the galah

i agree with everything you have said brodie. what we have in common with gamma is everything we say is coming from the perspective of what is the best path forward for the sport to remain strong,in both the south island and the north island.thats something i thought we all should be able to agree on,but not everyone recognises that.. we often have posted about hrnz poorly prioritising the spending of the entain windfall and because of that poor prioritisation,it will limit hrnz abilty to invest in future projects for the betterment of the industry. gamma mentions that he agrees with the ideas i put forward for a training establishment in canterbury.And of course both gamma and i have spoken about our ideas for something similar for upper north island participants. but instead for expressing the view that hrnz spending a few million more on races won by rich aussie owners,instead of investing in a training establishment in canterbury,is viewed as being negtive towards the industry.. the aussie horses winning all the big stake nz races,all owned by mega,mega rich people who are in the sport as much for the prestige and the love of the sport as they are for the money.Those very same people are happy seeing their horses running in the victorian races worth 30% of the stake money,as is the likes of republican party happy to travel there for such races. we all know stakes will end up in the bank accounts of the mega rich owners. as ned kelly said,such is life.

i lke your positive post gamma. forever the optimist.i like the humour about the blinds. your probably accurate about people not replying to my posts.Not to worry.Brodies regularly replies and hes known as always being on the money and he mostly agrees with me.And you still reply. One day, if i ever make it to australia, i think i will make a point of looking you up. i reckon you are the type of bloke that i could have good chats with.If that ever happens i can't imagine we would talk about what we talk about on here,lots of wonderful australian things to talk about instead. by the way,the wife opens every curtain first thing in the morning.When i go for my walks it always surprises me just how many people never do. Most people even seem to keep all their windows closed these days.

yeah. as you say ,what will be will be ,no matter what you,me or others say. hrnz have used the entain money to create the impression amongst its stakeholders and investors,that the industry is going much better than of how its actually performing financially and numbers wise..And they have also used it in misdirecting attention from the declining numbers of the likes of horses being bred,those breeding them,licence holder numbers,field size,etc. Reinforced by selective,clever hrnz spin and the complicit media, is a strategy that clearly is fooling many. i'm sure,the strategy was done with good intentions,but good intentions won't help pay the bills in years to come.

don't worry brodie,its not just hrnz and mr steele who's saying everything is on the rise here. i just watched an interview called campbells comments ,a bloke seemingly well known in australian harness media. According to campbell's comments, new zealand is on the rise and going enormous. then just a few moths ago i heard gordon banks saying the exact same thing on a well known american harness podcast. you know,i listen to people like that and i think to myself,what is wrong with these people.They make out they are clever and obviously they are in some things,but clearly they are not as smart as they think themselves to be.. Its like these people think that way, because hrnz have upped the all these big stake high end races and their bonuses and then they threw some money to the peasants with the harness 5000 concept. I mean,even the dumbest fool should realise that doesn't mean harness racing is on the rise and is going enormous. but no,obviously there are people out there who are just plain dumb as. maybe its an aussie thing as well. You know,the dumbest person in the world with numbers could have run things and boosted stakes, with all the money they got from the entain deal. why that makes anyone think that equates to the industry being on the rise and going enormous,is beyond comprehending.. anyway,If you want an example of what happens when stake money is slashed,then look at the stats i posted about the victotrian harness racing industry,from their annual report in august last year. every indicator for victorian harness was looking bad. every single one from number bred, to turnove,r to numbers of industry participants,etc. as to the victorian sales,melbourne apg 2024,from the 111 offered,78 sold for an average$25,731. In 2025from the 60 offered 47 sold for and average of $17202. the melbourne nutrien 2024. From the 200 offered,126 sold for an average of $32,496,while in 2025,from the 147 offered, 108 sold for an average of $31,894. So the average dropped significantly in 1 sale and just a little in the other,but obviously there was roughly a 25% reduction in numbers was a factor in masking the level of the decline.i its just common sense and logic,that if the stakes do have to be cut in nz in a couple of years,the same trends will play out here. you mention this years nz yearling sales.My guess will be things will still play out ok. I if numbers offered here have been reduced that will artifically mask any decline anyway. Most likely the top end will still sell well and the bottom end struggle. also,so many people that are still remaining in nz harness racing only think of next year,not the 5 years time when their horses that are being bred and purchased will be racing. everything that happens in nz harness racing in 2 or 5 years will be self inflicted. Now whether it be self inflicted small reductions or self inflicted large reuctions,it doesn't change that its self inflicted. People in nz harness racing are going to get the econominc circumstances that they,themselves have participated in creating. No one shoukld ahve any sympathy for anyone in nz harness racing if tough times do fall on particiapnts in yera sto come.I certainly wouldn't have any. Now obviously, we all hope its not too bad,but many of us think it will be reductions in everything. Personally i still think their are still some factors that will mitigate it turning really bad,but its inevictable it will be reductions. the scale of any reductions is the unknown factor but it will become evident in the next year or so once the greyhounds are gone and the first year of geo blocking has played out with the impact of that being better known. ll.l Then you have the current decison of hrnz to anchor the rest of nz harness to the syrvival of harness rwacing at aleaxandra park and the inpact of that .. As to turnover figures you mention,transparency seems mostly applied when they want to promote good confidence building news. We are always hearing media say,turnoverts are up. But as i have said before,any fool should be able to work out,even if income does happen to be up,if you spending at a greater rate then you eat into your cash reserves. So these people who tell us turnovers are mathmatically stupid. And tyhey are right. Many people actually are.But not everyone is.

