the galah

i think if you had read the above replies, you would see 1 person didn't like the new format,1 person did and 2 didn't comment either way. so to say a few old grouches,well i think thats more an indication of how you view those who post on bit of a yarn. As to your newsflash about thursday harness racing turnover being garbage and no one is watching/punting. the point i made was the ones who still are viewers and punters on thursdays, are watching mainly because of the racing,not the presenting format and if the racing is boring or an unattractive bettting product or a leader biased track,then even if the new format attracted more viewers,why would it translate into increased turnover. Like i said north island harness racing has a boredom problem.It can't be fixed by any change to a trackside presenting format. there are very few moves in the races up there. HRNZ model in that area is to saturate the racing opportunities for the horses and connections and a consequence of that is if they get a bad draw or they settle back in the running,drivers have a pre conceived mindset of lets wait for next week.Thats a real turn off from a betting and spectator point of view.

did you see about an hour after you posted, they had on trackside aaron white and 2 bowlers,one gary lawson, in the commentary box. Looked a bit like a golden oldies front row. actually i don't mind a white giving his bowling mates a plug leading into races. The reason i say that is,mr white is linking in his own subtle way,the sport of outdoor bowls and the sport of harness racing.And there are definite links which the racing industry these days does nothing to foster. A white probably the only one that seems to be at least trying. you may say,so what. well i will explain why i thinks its relevant. firstly ,it takes me back to the days when one of the 3 clubs at addington(before they amalgamated into 1) recognised the link between harness racing and certain sports and to foster that relationship, they dedicated race nights to each sport.It may have been the canterbury park trotting club,although i stand to be corrected.In my mind i seem to associate those type of nights with names like brian hastings,who was a president of the club and who had been a well known nz cricketer. The club had a bowls night,where they would have selected members of each club take part in a roll up/sudden death /next to kitty in the birdcage.It used to have a grass bit back then. the golf night they would have the same concept with the promotion being chipping closest to the pin. the rugby night they would have the fastet men from all the rugby clubs have a 200m sprint down the hme straight. The same with the rugby league clubs. they had a cricket night. i can tell you from having been to many of those meetings,it really gave the race nights a boost in attendance and in sense of occasion and entertainment.You would remember them as well i think ranga. thats why people say,those were the days. It wasn't just the racing,it was the people you met on course,it was the administrators who fostered relationships with the whole community in a way that linked everyone. i've said it before and now say it again. for racing to prosper,you have to get racing into the psyche of new zealanders,to get them to subconciously view and accept racing as part of the fabric of their community. and you do that through subliminal messages via visual exposure of the sport. anyway,back to the link between bowls that started my post. i will quote the figures from a nz bowls study from 10 yearsago.I'm sure the figures i quote would still be relevant today. 85% of people who play outdoor bowls do so for enjoyment and they value the socail aspects of the sport.Fitness and sport performance were the next 2 main reason.but the social side was just under 4 times more important to most. playing in teams,groups of friends and for clubs is very significant part of bowls. lawn bowls is played outdoors at facilities based around man made club rooms. 52% of out door bowlers played 1-2 times a week and another 31% played 1-2 times a month. 64% walk eegularly,32% fish,31%play golf and 31%swim. 84% first started when over 35. 79% are european 67% are 55 and over. 67% are male. .........the similarities between bowls and harness racing is there for anyone to see. now i can give you my own anecdotal experience i've observed with bowlers. i also have observed the same with golfers. they like to gamble. so my point is,if the people at hrnz reallyn wanted to spend there money promoting ownership through syndication,they need to be directing some of their attention to bowling and golfing clubs as these are the sports which have participants who fit the profile of who is likely to become interested or involved in a small way in the sport. these bowling and golfing clubs are fertile ground for planting the seeds for future participation. hrnz should have some in each of the populated areas specifically designed to promote and liase with this clubs and even have a policy which they can formulate ,which is mutually benefical to both sorts national organisation. its not just harness racing that could benefit fom the relationship,it could work both ways as the sports could boost their numbers by fostering participation from harness people. anyway,its a sunday,so thats my sermon for the week.

if you were able to google the tab nz website,you would see it says under "location restrictions" " If you already have a tab account but are travelling or staying outside of nz,you will not be able to access your account while travelling abroad".

