the galah

If you want my honest assessment of him, i would say he prefers all weather tracks as his grass track record is not too good. he actually went a very tough race at ashburton during cup week,it would have been quite a physically demanding run for him as they went fast overall and he did a heap of work.Hes a horse i've backed with some success at times and i think he will bounce back at some stage,maybe after a wee freshen up,in the right race and on the right track.

I think its one of those horses that is best described as an enigma.Something thats difficult to understand or is a bit mysterious. hes a gelding and i see hes had 3 wins and 8 placings friom 46 starts and he has earned $43,000 in the last 2 years,so hes a handy enough horse who's paying his way. so i think your description of him is a bit harsh. i'm guessing his trainer is sometimes seen scratching his head after some of his races.I'm guessing ,if asked to comment ,what he thinks about his inconsistent form,he would say...well the way to inderstand him is to be confused....which of course would lead to anyone who asked scratching their head in sympathy with the trainer. hes actually from the hilarious guest family,i think she was his great,great,granny.

So they are still paying half a million in interest each month. Is mr mackinnon still describing those interest payments as "brutal and cutting into how much money they will have left to establish a new training centre" for those who will no longer have franklin park to train from? So how are the ATC's talks with HRNZ going and how much has HRNZ said they will put in,to help the ATC establish any new training centre? given mr mackinnon has said auckland can't do it alone,then if we assume that is true,it seems a no brainer that either auckland are doomed anyway,or as appears likely at this stage,HRNZ will support auckland and give them the money,inevitably having to slash stake money in a couple of years in places like canterbury and southland.Like it was only a few months back that mr steele,head man at HRNZ, was quoted as saying 75% of HRNZ cash reserves of $5m were going to be used to pay increased stakes,primarily for the big races. So the current value of the franklin property has not gone down over the last year,as widely reported ,but has actually gone up according to mr mackinnon.Is he inferring the atc has a buyer who will pay more than the chinese.Is that true or is he pulling everyones leg? Strange old industry harness racing. People just sit back and watch things happen that will impact them in 2-3 years. Perhaps heres why some do. look at the current top 3 nz leading stables on number of wins. The dunns,the telfers and purdon/phelan.Nathan purdon ranks 3rd on stakes won. They all benefit from HRNZ pouring the money into the north island.Becuase they are north island based. The dunn stable even seems to take horses from their south island stable, who go best left handed, and race them at auckland instead. Seems illiogical but thats what they do. So they are never going to be vocal about what HRNZ are doing,because they benefit.Look after me and my mates the philosophy of those leading the industry these days.

i get what your saying,as you could see will rixons horse would end up breaking 50m before it did, because his horse always was going to anticipate getting a knock and therefore would move in and break either,to avoid the knock or as happened,despite alfords late correction, it got off balance. rixon was driving the$2.15 favorite so i would guess cam hart would have been just as happy to see him lead and park queen elida. So i think Alford gambled on being able to intimidate rixon enough for rixon to back off,rixon wasn't,but his horse understandably was. I actually think alford probably thought ,it he was in the same situation as rixon was,he would back off.People anticipate others should behave as they would,but everyone is different. Its something that occurs from time to time and the stipes always seem to decide,well no physical interference occcured,lets give a warning to the galloping horse ,with no consequences for the horse or driver moving in. If stipes want to reduce the number of horses breaking and possible injury,they should reevaluate their interpretation to those situations,and take a more cause and effect approach,in my opinion.

i saw queen elidas win.Racing into the first bend, it had a half a length advantage over the $2.15 favorite who was to its inside and in in the middle of queen elida and the horse on the inside.Chris alford driving queen elida allowed her to drift in and had to correct at the last moment,the inward direction she was travelling in and you could see him do that by turning its head to the side.But as you see more often than not,especially with trotters,the horse in the middle anticipates it will get a bump and moves in itself ,becoming unbalanced and breaks. they showed the head on and that was what appeared to happen,but because queen eldia made no contact,nothing was said to chris alford. personally i can't see why that type of driving has no consequences. If your driving a car and someone half a car length in front of you starts encroaching into your lane ,obviously you are going to react to avoid a collison. Thats exactly what horses do. They,like the car driver aren't going to work on the assumption the fella encroaching into their lane will correct his inward movement.

