the galah

So the" number of cases of sore feet to hit the stable" only seem to effect the horses running on sunday,but not the 5 they have in tonight or the 7 they have in at auckland tomorrow,none of whom have been scratched? Thats a mysterious coincidence.

I said your "perhaps everyone else has lifted their game" comment was interesting because it appears to be an acknowledgment of what you had earlier denied. As to the box seat. I think it is great to see this show return. Like brodie,i would like to see more content involving the grass roots of the industry,balanced with the highlighting of the the contribution the likes of the all stars bring to the industry.

"Perhaps everyone else has lifted their game" -Interesting comment.

Ok, If you can't see it,then try opening both eyes. No point in my saying much more.

In my opinion the drop off in the ability to seemingly 'run forever' is much more noticeable this year than at any other time. There is a reason for that. Your right,maybe come cup time it may change,but even if it does,it doesn't erase what we are currently seeing.

Thats the type of reply i expect from you noodlum. Have you not been watching harness racing since it resumed after the lock down,or do you simply not want to address what i am saying. Go stick your head back in the sand.

Actually i would like to hear mick guerin's take on how the all stars team has been performing so far this season. We all have our own opinions on the lengths guerin will go to ridicule anything negative that may be said about the all stars. So how does he think they are going this season? Here's my take. The all stars still set the benchmark for excellence and are our best trainers,but.....anyone can see that in the last 4 months they are not operating at the "Bulletprooof' level that those on the box seat constantly refer too. Can mick guerin please come up with a reasonable explanation? Heres the all stars UDR since they have been purdon/rasmussen. 2014 .4543 2015 .4496 2016 .5063 2017 .4493 2018 .4762 2019 .4828 2020 .4540 this season .3635 Now i know any other trainer would love to have a udr of.3635,but this is a significant drop in performance from our elite stable. What the most interesting feature of how they are performing is that the horses get tired near the finish after a hard run.That is what is so noticeable. Like i said,they are still our no 1 stable,but can Guerin explain why. Of course i know what his answer will be. He will drag out the same old tall poppy,jealous, haters line that he always takes.He will not address what i refer to.

Good points happy. Both K Tomlinson and K Newman over did it early in that race,but both drove with the intention of securing a position most advantageous to their chances. It was not a prolonged speed duel. I see nothing wrong with the stipes asking the question,and think their passing on advice as to tactics reasonable. But i do think both drivers are smart enough to have worked that out for themselves anyway. So it did,but that was because Just Ace failed to respond quickly enough,despite its drivers urgings to maintain the trail. Go have a look at Just ace's previous start at invercargill. It was on and off the bit throughout that race as the pace varied,or it came to a bend,and simply lacks a bit of ringcraft. I agree,this probably should have gotten a mention in the stipes report,but there certainly was no favours given just because the drivers may know each other.

Thanks for the clarification. Thought you may have been inferring something negative about my comments,but good to see that not the case and you are still your cheerful self.

Can you explain the last part of this post.What does 'the way southern racing is due to people like you'.Whats that a reference to?

If you follow southland harness you would have to have noticed everything from this stable has lost about 10 lengths that has run in the last 3 months. I know,some will say i'm knocking the horse. I'm not.He is very good. Can anyone name even 1 horse from this stable that is racing at the same level it was pre covid?

I never said it wasn't a poor drive. What i have said is in my opinion your suggestion that he hand in his licence or that he should get a lenghty suspension is an over reaction. Are you referring to the all stars? One of the most obvious observations that anyone who watches harness racing on a regular basis can see,is that in recent months this stable has lost the" run forever no matter how hard they go " asset they had. It seemed to start pre virus,with some, including myself commenting, to that effect. They still set the benchmark for excellence,but they are now no longer unbeatable. In my opinion we should be asking why that is,what happened,and for how long will it last?

So what your saying is you can mitigate the level of poor driving by K Butt's because she is a skilled driver,But O'connell,who causes no interference,doesn't deserve to be judged in the same as way Butt, because he is not a skilled driver. Thats a double standard your applying. O'connell used the whip,within the rules,to the point when he faded back to 6th. 5th was a stake bearing place so i think his limited use of the whip was not unreasonable. As referred to earlier by crosscodes,the K tomlinson drive on glenthorne could be viewed as a poorly judged drive, more detrimental to that horses chances than the O'connell drive. But that doesn't make her drive deserving of official censure either. If Glenthorne goes best in front,then why should she not attempt to try and lead throughout. Besides it takes two to be in a speed duel,and automatically should not become the fault of just the driver who's horse is paying more on the tote. Drivers can't be expected to go out and drive in races with a mindset that they can not drive their horses to their strengths,because they may face official censure if another driver wants to use the same tactics.

