the galah

Actually when i was young i won an on course betting competition by backing the townley runners that day who warmed up pre race with their eyes popping out. Worked for me anyway,

Wasn't that back in the day when milkshaking was legal? He does,but they don't look like they can go another round after the finish if they have a hard run. Being driven by a top driver like him also a factor as well as being a good trainer. Only negative is most of his better horses are they don't seem to last more than a couple of seasons. Mind you thats the same for most trainers.

He does have a great strike rate. You probably don't agree with me,but name another trainer that can turn around a horses form like he can. Tall poppy by 12 lengths in 2.25 at Timaru,love the blues by 16 lengths at addington,and now team kiwi. He certainly can get them to run can't he.

Their horse so i don't see it as a problem if they want to continue paying the bills,.Some people don't mind and just enjoy having a horse at the races,and they have had good success with others..Each to their own.No doubt those that run against it don't mind seeing it in the field.

That Team Kiwi performance was truly amazing. And after the post it looked like it could have gone on for a bit further. Already gone also went huge so maybe the fast track was a factor,but it certainly looked like that stable can get significant improvement from other trainers.We saw earlier in the year this stable produced love the blues to win by 16 lengths at addington. Its just a bit of a problem for the punter to predict when they are ready to fire. Obviously Nowornever predicted right.

Driven by facts and logic. Nothing wrong with that. I don't mind being fact checked if i have got something wrong. As to John Allens salary, i was quoting from a story titled "million dollar salary" about what they said he would get paid when he went to the tab 5 years ago. If you say he only got paid $700,000 then i will believe you, then again he is also quoted as saying in an interview he only got paid $560,000 a couple of years ago. I would have thought his type of job would have included bonuses for turnover met,allowances ,etc which i would have thought could have substantially increased his income but i don't know the detail of the contract he had and how everything he got paid was detailed in accounting. I still think you go out of your way to undermine opinions different from yours,irrespective of the odd fact check,but that's just part of any forum like this so don't mind that as you post a lot of interesting stuff.

I thought Tiebreaker at $4.20ff in race 8 was the standout for the day.

I like the galah, Here i was thinking you devalue my opinion because we continually see things differently,and its just what you do to get your point across.. JJ flash i do agree with on a lot of subjects.

When Allen was first appointed it was reported in a couple of media articles that Allen was expected to receive in excess of $900,00 per year. Yeah,yeah,yeah .... You hate Peters and you love National and you do think you have an opinion of more value than mine. Good for you.

.A true insight into the understanding of how those that have been driving the changes at the tab over the last 10 years simply were incompetent. He pretty much also endorses everything Rutherford said. It truly is farcical to think any business would focus on the side of their business that generated the least return, while undermining the side of their business that generated the most return. Basically,those running it at the top have been morons,and they have recruited and surrounded themselves with more like minded morons. Which if you think about it is predictable,because if the likes of john allen thought he had the skills and knowledge to lead the organisation,then obviously he would surround himself with similar like minded people. Time to sell it to tabcorp. And one last point ,who was the governent that appointed Glenda Hughes,who drove the recruitment of the likes of Allen who reportedly got paid close to a million dollars a year top stuff racing. It was the National government with Nathan Guy as minister of racing. Of course he knew his stuff,wasn't he the one that thought riccarton was addington. Bloody tories!

To be fair to Racing Ministers driver you would have expected Woman in charge to hand up the lead. Woman in charge has always shown it is a sit sprinter with a 100m sprint,so hardly surprising to see it stop so bad.

You have hit the nail on the head as far as setting a precedent for future similar indiscretions.. Having gone to appeal just confirms that. I understand the need to discourage such activity,but personally think the sentence could be argued to be excessive given there appeared no coordinated attempt with others to influence a result,and given he still drove his horse to its ability. He did of course punt on a horse he drove against. It does make me worry that some from operation inca may possibly be subject to similar penalties should they be charged and proven.. I say that understanding there is a need to stomp out this activity,but also balanced with the fact that from a punting point if view, some of those involved in inca are the ones who give punters the most confidence that the horses they drive will always be driven to the best of the horses ability.

Without knowing the details,wouldn't you think the checks would most likely be related to animal welfare. Given what happened to the 5 McInerney dogs that died in late 2018, are they not just providing proper oversight on that issue?

Of the 5 charges he has to face, one is attempting to administer a prohibited substance and another of obstructing a racecourse inspectors attempt to seize evidence. It has been reported in the media that equipment used for tubing a horse was seized. But your saying he did not tube a horse.Time will tell the exact detail. Personally i don't know why Mcgrath just doesn't admit that he was doing something outside the rules,accept the penalty,then come back when his time is up.I know that may seem a simplistic view,but sometimes taking the simplest path is the best option.