apart from the first 2 paragraphs,i think they are good points you make. Me trying to drum up negativity or referring to brodie,is of course not how we see it. I would point out,if you were to only listen to the glass half full thinkers,then you would only be getting half of one side of the argument. while brodie doesn't need anyone to speak for him,i'm guessing he sees himself like me,someone who floats from glass more full to glass more empty ,based on a realistic assessment of just how full the glass really is at varying times. Perhaps the best analogy i can give,in keeping with your glass half full/empty thing. I see HRNZ as being the ones that pour from the bottle,that are keeping aucklands glass half full,and every time they top it up to half full again,i see the contents of the bottle getting a bit emptier. And as hrnz have only that one bottle to quench the thirst of not only auckland,but everyone,then i see that as inevitably meaning, there will be less to go around in the future.If the boot were on the other foot,auckland would be saying the same. negativity,dribble...spin it whatever way you like tabforever.But remember,in the end people see through the spin and see things for what they are.Why not just tell it as it is now and formulate workable solutions.

your living the life of Riley tabforever.Nice I just watched the film forrest gump, on my free,for a month, sky movie channels. Paying to have trackside on sky does have its perks after all,but thats about the scale of my recent highlights. But,if they were to make a racing movie similar to forrest gump,i'm putting your name forward, as sounds like you would be popping up everywhere....thats all i have to say about that. me paranoid,who told you that?have you been watching me? as to the padded cell,my wife lets me out more than you realise.... As long as i take my medication. keep up the good work of supporting our racing,especially auckland. Auckland needs more like you.

Imperial command just ran again. Again the money was on.Only paying $4 for unknown reasons.I suppose Tabforever always has plenty of reserves to tap into. looked more relaxed tonight with a driver change to r payne.Drew the second line ,begun ok this time,settled back but got the perfect drag into it turning for home, but was struggling to make ground and while he kept trying,never looked a place chance and ran 5th or 6th. He actually looked like he put in a couple of rough strides a couple of times but never broke. can't blame the horse for people over valuing him when he was sold on gavel house. I will keep an aye on his form,but won't report anything unless it improves.

we've tried to find out brodie. seemingly the news is so exciting, no one can put it into words. we first asked Tabforever,who told us his mates attended,but apparently they over indulged on the free drinks that were available after the meeting,and tabforever hasn't yet been able to interpret the slurring hes hearing. then we asked mick guerin,but as he was excluded because hes from the media,hes only been able to report he heard mumbling from the glass he held against the wall. Then we were told aaron white will tell us on friday when he calls the races,but apparently he won't be there on friday as hes having eyesight trouble after steering too much at the ribbon of light. then we turned to peter profit,he knows ,but he told us,mate,fair suck of the sav, we'd have to pay $20 to subscribe for a month,and the punting hasn't been that good lately. then we put a call into jamie mackinnon,but for some reason he thought we supported the auckland harness museum and told us to p... off and that he would see us in court. so,getting desperate we turned to a young chinese chinese friend, to intepret what the chinese buyers had said,but he told us he didn't know mandarin ,but did say he knew te reo,if some sort of treaty has been signed. so,for the moment we still don't actually know much,other than its supposed to be exciting.

peter profit has always had someone close to the action,so to speak,but don't you find it strange we rely on an australian for auckland news. Too positive and doesn't suit you say. No i can only read his headlines as not a subscriber.As to positive news,i'm always keen to hear such news,but i'm channeling brodie here, when i say i've just been telling it as it is,in the past. if thats the case,i'm surpirised the ATC would exclude media,given you decribe members like your friends chatted excitedly. wouldn't you have thought, even if they didn't want any media there,they would have wanted to control the narrative and would have had a pre prepared media release as soon as the meeting finished.i know things would need to be voted on,but they should still have had one. gee,your easily excited. Is aucklands crisis actually over,or has it just gone from looking like pulling the plug on the life support machine, to back to being in need of critical care? Anyway,nearly all the comments i've made about the auckland club have been based around how HRNZ is directing financial resources into the auckland clubs survival,when auckland continues to run their race meetings at large losses. so,until that changes ,which seems highly unlikely,then the decision makers at HRNZ will continue to be placed under increasing scrutiny,to stop undermining the finacial stability of the industry as a whole,just to prop up certain sectors with the preferential treatment. the tale of the auckland harness racing has taken another twist in a different direction,maybe,we await more details,but lets not forget that doesn't change the basics.

