the galah

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?

I might send one there. Just have to convince the wife to take a 3rd job, remortgage the house and convince my columbian friends to find another way of getting product to me now the borders have been closed. That should at least cover 2 or 3 months training bills. If that fails i will borrow big time from a pessimist. At least he won't expect me to pay him back.

It was an example of a club in your province that owns its own land,unlike oamaru. Remember hutt park in years gone by. Mckenzie donated a fortune didn't he to the wellington club to have a grandstand built only to see it closed not long after as they didn't own that land. What prudent business would invest substanial $ in infrastructure on a property they didn't own when it may well be closed in the near future. If oamaru was being used more as a training facility then it may make some sense but its not is it.

Just stating the facts. Why would the industry want to invest money into oamaru given it is hardly used as a training track and any money invested would be into an asset they don't own. Forbury would probably make more sense. As to timaru. Didn't i read an article on stuff where it said because of the racing calender being changed due to the virus there would be 9 or tens less galloping and trotting meetings over the next 4 months there. Don't racing clubs pay a fee to the trusts that run these tracks. I once was told it was something like $10,000 each meeting. Now i don't know how accurate that figure was but how are those that run a track like timaru going to be able to maintain it without that income?

No gallopers at oamaru so how many harness trainers still use the track. Probably single figures. Oamaru is held in a racecourse reserve title is it not? and is leased to oamaru harness. As far as the Oamaru jockey club goes weren't they having money trouble not that long ago and 5 or 6 years ago were propped up by dodgy deal that saw them sell the chute to gallops south who used pokie money to buy it off them. Who did gallops south sell the chute back to on the quiet,and are they still using that to help the local potato grower out? Did the harness club buy that or not as they will never use it?Do they have a caretaker down there nowadays or is it all voluntary.Is that part of the reason the winter meeting of the gallops was called off due to the inconsistent nature of the track after rain? In other words oamaru has just as many issues as anyone else.. Waimate? They went and spent a lot of money and effort rebuilding their facilities after the storm a couple of years ago,but the waimate track is one thats targeted for closing. Wasn't last year the waimate jockey clubs final meeting on their home track. Waimate is also reserve land designated for local community usage so its not able to be sold as its not owned by the racing clubs. Timaru is in a similar position and if and when it closes the racing industry will get nothing out of it. At least they have more trainers use that track,although there numbers may be dwindling. The only clubs with any assets in that area seems to be Kurow. The jockey club in their last annual report stated they had assets of $461,504.00 which includes the track which they own,with $105,000 cash just sitting in the bank. Despite that they seem to be a target for closure. Of all the tracks they may be the one that is in the best position to warrant carrying on.

2k per month is way out of reach for anyone but the rich. $50 per day plus other expenses. I guess the big trainers can charge that as they have the owners with the cash,but if the average trainer charged that then i think they would not last too long as they would have no owners. $200 per moth on vets. Why do people spend so much on them.Can't they get them to perform without a vet? I know its a highly skilled job and hard work,but a good farrier could shoe 6 or 7 a day easy couldn't they. It may not be easy shoeing an inexperienced horse and it can be risky,but with shoes costing about$20 to $30 a set, that means they would be making about $800 per day profit before tax and expenses. . Maybe they can charge that if farriers are in short supply.

The 2k per month. Seems a lot. Apart from the top couple of stables what do you think the average weekly training fees are in the south island at the moment?.

All the doom and gloom may be understandable given the negativity the stay at homes rules bring and the economic impact it has and will continue to have on peoples current mindset. But the reality is racing will continue and with this crisis will come opportunities to put in place strategies needed to progress. This thread indicates what has become apparent for some time now and that is there is lot of blame,name calling and division within the industry. Unfortunately that s lead to the perception that we are not working together in a productive,healthy and cohesive way. Hopefully this crisis can see the realization and motivation of the need to work together. We need all sectors to be unselfish and realistic.Transparency goes hand in hand with that. We do seem to lack someone with the leadership skills and charisma to sell a future vision of unity,confidence ,prosperity and empathy for all the wide ranging interest groups racing has. Lets hope this crisis proves the catalyst for the courage of leadership to make the correct decisions and hopefully in years to come we look back on this period and reflect in a positive way. This crisis can lead to decisions that translate into many future positives.Its not all doom and gloom at all.

To quote one of its directors,peter smith a man who specializes in commercial law. "yes i am a director in cardigan bay holdings which holds the gaming investments for hrnz. Some parent organisations are entitled to own bars that have gaming machines in them,and that provides income for those sports. Hrnz is one of the lucky sports that is structured in this way". Hopefully their hotels don't suffer too badly due to the virus.

I have just been reading the above article,which on the face of it seemed pointless. They had removed the comments made by the president and CEO of the thoroughbred horse racing council of north america,James Gagliano. Well,that didn't surprise me given the NZ arm of harnesslink is a media outlet that always criticises anyone who suggests that performance enhancers are used in the sport and is so far up the backside of its favorite nz stable that they will never see the light of day. But i suggest people google it as it is very interesting and only lasts about 10 minutes. Initially It has a lady discussing the plight of those who rehome and look after retired standardbreds and how their support network has been effected by the virus and how that has impacted on what they do. And it has Mr gagliano discussing the performance enhancing subject. At one point he was asked what he thought of the the group of racing authorities who had come out and said the indictments showed the current system is working. He labelled that statement as a joke,and that those concerned would never have been caught without the input from federeral authorities and information from the the company that investigates illegal drug use in other sports,because they were not sophisticated enough with their testing and correlation of information.. It seems every year from nz harnesslink we have been told its only the uneducated,jealous underachieving losers who suggest the possibility that performance enhancers are being used and that success may not be totally down to superior skills.. People that write that are worse than those they cover up for.