yes,i get what your saying. There were some positives .but describing it as they did in that article,was only painting half a picture. as i pointed out,its a bit simple to say,hey things are good ,because turnovers up 25.9%,when the number of meetings was up around 59%.. i really think they treat us like they think we are dumb. if they are going to comapre years,the first figure they should tell us is the profit/loss for july 2024 and 2025 ,then break it down to the profit loss for each individual meeting in july 2024 and 2025,then break it down futher and mention the things they did in that article. they are deliberately pulling the wool over peoples eyes when it comes to the sustainabilty of regularly incurring losses.

steele also says in that article the number of customers is up 20% and the bet size has increased. If thats the case,they why isn't it shown in the turnover figures. remember the % increase in harness race meetings held in july this year,was double the % increase in turnover. and in the article he also citng the geo blocking as contributing to the increase. On the contrary,it appears the geo blocking may have seen no betting turnover increase,if you look at the turnover figures Also previously harness racing would have been getting a % of the turnover of money invested by nz punters with the overseas bookies on nz harness. But that doesn't apply anymore does it.

the people at hrnz and in the media just think the average nz harness racing follower is dumb. for example. their is a story on harnesslink,written by bruce stewart and quotes mr steele. its headlined "betting numbers up significantly" it goes on to say betting turnover in july was up 25.9%,compared to the previous july. but then it goes on to say,what any thinking person would be asking themselves,that being their were 7 more meetings hald this year as compared to july last year. so 12 meetings held in july 2024,then a9 this year, well thats an increase of just under 60% of meetings. so the betting turnover went up 25.9% as a result of a 60% increase in the number of meetings. really they need to also give us a breakdown of the number of races rtrun in july of each year amnd the total stakes paid in july of each year if we are to get an accurate picture. Who do they think they are kidding. these people treat us like we're dumb. Why should we trust anything they say when we know they continually manipulate figures like they do. also,if you have bettimng turnover increasing at a rate this year,less than the number of meetings last year,then doesn't that mean,your overall losses are probably higher this year than last.

i posted about what i had read about xenon on a topic on this forum 5 years ago. Russian athletes were using it about 15 years ago. tests on rats had shown a 70% xenon 30% oxygen mix doubled epo levels a day later. A quote from HRNZ at the time " international racing laboratories(including nz)are acutely aware of the potential threat that this type of substance could pose to the integrity of racing" But i'm not going to get into an on going argument with you about its performance enhancing effects. besides reading the facebook page of the nairn lady, about what she found with arcano is consistent with uncaring or desperate treatment of a horse. yes i know you thought having 3 horses from the same stable suffer heart issues and drop dead at the racetrack. I didn't. You don't find something your not looking for. when i said earlier it was over 1 year,to be accurate the 3 horses from that stable died within 4 months. yes i know you keep saying you think all drugs are detectable.you always say that.I really don't know whether you actually believe that,as i think its obviously wrong. again everyone knows if your using a test thats not designed to pick up certain performance enhancers or all the derivatives of certain performance enhancers,well you won't get any positives. Thats what they said happened in the usa. i've tried to keep my reply brief as this topic is about animal welfare and i also don't want to go over things we've already discussed at length in the past.

