the galah

Just finished watching the replays of invercargill from saturday just gone, and it looked to me that the starter has upped his game and all the mobiles starts were good, with the mobile being driven at the ideal speed, which resulted in only 1 breaker pre start all day,which was in the mobile non win trot. Good to see no one being disadvantaged in the score up. Hope they can keep it up.

Oh dear,my tips for race 12 never looked likely. I actually had backed 9 of the previous 11 winners including one at $15 by backing a couple each race,,but i jinxed it by tipping them. Having said that my bets at addington not very good and kept me on the losing side. I think i may be better to stick to Korean baseball after all.

not as yet,but if it was north korean baseball i would be backing whoever Kim jong un has his money on.

Only on the waikato and auckland ones. Once you get to know them they are quite consistent. I think the key is to back the one you like to win,but take a couple of savers to win,as the first 50m can be alter your chances if your 1st selection gets a bump. Profits may not be as big ,but if you lose they are not much either. For example today in race 12 i would put say $10 to win on 2&6 and $5 to win on 3. One of them should win and should get a profit that way.

I was supposed to put this on the greyhound chat part. Still, anyone who may be thinking about using the greyhound website should know it is the norm to have injured dogs left in the fields. There even has been dogs on the ballots missing starts sometimes because dogs stood down with injuries 4 days earlier are not scratched until the day. The lights are on,but no one is home.

Here we go again. About 1 hr 45m from the start of the first race and the official nz greyhound website still has dogs in the fields that were injured and scratched 4 days ago. In fact it appears all ballots are running today as well. This website truly is very amateurish.The only reason i refer to this very poorly maintained website is because the TAB websites "a" and 'o' look the same and i often end up miss spelling the names. They talk about wanting punters,but really the official greyhound website just makes punters waste their time .They often don't even have video replays of a days racing if you've missed a race until a couple of days later.

Just heard the trackside presenter say domestic action takes precedence as she crosses over to invercargill with 59 seconds to go. Commentator gets to mention 1 horse before they go up to the mobile.

Back to normal poor coverage again with the 2 minute lead in to the invercargill race 6. The aussie jumps race obviously takes precedence.

i think they hand out warnings when deserved. Sometimes its the horses fault. I like to see those i bet on be up on the gate as it shows the horse is switched on.Also it is noticeable that when a horse who normally is keen to show gate speed is not as keen, then that is normally a clear sign they will underperform, whether they be driven forward or back. The most obvious example of horses who are never switched on is those from the mclellan stable in southland. They have got so used to not trying that they don't even keep up with the mobile anymore and have lost their chance even before they have reached the start. But if a start is done consistently the same way then the drivers should know to be ready.The issue seems to be more with these big fields where they have two groups of horses off the front,with those who draw in the middle turning in a bit slower than they should.From what i have read the policy is to let them go as long as they are not pacing or trotting,in other words a slow short walk is ok. If you watch those trotting races in southland,the horse crusher collins always plays up,always then gets a running start,and nearly always there are others in the same race that aren't positioned correctly due to the delay. Have a look at Thats the story for example. I backed it in its last 2 invercargill starts,but neither time did the driver have it anywhere near its correct position,partly because of crusher collins and partly because of the driver. But who drives them is all part of the factor in how much they are paying.And we can't expect everyone to be as good as Orange or Dunn.

It may appear like that,but the outside horses are the first to turn in and get their chance to be on the mobile arm. In fact the mobile being driven at a constant speed should be what those first onto the mobile want. Thats really not a starter cause.

Seriously,if you think the starts are inferior in canterbury to anywhere else then you are not watching the same races that i am. Also,surely it has occurred to everyone that canterbury often have full 15 horse fields in standing starts,whereas elsewhere they are normally dealing with under 10. Some seem to be looking for the perfect start everytime, but no starter is ever going to get that. I agree that in the past many used to get unfair starts from Lamb,but that's the past and he has changed his stance regarding trying to have every horse standing still like he used too. So what is the current procedure for standing starts that you think most recently was discussed in march and agreed upon by all concerned? If people don't know,should they be commenting on something being wrong when what we are seeing is in fact what has been agreed is wanted. As far as mobile starts go,i have said many times that if you want to get horses to break then you drive the mobile too slow.Just watch the videos. Its so obvious. You rarely see horses break in canterbury because the mobile is going too slow,but you often see it at invercargill. As i have said before also,why is it some drivers are always ready and others not. Thats not a starter issue. If you watch standing starts you would know that if a horse is a half or three quaters length back at the start, they are most likely to begin slower than they would if they were closer to the tape. Thats normally a driver issue or a horse manners issue. Finally i don't really care who the most popular personality amongst starters is.

