the galah

Murphy's law. I put $15 on at $71 to win as i've backed it in its most recent starts as well. At least the $92 quinella was nice. Was that S Paynes first winner? Oldwhiteman may not have been a fan 6 months ago, of the gills and their horses,but he must be laughing now.

Yes well done oldwhiteman, Did you back it newmarket?

Almost a replay of day 1,no room again in straight. As soon as he gave away the lead with the favorite looming, you knew he would end up 3 back,and you knew any winning chance was gone. Just proves what I said,he wasn't waiting for day 2,it's just a tactical thing .

I don't think you saw drivers with the mindset of just giving their horse a run on the first day. The handful of drivers who you think may do that weren't driving yesterday anyway. As to the drive on silk,i think that is just the way Robbie holmes drives sometimes,, I think he is very honest. Like you ,I thought silk went very well,it looked like it would begin fast if it draws the front. Whatever I Court does with his horses,they all seem good beginners.

Reading the hrnz website it says the 2019 winner is murray tapper from Timaru. What a marvelous performance to win again after winning last year. i'm not sure what his prize is,but mr tapper must be a pretty good judge.

What does it matter. They have there view. Depends whether you believe in only telling half a story or not. Besides,just because you are a great driver does not make everyone believe you are perfect or have not made mistakes.

the turnover is much greater than normal so I think that illustrates new punters are involved. I don't know if the occasional harness punter is put off by the poor dividends and doesn't reinvest on future more run of the mill harness meetings. I suspect many would fall into that category. I agree that those promoting the sport overlook how these premier meetings can give new punters an impression that the risk versus return factor of punting on harness is not worth it.

I agree with you on the jewels globe. Its a great promotion for harness racing and attracts punters and viewers who don't normally follow harness racing. Part of it may be because of all the pre race publicity it gets,but at the end of the day it works. The real shame is it is not on any free to air channel. I think we have to look at the big picture sometimes, and one off days like the jewels fall into that category.. I do agree with brodie that there is no doubt harness racing is struggling to retain its followers and relevance in todays times. So are many other sports and businesses. I also have a view that part of what holds the industry back is directly a result self inflicted wounds. The industry and those within it are such a contradiction. On one hand they display unity and extreme generosity which is very admirable. just look at how they banded together over the nyhan/davis situation. On the other hand they only think of whats in their own interests and have no interest in helping other possible participants become involved. For example have you ever tried to rent facilities to train a horse from in the south island.. It seems no one wants to know you. They would rather have empty paddocks and stalls,or empty racecourse facilities They aren't interested in income . Just try and find somewhere in the south island and you will see what I mean. I was talking to a bloke just a couple of weeks ago who had spent weeks looking for somewhere,but no one wants to know. That is why I believe some tracks deserve to close.They get what they deserve. They are treated like the private playground of those that run them. Personally I believe events like the jewels mask much of what happens in the real world.

Blair orange race after race just continues to drive with tremendous tactical nous. He always seems to try,and just never seems to fail to give his drives every chance. That last race just run he gave Baltimore jack its chance.He always does. In that race he just runs past others with 500m to go while others just allow him to box them in and then they don't get clear air until too late.He seems to have that x factor that only john dunn comes anywhere near.

What a strange response. Not sure whether your taking the mikey. Don't really know you. I never said tyler was dishonest, just the the jockey went from 1 length off the leaders with 400m to go,then became about 7 lengths further back with 300m to go,then flew late. A senior jockey would have won by 5 lengths untouched with time to take a selfie and post it on snapchat while sitting up in the irons over the last 100m.The south island just doesn't have much depth amongst the jockeys. Bring back david walsh.

brodie has the wisdom of someone ivans age.

how old is ivan shwann? I remember being at the races at Timaru one day when I was just a boy and there was a smash and he ended up at the bottom of the fallen runners. I thought he was about 50 then and that was about 40 years ago..