there can be no denying what she says has occurred in the past. The only thing i would say is we need to be a little bit cautious in inferring these problems currently exist at the level they have in the past. when she talks about vodka. Well thats not something i'm up with the play as to whether its ever been much of an issue in racing. Having said that,a few years ago i did have a greyhound trainer tell me thats what he and others would give dogs occassionally if they wanted them to downgrade or if they were punting something else in the race.I assumed it wasn't that common,but i have no idea myself. the fridge gassing,formalin thing,well thats why woodend was viewed as a hive of illegal activity for a while there. Of course the problem there was it wasn't fair to lump all trainers at woodend as being cheats. But it was accurate to say they came from a training area where % per capita of cheats was very much higher than anywhere else. but when opertion inca came around,one flow on effect was about 5-6 years ago,the riu of course poured resources into uncovering other illegal activity and they were actually successful. The likes of j alford got 9 yeras for the formalin,c jones got a few years,even being caught injecting the very same horse alford had been training after it being transferred to him after alford was disquialifioed. The fridge gas horse that the nairn lady refers to was used on arcano,well they never caught m kerr for doing that to any of hiis horses but he of course was extremely well known for being very volatile while he still had his licence.I guess thats what happens when you lose over $1 million on the punt and you have defrauded so many people. Then you had m anderson who infamously was the driver behind the catalyst for the police decision to continue with operation inca.Of course he went on to be known more for assaulting and strangulation of his partner,although the damage he did to her would have been more phsycological than physical long term.And of course he was guilty of being he distributor of party drugs to others in the industry,which he got from someone within the indutsry who i believe got them from her hairdresser,although that bit i don't think ever really came out.Of course m anderson was m kerrs regular driver. anyways,you get the picture. Harness racing had some really dishonest people who in some cases were proven to have used and in other cases believed to have used the substances that this woman nairn talks about. All to gain an advantage with the motive money. of course the upshot of the RIU catching these people was 3/4 of the industry thought about time,yet a very vocal,often high powered group was not impressed and believed it was better for racing to swepp such things under the carpet and avoid the bad publicity. of course now you get stables with trees cut down,big gates,all to avoid the riu spying on them from a tree. Like there were people who most thought were doing nothing wrong,yet people wondered why di you need to cut all the trees down. the RIU was relentlessly actacked in some circles.. The chief someone who falls into the 1/4.The industry is its own worst enemy in that respect.. as a result,it seems these days the riu doesn't do much enforcement in a manner that is likely to catch anyone. actually i did think the riu investigators became emboldened by their success and maybe slightly overstepped the line occassionally. anyways,people who say thsi nairn woman doesn't know what she is talking about,well thwey don't know what they are talking about. its just the scale and current relevance that i'm not so sure of. And i've always said the cheats like the ones i mentioned above are the poor mans cheats. The clever ones are the ones who get their vet or say maybe an owner who makes regular trips to the usa,to bring the better,undetectable stuff in.i think when they took down the mass producer af performance enhancwers in the usa it has helped nz in some ways. Also,liike i have said so many times,if you follow the form you can teell. for example i started a thread one time about the way a certain trainers horses would perform and noted there was sometihibng peculiar abot hiow some of his horses ran. I inferred that it was something they were being given or fed that was impacted their hearts. Well of courtse i got criticised for it in this forum,but 12 months later that said trainer had several high cobalt charges. then of course,at6 one stage you had 3 telfer trained horses,within a year, all stop to a walk and either collapse and die on the track or back at the stables. Now,of course when i posted that boy did that set some people off. But its a fact it happend. An offical inquiry found nothing. it was never going to. But i think the telfers addressed the problem and took steps to make sure they weren't doing anything for it to happen again and it hasn't.the nairn woman has made the point that horses are underdeveloped when they are trained and raced as 2 year olds and i think you will find the stables that do put the pressure on early clearly have more bone issues than the ones that don't. The telfer stable is an exmaple of that,but thats not their fault. Their owners and the indutrsy pour so much financial incentitives to race 2 year olds these days.

i watched it at times. i quite like it as its entertaining enough. Once a week about right. the unfortunate thing is these blokes are backing at cambridge meetings and they are sometimes betting on favorites who settle at the back. its a shame cambridge is such a front running,advantageous track to be on the inside in the first 2.it lowers the appeal of the racing.But it is ,and combine that with north island drivers who don't show much positive initaitive even at the best of times,in the lower stakes races nad you get--- boring,do you think that driver was even trying,a lot of the time. Last night they had some $20,000 races and you got some movement but the week before,on the normal $8000 stake races, the only driver to move up all night was an imported south island driver,s ottley. so what i'm saying is the presenters may be entertaining enough,but the racing product is not very entertaining. actually i did like the wee fella with the glasses the first week as a couple of times he said,well that driver left it too late to make a move. It was very obvious what he was saying was correct,anybody could have seen that. But the fella poppewell beside him quickly tried to move him on from stating the blatantly obvious ,as if poppewell didn't want to come across as a sore loser. I thought that was a shame,because whats wrong with stating an opinion,which anyone could see was true. It reminds me of when jason teaz was commentator. He always used to make comments about drivers tactics and whether they were good or bad. Thats why i always thought he was one of the best. he would be far better than aaron white as the north island commentator. Aaron white is a good commentator but he doesn't say things about tacticss which accurately describe what punters can see on their tv screens.. Punters like it when a commentator makes comments about tactics as the race unfolds. anyways,i don't mind the thursday night crew,just the cambridge racingproduct needs better drivers with more intent and that aint going to happen.

