the galah

So i think we all agree that occasionally some horses drift off the mobile a little as its speeds up just prior to the starting point. Everyone knows that,and everyone had been under the impression that it was the starters job to make the call for a false start if he deemed someone was being overly hampered. The starter had to deal with the consequences if he made a poor call. Punters accepted that is just part of racing Stipes only were declaring late scratchings in very obvious cases of horses being hindered prior to the start. Then about 2 months ago the stipes started late scratching any horse they deemed to receive an unfair start. That of course opened up a can of worms as it happens in almost every race to some degree and was a policy change that was always going to be applied in an inconsistent manner and was always going to be criticised.In other words to avoid criticism,they implemented a policy which lead to greater criticism..This thread is an example of that and fair enough too. So having realised that,the stipes have gone back to the way it was,and hopefully from now on they just stick to the obvious late scratchings that no one can disagree with.

Well i just think the merit in your comments on those subjects gets watered down because it's viewed as a relentless attack on the same people.

Your a interesting fella. You actually say what you are thinking. As to the andrew fitzgerald drive,he certainly made a couple of decisions that turned out bad for him. But to be fair thats how the trainer said it would be driven in the story on the hrnz website,and thats the way it has been driven in the past,always waiting for that one last run at them. So its a horse you need to up the blood pressure medication if you are going to back it. And a bit harsh to criticize the jessica young grant drive. 1st out ,trails the winner all the way,then fades in the straight. If your unhappy with that then your going to take some pleasing. Take after me just won that race while i typed this. What a wonderful horse he's been to his connections,and haven't they done a great job with him. Another of my old favorites in jerry garcia ran another honest race without placing.

yes a win is a win,shame it wasn't last time when i had my money on it. Maybe the falt tyre it had that day did slow it up a bit. It got the perfect run,following the favorite and only having to make a short sprint.Still it was a good effort to win out of its grade. Just watched square dealer win.Jesse alford does a good job with his horses,and the horse gets well driven. Its horse that i used to watch down south when in the c barron stable,but it was one of those horses that they kept on the ur for some reason and never seemed to get a decent trip. Just shows you how some horses form can be turned around if they have confidence in the driver.

The problem i believe happy is a small vocal percentage are resistant to the views of the vast majority when it comes to the matter of enforcing integrity issues. There is no way any of us would be involved as owners/trainers/drivers/punters/administrators if we believed harness racing had a high level of dishonesty. It doesn't. You can however understand why the small vocal minority attack those that openly encourage the enforcement of higher standards. As Basil has said, the public is more aware of,and has greater access to avenues of scrutinizing facets of the industry that in the past had little light shed on them. Some licenceholders have taken the greater scrutiny and tried to portray it as personal attacks, whereas in reality it is an attack on a small part of the actions which some have for generations been deemed acceptable. Its obvious that strategy isn't working for them,just look at the fallout. Its those that they support who have paid a greater price for the resistance. You would hope one day they may wake up and see that. Integrity issues should be a common goal.

Seems always too short on the fixed odds given its form. If they had it at realistic odds in previous starts they could have made a bit of money,but the bookies never seem to want to take any risks. Looks like a grass tracker to me who needs covered up for one run. Actually carried a flat tyre down the straight in its last start,and does look like it can win one shortly,but even though its not an over strong field,i'm with you brodie and wonder why they have rated it so short.

Don't mean to degrade the all stars in any way with that comment,just referring to the inconsistency in Long Owners posts,depending on who he supports.

Is my memory fading, or isn't this straight out of the all star lovers quotes. A

Its previous start on 8 february 2020,it hit the wall at the 200m and failed to respond when given a couple with the whip,dropping out quickly to last. Vet check showed nothing. I think Ormsby was probably as surprised as the viewers how quickly it stopped and it wouldn't have made any difference what he did. Still he should have for appearances sake maybe rode it a bit harder for 50m.

I actually agree that owners need to be realistic. Whether they have a 100% share in a horse, or someone running a syndicate with multiple owners ,they need to realise that harness racing has the same small % of people who lack integrity as does any other sector/occupation. Owners need to show oversight of where their money is being spent,and need to form their own opinions on who is best to deal with,and not be influenced by some with ulterior motives. In this day and age the more progressive trainers can easily give video updates to owners wanting to see the progress in real time of their horses which will fill the void of not seeing them in the flesh. I saw the dalgety/purdon stable was promoting this type of information sharing a while back, and you would think other trainers and owners would have recognised the benefits of doing so. Finally i think there does need to be some type of official oversight which can be called upon by owners who have doubts that they are getting a fair deal. If we are to believe what has been suggested on here has occurred, then there should be some type of official report, and procedures put in place which will lead to the perception of greater integrity by all sides. Bad publicity can easily be turned into good publicity if handled correctly. Also i think in Kerr's case we need to be cautious, as unlike some recent cases, we have not seen with our own eyes the evidence to form our own opinions, nor do we currently have context.