Well I don't normally bet on gallops,but while waiting for the next trots race I heard the trainer of one in the 4 horse race interviewed and he said one of his 2 runners was the biggest certainty he had had for a long,long time. Given his other runner was the favorite i had a small bet. Well knock me over with a feather.. the favorite rolls home,,and the jockey on the certainy rode like he miscounted the rounds making up many lengths in the last 100m.. The trainers summation after the race was the jockey on his certainty had fallen asleep. He was being very kind. The reason I don't bet on gallops is because in the south island you have that many jockeys with very limited years riding who understandably have no tactical idea. Just no comparison with the trots where you have mature drivers who know what they are doing. give me the trots anyday.

Looked like it was sore,certainly hanging bad. That race summed up my betting from yesterday.. I backed Far from true and anchored it in combinations with 4 including the 2 that made up the $152 quinella ,but didn't bother to box them like I normally do. Far from true had no reason to gallop as it was clear in front, The only reason it did was it somehow got word I was on. If you do your study punting is more about doing the right thing with the knowledge you have,some days you just seem to always pull the wrong rein .

You would think they originally made a mistake, as piper moss the horse above it has gone from 7.50 to $81. Nice if you got on at that price,i have it rated 3rd.

Yes, Zac Butcher drove a top race,and tactically it was a very good drive,his timing was perfect. But to say any other driver would not have done the same is just a bit over the top. That race was a classic example of team driving at its worst. Firstly you had the all star runner letting princess tiffany in on the first bend instead of keeping it wider,then you had Havtime driven by scott phelan again being sacrificed to set it up for its stablemate in the trail, just as he did in the northern oaks. The winning of that race was when Havtime applied the pressure down the back straight,when any reasonable driver would have been looking to reserve as much energy as they could for later in the race.Thats what set it up for its stablemate to win.. I know that's just the way it works whenever any stable has more than one in a race. All the big stables do it. Personally I still believe every driver should be driving for the connections of the horse they drive.

As I have referred to on another thread about the "one" trotters, if the stipes keep letting horses start amongst them, who always gallop in the score up,well that is one of the reasons for the worrying inconsistent starts. I see the stipes have made the horse in question unruly after today,but that should have happened prior to today.

Another "one" trotter,another false start. That horse had galloped in the score up in its last 4 races, today it made it 5 times. And yet the stipes had allowed it to stay in the draw. Still another "one" to come today. I wonder how many gallops for it, i'm guessing 2 or 3.

what a strange drive from Nathan Williamson. Clearly his brother was never going to give him the lead yet he pressed on for a good 600m, and clearly that took its toll on both Williamson runners late in the race. That's just racing but normally family members don't do such things,so I suppose they can't be accused of team driving. The opposite in fact in that race.

They always get full fields in each race at the jewels. If someone drops out for whatever reason they just get the next ranked one ,and there is an endless pool of them. Paying them a few $1000 just to turn up also helps. I can't see any logic in your point.

Hot favorite again today but driven like they didn't rate it much chance again. Goes back ,seemed fair enough,but stays there when pace slackens,hits a wheel by the looks of it when she pulls it out at the 1000m and stumbles,then runs up the inside without being asked for an effort thereafter as no point . I'm not sure about this horse,if it was any good why does it get driven like it needs everything to go its way. It did go good in its first run. That stable just always seems to be a next time stable,and next time never comes The johnny cox stable would have to be the most improved stable seen for a while . The whole team has improved a lot in the last 3 weeks and is well worth following at the moment.

Well Vigoroso was driven to perfection by alan edge,but went probably the worst I've see it go. I guess it didn't recover from its run on Friday. I was counting my money at the 800m,but had the hankie out at the 200m.

I'm putting todays winnings all up race 1 vigoroso @ $51 onto midnight Sioux in race 7 @$35 . Mind you I didn't win today

Like I said earlier,i think the margin of error has already been factored in. Just my theory on why the published results dropped overnight a couple of years ago. I think the reading would actually be 37 minus the 1.00 margin of error, bringing it down to 36.0 which is the highest acceptable level. 36.1 would be needed for a positive The jca referred to 36.0 being the highest acceptable level in the scott Dickson case last year.

"He felt shifting at this point would not have been to the horses advantage." Excuse number 27 in the zac butcher excuse book.