to quote your first paragraph " old disenfranchised men,who are so bitter and cynical that they do nothing but continually attack the industry. Especially those that are succssful. In my opinion that is anti racing". Thats the label,in this thread, you've put on people who not only through their words,but their actions have shown to those who know them,that at least they are trying to do what they think is best for the present and future health and welfare of the racehorses and ex racehorses, in their care. Its interesting you also found this nairn womans comments about the damage that can be done from use of some performance enhancers,as anti racing. Me thinks your words that i quote,somehow seem a bit harsh chief.Your thinking, it sort of reminds me of that kinks song,its a mixed up,muddled up shook up world. but hey,at the end of the day,even though i disagree with what you say about this current topic,i'm not silly enough to label you anti racing. Because i know your not.

Isn't the biggest problem with rehoming being,there simply isn't much demand for rehoming ex racehorses. and farmers used to be people brought in eras of when the horse was valued and admired,whereas these days you have all the dairying,forestry..Put simply land use is more concentrated,profit focussed,so many more corporates involved in land ownership.so corporates have no use for horses and the new generation of farmers are not only smaller in numbers but have diminishing connections with horses,the upshot of all that is horses aren't finding homes on farms like they used to. then you have urban sprawl which has meant people looking for grazing for their ex racehorses are finding it very very difficult to find anywhere suitable and people who are looking to keep an ex reacehorse and ride it around are finding with urban sprawl they have to travel so much further. Time is important to so many. then you have ,at least in harness racing,little focus on the small time breeders. As much as you hear hrnz statements about the positivity in the industry,the small time breeders simply feel left out,undervalued.they have no positivity.Hrnz just kidding themselves whey they say that. Thats illustrated by the significant drop in numbers being bred by small time breeders in recent years,and it will happen again this year. So those type of people are making the hard decisions and simply find their mares aren't wanted so they are getting rid of them. I mean,if the people who have bred from families they have nutured and who have treated their horses with more care and love when they have retired for decades, ,well if they are getting rid of them,then things are bad.yet that is what is happening. i really do believe that if suitable affordable grazing was made available,you would have less horses being put down once their racing careers end. but that type of grazing hardly exists and the industry has never tried to address i also think ex racehorses are under used as far as being used in programmes assisting peoples mental health and rehabilitation.i've previously suggested funds should be used to set up these type of programmes and they could become self funding,if in populated areas. Like i have said before,racing sponsored rehoming places will flatly reject your horse as suitable for rehoming with them just on the basis of age. over 12,no not interested. now i guess thats because they have so many younger horses wanting to get into their rehoming programmes. I find it interesting to hear discussed earlier that they have been asked to rehome horses who may not have the right temperamant or be unsound,yet they reject a 13 year old that could be the perfgect horse,just based on age. the greyhounds simply have way to many to rehome as well.NSW sends 1000 a year to the USA to keep their numbers looking respectable. Nz send many to the usa. the industry could so much more than it does in my opinion,having said that,all the negative issues would still exist as thats reality.Its all about mitigating the problem. the lady on the video has better enforcemnet of the use of perfromance enhancers as sdometing she would like to see done. Well i've always agreed with that,but just look at how large parts of the industry deliberately tyry and undermine the riu when they actively do that.

not sure which bit you say is fiction. i thought what i said was all fact. just goggle the ladys facebook page with arcano and you can have a look at the pictures she provided of itsdisected insides. Seems she had a hand in its rehoming so took an interest in why it got so sick after being rehomed.Hence her cutting it up after it died. . i know we argued over the honesty of matt anderson many, many times times in the past,long before he got all those charges . And mitch kerr as well but not so many times. i just spent 10 minutes looking for the arcano thread on the harness site 5 years ago.i gave up as not sure what heading it came under. The only thread i found in the month it won at addington,to be fair,most were saying how wonderful m anderson and m kerr were.. Neither you or i contributed on that particular thread. Actually brodie was m andersons greatest chair leader at the time. we need more like himhe said. Not on the money that time was he. .Only the likes of newmarket,harewood and even hunterthepunter suggested they were given performance enhancers. neither you or me posted on that particular thread,in fact i seemed to have taken a break from posting around rthat time. That was around the times the articles in the papers about the fridge gas, were giving the industry bad headlinesi suppose you do remember that don't you. Remember HRNZ publically saying at the time how they were concerned about fridge gas being reportedly used and working out how to test for it.. i know i've certainly questioned the hionesty of both m kerr and manderson as far as the use of performance enhancers many times. Have you never noticed,just how accurate i have been over the years in predicting things uncovered later. anyway,off to watch a reality show with the wife now. hope its not the the fatties and i end up watching a tummy operation.How do those american fatties afford all that food.?

