the galah

No. The 2 purdon brothers obviously good but had keast had the same horses,facilities and backing as the purdons he would have achieved similar results. Who do you think was the best? Winx, black caviar obviously great but some of the races Bonecrusher won were spine tingling and won as much on guts as well as great ability.

Believe in polls or not,but the one that came out last week said labours approval rating was 55% and nationals 29%. Arderns personal approval rating was 65%. 78% of those polled said nz was heading in the right direction,those doing the polling said it was the highest figure they had recorded since 1991. Gullible is a bit harsh. They just have different opinions to yours.The poll figures reflect that If you were to wind back the clock 2 months and told people they could achieve the virus figures at this present time if we were to implement what the government has done,the vast majority would have said ok lets do it and now are saying job well done.

On hrnz website they have been having question and answer for high profile participants. Thought why can't we do same from a punters perspective? so here's some questions with my answers. What yours. 1.Best collect: The first horse I owned that won. Trainer said it only had to pace round first bend to win. It did,was still last of 14 at the 400m but in front at the150m and won easy. 2)Unluckiest or hardest defeat on punt to swallow. Should have got one of those early $50,000 guaranteed pick 6's. Had the only ticket on a horse called coloured fella running in the last leg. It was worth about two and a half years wages. Got stuck 3 wide early,driver R Mitchell tried for 200m to push horse inside it onto fence.But broke his own horse up,settled 10 lengths last in field of 13.,weaved its way all over the place in straight only to be just beaten by a neck Certainty beaten.. Driver got suspended and horse went on to win 3 of next 4. 3)If you could have any driver in history driving for you in the most important race of your punting life-Blair orange 4)Most exciting horse ever seen in flesh: Scoth tar. 5)best trainer seen- j. keast 6)favourite track -addington 7)best horse seen on tv-bonecrusher 8)what are you most looking forward to when harness racing resumes- seeing my bank balance go up.

Honest john was no doubt referring to a 5 week rest break being good for the many of those who were a bit run down health wise. Many will be re energised . What can you achieve if your very run down? Not much. Maybe Honest john a glass 1/2 full type of guy.

Nothing much else to do so was looking at last years end of season figures( 2019). Compared with previous year some figures of interest. Average field size similar. Average starts per horse +2.8% . Number of individual horses that started -3% Races with hot favorites -5%. Fixed odds turnover +1.6% although fixed odds yield -18%. off course turnover -13%. On course -5%? Domestic turnover overall -8%. Overseas turnover on nz harness -21%. Stakes total + 1.76%. average per race +2.85. So turnovers have gone down yet stakes went up slightly. Is that a good business model? As far as auckland trotting club went. 2018 they had assets worth $193 million but they dropped big time to $126 million in 2019. The below shows why. The value of the sale of units from there development was below the costs to build them. I guess on top of that they have also lost the high land value that they no longer have. The development project shown on books to be $66 million less than 2018. also income from investment properties -1.625 million from 2018.The amount they had borrowed went from $130 million in 2018 to $195 million . Racing revenue -280,000 and revenue from the tab they have also down. Given the expected drop in property values this year with many of their apartments still to be sold they must take another hit you would think. They are also budgeting for expected income from rental space in their new buildings but you would have to wonder about how much that will be impacted by the virus. They are also like all clubs who will take a hit from other areas. e.g sponsorship .

Had a look at profit loss on the books of forbury club in recent years. 2016 lost $279,00, 2017 profit $18,000 2018 loss $250,000 could not find figure for 2019 was, reports said it was not good. So what that clearly shows is the club obviously spends more than it gets in. 2018 reported the hospitality side of things to be a bit of a disaster. But it seems their attempts at greater income are unlikely to keep up with expenditure anyway. Part of the problem is they run meetings that have limited race numbers and often smaller fields due to getting many poor dates. So logic says if they were to close then what clubs south of Dunedin would be stupid enough to run meetings that would be very unprofitable and drag on their resources. Would southern trainers be able to make a reasonable living with racing on in only 8-9 months a year if forbury went? So part of the answer seems to be to change the model used to make payouts to clubs like forbury to take into account the negative impact poor racing dates have and factor in the greater good having forbury continue. If forbury were to receive no industry help then the continued viability of those who race there must be impacted.

No longer known as "The Postman". Now known as "Chopper"

Now that has disappeared ???......