the first to report anything on the auckland club,is peter profit as usual. whille i can only read his headlines,it suggests good news for auckland and pukekohe. Nothing in any of the nz media so far.. peter profit also reporting a well known australian trainer coming to auckland. lets hope mr profits story is accurate,just it would be nice to know some detail if anyone has it who went to their meeting?

so here we are,just over 12 months on from my original post and Dreams Are Free is a horse with issues,as i predicted. What we will get from dreams are free in the derby,well who really knows. A recent story on harnesslink quoted trainer nathan williamson as saying,dreams are free will remain in canterbury for more tests after the derby,as he has some sort of breathing issue. from a horse being written up by many as exceptional, to a horse with issues. that must be very frustrating for his connections. will he bounce back,well i couldn't predict that with the same certaity i did,that he would have issues. Maybe he will and maybe he won't.You would think he would be getting some sort of treatment for the upcoming race. but i think the moral of the story is to recognise the patterns from racing and not try and make the mistakes others have made. then again,many will disagree i suppose.

Come on. HRNZ's bonus scheme is very close to a socialist type approach. Just ask yourself why are HRNZ paying the bonus. Surely its obvious? its because they felt they had to intervene through distribution of not only stakes,but bonuses,to get more numbers to start. Thats exactly like a socialist government(hrnz), attempting to control production and distribution of wealth that would not occur if left to a free market type approach. So they get a 12 horse 2 year old fillies race in canterbury once in a while. Whoop dee doo. You must realise if you go back 3 or 4 years ago ,prior to the season change, which put back their age change from august to december,there were far more 2 year olds(formally 3),racing after august than there is now. And they weren't paid any bonuses were they. Also,do you only look at canterbury 2 year old fields. This week auckland has a 6 horse 2 year old filly field. southland generally get about a 7 horse field. And why do you think someone who owns a 2 year old filly is more important than someone who owns a 3 year old or 4 year old or whatever. Help pay for the training fees of the 2 year old you say. Have you not worked out owners will have paid more training bills for the 3 ,4,and older aged horses they own.So,using your logic,they should get bigger bonuses.iWhat makes the owner of a 2 year old so special. 2 year old fillies are our future broodmares you say. Well,what about the owners of our current broodmares who are older than 2?Why don't they count. The dumbest thing about these bonuses, is they were never going to work. I started a couple of topics on the bonuses at the beginning of the year and everything i said has turned out to have been true. And why did i say they were never going to work,well its because if were a trainer and you had a 2 year old who wasn't going to win,then you were never going to start your horse because there was nothing in it for you,other than devaluing or bottoming out earlieryour horse. long owner,the proof of the failure of the bonuses is there for all to see,plain as day,just look at the fields. if you are still thinking they work,which you seem to be,then i suggest you run for elcction at hrnz,as they will welcome your ideas with open arms. Also,how about that chriatian cullen race,$200,000 stake with a $20,000 bonus and still only got 7 runners.You have to laugh,when you look back at the recent published thoughts of those who said that would work as well.

Well,the hype from HRNZ and the media played out just as i predicted. All hot air. i mean,"will it even attract any new starters",is what i asked above of the $20,000 bonus on top of the $200,000 stake. why can i predict these things yet the so called clever HRNZ and media people can't? Matthew peden, said "the $20,000 bonus is a way of adding more interest to what is lining up to already be a very exciting race.It gives the race an extra sense of occasion and we think it will be very well received." what a plonker.