i don't follow this lady on facebook,i don't do facebook,but hesi seemed to be saying,hey have a look at what she says on there. so i did. and the first thing that came up was where she had done an autopsy on arcano after he died. People who follow harness racing of course know arcano well. he was a horse that a lengthy thread on the harness side of this forum was started. Arcano was an older horse,grey in colour. he had turned a run of poor performances around with a win at addington one night for his new trainer. That was what prompted the thread on the harness part.Arcarno then went and fibrillated next start and retired the following start.. anyway,90% of the poeple posting said it was obvious the horse was running on a performance enhancers. Anyone with any idea of analysing form could tell that. Of course we got the likes of the chief saying,what a load of bullocks,hes never returned a positive and people who linked his performance to the fridge gas thing were just fools and scaremongers. Arcano of course was trained by M kerr, and driven by m anderson. Both those trainers had several threads about their horses performances ,questioning their honesty and their use of perfromance enhancers. Of course chief always defended them each time saying they had no positives and it was just people who were jealous or shit stirrers,bla,blah. Actaully what ever happened to m kerr and m anderson,.trust worthy blokes that they were. Perhaps they are mentoring someone in between trips to their probation officers. of course the chief was their main defender,after all no positives and he hates people slinging mud at pillars of the indutsry.I see your saying that in this topic again chief. i always give you points for consistency chief. anyways,back to arcano. i see arcano shows as being a deregistered 15 year old on the hrnz website so one could get the impression heshappily grazing somewhere in a paddock. which is interesting,as on this nairn ladys website is pictures of his dissected body and a summary of what she found. To be honest,i stopped the goggling of her there,as its all very sad what i read she found. but hey,therein itself is the actual crux of this woman nairns point. and its something i have said so often,but i think never gets the traction it should. if your only going to treat the horses you care for the same as the cows,the bobby calves,the sheep ,the lambs. In other words see them as a commodity based on their abilty to win $,then why,when your training the horse, would you care much for the horses welfare after it finishes racing. anyways,its an interesting topic and you can tell by peoples words how they view their horses.

i think what they can say is the recent 3 meetings with southern surge races,were a success because they got much higher numbers than is normal for this time of year down there. but i don't think people should get too carried ,as it was one of the goals of the southern surge to have more horses kept in work over winter, so numbers at the spring meetings coming up,see an increase in starters as well. and this weeks meeting they have 10 less starters than the same meeting at the same time last year. so,as i've pointed out previously,the level of success of the southern surge needs to consider the big picture over a 12 month period,because as i've pointed out racing and training horses in the winter does take a greater toll on them. if you increase numbers in a couple of months,but lose similar or more numbers over the following 12 months,then you haven't achieved much. Like i've said before ,having races like the southern surge or the golden gait at auckland,i believe all your doing is taking horses who would start in one race somewhere and seeing them transferred to the race with the bigger stake. Like those golden gait auckland races. You had a dozen or so canterbury horses go up there. So by having the big stakes you had those canterbury horses increase numberts in auckland,but,and its a very obvious but,those horses would have started in races in canterbury had they not gone to auckland. So in effect,yuo got a 10 horse field instead of 11 horse at addington,and you got an 11 horse field instead of 10 at auckland. Again,thats not achieving much is it. if you look at southland this week,the high achieving stables who value their udrs,the likes of n williamson and p williamson,who had good numbers last week,they haven't got any starters this week. so,while the southern surge looked promising,people shouldn't be going the early crow,if they had anycommon sense.

i think your second post,clarifies your first. in other words, your latest post acknowledges duncan garner is the one that said she is saying that,whereas the lady never actually said that in the interview.

