the galah

Thats it in a nutshell really. It shouldn't be hard for the stipes to work that out. You only have to watch the video to see that. They really have opened themselves up for a heap of criticism if they don't late scratch any other horse that swings round that split second after the tapes have been released. Its just part of the many variables that can occur in racing. Also,people don't seem to take into account that there is a second or so delay from the time the starter pulls the lever to release the tape,to the time it clears the horse on the opposite side of the track to which the starter is positioned. As far as the gallops go,are we to see any horse who is rearing slightly as the gates are released late scratched. Are we to see the occasional dog who turns in the boxs late scratched? Where is the criticism of the starters in those cases. Its all become more confusing with these recent rulings.

We just see that start a bit different to each other. Its only a split second,but when the tapes were released the horse was only on a slight angle,and the significant movement sideways happened that split second after,in my opinion. The race starts when the tapes are released,not a split second after. I used to think lamb did an average job,but like i've said before i think he has improved significantly since he has given up on the having every horse standing still approach. i think part of the reason for the negative opinions towards his starts is because there are far more stands in canterbury racing than other regions. Also,because he is deemed as part of the riu by some,those with the anti riu attitude use any excuse to criticise him.

In my opinion I think the difference between the first 2 was when purdon went back at the start and let bettor twist get in front of it.There is nothing between those two fillies,and Williams just outdrove Purdon,as he normally does if on one of similar ability. Big result for the all star stable so purdon happy either way.

Personally i think the stipes have made poor decisions regarding these recent late scratchings and by doing so are causing criticism of the starter, which in my view is undeserved as relates to the what is currently being discussed.

Personally i can't see why they late scratched those 2 horses. I guess they set the precedent at addington the week before. It seems you will get late scratched if you are not standing 100% straight,and then swing side on after the tapes are released as Yea You clearly did today.Scratched because of poor barrier manners apparently. Yet they don't late scratch any horse that displays poor barrier manners before a mobile start and misses it by 100m as happened at forbury the week before. Double standards really.

Well that does tell you something,at least thats my take on it. Does make you wonder about the judge that is hearing this case.

the banker beaten again. It just seems one of those horses that has got used to not being driven out the last bit and the horse seems quite happy to not give anymore in the last 50m. That race was an interesting watch. You had to wonder why the d ferguson horse ,who faded to a bad last,was driven so aggressively to keep the lead off the 2nd favorite over the first 800m. It was like he was sacrificing its chances for some reason. It must be hard watching a race like that, if the only horse you train is given such a gut buster.

De fillipi was a different charge., But i do agree Herlihy was lucky to get off with just a caution. He clearly had to make contact with the horse inside him to take up the postion in the trail. He ,along with other high profile drivers like z butcher seem to have a different set of rules,almost untouchable, if they are at meetings run by the north island stipes.

If i was having a choice of drivers on the horses i invest on, my top 5 would be Blair Orange(still clear no.1.) then either Tim williams,nathan williamson,brent barclay and korbyn newman

'those who think our police force can do no wrong".... Who believes that long owner? "The people in glass houses should not throw stones" comes to mind when i read this post if it is some veiled reference to racing. We are just lucky in nz our institutions are one of the most honest in a world where dishonesty, corruption and hypocrisy is everywhere , but of course we are not immune to it even here. If you happen to be on the wrong side of malicious untruths, then you learn a lot about the motives that drive some people,and you learn that irrespective of truth,people will still believe what they want to believe. But in the context of what you have written long owner,i think you have left too much to the imagination as to what you really mean.

Have you watched the replay? The last few seconds before the start are not on the HRNZ website,but you can see them on the NSW tab website. The horse arran chief is very slightly on an angle facing in,then prince teka moves around(like it normally does) and is on a slight angle facing out,dances on the spot, still room for both horses if they go forward,lamb calls out "we"re happy, right. The contact happens just after the start,not before. You could say the slight angle the horses were standing on pre start was a contributing cause of the subsequent contact,but if you expect starters to wait until every horse is standing completely straight pre start then you are going to get a heap of race starts throughout nz delayed. Actually if you want to watch replays of nz harness racing,the ausralian tab website has them on much quicker than the hrnz website.I think its about time our nz tab has videos of race results just after completion, just like the australian tab's.

Arran chief,who drew alongside prince teka, was on a slight angle and when prince teka moved forward after the tapes were released, his cart made contact with arran chiefs leg and that tipped the cart. It happened after the tapes were released. In every race you get horses slightly side on and in every race you get some horses progress forward after the start impeded because they do not have a clear passage. So at what point does interference that can result in late scratchings end. I think most of us had thought it was as soon as the tapes were released. It is most unfortunate if you have the horse who cops interference, however the reason this ruling is copping criticism is because it has created inconsistency.

Do they now late scratch every horse held up by another after the tapes have been released. Also,how can they late scratch navara and not sundons flyer. Sundons flyer was given a terminal check in the same incident. They are very inconsistent when it comes to these late scratchings at the start.You never really know how they are going to enforce that rule.

Personally i think its about time the "Whip" used in harness racing had a name change. Using the word "whip" gives connotations that harness is trying to distance itself from in this ever increasingly P.C. world. Perception is reality for most, quite often irrespective of the truth. So time for the "whip" to have a name change. Maybe officially become the "persuader",or the padded prompter, or some other p.c. name. It is the world we live in.

