the galah

It seems to be a bit of a lottery as to where these horses have started in the last week. We had peter lamb sending one to the unruly and then that horse starting inside horses on the second row,we had a horse a forbury tonight starting from the outside of the unruly when it had drawn the inside unruly,then we had the horse at Auckland that had drawn the inside of the unruly being sent to the outside of the unruly for playing up. Note this is completely the opposite to what the Canterbury starter has done for years. Who knows what will happen in the coming week.

I see taku umanga has already pointed the above out.

You don't seem to know what your talking about. Evidence or a summary of facts is often not presented early in proceedings. Go along to any court day and you will see. There are steps and procedures.

Anything tritton gets grows a leg. Dozens of horses he has trained have improved out of sight. Nothing new in that.

I not aware he has collaborated with others to manipulate a result,motivated by financial gain through gambling. So no,he doesn't meet the criteria to describe him as a race fixer.

I know we don't live in a police state, but i have a good understanding of how the court system works. Your earlier post I commented on referred to a mr z's take on a judges comments on police evidence,on the first day(your words), nothing about information shared before or since that first hearing outside the court process. I'm not sadly mistaken as you put it. Your mr z, in time, may or may not be proven correct. But I don't think he can make any informed conclusions just yet if he is basing his opinion on what he has heard in court, given the court processes have only just started and there has not been full disclosure.. Especially if he is not too familiar with how the court system works.

They don't produce evidence at the initial hearing,still haven't given full disclosure apparently,so don't know what mr z would be on about. Judges don't pre judge evidence they have no knowledge of.

The jca don't say the riu are wrong,they simply have ruled based on the impact on those charged. The RIU ruled based on the impact on the sport as a whole.

That's not the same as race fixing in my view. However I do think all those who have been charged with drug offences have exposed an underbelly that exists in nz harness racing. The taking of illegal drugs is not acceptable behavior and deterrent sentences need to be imposed when these charges are dealt with by racing authorities. The surprising thing about the drug use was that it was so widespread and how ignorant those involved were. Did none of them ever stop to think of the possible consequences? The obvious answer is they thought they would always get away with such behavior and some may have thought they were untouchable. Welcome to the real world.

If sitting in the stand makes a difference why have they charged the punters and raceday secretary and trainers. The RIU and police need to have your number on speed dial to avoid future unnecessary investigations. So to have a couple of the top drivers out means there is a lack of top drivers around. I don't agree. Just look at ricky may who is getting more drives.. Driving at his brilliant best recently .

This horse has won over $100,00 and had 9 wins and 53 2nd or 3rds. Its won a couple at addington and run 2nd or 3rd many times there. Its no flea,and while it may not be quite as good as it used to be,on recent form it had to be a good chance if it was driven to get a run,so im with brodie.. When you look at its record you can see Mclellan does well for his owners, its just a bit of a shame he drives like he does. Hes been put out for not trying before and I think many who expect drivers to try to win each time think he is in a class of his own. Can't see him changing anytime soon.

Forbury may not always have the highest quality of horse running around, but that does not make the races any less competitive or enjoyable to view. Grass root racing is where the majority operate and i'm sure the connections of those who were successful last night, got just as big a kick out of winning as they would have at addington or anywhere else.

You know what you get when you back this fella. A rapid increase in heart rate, high blood pressure ,the urge to use foul language and a lighter pocket. He's perfected the pull them back, get in a pocket, always look unlucky, and if you do get out don't drive them out too hard. Its taken many hundreds of drives to perfect such tactics. Every now and again he will catch you by surprise and actually drive like he wants to win. As to veras delight,well I thought it actually was rated to win that race,but of course due to possible health complications knew not to touch it. It was of course driven a copybook mclellan drive,never getting a run.. His horses are well worth following when they are stabled in Canterbury with other trainers as they nearly always grow a couple of legs. Several examples of that in recent years including the horse mentioned. Mind you, you could say that about a lot of southern horses. On the plus side of things, his horses race longer than most due to not being over taxed,and they win their share of money. How his owners view him and how the punters view him probably are very different.