record keeping by racing authorities has supposedly been improved. i think thats true,but also think it could be classified as a bit of cosmetic changes as well. so nz racing authorities have tried,and now they give the impression of better traceablity. the harness horses they seem to classify as deregistered these days,dead or still registered.. what happens to the follow up record keeping after they have been notified as deregistered,i'm not sure. looking at ours ,we still have horses shown as deregistered grazing in paddocks. the mares are still shown as being current.the ones that have died are shown as dead.i suppose thats because we have notified them each year . so record keeping is reliant on the owners replying properly to hrnz request for information.. Micro chipping was introduced fo harness foals bred about 4 years ago and i think is also applicable from this year to any thorougbred foals bred. personally i'm not a fan of micro chipping. big racing stables may have micro chip readers,but people who are the ones who care for the horses after finsihing racing are unlikely to. So it makes it harder for them. is their a requirement that pet food places in the future notify racing authorities of the identication of the horses they process. Because if its only a optional,then that wouldn't create a proper picture. the micro chipping itself was sold to people as being a method for easier traceability,but you only have to look to the USA ,where you saw horse animal welfare groups lobbied hard against it, as they quite rightly said it made it more difficult for people to identify harness horses at horse sales where the pet food operators active.Some well known harness breeders over there actually do both freeze branding and micro chipping ,just so their ex racehorses could be identified more easily after finishing their racing. the whole topic is very complex.

i can understand why you have bad memories of taking that injured horse to an abbatoir for a friend.Some people can just switch off,but for others it leaves memories that they find hard to erase from their memory. I think people who work in such places also have to have become desensitised to the whole process. We had such an abbatoir in the area we once lived and i spoke to a young lady who had worked there,she told me she only lasted a month as it effected her too much to continue.Months later she said she still thought about it occasionally,and she was not a person who had ever had a horse. i had a neighbour who actually was the man who worked for them and came out to peoples properties and put them down on the property,before transporting the carcass to the abbatoir for processing. He was a really empathetic person which made the whole traumatic process easier. I'm sure having them put down on your own property is the best way to do it and that is what i recommend if anyone has to do it. In that province is also the blood processing farm ,where they take horses,male and female,take their blood regularly and send it off for processing overseas. There was big money in it for the company who did that. They looked after the horses well,but i was told by people who worked there, the horses tended to last for about 2- 3 years before they were no longer useful in that respect,due to the veins. the lady we have been talking about,says she was associated with stables and stirrups until last year,a rehoming place for harness horses. I see it was only about a week ago hrnz had on their website that stables and stirrups was no longer doing rehoming.people who do the rehoming thing really do a wonderful job. the likes of jackie law out woodend way,has helped find homes for so many. but the reality is,hrnz promote the rehoming places,but the rehoming places have no interest in horses over 12. Just last year we went looking for grazing.. After many months searching,we simply found no where new to graze them. I'm talking about thousands of attempts,pamphlets,walking the country roads knocking on doors,advertising,contacting about 5 rehoming places,only one of which even bothered to reply.Contacting the riding for the disabled,who also att least returned my calls. Fortunately in the end we managed to talk our way into getting more grazing at the place we already had some,but still we had to put down 2 very kind,inteligent,sensitive horses. the reality is,even if racing organisations said,hey,we will pay for rehoming all the ex racehorses,there would be no where to put the vast majority. i've made suggestiojhns on this forum,how i think they could take steps to address the problems,but i honestly think even idf there was a will,there is on;ly a way to mitigate the issue,it will never be solved. BUt they must at least try. i look at gavel horse,both the thoroughbred and the harness and i look at the value broodmares are currently being sold for. its really sad and so many seem to go unwanted. This is mostly people,trying to sell their horses at giveaway prices,to give them a new home instead of getting the pet food man out,but still no one wants them.People go through a lot of stress looking for homes. And even if you find homes,its still very expensive.Thats why some people like chief say,why bother,just send them to the pet food man as the outcome will be the same in the end.And hes right in a way. this is a topic where which is far more complex that the lady in the interview discusses. but at least shes trying,which is why i think she deserves support.