It certainly is in the winter,but maybe thats because its the southern most track in the winter. and they race at night.. Its one of the few which has stabling and public facilites very close to the action which is a major plus. They tell me the restaurant /food is not like it used to be and that stand with the tape round it seems to have been like that for years. Its has a good population base.Not sure on the number of horses in training in the area. If you included north otago there must a reasonable number. You would think on the face of it, it makes more sense harness funds to be invested in forbury than any of the other otago tracks. Mind you it would need quite a bit of investment and change.. Also it has the greyhounds there as well and you would think they may take the southland dog dates as most of the dogs that race in invercargill drive through dunedin to get there. That must be an unwanted expense to the greyhound owners Does forbury own its own land and facilities?

This article actually appears on the nz herald website.They must believe its true..Hard to take anything he says seriously but got to give him credit for getting a big nz media outlet to generate publicity for him at no cost to him. He must be laughing. No doubt his invitation to the police will be warmly received. As we know from his ramblings on the other site he knows many well enough to call them by their nicknames. Funny thing is he thinks his police mates nicknames are either 4 letter words or words that start with f,c,b and so on. Also the original post on this topic says edited by Noodlum. I wonder how that works as it wasn't started by them.

the 15 minute hbo segment on real sports about jake the snake is worth a watch. no greyhounds there though.

How someone in greyhound racing got the name Jake the snake intrigues me? Was it because he loved wrestlling, did he love snakes, or is it because he's into yoga or has he come back from near death due to addiction?. What's the story?

I'm guessing not,and that would be an example of unintended consequences you refer to. I have been referring to consequences from a harness racing side of things.

"Have i considered that rather than me not getting your point.....that you may not be making your point very well." Yes i did consider that as a possibilty before i replied. I say that in my reply don't i. My interpretation of your comment about collateral damage i took as an insight into your thinking. Collateral damage is unintended/unexpected. How do you know its been unintended or unexpected.? I don't think that to be the case.. Your comment about "tell us all how does INCA give punters confidence? " Seems you haven't read what i said. Its there for you to read so go re read it. I say"so thats what you think UNdermining punters confidence is" Then your final comment about my saying anyone who disagrees with me doesn't want dishonesty investigated. Another twisting of my words. I state "what inca has shown is how many think dishonesty should not be exposed or even investigated". Thats blatantly obvious in my opinion. . Anyway the word Many does not mean anyone or everyone. There is a difference and i would have said so had i thought that..

I disagree happy. Not understandable at all. All he's done is made himself look stupid and someone who shows poor judgment when he drinks. Like i said he needs to self reflect on how to handle what he is dealing with in a constructive way, that is of long term benefit to him and his family. It all seems a bit self destructive at the moment.. Of course that's easy for an outsider to say. He's living it. Everyone and everything is different. I wonder what its like to have all these people on social media digesting your actions? That can't help.

Sounds like one of those police 10 7 programmes you watch, where you think boy that person is going to feel really stupid in the morning when they watch themselves on tv. Hunter you keep up the them and us attitude and personal attack approach. Hows that going for those you support so far? Keep digging the hole.

Orange's behavior was ridiculous by the sounds of it.. He is better than that,but not on that day obviously.Is that the way someone who is a role model should behave? Orange needs to look at himself in the mirror... Wallis was a well respected stipe pre Inca,yet all that's somehow changed just because he works for an organization that some no longer like. Orange doesn't have to like him if he doesn't want to,,but Orange went too far with his totally disrespectful and juvenile comments..

Your reply just confirms what i have just said. You just don't get the point i am making,or if you do you ignore it or simply don't care. Guilt or not in the Inca case is not the point. What Inca has shown is how many think dishonesty should not be exposed or even investigated. Collateral damage? So that"s what you think undermining punters confidence is.. The United states cases i have referred to clearly shows that many believe that those who lead the sport over there have turned a blind eye,and that ultimately will speed up the demise of the sport they are supposed to protect and administer.. It also proves 100% that performance enhancers were used,and as they put it had been a cancer,eating away at their sport for some time.. Remember the harnesslink stories of 3 or 4 years ago lambasting the meadowlands boss for the treatment he dared give to drug cheats. How dare he it said, when he had no proof. What a plonker he has proved to be.