What were you thinking when you saw it today? $151 on fixed odds,but looked like it was going to run 3rd until the last 40m. Not likely to win one,but did show improvement.

No i'm not mr lamb,don't know him personally,just base my opinions on my own reviews of each race run in nz. None of the previous posters seem to have acknowledged that the way he starts races now is vastly different and improved from what it was a couple of seasons ago. Its like most criticising him have the mindset that he should currently be judged on the past and not the present. I've moved on from being a critic,and now see him as the best in nz. Still each to their own opinion.

Personally i think his starts are way better these days than they used to be. Overall i think Lamb is doing a good job. I have noticed some drivers often just don't seem to have their horses ready,and others are always ready and well positioned on the tape. If you want to point the finger at a starter just have a look at the mobile races in invercargill. As i've pointed out before,the speed of the mobile is the cause of so many breakers down there.The worst one yesterday was Jimmy Carter in race 9. The starter down there really needs to be given some advice on what speed a mobile should be driven at.

hereford breeder,bullshit. Stuff news stuffing it up. Nice play on words.

I wonder what effect the proposed changes in australia will have on horses bred here. I have read a couple of articles on this ,with the latest one on harnesslink. Personally i see the merit in such a change,i just wonder how that will impact the numbers bred to the most popular stallions in nz. And whether it will effect in anyway the numbers the australians recognise for racing there. Would be nice if someone in the media could write a more detailed article on it as it has been in the pipeline for some time, but i haven't seen much coverage of the topic so far.

I guess he is a good salesman,and maybe that is what wellington have recognized.Lets be honest ,he sold the racing industry his ideas,and they fell for it hook ,line,and now sinker. Maybe wellington looked at what he did to the racing industry and thought if the racing industry can be sucked in like they were,then we need a saleman/promoter like him.

I see the stipes asked the question about the S Ottley drive on Sioux princess yesterday,and so they should have. The most surprising thing was that trainer,M Jones stated his instructions were to have the horse driven with a sit as that is what suits the horse best. Now i think he needs to watch a video of its last 2 wins, and the win the week before that at the trials,but hes allowed his opinion. But if we take his comment seriously,which i personally don't,then why do we not have a rule where trainers are required to notify the public of a change in tactics. Punters should have been notified Jones had instructed his driver to drive in the opposite way to the way it had been driven when it won its previous 2 starts.

I see they fined Butt $500 for excessive use of the whip so that must have been what you spotted. I can't work out why they didn't question john dunn about his drive. Hes a top driver but why did he pull off the passing lane,then why wait another 75m before pulling out? No questions asked a bit timid from the stipes.

Don't know brodie. Just looked like john dunn made a terrible tactical decision to not take the passing lane. Must have won had he taken the passing lane or even just pulled it out earlier.

Are you serious? What has that got to do with the racing integrity unit? Can you enlighten us as to which jurisdiction it wouldn't be allowed to start? To me we have here people moaning about connections who take good care of their horses and choose to continue to race one that is limited in ability. So what. How about they show the same level of concern in those who use performance enhancers which have negative impacts on the health of the horse.How about you take a look at those who discard their horses after racing with little thought as to their fate. Often the fate of a horse after racing lies in the hands of an owner who has no way of caring for a retired racehorse,or in the care of someone to whom the horse is just a commodity to be discarded when no longer useful. Or the trainers who would rather send one to the knackery than have someone else train it. As in life,racing is full of double standards.

Actually when i was young i won an on course betting competition by backing the townley runners that day who warmed up pre race with their eyes popping out. Worked for me anyway,

Wasn't that back in the day when milkshaking was legal? He does,but they don't look like they can go another round after the finish if they have a hard run. Being driven by a top driver like him also a factor as well as being a good trainer. Only negative is most of his better horses are they don't seem to last more than a couple of seasons. Mind you thats the same for most trainers.

He does have a great strike rate. You probably don't agree with me,but name another trainer that can turn around a horses form like he can. Tall poppy by 12 lengths in 2.25 at Timaru,love the blues by 16 lengths at addington,and now team kiwi. He certainly can get them to run can't he.

Their horse so i don't see it as a problem if they want to continue paying the bills,.Some people don't mind and just enjoy having a horse at the races,and they have had good success with others..Each to their own.No doubt those that run against it don't mind seeing it in the field.