the galah

Race 2 tomorrow night. This time a mobile.Ear plugs come off the one that galloped a bit last start,crown range. The other,muscle power has no ear pugs as well. Will both gallop this time. I think a safe bet. Always adds interest when he lines them up.

The hannon looks a dead set all stars trifecta to me. They simply are better than the rest.Only way that doesn't happen is if they break at start. Spankem looks a good thing.

A bit tough newmarket. G Dunns horses haven't been in fields where you think they would win lately,or even place. I think that's the real reason for the lack of placings in recent times. Not O'reilly's driving. O'reilly drove Doctor tim like he thought it was a good chance today,but it pretty much showed no improvement and performed at the same level as its previous races in this campaign. I think the one to stick with is that better something horse for a place,but I've never seen one knock off near the finish as much as it does.

New driver Bob Butt got the chocolates today with a nice drive. Lets hope those who were on at addington stuck with the ship.

That may be the case, for some,but it would have to be on fixed odds and as brodie keeps telling us, the tab only take bigger bets from punters who tend to lose overall. And punters who bet in large amounts and lose consistently tend not to last. If you look at the tote pools it certainly is not going on there..

I agree the better Canterbury drivers attract the punters, however they turn up anyway.. That's how they make their living. Claiming having greater numbers(including Canterbury horses), increases turnover makes sense, but saying red hot favorites from Canterbury increases turnover makes no sense. Where do you get the increased turnover on Friday night from? Where's the facts and figures to back that one up?

There have been so many short priced favorites winning everywhere lately. Its not just the all stars. Last week at winton they had 5 races in a row with the biggest dividend being $2.40. Then you get the whale giving out 3 every meeting with 90% of them paying under $2. I know he has a following and is a good selector but all you have to do is look at the tote and you could come up with the same tips. I see he did tip chase Auckland last night at $8, which was a big outsider by his normal standards. We don't have much idea of how these short priced favorites are effecting turnover as the betting figures seem to be a secret,i guess because they don't want the public knowing how poor they are. I find the southland approach to their maiden stakes interesting. They seem to want to attract Canterbury raiders to take the cash off the locals and to stifle the betting. I can't work that one out myself. Personally I think its a rather stupid strategy. Like it or not,what brodie says about the betting odds of the top 5 or 6 stables and how they dominate results, is a big turn off to the average punter, and is a major factor in turnover declining in my opinion.

What's the pacer in with a chance? Classie brigade good horse but all stars would have a dozen better.

May be quicker naming who everyone thinks he wasn't. At least he's not Pound for f..... …. f….. …. pound.. Whoever he is , we should just treat him with the same courtesy we do everyone else Isn't that why this is a better site than the other one?

I don't think anyone has ever seen you in a poor light happy, quite the opposite. I have no idea who jj flash is ,but If you judge him on what he has posted on bit of a yarn, he does not make derogatory personal comments, ,just seems to have different views on some subjects and occasionally gets annoyed for being linked to comments made on another forum. I like your attitude about encouraging him to post in the future. I think the difference between bit of a yarn and the other forum is those that post on Bit of a yarn sometimes live outside the bubble of the close knit harness community, and as a result sometimes express views on issues that come from a different perspective,. We are just as passionate about the sport, but aren't influenced by having to tow the line and express opinions that are seen to agree with some of the more high profile players. I think the views expressed on here represent more the grass roots of the sport and that of the very important punters.

I have to admit I am a bit intrigued by this story, You've got a self made Chinese billionaire with a passion for horses, who has a couple of wolves for pets,being the driving force behind the purchase of a lot of nz horses who are shipped halfway round the world, it seems they end up in some racing complex and huge farm where some of them are trained to compete. Apparently part of the reason they end up in Inner Mongolia was because that government subsidized some of the setup and there is hope of providing a gambling product in the future,in a country where gambling is illegal. And most of this is happening in a part of china which has extreme weather in parts of the year. I would like to see a trackside presenter sent to Inner Mongolia to do an in depth story. I think Mick Guerin would the ideal man to send to Inner Mongolia.

Good to hear they will be well looked after. Lets hope it continues. I guess they don't invest as much as they have in their set up just to help breed pigs. As to my conspiracy theory. Well if it does all turn to custard. Inner Mongolia,where they are,is one of the northern provinces which has seen huge investment in setting up new pig farms by public companies in the last 2 or 3 years. Partly because of being so sparsely populated due to the climate. Or... Horsemeat is considered a delicacy in many countires,especially china where there is great demand.. I suppose not too different than sending them off for pet food like happens here to the unfortunate ones..

I see there are no geldings,just mares and colts and stallions. There was a lot of talk a couple of years ago about setting up racing over there. I wonder how it progressed. I wonder what actually happens to them. Does anyone even care. Hopefully they don't end up in one of those horse blood farms you read about. Apparently blood extracted from pregnant mares kept continuously pregnant, contains a hormone that is used to produce a vet drug which is used to artificially induce going into heat weaned sows so they will have faster reproduction. Apparently its a multi billion dollar industry.. Its been in the news recently about African swine flu wiping out 1/3 of chinas pig population. China produces as much pork as all other countries in the world combined.There has been a big push from the Chinese government to get there producers to breed more as a result. Apparantly that's helping boost nz beef farmers prices . Hows that for a conspiracy theory?

In other words it was poor placement. Iooked that way pre race and so it turned out. Horse went huge after slow start but running pacers from those long marks is a risk of causing damage as you pointed out. If you watch the early season high class races in Canterbury they often are slowly run,generally because connections don't want too hard a run early in a preparation.

They did notice though didn't they. That's why the vet was asked to inspect the horse pre race. The vet passed a badly lame horse as fit to rrace. So mcillwrick gets a reprimand,which seems fully deserved,but no mention of the vet nor the trainer.Is that it?