O'connells just an easy target. Could he have got in the trail early.Well initially it may have looked like that,but if you have a close look at the video he would not have been able to cross without making contact with the legs of the horse inside him. Should he have dropped in behind the horse that improved outside him between the 1600m and 1400m,maybe,but that horse stopped badly so with hindsight he probably made the right decision. Could he have dropped into the trail with 1000m to run. Yes,but he is a poor driver tactically and his decision not to trail at that point is just consistent with the tactical decisions he makes in many races. No ones called for him to hand in his licence on his other poor tactical drives. The only part of his drive that i believe deserves scrutiny was with about 900m to go when it looked like he was having some sort of tourette's attack when dealing with what appeared to be a handbrake he was having trouble releasing. There's still an ongoing theme on this site of double standards ,it all depending on who the personality may be. The CJ de fillipi suspension was yet another example of that. The very same posters saying de fillipi did not team drive,are the same ones moaning about team driving from the likes of the all stars. Its hard to take some seriously when they have such double standards.

I will head to the spelling paddock with something positive. Ben hope is a very good driver.. He often pays over the odds,and while occasionally he gets it wrong,you can always see he is a thinking driver. His drive in Luella showed that on the right horse,he can rate one in front as well . From what i have seen of him,he is a very good role model both on and off the track.

Like i've said before. They changed the protocol around the way races are to be started a few months back,at the request of the licence holders,and the starter is doing exactly what he has been asked to do. No starter will ever get it perfect everytime.

I just seem to spend too much time on here.(especially when i should be watching the races,or doing the jobs the wife has for me.) I've really enjoyed contributing,enjoy reading yours and others comments,and i guess that helps get some balance on my views. But i do think when it comes to certain personalities involved in inca,some will never do anything wrong in the eyes of some. You have taken a few holidays from posting,so thats what i will do. I will keep reading them.keep up the good postings. Ah ,you flatterer. Everyone has a point of view worth reading,its interesting to know how everyone sees things.

I have no issue with your comments.

I've decided to pull the pin on commenting anymore. This site is just the same as the other one. Its all about the personalities,and this is the deciding factor in how people comment.

I must be watching a different race here as well. The start was delayed because of a couple of horses not lining up,he sent them around again,then started them with them moving forward with all horses within a length except the horse who refused to line up ,but even it was moving forward. I believe there is a deliberate attempt to undermine the starter,which also occurs in the media. People have pre conceived ideas,stuck in the past,failing to recognise the improvement in the starts that has occurred in the last 12 months. Its all an echo chamber. I'm thinking i need to spend more time doing something constructive on a sunday.

Yes the horse following jimmy cannon did not pull out,but jimmy cannon was travelling easily,the horse following was not.Thats the point. How did anderson save ground?.He went from 1 length in front of the winner to 2 lenghts behind with 200m to go. This was more than a driver making an average tactical decision. I have expressed my opinion. I have been critical of the stipes when i thought it deserved. I would have said a driver deserved a suspension on maybe a dozen times in the last 3 years. 3 of those turned out to be the subject of INCA. Thats how obvious they were.I have always said that the failure of the stipes to penalise questionable driving leads to more questionable driving. There would never have been an inca if the stipes were on top of the questionable behaviour. That was then,now we currently have a RIU who are doing the job they are their for,which is why i support them. That doesn't mean i will always agree with them.

begins 1 august

Clearly we have different opinions,and your entitled to yours. However think about this,had Anderson pulled out like any other diver would have,he would not have had to make up 2 lengths on a horse who had all the momentum up in comparison with him. It only got beaten a nose.Also think about how by not pulling out,he got boxed in for 100m at a crucial time,and only got a run because the horse following the winner up faded back. I know i'm not the only one thinking that,i have already spoken to another couple of good judges who say he should get a holiday. Like i said,no merit so attack the person. I have only ever posted twice about M Anderson's drives on here. The other was the Nelson race the subject of the inca inquiry,which i labelled the most obvious case of a horse being pulled i had seen for some time.And as to your comment about my having never driven,how many winners have you driven?I'm guessing i have driven more than you.

Seriously,i think you have watched a totally different race. With 300m to run its over racing, hard on the back of the parked horse,yet fails to pull out with 250m to when a horse moves up outside it.It was only luck that it did not end in a pocket. Clearly you have not followed jimmy cannon,as it has always been a bit one paced,although that really is not relevant,as nor is its last start performance. I defy anyone else to watch that race and then say that drive does not deserve a holiday. Typical noodlum/chief,attack the person,as no merit in what you have to say. If that was purdon ,we would never hear the end of it,but your pin up boys are the ones who have lost their licences.Nice standards

The drive on jimmy cannon in race 3 today. Failing to pull out with 250m to go certainly not seen very often.Be interesting to read the stipes report on that one. Yes i did back it,but really any normal driver would get 2 months,so we will wait and see.