the galah

On the hrnz website story it said Cullen was there until yesterday and had been the one in control of working the cambridge team.

Maybe punters need to be a bit wary of the cullen stable horses previous form until we have seen a few more run. Maybe the stable has returned to the early season form. Watching the mile race tonight spankem was very average,but self assured went ok without looking as exceptional as he has previously. Spankem was going great only 1 week ago so hard to think he would be training it any different in that timeframe. We probably need to see more before we regain any confidence that the stable will perform as it has at times in the past.

Yes i just posted that on another thread.That was a shocking non trying drive on such a hot favorite.

Lines up the even money favorite Italian lad and its driven like it was just there to follow them round. Either that horse has lost a leg(which maybe it has) or he needs to use better drivers in future if he is to be successful.

Well the fella with the hat who they said was the vet yesterday was the same man who was hanging onto the tape at the westport trots,and forgot to let it go causing the false start there. Is he a twin perhaps?

Is he also on the starting crew sometimes? Isn't he the same fella that forgot to release the starting tape he was hanging onto in the last race at the trots on the 2nd day at westport last week,then passed fit to race the four horses who had done a round at race speed for the rerun of that race. He was the subject of a thread on the harness part of this site. Just doesn't seem to consider the punters much.

It's interesting to know what they charge,but whatever it is their owners feel it reasonable as their stable has been full,with some owners turned away as no room.Just supply and demand i suppose. The high result expectations that go with having a horse in the stable were obviously being met. My favorite all star horses over the years were ill vicolo,heaven rocks and i can doosit,all for different reasons. I hope in time we can get to see more horses like that from that stable again.

Watching those 2 races you had to think they were able to team drive because of the tactics of other drivers. In the 3yo race,had zac butcher stayed one off the fence then shan noble would have remained stuck on the fence,behind first class who it was obvious had burnt a bit too hard early so as to enable shan nobles chances. Maybe he thought 4 back the fence following first class was better than sitting on the outside behind the inevitable cover that came mid race. Then in the cup you had spankem locked up 3 back the fence ,but herlihy seemed quite happy to let it off the fence by easing back when parked. Of course herlihy then pulled back and let copy that off the fence,which worked in his favour,but surely having the first 2 favorites 3 and 4 back the fence like they were after 1000m was a better move. But you see that in so many races where there is no team driving. Favourites being let off bad positions 3 back the fence when you know that move will result in the favorite then going to the front,and the horse who let them off chances become even worse.

Happy new year,good health and many winners.

You think you saw some team driving there forbs? When the stipes did nothing about amazing dreams drive when it got defeated at its previous start,then they will never,ever do anything about team driving by anyone. So just accept it forbs,its just part of what happens when you bet on harness racing. And by the way gammalite,do you still think beyond words is as good as amazing dream?

Race 4 at auckland tonight just run. False start,then 2nd start aborted because kelvinz luck falls heavily on the track pre start. What happens,well kelvinz luck passed fit to start after falling. Why would any vet with any sense say falling to the track heavily pre start would not effect a horses performance. As expected it ran poorly.

Like him,or think he thinks way,way outside the square,your right in that he compiled a fantastic record with The Feiry Ginga.

On a positive note. I see at motukarara today Tuamata VC was late scratched by the vet after rearing and falling to the track as they lined up. The horse seemed fine afterwards but at least the punters were protected by the late scratching as horses that do that never seem to go much good after. I also see they suspended Mr A clark for a few months after his drive in race 1. Personally i find his drives always puts a smile on my face.Get back off the back of the field ,tack on,attack straight away,then stop again at the end of the back straight,then back to the trials a couple of days later. You can set your clock to his tactics as they are always the same.

The start of the last race was a debacle. As you say the head on appeared to show what appeared to be the vet holding into the tape,and not releasing it when the other tapes were released. I found that hard to believe ,but the stipes report says it was due to a communication error, so as unbelievable as that may seem,it could well be true. I know subsequent winner Bright glow was one of those that did an extra round,but where is the protection for the punter when some of the horses that did an extra round a race speed were allowed to run. Imagine if bright glow had performed poorly like the others involved. An all round debacle by everyone involved.

That was race 11 yesterday.

Brad williamson on gabbys star just after the post? Was he checking to see if he had left his fly undone?

The stipes report states that driver E Barron raced several lengths clear of the field early in the race to ensure her horse got over the crossing clear of the field. It then states she continued to maintain a fast speed for another 500m ,from which point driver e barron reported the horse felt lethargic? Its funny reading that,except of course if you had put any money on it.

Great to see the crowds lining the fence like we have seen at westport,gore and previously the likes of geraldine. When you see that it does make you wonder why the likes of waimate and wyndham can't run an annual meeting on their home tracks. If the harness industry wants to only give minimal funding for training purposes to those type of tracks then fair enough,but surely those clubs should be given an annual date if they have their own funds to support it? Going by the public support we are seeing for those type of clubs then it just seems a bit of a no brainer.

No comparison whatsoever between Italian lad and Amazing dream. If you watch the video everything purdon says about how Italian lad raced is confirmed in the video. It is a very good horse. It was just one of those runs that the horse didn't quite have the fitness or ringcraft. It should be a different story next start.

Was he working for kerr at the time?

Did you have any money on Unique rose today?

Not talking about kerr here, but don't think you can say "nearly always gets jail time" for anyone charged with that offence. Doesn't it depend on the scale of the offending,previous history,remorse,who the judge is,etc? Talking about Jail time seems a bit unrealistic to me.

I think talking about court appearances is jumping the gun.His offending not the type of thing to be considered deserving of jail time, if it ever did go to court.

While it appears he has betrayed the trust of some of his clients,like an unhappy marriage, it is better for everyone concerned that things have come to a crisis point where he has to deal with the consequences of his actions. He can now start the process of recovery and repaying those he has offended against,and deal with the relevant enforcement authorities.He must have been under huge pressure knowing he was deceiving clients,so it was in his own best interests for the truth to be exposed. In reality he is also a victim,albeit self made. One would expect him to be totally honest about everything as he moves onto the dealing with the consequences phase. I think he will find he will have the support of many from an industry perspective, with of course his family being the backbone of his main support.. I don't think we should be too harsh on the how we view Mr kerr.

I know. But he's comparing amazing dream to machs little soky,a 4 win horse who's record shows it races best with cover. Total opposites in racing style.