Ok,don't mean every leading trainer Just the likes of both Purdons, Dalgety. Dunn, Butt,, Chilcott,,Jones,Anderson,Mcgrath to name a few.

The hardest thing from a punting perspective is having to guess the improvement for a horse having its first start for a stable that can turn around the form in a short space of time. Your can be left scratching your head when you see the improvement in such short spaces of time.. I still think Orange is a factor in that. When you look at horses like Rake ,its got to be mainly in the training as he can get horses to show more speed. I do get where you are coming from though.

The use of pre race treatments I think depends in part on your budget. I don't think anyone takes the risk of knowingly giving their horse something pre race that would return a positive. But as House pointed out,sometimes things can be given that help a horses health or performance if given outside the with holding times. From my observations. A)the average part time trainer may give his horse one of the many legal pre race boosters that claim to improve performance. They sare cheap,within nearly everyones budget. B)then you have trainers who seem to buy products which they believe will have their horse feeling good and which they can administer themselves. C)Then you have those trainers who have owners with the bigger chequebooks who constantly use vets to monitor bloods and administer pre race treatments of the most up to date legal products which will help the horse perform at the optimum. D)Then you have those that don't believe in any of the above except if they think their horse is off colour for some unknown reason, but they will very rarely use a vet to help diagnose and assist recovery.When I trained a couple I fell into this category partly because of budget and partly because of my belief that putting things into ones body to help performance can have negative impact on the horses long term health. Now you can see those who can afford the "C" approach ultimately are clearly going to have the best results . And as science progresses and better and more effective ways are found to "help improve performance" you can see the gap between "C" and "B"and the others becomes greater. That leads to greater frustration from some. Of course those who have the financial resources for the "c" approach also tend to have the best facilities,more qualified and skilled staff,best feeds ,etc.,all factors in success. Of course if you look at the high profile trainers many of them have a history of positives. I can't recall house doing so,but every other leading trainer I can think of does,many with multiple,simply because they have over stepped the mark or miscalculated. So when anyone says all pre race treatment is not a factor in success rates they are talking rubbish in my opinion. It is one of the many ingredients in a successful formula,,but an important one..

You say it was a piss take. Its obvious that was the intention. However I have no doubts he was actually telling the truth. No doubts whatsoever in my view..Just no one thought anyone would say it, nor should say it. Like I said I don't have a problem with what he said. He never said he was doing anything that broke the rules. He said he operates within the rules. Everyone will take their own interpretation of his comments and the subsequent social media response of some. I have. One thing for sure is House"s success is currently a hot topic of conversation. Maybe he is a fan of Oscar Wilde who said 'all publicity is good' . Who knows, House may well subscribe to the theory that the only thing worse than being talked about, is not being talked about. It is an indicator of success in harness racing

My wife had a go last night. Was in the top 10 going into race 9 and had a go on what she thought was the winner of the night in quaestor, but unfortunately it galloped at the 120m mark when it looked like it was going to win. She ended up in 11th. I think it is harder to win a heat this year simply because of the number of entries. Instead of having to beat 30-40 you are in a field of 170 odd opponents. Still you've got to be in to win. Not sure whether the format means you can bet from home in the final on show day,but $5000 is a lot to come up with for most punters anyway, which is why it suits syndicates. I think the $200 starting funds for the heats is good as it gives the average punter a chance to entter.

My guess would be 1 more start for freddiesam from the all stars barn and if no significant improvement then either gelded or moved on to another stable. ITs trial form did not justify its short price,but it must have been going ok at home as they don't line them up if they don't think they can win do they. As to the rest of the thread re house's comments. People have been inferring and expressing the view that some trainers use whatever legal drugs they can to improve raceday performance. Then when a trainer who recently has been the subject of a similar discussion comes out and says that's true, those who have inferred it criticize him for confirming what they have been saying. There are more relevant points to be made about houses comments than whether he should have made them at all.

I see David Butt was fined $600 and suspended for 2 months for in effect not trying to win. That will probably upset the applecart because Butt is deservedly well respected. But the message is simple,,your expected to try. Its good to see the Canterbury stipes doing their bit to ensure integrity is maintained.

As far as house's comments go. What has he said that is wrong or inaccurate? He states he operates within the rules. The same goes for what Yesberg has to say. I can't see anything untoward there . Do those reading the chat on the site referred to, expect it to espouse the view that drugs that are legal and believed to help race performance should not be used on some sort of moral grounds.. Who's going to believe that. What is apparent ,and I think we already know, is that some horse trainers have a belief that punters are sometimes ignorant. Well sometimes they are, but sometimes they aren't. I think the point of the trainers posts was to take the "mickey" out of those out there on sites like ours who the trainers believe underestimate successful trainers skills to get the results they do. I'm Not referring to house or yesberg when I say in my view the cynicism punters have is directly a result of the acts of some participants . As I have referred to in another thread. Look at James Stormonts drive on Sunny Petite in race 2 tonight at Cambridge.. I bet you not one trainer or driver says anything to Stormont ,or posts on the facebook chat site,about not trying. What some of them will say is some ignorant mug punter has been moaning on one of those chat sites about Stormonts drive. That's the way things work. Punters distrust in the area of honesty relating to several aspects is sometimes deserved.

Sunny Petite. For the 2nd week in a row this horse never tried an inch. If you want to watch dishonest racing just look at Cambridge. When i watch the likes of z buthcer, j stormont and d balle drive at Cambridge I think of the term thieves on wheels. I would encourage all punters to give up betting at places like this. I know thats what I will be doing. The only honest race up there is the amateurs.

. What about Midsummer Queen in race 1? Or was that just an optical illusion that happens south of the Waitaki. ( re.whip use)