i think even if they come anywhere near break even its a winner for betcha. i assume the people that invest in the pools gat paid out back into their betcha accounts(i assume) and then keep playing away through the week ,on the punt themselves, with what they got back,even if its not much .And a lot of those people would probably never put money in as regular as they do with the out the gate crew.The people who invest in the out the gate concept don't appear to be your knowledgable harness racing fans,so getting that type of customer engaged is a plus. Now,i've always said the biggest problem for harness racing is the harness product served up on thursday nights. cambridge is at the low end of a lot of things. Its not as competitive as anywhere else and i often think even some of the favorites ,if drawn bad ,simply go around for a quiet run. Theres also too many negative drives on horses with cahnces and the oversight by the stipes there self perpetuates what i've just said. And of course the over saturation of north island racing contributes significantly to watering down the quality of theat product. then the manawatu product,i think it a more competitive product,but the form can be quite inconsistent i guess because horses who travel and who back up within a couple of days away from home,often don't perform as consistently. Its the same as the likes of the west coast racing. and because of that,you have the out the gate crew betting on harness racing because thats what they are suppoosed to do,but its a common theme for them that you don't often get a fair run for their money. so,even though harness racing is being showcased to a different customer from the previous thursday night follwers,its the quality of tyhe harness product provided on those nights which can paint the industry in a negative way. Thats not the out the gate peoples fault. also,obviously many regulart trackside harness followers seem to dislike the concept. On one hand they accept that less and less people were watching,evenn professing to not watch themseleves ,then they complain they don't like something new,even though they weren't really watching it anyway. people can be hard to please sometimes.

not sure.they inferred they didn't get a collect at the trots ,with all their horses breaking.

can't say i saw much of them last night as married at first sight australia was on ,but i did catch parts of most of the races from palmerston north. i must say,the blokes from out the gate have a good sense of humour. previously i have pointed out how bad a tipster aaron white is whenever cambridge races are on and how the out the gate team reluctantly kept the faith with whites tips. A white had a knack for tipping them the one horse in each trotting race that you knew gallops 100% of the time.it was his specuiality for months. Each time saying after the race,well ... will win races if only it trots all the way and the out the gate blokes alway bit their tounge. well last night ,after the last race justin evans,the commentator commented how his tips had gone poorly all night(hes actually a pretty good tipster normally, at the gallops anyway) so when justin evans said that,they crossed to the out the gate boys in the studion, the first bloke saying,well thanks aaron for your tips tonight,the second bloke said,yes, its not often we can get a 100% strike rate in all the races,even if it is for galloping in every race,then the 3rd bloke commented,well i'm looking forward to the return to our cambridge tipster after tonight. their sense of humour is what helps make them entertaining