All the above seems relevant but the question still should be asked. Would The banker have found a bit more had he been driven with any vigour late in the race. We will never know because it never happened. Should the risky manners shown earlier in its career be a reasonable excuse. If you trained or owned it you would say yes,if your a punter you would say no. Stewards are there to protect the integrity for punters,so the driver should be questioned by the stipes in my opinion..

They don't seem to stand down trotters like they used to. I think they should,but they don't. Trotters often avoid being stood down by getting a warning for starting manners one week,and then a warning for breaking during the running the next,then a warning for starting manners the next,etc,etc. I pointed that out when i started a thread last year about the horses with names starting with "one". Personally i think punters who bet on this horse should not blame the horse for their poor judgment if they back this horse. Its actually very consistent. Its lost its chance through breaking in its last 7 starts. Anyone who has backed it must know the likely outcome.

I'm agree with happy's assessment. There is not much between 5 or 6 of them at the moment. Leaf stride had to work harder to reach the lead in his latest race,then maintained the lead whereas the week before he had trailed after not burning as hard early. Personally i thought he went just as good as he had the week before. In my opinion he was only disappointing if you were expecting more than he had shown so far. Having said that everyone has different opinions on every horse/driver/trainer. Who's to say anyone's wrong.

Purvis horses do seem to race consistently and he does seem to do a good job. Bagrie seems to have horses with more ability,and does get his share of wins. I think he does a good job but they seem to go better fresher for some reason. The one which made me wonder from that stable was Eye of the tiger. John dunn for some unknown reason gave it a very hard run fresh up after being out of contention early,then it was lined up for the next few weeks and its form got worse and worse to the point he looked like it had heart strain. I found that very strange from such a competent trainer.

just wondering what you are expecting? 129 horses with an average field size of 12.9. Surely thats good. You say woeful stakes but every race is $7000 or over. The size of the fields shows the stakes haven't deterred anyone. As to racing on thursdays. Its a bit unrealistic to expect them to get a stand alone friday night meeting. The fields certainly look better betting races than the oamaru meeting a couple of weeks ago.

While i don't go to the races often,i never bet on my phone and never will. Would not bother going to races at all if they had no on course betting. Besides,If your saying there is no need for on course betting outlets then your expecting all the casual racegoers who turn up at meetings like motukarara to have tab accounts. Until you can tell me the tab has statistics that say they do,i will continue to believe that taking away on course betting would be a dumb move.

I just watched most of it. I skipped through some bits as i was getting bored and saw nothing of interest and don't know what all the hype was about. Maybe they have a limited budget,but why could they not highlight any of the grass roots participants. I thought the most interesting story last week was that of the Southlander who trained his first winner in tad lincoln.,decades after first trying. Or what about the clive herbert colours being seen in the winners circle again at cambridge. i don't think it was there was it? Surely one of these inspiring stories could have been given 3 or 4 minutes. Or what about smokin bye. Sold for good money not long ago but now on gavel house. There's so many relatable stories out. I can only speak for myself,but to me those running the box seat are sadly out of touch with what potential viewers are interested in.

Mocking someone is not humour. Now your just being pedantic to muddy the waters relating to what i am saying. Your not interested in transperency on subjects like this. You know,your very good at saying i have said something,when in fact i have posted the opposite just prior to your post. You do it all the time. And what is it about this topic? You have a story on the all stars web site relating to the Oamaru scratchings,which suggests the two top nz cup contenders have sore feet and are being rested. Then 5 days later they run at a trial where they run an exceptional time,and do so without appearing to raise a sweat. You can't help yourself to criticise anyone who treated the original story with scepticism. My final comment on this subject is if a punter is to be successful they need to recognise patterns. Patterns for example where a driver is out of form,where a stable is consistently underperforming,where a stable has every horse perform in a way that suggests they have an edge ,legal or not. I would be more than happy to compare the results of my analysis to yours.It would show i am very good at reading patterns. Still you carry on with your head in the sand.

As an aside . I have always believed every horse in training should have a log book specific to it,kept detailing any treatment ,whether veterinary or private ,that it receives. It should be a requirement that every vet and trainer has to meet. The riu should be directed to do cross audits to confirm record keeping is accurate. If there is to be true transparency, honesty and compliance then everyone should accept this. It would to a greater degree of confidence from trainers relating to a level playing field.i This type of reply i think pathetic. With all that has gone on in recent years,and you still have an attitude like that.

Inferences or opinions. You can take it whatever way you want. For example the all stars never made any specific reference to spankem and self assured in the original article as being amongst "a number of all star horses will spend more time resting than racing in the next couple of weeks". Yet the writer of the article wrote it in such a way that it could be inferred those horses to be amongst those who were feeling the ground and had sore feet and would be briefly spelled. As hunter has pointed out. They went an extremely fast time today,all within 5 days of the writer inferring they had sore feet and were being rested. I'm not questioning the all stars training ability,just pointing out in my opinion we may not have been told the actual reason for their raceday scratching. As i say,i expressed that opinion/inference as soon as the first article came out.

Firstly this article comments that the circumstances "will have tongues wagging". So that contradicts your comment about my posting about something that "wasn't worth commenting on'". The article is itself an acknowledgement of the apparent contradictory comments which have come from the all stars. When the article refers to" punters like nothing more than a good rumour ". Well maybe they should realise punters know when they are being fed spin,and that is how rumours start. That,and what i still call the claytons scratching rule,is why i have commented. Its good to see both these top horses are ready to go again,and i like all racegoers no doubt look forward to seeing them race again shortly.