the galah

Had they dunn their job that day then those involved may never have thought they would continue to get away with it,and there may never have been a need for operation inca.

'

I keep backing Jaffa kitten,but really why did he got pocketed with 350m to go when he only had to pull out to win. Unreal this punting some times,just hard to work out the thinking of some drivers sometimes..

Stipes do not want to upset such high profile people and do not bet. Your right of course,they do look rather inept now when it comes to that race. I think the south island ones have upped their game since as a result

If that was the case then there would have been some very disillusioned and angry large punters after they watched that race. They must have been questioning whether they were better off not punting on the trots. Remember what the trackside presenter said who had labelled it as his bet of the day.... The drive was unbelievable, simply unbelievable. I guess you cant say well it looked like he did everything to not run anywhere on trackside,even if it looks obvious. .

Johnny white, Where have you been?

The proven race fixing in Australia did not involve large pools. Besides if you look at say the johnny white race there were dividends of $6553 quaddie,$4501 first 4 ,a $890 treble and place 6 $410.. If you knew the hot favourite was not trying then you could have made plenty.

Surely a more accurate comment is the wider this goes the less credible those involved appear. No protected species when it comes to the police

This has to have been expected. You only have to watch north island racing to see consistent team driving. I have been critical of the blinkered view of north island stipes, perhaps they will now start being more pro active.

Reading the latest news it refers to one of the charges relates to a substance being given to enhance performance for a certain stable. Have the riu and hrnz taken steps to do retrospective testing for this substance on all listed and group races in the last 18 months in which that stable earnt stake money. . Surely if either was seriously interested in integrity those steps must be taken immediately.

so operation inca is now revealing certain practices of industry participants which many new existed,but until now had been able to be hidden. No one should be surprised about the latest developments. it just is confirmation of what so many think, but of course those who have expressed those thoughts have always been discredited by those who benefit from said actions.

The brodster really has gone out on a limb. That limb is getting further off the ground.

Its just more a reflection on how negative the driving in many of the races are now days. Watching the races today you would think it pretty obvious that you had to be handy and close to the rail. Every winner has come from the lead or trail position, due to the fast lane closer to the fence and lack of speed in the races. The only exception was a g s whitesocks,and that was only due to forgotten highway looking gone from the start of the race.

Completely disagree with you there brodie. I think your reply is clear bias for those involved, not a detached opinion of what happened. Brodie not on the money here,,in my opinion.

Agree with what you have said. Those involved have,and will continue to be effected bigtime by way of diminished reputation, paying ongoing legal fees,and already lost income. If convicted I think it unlikely anyone would go to jail,but I guess you never know as they are very serious offences. As I have said previously, the most disappointing thing about the current situation has been the arrogance and ignorance shown by many within the industry, about the resulting consequences for punters and fellow participants of such alleged actions. Also of concern is the continued failure of north island stipes to protect the punters when it comes to looking into possible integrity issues relating to the running of recent races. The harness racing industry is unique in that so many are related,and im sure the reason so many complain about action taken against one of their own is because they see it as an attack on what they deem as acceptable,and its clear from the current situation that what many within the industry deem acceptable is sometimes dishonest. In many ways the caretakers of honesty on the track is the responsibility of the stipes. I said it at the time and will say it again, Dunn should have been charged with the eamon maguire drive,Anderson should have been charged with the johnny white drive but they weren't. Had that happened and had the stipes actually applied the same rules to everyone,not just the a lowes of this world then we would not be where we are at today.

I thought the most interesting thing about tonights racing at Auckland was only 2 drivers improved their positions prior to the last 800m,and one of those had broken early.. Has there ever been a night with so few moves in recent times.?

Interesting you say that Taku. In my opinion North island stipes have blinkers on and are all talk but no action when it comes to zac butcher. One major difference between the north island and south island is the number of participants. From my observations the south island stipes don't appear to have any favourites and treat everyone the same ,irrespective of who they are. Further,they seem to have taken the race fixing allegations seriously and question any unusual driving tactics, irrespective of whether it is a big name or a small name. Its just a shame the same thing doesn't happen in the north island.