gamma,do you think swayzee will be able to get the lead ahead of leap to fame in the hunter cup. i guess leap to fame may press forward and hope someone crosses swayzee early and gets in his way,while leap to fame comes around them after 300m,that way leap to fame will then get the lead. i'm not sure whether swayzee at his best but did look very good when winning recently. I think it was beating don hugo after sitting parked outside him. Just wore don hugo into ground then looked like he could have run another round at the same speed while don hugo,even though game in defeat,looked like he needed a lay down. if swayzee ended up in front, then and in that form hard to see leap to fame sitting outside him and winning,so it may come down to the first 300m. republican paty they say has dropped to $4.20. I guess the bookies must think he can hold the lead then trail swayzee or leap to fame. i find that surprising as it appeared war dan buddy was able to cross easily to lead republican party last week without really trying too hard,so even if republican party were to show more gate speed you would think the driver of war dan buddy will burn early thinking he could cross.Whether he did or not,either way,that would mean $4.20 for republican party to win seems too short. Maybe if they do go mad early it may suit kingman . Interesting race with the draws the way they are.

well you know the aussie form better than i ,but i have watched mynameisjeff and always think hes been the most talented miler at menagle, but his form,even when hes winning can come and go a bit.If he was just aimed at the miracle mile and got an inside draw i couldn't see him beaten. i think if he won at albion park like you mentioned then gee he must be in career best form. Without having seen the albion park race,i assume he lead all the way as i have seen him a handfful of times on smaller tracks and i had always thought he struggled unless able to lead. also,if grimson was to have 3 or 4 in a race like the miracle mile,he would be able to do the team driving that would assist his chances.

i get the impression from watching menagle mile racing that the likes of leap to fame and swayzee will normally get beaten over a mile at menagle,no matter how good they are,if they try and sit parked and wear the leader down. . if they are handed the lead early then they will win. i'm talking over a mile.remember cya art did that last year in the len smith mile when kingman was poorly rated by r morris and had the foot down the whiole race and the likes of swayzee was always strugglng. pinseeker would have to improve to be able to sling shot the better ones,but grimson improves nearly every horse he trains so logically he would be likely to do the same with pinseeker if he were to train him.Personally i think pinseeker best kept to sprints. better than cash was a good horse here but not as good as pinseeker. captain mistress to me has improved quite a bit since going to aussie. The evidence was there the way it won its last start,beating mccarthys good mare who i thought was australias best. Captain mistess just jogged really,really fast last part of race and looked like it could have gione another round at the same speed and beaten the others by half the length of straight had the driver wanted to. It was very good here,but never that good.Thats my opinion anyway. personally i think were they tio run the miracle mile this week my nameisjeff would be the obvious winner. He ran the 2nd fastest last 1/4 ever last week and had no trouble picking up don hugo who also flew a fast last 400m/ Laep to fame or swayzee and even kingman not as fast as himynameisjeff. His form seems to have been up and down for grimson but he ears just a big track horse and i don't know why they try him on small tracks as he never seems comfortable on them. personally i think grimson has something that makes them run faster. some of those times at albion park do seem amazing.but as you say,lots of horses there seem to run them.

hadn't realised you had answered that already gamma before i posted. that captain hammerhead race was a really great contest last year. the draws for this years hunter cup will be a major factor i think. amazing grimson has been able to get swayzee to be going so good again. the recent nz horses he has got,rakero rocket and captains mistress,were both very good but have improved since grimson got them. Obviously he makes previous trainers look like amateurs the way he gets them to run.. my wife said she thought they said on box seat pinseeker may head over there for a bit. if they gave him to grimson that would be another horse that could beat leap to fame at menagle over a mile.

that should have read the figures in brackets were from the year before for Harness racing victoria.

