the galah

I watched that and thought the same. Why jockeys bump and knock their own horses round to keep someone else in is a mystery to me. Sure,maybe 20% of the time they may keep a horse in that may end up beating them,but the other 80% of the time it costs them. I remember James Mcdonald in a winning after race interview on a horse who had performed poorly the week before after being in a bumping duel,saying people underestimate how much that can effect a horses performance. It also must be a factor in future injuries suffered.

Murray hamilton was training a small team of gallopers,but was put out for 3 months in 2016 after a dispute with those who ran the omakau racecourse. he then got a further suspension when they were trained under a former employees name,then another when he was helping someone else out down the road apparently. I think i read that he was taking those that ran the racecourse to court because he felt unfairly treated. Don't know the merits of his case,but i do know racecourses are often run in a way that serves the best interests of those running them. Rodney King said "can't we all just get along" during the 1992 LA riots. Well the same has applied to some of our racecourses at times.

It was a pretty clear cut case.The winner only galloped for about 20m,lost a little ground in that gallop when immediately restrained,and was not lapped on. I understand the definition of lapped on, is if the nose of the 2nd horse was in line with any part of the galloping horse,excluding the tail. That was not the case so it kept the win.

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No i didn't check the report. The trots stipes reports are much better on their website as they have that information in the results and have it up the same day as the races. So it appears it did bleed,but there was a reasonable explanation. Fair enough. Of course you have to be a bit wary of some explanations sometimes,and you would think the stipes should order some type of vet clearance or follow up. Then of course you had the Catalyst bleeding which they put down to bumping its head pre race. It may be just coincidence that its performances since have left questions over that explanation. Who knows,but i agree te akau must believe there is no problem.

Just have a look at the front cover picture if you don't believe me. Thats what it looked like on trackside at the time. Did the person leading the horse back not have a look?

On the subject of bleeding. My wife tried to tell me she thought Advantage had blood from its nostril when it came back to scale after its last win. Last time she said that was about catalyst,which we read they blamed on a bump to the head,but where has that got to. Anyway back to Advantage. I assume it is the horse on the cover of the latest raceform magazine,with the headline "she's back to defend her crown". Well that photo seems to show it has blood coming from the nostril in the picture.

No,the answer is to factor in the drivers tactical ability when making the bet. And when she makes poor tactical decisions,like she did in that drive,just accept you knew there was a good chance of that happening. Next week she is just as likely to drive a good race. Some people don't like criticism of drivers,but thats just a part of the sport and will never change.

Whatever the language Forbs,r/drv uses,we all know it reflects on him,so i personally just ignore that part of his posts. I know everyone is different,but personally I don't think anyone should take the questionable language seriously and be offended by it. Then again others may see it differently.

Whats the point of the commentator saying over and over again how weak the field is. Why can't he just compare the merits of the runners recent form?

Actually i would also say A harrison is another who i try to avoid.

Your best drivers are about the same as mine. Orange i think the best ever driver. The ones you have as the drivers you never bet on. I bet on any of those you have mentioned,but i do agree E barron,s tomlinson,and i would also say k tomlinson are the 3 that i have the least confidence in,yet all 3 get heaps of drives,so obviously trainers and owners must like them..

Thats what i thought too. If they had decided it did not gallop for 150m,fair enough,but why not state how far it galloped like they have in the past. It only leads to the conclusion that the matter was not clear cut and the reason they didn't was to avoid criticism.

Just watched that race again. No doubts in my mind it was just a very poor drive. Middle quarters in 31.9,then29.3 meant the leaders got a bit of a breather,and the best performed horse by far just sat there and gave them an impossible start. I think the commentator was accurate when he said "the favorites surely could not be in it" at the point thornley still hadn't moved at the 400m.. Thornley said the horse felt lethargic.I think some horses just want to run naturally,and some just wait until they are asked to go and in this case Italian lad expected to be driven,not just have a passenger. Of course the reason for these comments about the drive is because the horses previous form was superior to those in that field.

Thats the question. How does a vet get to help start a harness race,and how come the same vet lets horses start in both codes that other vets probably wouldn't?

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?