i agree with that,but believe its a good thing if people with horses do see them differently as curious says, because that way they have a better chance of a longer enjoyable life.And thats what i'm all for if possible. i get that everyones reality is different. I've never told anyone what they should or shouldn't be doing with their horses, on the contrary,i have been told many ,many times over the years i should dispose of our older horses Thats why, when you said to me,don't foist my opinions on you ,i thought,hang on,the opposite is actually true.its others who think like you who have tried to foist their opinions on me. I'm not saying you are trying to do that,but that is what i have had to listen from many others over the years. the dairy cows,in my ideal world they should be given a gradual stress free reduction in reliance on their mums,and they should a least be given the chance of life to the point where they would have been weaned by their mums had it occurred naturally..6 to 8 months of life seems a much better outcome than 4 days. Actually i go past some dairy farms each day and have observed how the mums look and behave. I get the impression its soul destroying to see their calves removerd after 4 days. Thats what they look like they are thinking to me.You would know that anyway.But hey that ain't going to happen,its unrealistic as farming is all about the money these days. I have known dairy farmers,who actually don't send their bobby calves away at 4 days old,simply because they don't feel comfaortable treating their animals that way. i'm not vegaterian,but only eat meat about 2 or 3 times a year. No chicken. just fish and veges these days..But each to their own. I never preach to anyone about not eating meat.personal choice is what i believe in.

i'm expressing my opinions,but i'm not foisting my opinions on anyone like you suggest. Read my comments and you can see that. i have no control over what you or others do with your ex racehorses or your dairy cows,nor want any input. i know your from a dairying background. dairy farming is an industry which i think has many negatives,but i realise thats just the way it is.it ain't going to change as they know how to make money and farmers are all about making money,like everyone else. you brought up the dairy industry. Now theres an industry that i really do believe has some issues. in my opinion,i think theres something not quite right with an industry with the common practice of sending 4 day old bobby calves off to slaughter. I have spoken to someone whose job it was to chase the wee calves into the area where they were slaughtered at the works. One day he told me he was so buggered as he had to carry more than normal to the appropriate area ,as the calves simply did not have enough energy to stand anymore,which he put down to the length of travel they had already endured.That bloke told me he had regular nightmares and was looking for another job as it just wasn't worth it,despite the good money he was paid. I've also in the past spoken to an english vet who came out to the local dairying region,to ply his trade,i also got to speak to him on the day he flew back to england. He cut his stay short and told me he was very much looking to going back to england as he felt conflicted in nz. He said he had become a vet to look after animals health,not to put a bolt through the head of days old bobby calves as he was being asked to do on such a large scale.He said nz dairy farmers,especially the corporates,were all about the money and being a vet in nz just wasn't for him.. But i realise thats just the way it is. Pragmatic you call it. It do get that,but i don't have to think its a good thing.

looks like what happened pre race did the trick today the horses in that race only arrived at the start point around 2 minutes prior to start time, then daisy diana was in the same pre race circle as the others for 1 minute ,then they put it on the mobile for the final minute. So it really didn't have much chance to misbehave like it normally does ,when its always been required to be on its own ,as its starting position is ur.Hey,well done to them.I hope that means they will do the same from now on. it will be interesting to see if they do.

i see this horse is pying only $1.95 to win in race 1 at gore. its failed to score up to the mobile in 4 of its last 5 attempts. why it wasn't stood down after doing so last startwas a real mystery.It appears they didn't do so because the previous start another horse who broke was blamed for the false srart, even though daisy diana hadn't scored up. its been veryvery lucky that they have called false starts so many times ,apparantly because they were worried about it getting in someones way when the field had gone a round.. obviously it is a good chance if it went away,but $1.95 for a horse with a 1 in 5 strike rate of going away?.

your just doing what you do again chief,just muddying the waters. the lady,in the interview, went into a detailed background of her involvement in rehoming and animal welfare, she referred to her experiences over years. when was the last time you talked to a pet food man about whats happening in the racing industry. when was the last time you had interaction with someone from the spca or hrnz over animal welfare, when was the last time you had tried to rehome horses,tried to find suitable grazing.etc,etc,etc. well i've personally experienced having to deal with all the shit that goes with that over time. discredit what this lady is saying or i am saying as much as you want. All yourcomments are doing is actually confirming what i'm saying,that you've got your head in the sand and are happy with the window dressing the industry puts on these matters. like it or not,this lady,has shown with the platforms she now has,that she has a degree of influence in the publics perceptions of the industry. i've never said people like this lady are perfect or that i fully agree with her..She gives me the impression that she may jump to conclusions too easily. But her heart is defintely in the right place .