Totally agree happy. So many of those who promote harness racing are hypocrites when it comes to giving followers of the sport news that may shed a negative light on anything or anyone. They know silence only leads to speculation, yet they are silent anyway. Who knows,maybe the riu is keeping the sport honest.That theory is just as good as any.

What is interesting at oamaru today is how the track is not as green as normal. It normally has a big bias for inside runners,but today it looks like they are coming from all parts of the track.

Mr pyers given a 5 month holiday for tonights effort. I don't think i've seen a horse run over so many markers,or climb over a wheel like he did at the 300m ,and yet it still kept pacing. The horse has looked to be rather head strong in all its races so far,so to be fair to mr pyers it does look a rather hard drive. But really he and others were lucky to come back in one piece. I've always thought Mr pyers does a handy job as a trainer with his small team,and his two horses showed enough tonight to expect a marked improvement on form while he is not doing the driving.

I said im racin took the shortcut tonight. Saved plenty of ground after giving them a 150m start.Can't blame him for looking to save some ground after that?

I think it will be interesting to see if the property is retained,or sold in the future. Obviously if it is sold there is no way the likes of mr cullen could afford to set up his own training facilites,unless a rich owner does it for him. Don't know of any trainers out there with a spare million or two sitting in the back pocket. It's a shame that property prices have become out of reach,as in the past the capital gain on properties was how many trainers kept a positive outlook on what is a hard way to make a living.

Doesn't it just look like it has some type if issue? A bit like watching catalyst?

Yes. I had pointed out earlier the all stars were not performing at previous levels.I have a ratings system and it had been accurate for the all stars in recent months,but its accuracy went out the window in the last month or so for many of their horses. I don't know why,maybe i was rating them wrong,but i don't think so. Maybe they set their team to perform best closer to the big days.

Yes ,but the case i highlight simply came down to a driver causing the interference to himself and others.. It had nothing to do with the track. My point is the stipes at manawatu do such a poor job. I do agree punters should avoid betting at the manawatu,as you can't have any confidence in the oversight thereof..

In race 2 at manawatu today. I said im racin pushes blake out at the 900m. If you stop the video it seems clear enough that he pushed out when about half a neck behind,barges out,locked wheels,blake brakes,then a stride later the horse to the inside moves out to avoid a breaking runner. If you freeze fame the video thats what happens. Only at manawatu would the stipes not see anything wrong with driving like that. Its just another example of whymanawatu is the twilight zone when it comes to what the stipes see,or more correctly,don't see.

I understand what the chief is saying,but your logic running man,seems to not take into account what the starting point is for moisture content. Using your logic they should have irrigated more. All i know is most punters prefer to bet on tracks no worse than a dead 4.They hardly seem to have those anymore,which i think is a shame.

That makes sense. But the reality seems to be, because they got the track wrong at a meeting last month, they over compensated with water by irrigating this time to make sure they did not have the same problem again. I know whoever in control of these things are trying to get it right,but are they succeeding?

Track bias/worn track... Maybe i have missed it in some of these earlier posts,but i don't think anyone has given an explanation as to how the irrigating that took place on the thursday night helped the state of the track. No one is complaining about the rain,just asking for an explanation as to how the track was improved because of the irrigation? Unless someone can answer that then you would have to assume the irrigation(whether it be a lot or not) was unnecessary.

I once worked with her for a short time some time ago.. I thought she was very down to earth and just a nice lady. Didn't seem pretentious at all. I sometimes read these comments and think they are a bit unkind. I guess if they didn't win as many they would not be on the tv so much.

Oh well. It seems many are happy with tracks with fast lanes 8 to 10 horses off the rails like they got today. And most apparently happy to see tracks irrigated when they are already rated as slow. Personally, just recently i had been trying to increase my spend to get better rebates, but i have come to the view this week i am being mislead to some extent,as there are so many variables when it comes to track conditions. You shouldn't have to watch a few races to work out the patterns. That track in early october i thought was the best from a punters perspective as you knew what to expect. It also seems anyone who owns/trains a horse who runs best on good tracks may as well put them back in the paddock. I don't recall in previous decades them having to have tracks about a dead 6 at the start of the day. Also,if irrigation is so important nowdays,should tracks without irrigation be allowed to run meetings?