I've always surmised the increasing % of trotters in victoria may have something to do with the emma stewart syndrome. In other words,you still enjoy the horses and want to continue participation,but think,why bother breeding a pacer when you know you will not be competitive in the age group races and when you believed the most successful pacing trainer was using performance enhancers. That would be my guess. as to andy gath. i think you have hit the nail on the head when you referred to the comaprison of tornado valley and imperial command. i just looked up tornado valleys record. He only had 5 raceday starts by the time he turned 4,for 2 wins. He actually was given 12 workouts and trials,4 as a late 2 year old and 9 as a 3 year old,before he ever had his first raceday start and had won 9 of those 12. Knowing the way terry mcmillan is,he would have been just looking after him anyway and not over stressing him in those. So while he had started 57 times when gath bought him,he had reached the top class here,but most importantly for his longevity,he had been driven by Mcmillan or gerard o'reilly. And Mcmillan,often to punters frustration,always used to drive like hes out for a sunday stroll and g o'reilly always drove tornado valley in a way where he found the line,not as he does some other horses these days. i used to back tornado valley all the time and you always knew he would back up his form,because he was driven to do so. and if you asked what terry mcmillan wanted in a racehorse,he would say a top older horse. So compare that to the background of Imperial command.Its the complete opposite in every way. To me,i've always thought,as important as the horse is,is who the previous trainer was. Like i remember someone telling me the story of an aussie he knew who paid a 6 figure sum for an ex all star horse,and was very disappointed in how it never performed to anywhere near the same level.I mean,is that surprising. I think not. Andy Gath and others who are on the lookout for a nice NZ horse really have a far more difficult job than even 10 years ago.The terry mcmillan type trainers who train their horses to peak at 6 to 8 are next to non existant anymore.That g mcclymont,who had those couple of winners at addington would have been a good person to buy one off when they were trotting around southland a couple of years ago,showing real promise but galloping all the time. She fits the t mcmillan mould,but too late now. And also,the circumstances of the people selling really can dictate if someone sells,so thats a variable.

Well it turns out andy gath,the victorian trainer was the person who thought imperial command was worth $21,000.interesting. Imperial command has now had 2 starts over there. By the looks of it,someone has punted it bigtime. Maybe that was tabforever and we haven't heard from him recently because hes had to take up working again after the punt. But A Gath has trained some good horses so maybe imperial command can win shortly. In his first race over there he went out a $1.70 favorite and actually went ok for 2nd. It was a strange field,ranging from a 3 start non placegetter to imperial whiz,who's won $260,000 but seems to have dropped back to a rating 40-45 type grade. anyway,imperial command ran like he did here,showed reasonable but not high gate speed,held the lead because he had the advantage of the 1 draw,then looked one paced but kept trying and ran 2nd. then this week,in a 3 year old race,which had a couple who had won 4 or 5 and the rest being 1 win out of form horses,Imperial command looked back to the form he showed just before he went to aussie,pulling hard in the score up and always looking like breaking even before the start,which he did. Took no part.Punters did their chips again,with the commentator saying pre race imperial command came over to aussie with a good record. 2 wins from 50 starts a handy at best record i would think mr commentator. his form so far is pretty much as it was in NZ,no better,no worse in my opinion. anyway,i said i would keep an eye on his aussie performances and let people know how he was going,given some rubbished my thoughts on his value. A gath a good trainer, so he may get his manners sorted and become a happier horse than last start.time will tell.

yes.That seems to be the thinking of HRNZ decision makers as well. he spends a lot of money in the sport,so lets reward him and other big spenders like him,by setting up a scheme that he will benefit from. But that industry money is not for giving away for limited return,its supposed to be used to improve the sport,specifically breeding numbers. Thats the point i'm making. To get the best returns,it seems logical that every $ spent, should be spent in a way that everyone can gets the opportunity to benefit from and gives everyone a reason to be encouraged and in a way that gets real value for money for the industry. When you mention the small folk who are likely to breed their broodmare,well they are the mares you are seeing being sold or sadly,disposed of and they are the ones that you are seeing less of at the studs. oh well,theres only so many times i can say i think some dumb decisions are being made. The only thing that working in nz's favour to a small degree, is some states of australia are doing poorly,so thats helping horse numbers here a little.

If we dig deeper into how effective the two reasons HRNZ gave,for justifying spending $750,000 on the 2 year old bonuses. If you have bred any horse, good enough to win a 2 year old race this season,then there is a very high probability that you would breed the dam again this year. It just makes sense that you would try and capitalise on the added value you may get from the dam having left a recent 2 year old winner. So i'm pointing out,if HRNZ had any sense,they should have realised the first of the two reasons,to encourage the breeders of the 2 year old winners,was not targeting anyone who may be in two minds as to whether they were going to bred. HRNZ,in effect,targeted those who would be breeding anyway.So the first of the 2 reasons hrnz gave,was in reality insignificant to those they target. Now to HRNZ's second stated reason. To reward breeders. Look at who they have rewarded. as i've pointed out,HRNZ have rewarded the likes of dean shannon and breckon farms the most,because they have bred so many 2 year old winners. They've rewarded the richest people,who are having sucess,the ones who would have the finances to breed there horses anyway. And if the richest people are saying they feel they need more financial help,,then what about those,who are not wealthy and have been telling HRNZ the same thing,then why don't they count. i'm in no way inferring anything that should diminsh the contribution of the likes of dean shannon or breckon farms or whoever the larger breeders may be.t I'm simply saying,i think HRNZ has spent $750,000 to achieve something,that was never going to get the results they said they would. I think people should just read, who and what, is coming out of HRNZ.I feel theres a pattern there.