I said allegedly tubing. So your telling us he did not do so?. So what did they observe him do. How about you tell us. Or are you simply playing with words.

Wounding with reckless disregard is a very serious offence,at least it normally is seen that way. You can be sentenced up to 7 years in prison. So to discharge someone without conviction,whatever the defendants circumstances, seems to give little consideration of the impact on the victim. I think the article is detailed enough to conclude that. Exactly. Its a misrepresentation of the facts. Mcgrath continued to train and only gave up when he was allegedly observed tubing a horse on raceday. He's the one that did that,no one else. Besides,as has been said before,the burden of proof is different in the courts from in racing .

That is the exact reason why that horse was driven like it was. Who do you see that team drives to the benefit of their weakest chance? Shouldn't you have worked that out ? Go watch the video of that race if you want to see how team driving works.

I'm saying the police make decisions relating to their jurisdiction and the riu make decisions relating to their jurisdiction. If their evidence gathering overlaps then its common sense to pool resources.

What are you talking about?. The coordinated raids on stables and businessmen. Why do you care whether the RIU were there. Oh thats right,that just showed their true colours. These cases may involve high profile personalities,but its their actions that are the subject of the scrutiny. The reason so many make it about the personalities is because that is the best way to deflect from the actions. And whats the bet if this involved someone within the industry that no one liked,those doing all the attacks on the riu would never be heard from. Hypocrites Some appear to long for the leadership style of the administrator who tipped off all those involved in the blue magic scandal, so they could get rid of any incriminating evidence. Those were the good old days .

Very vague post. "throws another case out of court." very unspecific. I thought there were lots of charges. Are you suggesting there are no charges relating to operation inca,or just not many left? Or is the post deliberately vague and just another cheap shot at the RIU. Say we accept there was always merit in the argument that some charges were always going to struggle to be proved,and so it turned out. But what if there were some charges that were dismissed because evidence gathered was deemed inadmissible by the presiding judge. What then? Does that all of a sudden clear those charged of any nothing wrongdoing,and that what was alleged never happened. Besides, is that not a police procedural matter and whats that got to do with the RIU. The RIU don't run the police do they? Just to be clear,we've heard from many on here and the other website about the injustices perpetrated on those they support, well how about they actually come out and go one step further and say that they see nothing wrong with what those charged allegedly did. i'm not commenting on the gravity ,or lack of,just want to know the standards of those commenting. Go on,have some balls and actually say it. Put it on the record. As to the so called RIU raid. What do you classify as a raid? Sounds like the sensationalism approach we would expect from P4P.

Can you follow what ranga is talking about? I have no idea a lot of the time.

Any chance of getting him to do my lawn?

Mark Cookson i think is very good. O'Connor i always enjoyed watching. Rusty actually posted on here how good the coverage of the recent addington meeting was on trackside with o'connor in the studio and matt cross on track. O'connor was a big part of that,so his will be big shoes to fill,. Like has been said earlier on this topic,he deserves thanks for the enjoyment he brought us and deserves all the best in the future.

Workmates,,that has made me chuckle. When i first participated in the harness sport over 30 years ago the stipes always wanted to talk to me. Only trained a couple but was always getting warnings,swabbings,inquiries.Told one of them one day he reminded me of that robot out of the programme "lost in space" who always went round waving its arms saying warning,warning,... Initially i was respectful to them but soon realized some of them didn't deserve my respect and just returned the lack of respect. Same with when i was assaulted in my then job 15 years ago.. When i expressed my opinion on how poorly the police had handled the case i then spent 6 months getting pulled over many times for licence checks,etc. That was all some years ago. Then i have had the opposite experiences. The current stipes that i had dealings with always seemed fair and deserving of respect. Same with a couple of dealings with the police i have had in recent times. Even felt sorry for the police recently when i called them to deal with someone who had been violent and off their heard on drugs and then watched the police end up in a fight with that person and his dog. The point is i'm on no ones side,but the two things i dislike most in harness racing are the use of performance enhancers and drivers that go out there with the intention not to try. So when we finally have the RIU, who's job it is to police such things,actually doing something,then i'm going to support their intent,no matter who it involves. All we get from the side of those charged is the them and us attitude,personal attacks and just a load of unnecessary crap. I'm not telling those who have been charged how they should feel about the whole experience,but those that support them shouldn't be telling me or anyone else,that its wrong to believe in fair play and honest intent.

So the RIU had the evidence to prove a charge against Mcgrath? You know that would never have been proved had they not had the police evidence. So many just don't get that you need the punter. Its never ok to occasionally deceive him/her in such a blatant fashion.