i believe swayzee won half a million last year in bonuses for winning 4 of the 5 nsw country cups. He missed out on the full million when beaten by captain hammerhead in the final cup race. this year i believe captains knock has won the first 3 legs and earned a $250,000 bonus already and if he wins the last 2 legs can win a million.Hes won the wagga,newcastle and bathurst cups so far. the victorian bonus i believe is for any horse who can win 4 of the 6 victorian cups races and one of those wins must include the hunter cup. kingman won the first,then bulletproof boy won the second beating the likes of kingman and himynameisjeff then leap to fame has won the next 3 so he is in with a shot at the milllion dollar bonus. i don't know,but i would guess nsw managed to arrange an insurance company to sign some 3 year deal to pay the bonuses and would guess their premium wasn't too over the top.The insurance company obviously made a terrible decision to take it on and no doubt the success of swayzee and now captains knock will mean any insurance company would have to be crazy to do that again on the same terms.Still who really worries whether the insurance compnay m,ade a poor decision,apart from them.. as to victoria. well since they announced the bonus only last year,after swayzee won his half million,you would guess the premium they paid would have been much more. it seems the focus on both sides of the tasman is to look after the high end horses and the owners who are already mega rich are certainly reaping the rewards.Theres never been a better time to be an owner of an elite harness racehorse in australia. reading the victorian annual report the 2024/2025 season saw them only lose $11.6m after losing $25m the year before.Because the victorian governmant bailed them out so they could stay solvent to the tune of $13.4 m,hrv was able to return a profit of 1.4m but was told by govt they were expected to live withing their means from now on.the govt funding was the final part of a deal worked out in 2023.There was significant savings with staff cuts,stakes cuts(10m less than paid out the year before) ,bonuses cuts,no new projects,cuts to develpment fund,cuts to marketing, to achieve the improved,if you can call it that,result.Turnover was down 8% but so was the number of races so turnover about the same per race as the year before.wagering on all racing is down over there. other indicators were 3282 (3652)..the figure in brackets being the year ,drivers 475 (529),trainers 896 (939) stablehands 857 (922),sires 34 (52),foals 1306 (1396),namings 953 (1044),services 2521 (2855). the end of a distribution deal from turnover with tabcorp saw a $12m drop in income from that source. i don't know how the recent deal they did with the governmant changes things where the govt took there spare land in exzxchznge for wiping hrv debt to the government. you know,you read the above figures from the annual report and you would get the impression ,things have got so much worse over there. But then you read what the current administrators and some higher profile trainers are saying and they will tell you things are on the up.Gee,how bad must they have thought things had become,because all data in that reprort from august last year don't indicate things a going too good. My impression would be,they all must jhave thought harness racing was stuffed but because of the government riding in and taking their main asset and giving them a final part of their bail out,that things havre gone from disaster to ,hey just bad.Hence,it can be said things have got better.

oh well. my multi went down the tube when mithali only ran 5th instead of placing. my wingman won paying $1.85 and hes a loch won paying $41. i see just easy scr because of an incident with the float coming off but apparently horses ok. Whats the bet jr toilen runs a place as i normally just miss 1 when taking a multi.

leap to fame didn't have the foot down all the way last night. Dixon happy to treat the race more as a training run with $85,000 to add to his kitty. republican party went a nice race for 2nd but did get the perfect run and never looked like getting past leap to fame. Still 2nd to a champ like that pretty good. C dalgety, quite indecisive early and checked a couple of others and copped a suspension. Probably lucky the horse that got checked badly ,managed to stay pacing,obviously it was good on its feet. i still think the hunter cup will come down to draws. Swayzee still can win if he draws inside leap to fame.Kingman possibly as well. leap to fame chasing a $1m bonus. whoever the insurer is of that bonus can't be too clever,ever if leap to fame wasn't to win it. Still ,hopefully leap to fame can win it while it exists. mynameisjeff is very,very fast. don hugo set it up for a sprint home and was very good as well,but the other horse just too fast. mynameisjeff would have beaten any horse in australasia in a race that developed into a similar sprint up the straight the way he went.He needs a big track though.

i like that you've thought about think about it but yes i think your over thinking what you think i may be saying about think about it. the money part was reference that money unfortunately can't guarantee life or quality thereof,but that was not my main thought. i hope that clarifies things fior you but maybe it will confuse you more.