i'm unsure what your actually trying to say. it appears you may be saying,people should be careful expressing opinions they honestly have,as if those opinions have similarities to opinions of someone else,then that creates a link for everything both people have said on a topic and to a degree what both persons have said about other topics. and you seem to be saying,one should place more importance to being careful,when one is agreeing with someone, who at times, has whats cosidered controversial views. is that what your actually are saying? if it is,isn't that just a clever way of you attempting to undervalue the opinions of those you may not agree with. really,this is a topic where opinions i think should be taken at face value.

look. if you read enough of what people post on here,you soon realise theres many contributors who see the animals in their care, as much more than just a commodity from which to earn $ and/or to gain enjoyment from.The likes of gammalite,curious,freda (they are the ones off the top of my head but theres others),who you just know would go the extra mile to do everything they could,almost seeing them as an extension of their family. .i don't know these posters personally,but you can just tell from their words. you can poo poo this ladies comments as much as you like and yes,i feel she has generalised a bit too much,but maybe thats what she has felt she has to do to highlight the issues shes raised. you make comments labelling some of my comments as conspiracy theories. I don't care when you do that. You have no idea my lifes experiences,nor do i have yours,but you really shouldn't suggest i don't know what i'm talking about on this matter. also,you always come across like a farmer who has desensitised himself from the aspects of farming which play on the minds of people like myself. And thats carried over into racing. And i believe that is also the same way the majority of people in racing operate as well. Its like people just think,well thats part of the industry,ts a problem with an answer beyond their control that can't be changed and they act as accordingly.And heres the sad thing,i admit theres elements of truth to that type of thinking. But thats not what we are talking about is it. What this lady and i are talikng abou tis there should be a duty of care for horses,not just up until they are finished as racehorses,but a duty of care throughout their whole life. i've acknowledged this ladies expectations are unrealistic,but i would still hope every person within the industry at least acknowleges where this ladies sentiments are coming from and at least give her thoughtsthe consideration they deserve.. and why should anyone feel threatened by what this lady has said. what does that tell you.I'm not. Thats all i'm saying.

I watched the interview in full and to be honest,my take is she is a very passionate lady who very clearly was speaking from the point of view,what is best for the welfare of racehorses,not whats best for the industry. and i can see nothing wrong with that whatsoever. people may well think she is over playing the very obvious negatives as relates to the topic she discussed. I certainly don't and i think she based what she said on known facts and experiences. i don't agree with her when she said you can''t be truly objective and support the industry. Thats not true as within the industry are so many people who can enjoy the industry,enjoy the horses and operate in a way that would satisfy this ladies concerns about providing reasonable life long care for their horses. I know i'm one.Its very costly though and you have to make persoanl sacrificies to operate like she wants. I would even go so far as to say,its an unrealistic ideal toexpect many to have. but i'm not a denier of what she says exists,because i know it does on a large scale. quite simply ,in my opinion,the topic is a very unfortunate part of the industry which is almost insurmountable.In other words,the world she wants to exist never will,no matter whether i want to see the same thing as her. lifes full of these contradictions,racing is no different.e.g.i used to have a bit of ground and bred to 200 ewes,,but stopped breeding them ,as after a few years i just couldn't wrap my head around the contradiction of farmers caring so much for their lambs,but then after 6 months sending them all to the freezing works.i found it easier to just graze the ewes and not breed. They lived to in their mid teens. But thats just me.So much in animal care is a contradiction. anyway,i find it very unfair some have chosen to criticise her as they have. why can't those people see her words match her actions.that gives her major credibilty to me. the fridge gas being used on horses,well i thought everyone in the harness industry knew rhar about 4 years ago. that got media coverage and of course the harness industry did all they can to catch the perpetrators. I had thought the much maligned riu did a good job in actually pursuing the people rumored to be doing that.some of those people were very dishonest and they caught a handful on other charges..Just look at the dishonest cheats tat they caught and you will find they were among those spoken about most as using what she said. at the end of the day,people need to accept,this lady is trying to be a voice for the horses>beautiful,intelligent,sensitive animals. And i think the horses and the industry need more people like that. the question the industry should never stop asking,is how can it address her concerns best.i know the racing industry tries hard,but personallyi think they still could do better. This lady is never going to go away,nor are the issues she raises.