's no real opportunity to "kill several birds with one stone", i.e., there aren't other good-stakes trotting races he could take in on the same trip?

It's now only a month until the 2018 Interdoms kick off, and the latest rankings are out. Pacing: https://static1.squarespace.com/stat...s+%28v3%29.pdf Trotting: https://static1.squarespace.com/stat...s+%28v3%29.pdf More astute observers will no doubt pick up on other tit-bits, but my superficial reading revealed: 1. The lower stakes are obviously having an effect on who's prepared to travel: there doesn't seem to be much depth in both the pacers' and trotters' sections, particularly the latter. 2. NZ-breds dominate the nominations in both sections, particularly the top spots. 3. Pat's Delight's Kaikoura Cup run has seen him elevated into the top 30 and he could be the quiet smokie in the pacers section (although my tipping him almost certainly kills his chances!)

Doesn't take much hindsight to interpret a medical test conducted in advance... "According to trainer Jimmy Takter, the high SAA (Serum Amylord A) test which resulted in his removal from the Dan Rooney at Yonkers on International Trot Day never did normalize and the infection remained in his system." http://ustrottingnews.com/lazarus-n-scopes-sick/

So, like heaps of journalists, he's moved into PR? I can understand that — there's a lot more money in the latter.? Anyway, I don't see the problem. It'd be a pretty unusual, and ineffective, PR person who didn't spout propaganda on behalf of one's clients. Doesn't force anybody to believe it though.