you've lost me there. I'm talking nz,not australia.

the life of a racehorse.He wins 12 million,the everest,suffers a massive bleed,survives that against the odds ,retires to be looked after by his everest winning jockey,then a year later,blow me down he dies a couple of weeks later after what had been described as successful surgery for a colic attack. theres a lit to tthink about there. why,life,the fleetingness of it,money.

australia really does sound a wonderful place the way you descibe it and its animals and other nature things . i once came across a wallaby in the middle of the night about 10 years ago,when just out of town. Spotted him just in time in my headlights to slam on the brakes,still hit him,not hard. He was knocked forward a wee bit. Got up and hopped off. Hopefully he was ok and learnt not to sit in middle of a country road.

why not?

of course. why else would i say it. but of course,you have to move with the times chief. i haven't mentioned ped use in nz harness for a couple of years now because i don't think its as relevant. I certainly think it still applies to some in australia. and of course,you and the media,rambled on for years how the all stars were so dominant because of blah,blah,blah. So what happend chief. What happened when the connections needed for that aspect dried up overseas. They came back to the field didn't they, as i predicted at the time.funny that. Why did hrnz never do anything about the person with the overseas connections and who was on the client list of the jailed vet in the usa.. Funny that. anyways,i'm not going to go over that again as we've argued about it enough in the past. besides.you do know,i only believe in conspiracy theories if they are true.Time has proven me correct hasn't it.

fair enough. I thought you were meaning on here mainly.I don't think it accurately described what i see on here. bit of a yarn is the only social media i do.i don't do facebook. and i always think bitter is a word used with negative connotations, to describe genuine feelings people may have about something they have experienced ,or someone,for which any reasonable person could often view having said negative feelings as fair enough. Not always,but often. But anyway, after rereading what i posted i think perhaps i over reacted to what i thought you were trying to say anyway. actually about half an hour ago i googled what best describes a person who makes 3 or more socail media posts a day.It gave 7 traits. Not 1 of them applied to me. not that i believe in putting labels on how people think. anyways,not to worry,i still made my point.

any news on the kangaroo that crashed into the cyclists in the tour down under even last week. Looked like the kangaroo came off the worst.I see the bloke that won sustained a broken wrist in the incident. Keep an eye out for kangaroos when driving gammalite.

it will be interesting to see how sam ottley gets bazzoka away from the stand. Ottley one of the best drivers in nz for getting horses to begin in standing starts. bazooka by bettors delight. I always think they tend to go away as well but still may be a shade slow. its interesting to watch ottley. She generally gives her horses a quick stand start practice in the preliminary. also if you watch her and b orange,they always try and have there horses in positions at the start where they are not lagging behind the others on ths same line. Theres nothing worse than having a horse start 3/4 length behind the others in the middle of a full line of horses. otlley and the likes of orange win so many races at the start through their skills at getting horses positioned to their best advantage behind the tape,as they line up. i'm not so sure about the late start. I'm getting rather bored waiting for the races to start as not much else to do today. looking at trackside i see its raining hard at the townsville dogs today.Thats queensland isn't it. Just looked it up, a 15 hour drive from brisbane.thats a long way. that would be like driving from dunedin to auckland. Without the water along the way.Australia a big country.

so this is social media site. The current topic reflects what you typically see on this forum and its got a lot of comment from regular contributors. and there you are generalising how you would sum up people who post on here,or say the other channel. so your either going to say,yes they are as described or no you weren't meaning the current ones posting.Of course if you weren't meaning the current ones posting then you undermine your own comments on what you describe as the typical poster. Also tell me,if many are anonymous like you say,how do you know so much about their personalities,motives and how they feel after posting and how they see the world. is the reality not,there will be people as you have described but your generlisation is just that. In other words your taling a smaller % of posters and placing greater emphasis that they are representative of all posters and people who comment on social media.Doesn't that reflect on how you see the world as well. so you post a put down generalisation of social media posters ,while knocking people who post put down generalisations on social media..Whats the point in that