Well,the bonus payments take many forms. You would think ,this would be a period in time,when every $ spent by HRNZ should be being evaluated for how effective,productive and the value of the returns on each dollar. So entain/HRNZ have had the $12,000 bonus payments for each 2 year old race. the purpose of those payments was "to encourage more people to start their 2 year olds and to reward owners and breeders". That was according tom mauro barsi from hrnz. Well,to me,i think its been a resounding failure. Why,well obviously anyone who follows harness racing has seen all the endless 5 and 6 horse races run throughout the season. Even now,when there should be plenty of 2 year olds running around,only canterbury can get a full field. This week we have 6 2 year old races with numbers of 5,6(2),7,8,10,11 and other with races with 2(2),3 2 year old starters. So an f for fail on the encourage more people to start their 2 year olds . so what about rewarding the owners so as to breed more horses. Well ,silence is the answer there. So i'm guessing the anecdotol evidence will prove correct.Numbers being bred are down. Hey,but the big man from entain,hes got a pocketfull with the bonuses hes won,so at least he doesn't have to dip into his big piggy bank if he wants to breed a few this year. Now,i'm not einstein,but the bonus 2 year old payments were never going to work because they were treating a symptom,never the cause. people who said they thought they would work,well ,as i say often,did they really believe that or were they just in reality looking after a small % of breeders,mostly those in the same circles. Now we have bonuses in other forms. that is bonuses to encourage people to start their horses in races worth big stakes. Well duh,aren't the very same people telling us how clever this is,the very same people who said we need to up the purses of the group races ,because by doing so we will get better,bigger fields. Well fellas,i'm confused,which one is it. Look,if paying $20,000 to the first non group one placed horse,in a race already worth $200,000,gets you another couple of starters,well is that really getting value for money. Then they may also pay the connections another $10,000 to get them to start in the invercargill cup,if they can run a place. Like i say,is that getting value for money spent. Will it even attract any new starters? Why not just make it a preferrential barrier draw or say you will deduct 5 points off their rating if unplaced or whatever.something which allows you to invest that $20,000 or $30,000 in a way that encourages many more starters and gives oppportunities to many,not just 1,to earn more. i'll give points for trying on the $20,000 chrsitain cullen bonus,but not many. people can agree with me,or not.I just think their has to be wiser fiscal management than what we are seeing.

Like i have said 100 times on this forum,what you have just said is the way a significant part of the people in the harness racing bubble think. for perspective,i say many don't think like that. I for one think, that people in harness racing for decades,at different points,have pushed the boundaries of what they can get away with as far as whats acceptable. the difference about inca,was that someone finally drew a line in the sand. what or who pre empted that,is incidental. It was always going to happen at some point. I knew it,i talked about it on the odd occasion. Not much as people just roll their eyes as if your anti harness racing. Well far from it actually.Others must have known it had to happen one day,surely. It just so happened,unfortunately for those involved,the stars aligned for them to carry not only their current,but past burdens of others pushing the boundaries.And unfortunately for those involved,this time,far more resources were used to establish wrong doing. So,for me,if you want to apportion blame,which everyone seems to want to do,then don't forget to start with the people whose actions(those charged) created enough evidence for the police to believe spending large amouts of $ on pursuing the investigation,was warranted. Thats my final comment about operation inca.