I like tango dancer at $7.50 ffp in race 3

Brodie right on the money again!! At least those who backed the horse taken out of the race prior to the start got their money back. The brodster may have to have a word in the ear of the starter as to advice on who to watch prior to the start

As far as the future race programming comment ,i think all trainers look at that don't they? I had looked at that myself for this horse and thought the horse was being aimed at either the $25000 R50 to 60 on cup day,or the $25,000 up to r55 mobile on show day.. Had it won last night night it would still have been eligilble, had it won the week before it would not and would have had to run in higher grade races where its chances were not as good. Maybe they have a change of mind and run in the race at Kaikoura next week. Future race programming is necessary, but I don't think it should have any influence on how hard you try each week. Its not a factor punters should need to worry about. Of course in the real world it does for some every now and again ,and when it does people, rightly or wrongly, lose a little bit of faith in those involved. Some may argue what does that matter anyway.

From my observations the all star team does not currently have the same degree of invincibility that it has had in the past. It has been noticeable in the last couple of months that their runners are more vulnerable than normal, if doing work in the running. They still are no doubt the most feared stable in nz ,but unless something changes again it looks like they cant be driven to run their opposition into the ground like they had previously. So in my opinion it makes for a cup field where a case could be put forward for many runners.

Zsa zoe driven different tonight(as expected),well rated in front but beaten by a higher rated horse in a higher rated race. Still it ran a good race. Hopefully the horses connections realise that the standard of driving shown tonight reflects the publics perception of the drivers abilities,and normal intent.

The times on stridemaster confirm that it was heavily restrained at a time when the pace was at its slowest., Thats why she had to put a stranglehold on it for so long.and why it got so far back. You put it down to the horse pulling, I don't. Your comment about any explanation can be justified. I don't agree. What the stipes did there by failing to even ask the question totally undermines the times they have asked the question relating to drivers tactics in Canterbury of late. It had looked like they were being pro active,but obviously they pick and choose. I haven"t been talking through a hole in my pocket. I suppose seeing the races from different perspectives is what its all about.It would be rather dull if we all agreed on everything. Time to move on to gore.

Actually happy, can you name even 2 of the drives you consider similar last night?????

Will have to agree to disagree. The horse has always gone forward in previous mobile starts,,was very heavily restrained for at least the first 500m partly because the leaders were not going fast,continued to sit at rear throughout with plenty of opportunity to improve, driver appeared to realise going wide with 400m to run may have given opportunity to win so deliberately did not improve wide,then ended up still running just behind 2nd horse. The horse was way a $2.10 favourite for very obvious superior reasons. If that was not being pulled up,then I don"t know what is. As I said the penalty free race next week confirms it. Is that really acceptable driving standards? Double standards in my mind.

Lawrence McCormick is one of those drivers who always drives well from limited opportunities. His winning drive last night was one of those drives where everything fell into place and he made all the right moves at all the right times. You got a good price Newmarket.

Just read the stipes report on the zsa zoe drive. Driver not even questioned. Unreal job by the stipes.If that had been Trevor Grant he would have got at least 3 months for not driving the horse on its merits. Personally I put that drive in the johny white category. At least that's my opinion.

At least the blokes trying. Its not like he was a $2.10 favourite giving the impression its waiting for a penalty free race the following week. Give me trevor grant any day.

Given you state the horse in question paces away each time,the punters must be aware it will likely do so again and be a risky bet. Inexperienced trotters like that who have been pacers normally break if they have horses off marks behind them,then they get into that habit unless drawn outside of ur. The stipes don't seem to have the policy of standing down trotters who break at start like they used too. Take a look at tijuana taxi,it has broken in its last 6 stands in the last 8 months,always breaking in the first 200m. As a punter it should be good that horses like that are consistently bad starters as they can nearly always be ignored. With tijuana taxi favvourite and mickey jay 3rd favourite in todays race,there was a good chance of an upset. Problem was the winner Don't rock the boat normally breaks as well so that horse is more of a pain to punters in my view.