There seems to be a different approach between the north and south island stipes reports. If you read the south island stipes you will see they are pro active in reporting and questioning drivers tactics when unusual tactics are employed. Then you compare the north island reports and they don't bother mentioning unusual driving tactics of the same high profile drivers. Not saying there is not be a reasonable explanation,It looked like there may be,however you would think they would question the tactics used by zac butcher on jakira when he pulled off the trail with a round to go,eased up causing the trailing horses to concertina, then looked inside and out at the 500m and then was steered wider early in the home straight.. There may be reasonable explanations to his tactics,we will never know.

Apparently its ok for mick geurin,bit of a yarn, and some media outlets to show the photo and for the replay of the fall to be available on hrnz results website, yet those controlling trackside coverage on the day deemed it too sensitive to replay. What a strange world we live in run by people(in this case trackside) ,who believe censorship will somehow cleanse reality. All a bit pathetic in my mind.

Apparently its ok for mick geurin,bit of a yarn, and some media outlets to show the photo and for the replay of the fall to be available on hrnz results website, yet those controlling trackside coverage on the day deem it too sensitive to replay. What a strange world we live in run by people who believe censorship will somehow cleanse reality. All a bit pathetic in my mind.

I think the stipes spoke to him about the manner in which he used the whip. I think the action they took was a result of concerns the manner of his whip use created the impression he may be hurting the horse,as is evidenced by some of the replies on this thread. If you were to observe the backsides of horses,without knowing who had driven them, ,then I believe you would find the marks left on them are not always consistent with peoples perception of how hard they are being hit. That's from my observations. One of the reasons I think like that is because I noticed mr keast does not leave the marks on horses like people actually think he would. In fact I believe mr keast used to suggest to authorites that they inspect his horses to prove his point.

Personally I think the force mr keast uses when hitting a horse with the whip is over estimated. I think to be fair,you cant say he is leaving marks on his horse unless you have seen it for yourself. Its just another case of possibly the perception not actually being the reality. From my past observations of horses backsides he has driven,he does not hurt them at all. In other areas of animal welfare I believe him to be a very kind person. So I don't agree with you on this one brodie..

Congratulations basil and your teammates. The method your team used twice of putting almost your whole pool onto a last race selection at long odds has been the successful formula for you. I guess its a win or bust type approach,but its certainly paid off big time. Ive noticed It does seem to be the way to win those competitions. Certainly the strategy has its fair share of failures but when you have large numbers competing and several using the all or nothing approach, one of them often will come out on top. I guess being in a syndicate spreads the risk involved of putting so much money on at once.

Its a bit hard to get a balanced view of mr kennetts opinions given we have only limited information posted on here. Apparently he has upset a few with the manner in which he has delivered them, however that is mr Kennett for you. He has his own style, he does not hold back and some would say he oversteps the line quite often by making things personal. That is probably fair comment going by past experience of what I have read.. What is unfortunate is the way he delivers his opinions actually detracts from the views he is expressing. Like it or not,and i'm sure many won't, I think many actually agree with some of what he has to say. For example I see nothing wrong with expressing an opinion that laments the fact that some stables have the resources to access the latest methods of improving horse performance,for example the regular monitoring of bloods and what goes into the horses body so as to have it at its peak on the right days. Its what you would expect from the top stables,they have the owners with the money who can afford to invest in that side of things. Most don't have those resources and therefore meet those that do, at a disadvantage. Of course if you express an opinion like I just have then you get people jumping out of trees to say your jealous and anti certain stables. Even when you clarify you are not suggesting anything illegal,those very same people complain about you making personal attacks then they go and do just that by calling you a nutter or whatever. In fact I had that on tuesday when I told someone to get on a certain stable after I watched race 2 and in my opinion saw an obvious improvement in the performance of certain horses on recent performances. That stable was obviously peaking on the day as you would expect from them.. It really just depends who you talk to,to one person i was a nutter,to the next person I talked to I was told they had thought it pretty obvious and did not need to be told that. Its all just part of the sport and those that follow it, and mr Kennett is just part of the landscape, as we all are.

Nothing wrong with that drive in my opinion. I backed it myself thinking it would cross lemond and get the perfect trail. Butt just nursed it out under its own steam,no doubt with the intention to trail speeding spur,however the horse broke for no reason at all. I think the horse has lost its confidence a bit through a combination of bad luck and inconsistent manners,nothing to do with butts driving. Its been going ok,just needs an easier race to get its confidence back.