Well it seems those that contribute to harnesslink in the USA have different views than the man who runs the nz side of things. Best to listen to this weeks edition before the audio is taken off the harnesslink website like they did last week. This time it has an interview with a former president and chairman of directors of the United states trotting association. Here's just a quick summation of what he had to say. Cheating is a cancer that has been eating away at harness racing. He is highly critical of the current leadership of the UTSA saying they are doing everything they can to stop light being shone on the corruption and use of drugs. That those that want the industry cleaned up are facing resistance from within the industry and that is why they need an independent investigative agency outside harness racing. The betting side and owner participation is being impacted because they have realised the industry is not a good industry to be in and is not being managed correctly when it comes to policing corruption. That is one of the reasons the industry faces very difficult times ahead. He refers to yonkers(one of the tracks where cheating was prevalent ) and says the person that runs that track is unlikely to renew harness racings lease when it expires in 3 years time. Now lets be honest. The USA is different from NZ. But there are many similarities in attitudes of industry participants when it comes to corruption. Just look at the hatred,and i do mean hatred so many have expressed against those who investigated INCA. John Curtin from harnesslink being one of the worst. Just look at the other website. Its ridiculous that so many would rather look after their mates and decry an investigation into corruption,rather than criticize dishonesty. Fair enough to have a view of waiting until something is proven,however the personal attacks always get louder when the truth is closer to being revealed.

In my opinion I think racing will not be impacted by the virus as much as many think it will be. I believe the virus will be the fall guy and only a small part of the actual reason for any changes. It will be other pre existing factors that will lead to reductions in stakes. Stakes being paid pre virus were not justified based on a proper business model. People blame the tab,hrnz,rita.... but the reality is racing does not have the turnover or public appeal like it used to. Lots of sports are the same,its just they don't have as many targets to blame like racing does. Stake levels were living on borrowed time anyway based on turmover.. Auckland is an obvious example of the virus not being the real reason for reduced stakes.. Having said that the tab has many outlets in pubs effected by the virus and you do wonder what will happen to many of those businesses and that may impact down the track on the tab. I think the virus is an ideal smoke screen for industry leaders to gain the impetus to implement changes Follow Winston Churchill's advice"Never let a good crisis go to waste". Participants will be more accepting of the pain if it is delivered at the right time.

It was nice to see in the purdon Rasmussen interview that Rasmussen was openly willing to give opinions. There's no doubt the industry needs this stable to continue to be a strong flag bearer. They are always going to be the one the general public identify with the most so lets hope they retain all their owners,despite the likely reduction in stakes. As an aside you can't help but think this virus has highlighted what was already there as far as where racing had been heading. Its just brought the need for change forward. I don't know what ive pushed on my computer but everything seems underlined for some reason.

Maybe,but they won't make progress without making the hard decisions. The worst business decision would be to make no decisions . The truth is they probably know what has to be done,but are having difficulty getting enough courage to put those plans in motion.

By the time they pay the costs of travel to auckland and all the fees associated with training from that stable you would think an all star horse would have to win a race each month just to break even given the reduced stakes at auckland. Why bother going unless it was for one of those stakes races whose stake is made to look attractive only because of the owners pre payments needed to maintain eligibility. The one positive out of the reduced stakes at auckland , which has made them not much more than cambridge,is it should lead to more consistency in performance from a couple of the stables up there that used to race the same horses at both venues. Its very sad that those that led the auckland club made what turned out to be terrible business decisions that basically has ruined the clubs ability to run races that would help retain owner participation at their current venue..They took a punt that some said was high risk at the time,and it failed.Always easy to say after that they should not have,but thats what did happen. Time for them to start planning to sell up all their assets when the property market improves next year and combine with cambridge and relocate both tracks somewhere else. Like harold park did,but don't put in a track like Menangle.It must be no bigger than addington as those mile tracks have no atmosphere whatsoever,,and it must not be inside a galloping track like so many tracks that no one goes to. Actually give the public a viewing platform close to the action in front of the winning post,not past it. Manawatu is not sustainable either really is it. If there is to be a second track it needs to be closer to where the bulk of horses are trained, and could be used only for a summer curcuit for say 3 or 4 months, that is a 1000m to 1200m grass track. And smaller all weather training only facilities inside it. I know some may think that idea is a bit drastic,but its inevitable in my eyes. The sooner it happens the safer harness racings future in the north will be. The longer it takes ,the more gloomy the long term outlook. Do they want a future or not?

Yes i remember that one was the subject of a bit of discussion on this site about the inconsistency of the stipes when dealing with different drivers,also got the attention of the press a month or so later. Punters still waiting for it to make a move. Beaten a half head wasn't it?

All this Cole spca stuff seems to have been around forever. One of the most disturbing things about it all was apparently many employees must have had knowledge of this for some time. My point is how can you expect anyone to have confidence there is much integrity in central district greyhounds while the same people continue to be involved. . Why would anyone bet on them. I don't mind following the auckland/waikato dogs as long as there are no cd dogs in, but i haven't bothered to bet on a dog race anywhere else since this case came to light. Why would anyone?