actually i find it interesting that they have finally named the race involved at palmerston north. I don't know how to,but someone should just put up the video and people can make up their own minds. the article says the police intercepted conversations between the pair. Well unless we know the exact wording of the conversations the police had recorded,its hard to make a judgment call either way,in my opinion.So,sitting here without that specific knowledge,the benefit of the doubt should apply. even the article the chief has posted seems to infer that money was made from a race being fixed,but how accurate is that article as race fixing would involve betting and it has always been reported betting was involved.But the $ amount quoted in the article, is the winning stake. i have to admit,having just watched the race replay and knowing one defendant was wall,its easy enough to guess who the unnamed party is.Its almost certain it would not be the winning driver. the thing i would say,having watched that race again,was something questionable which warranted the question on the night being asked by the stipes. to me,if i was a stipe,yes i would have asked questions around a certain drive,but moreso to remind a driver that your watching ,knowing that particular race video was insufficient to prove anything on its own. but therein,lies what i have always said,was why there was ever an operation inca. That is,the stipes weren't doing their jobs properly. Over the years,i've probably started half a dozen topics on examples of manawatu officiating stipes,seemingly watching races with the caps still on their binoculars. was the race in the article one of them,no. I get where you are coming from and agree in that the scale of the reaction by anyone who gets caught up in these things,whether of their own doing or not,seems overblown. But there can be no denying,people in harness racing live in an insular world that results in seemingly irrational magnification of some issues. Like,its not just a small % that seem to react like the world is caving in and thier future has forever changed,its a large %. How many times has the chief said hes closing a topic around matters mentioned in this thread because of that very reason. Its like people can't discuss reality without some sort of irrational response. But there is definetly a mental health phenomenon related specifically to racing around these matters..

It took a bit of extracting,but youv'e given me the answer that i was sure was there. that is,methven went out of their way to assist the kaikoura club run a successful meeting, by attracting greater numbers. In other words,methven always want to support those that support them,by paying good stakes, but after discussions with hrnz they did what they did. so,to me,thats yet another example of HRNZ pushing an agenda,in this case favoring kaikoura,to the detriment of the connections of horses that raced at the methven meeting. I mean,can't people tell who says they are on the their side,when in reality their actions say otherwise.

i agree. the way i see it,theres only one way to interpret HRNZ's focus. that is,lets invest industry funds in rewarding the high achievers as they are the showcase of the industry and greater participation will follow. and lets divert funds from the areas that generate a profit and use them to subsidise the areas that run at a loss to ensure they keep going. To me thats HRNZ's strategy going forward under current and recent past leadership. I've previously discussed all the flaws in their strategy. No point going over them again as it would take too long. But like i said recently,in my opinion i think the industry have leadership who simply, while well meaning,are just not very clever. And i know,a lot of people agree with me. You know,you can tell people that you are there to promote grass roots participation and that decisions will be made to benefit the vast majority.But if your actions don't match your words,then its inevitable you will no longer be believed.Trust,respect,confidence in the words spoken evaporates. People just start thinking,do they really believe what they are saying,do they really think i'm that stupid,or,like me say, maybe they are just not very clever. as forrest gumps mother used to say,stupid is as stupid does.

no its not. Every element of the definition ofthe word propoganda exists if you read or listen to what we are being fed.I can be more specific if you like. You know you talk about personalities and people you respect in the north island,as if we have criticised them or undermined them. Yet nothing brodie or i have written on this topic has ever been negative or detrimantal towards industry participants as relates to the number of starters or the auckland clubs financal woes. when brodie talks about strength in his posting on this topic,its very obviously talking about horse and industry participant numbers. all you are doing is deflecting from facts presented relating to horse numbers,public following and financial matters. I guess you don't talk about the subject matter we talk about because the numbers don't lie,so deflecting is what your left with. when you say its not irrational to help out. i agree. We disagree on the rationality of the help being offered. I believe you are basing your point of view around emotional thoughts,obviously influenced by your lifes experiences involving north island harness racing and the personalities involved. i do love the fact that you are still so passionate about north island harness racing and we need to hear from people like yourself. All i'm saying,is decisions have to be made on data and facts and balance sheets. I believe its wrong for you to infer that the very people you talk about,will be worse off if decisions made are based on the things i've just mentioned,when logic says they will be better off. Short term thinking will undermine long term survival.

Many,like myself consider bit of a yarn a tool to balance what i would call the 'propoganda",that comes out of hrnz and often the media.A means of facilitating our voices,of sorts. Propoganda is defined as"communication used to influence or persuade, to further an agenda which may not be objective, and is selectively promoting facts to encourage a perception,often by using reptition and language which produces an emotional rather than rational response". in this case the subject matter is the auckland trotting club. We have been told repeatedly by hrnz and the harness racing media of the importnace and significance of auckland and the necessity to subsidize auckland harness racing ,for the betterment of harness racing in nz as a whole. In other words we are constanly being subjected to propoganda to further the auckland agenda, which we view as irrational. so the likes of brodie,or me,and others chip away at providing what we believe is balance. So,for me, that is what i consider to be the answer to the question you pose.