the galah

there you go. That group 1 fillies 2yo race obviously got some sky racing coverage in australia. By far the biggest win pool,race so far. nz win pool $9929. tabcorp $6303. same pattern as normal that i point out.

as expected the pools are very small for the auckland races so far. the first 5 races being win pools entain 3534, 2967, 1976. 3245 ,2788 tabcorp(australia) 856, 478, 435 ,889 ,1160 i keep going back to the point i regularly make. that is. The pool sizes are dictated by pre race sky australian racing coverage. so no, or next to no pre race australian coverage ,next to no betting. Thats for both nz entain and tabcorp pools. i believe people over estimate the number of new zealanders who bet on nz harness racing at tracks like auckland and to a degree addington. Like i say,when entain has a good pool size,most of the time so does tabcorp.Just look at the figures for tonight to see the same pattern. I would guess that 3/4 of the tabcorp pools would be about the amount entain gets from parts of australia tabcorp doesn't service.. Like on friday nights you sometimes see a $9,000 tabcorp win pool and they are always the races nz entain has the bigger pools.75% of $9000 is an additional $6750 australian commingled money that goes into the entain nz pool.Last night tabcorp had a win pool of $12,000 on an addington race. before anyone talks about nz betting turnovers,they first need to factor in the point i make you start with understanding australian tabcorp pools are different from the australian money which entain gets for commingling in the nz pools and then progress to the point i make. Now there is an exception to what i say in my opinion.That is sunday racing,especially canterbury grass tracks, attracts more nz punters and the % of the nz pool coming from commingled australian money is not as great . anyway,there you go,people can talk about the reasons for the size of pools,but if they aren't factoring in the point i make,they are missing an important part of the puzzle.

I went to alexandra park once about 20 years ago. 3 men talking to each other were the only people in the main stand . I sat there for one race but thought the viewing was poor so wandered down to next to the outside fence,for the next race, but found that an even worse viewing area.It was like you were below where the horses were. so i wandered up to the stand near the winning post,where the people were. I just chose to watch the race on the tv inside and watched the people all around. Next to no one bothered to watch the races and they seemed just there for the social side or something to eat. i left after that race.Thought if that was harness racing in auckland ,well they were lucky they had all those revenue streams because so few of the public seemed interested in it. I had been there as a kid and remembered the lines of punters 20 deep to get a bet on the tote, people always getting shut out and 2 stands full of people which from memory seemed segregated but the one further up the straight had good viewing.I remember as a kid thinking auckland was exciting,but how things had changed. The people who say auckland is so strategically important because thats where all the people live,to me are out of touch with reality. Auckland and cambridge racing need to be consolidated into 2 areas close to each other which feed off each other and provide faclilties that provide a far better harness racing product for the public on a far smaller scale. How about the concept of auckland focusing on their core business,i.e.harness racing. Aucklands past leadership blew it,the major cash flows are gone,it doesn't matter how clever mr mackinnon may be,he can't save the titanic which is aleaxndra park,no matter how much he tries. Also,i can't help think,why is it people in canterbury manage to drive to places like methven or rangiora or geraldine in good numbers,yet administrators seemingly think aucklanders shouldn't be expected to do so. do they not realise that apart from cup day,you get more people at the aforementioned tracks than addington. To me the whole auckland debate is another harness topic thats clear cut,black and white as to what decisions need to be made to make it sustainable,but for reasons which i can't figure out,decision makers just ignore reality.

I was driving around today and saw one of those v shaped advertising signs on wheels that seem to pop up on empty sections next to roads that have a heavy traffic flow.The ones that seem easy to relocate if you wanted to and are about 5m wide. and i thought well why doesn't hrnz or addington invest in 3 or 4 of those for display in christchurch or wherever. Once again they would display racenight and have the display broken into 3 parts,the horses in a finish,the winning trainer and driver(helmet off),and the winning owners. It would have the race sponsor visible across the bottom. each display unit would have different photos displayed and they would be replaced each 2-3 months with more recent photos of winners.Which ones to be displayed,maybe drawn out of a hat involving each race run over the previous couple of months or of the race named after the business where its displayed.The only cost would be the initial building of display unit and the photos displayed thereon. the key would be to have them transported to businesses with space outside that are next to areas that have high road or foot traffic. Each month or two they would be moved to a new location so as to get around the city and so new people see them.Maybe sometimes placed on new subdivisions with current vacant land next to busy roads if developer agrees. Heaps of possibilities. In return the businesses displaying them would have naming rights to a race,ride in a mobile,half priced meal tickets one night at the races,told of the exposure they get from naming a race ,whatever it is clubs do for sponsors. the whole point would be to embed in the psyche of the masses that harness racing is part of their everyday activities that occur within the communities they live in. Its there,its fun,etc.its people like them that are involved. The gambling side is not the focus,it is the people and the horses.Also its about promoting community involvement through sponsorship.The blue september thing is something that would fit easliy into the billboards displays.Displays to show cross section of people,male and female,young and old.

so very dominant. Theres 2 ways to look at the results i think. E stewart is really really good,but also the other victorian trainers just aren't much chop. Stewart dominated all the pacing races. Why are the other victorian trainers so poor when it comes to training 2,3 and 4 year old horses in those breeder crown races. Also i see E Stewart had a well bred ,former clark barron trained horse, Showsomejoy, win the $150,000 3 year old filly final. She is well bred with her dam being Somejoy,who barron trained to win 8 races. He sold an older sister to australia previously who has won 2 from 11 for j quinlan,Boots property being the owners. Showsomejoy was trained by clark barron as a 2 year old and was unable to win a workout in 10 attempts,generally going ok but mostly beating just 1 home. Her best effort was a 2nd in a balfour trial on the grass. One race day start saw her run 7th of 9.Shes a breeders crown winner now.

Do you think the jackpoting first 4's, that you had a few of last week, was a factor in your turnover figures being up? One had over $60,000 in the pool.Do they do break downs of pools where you get to see whether the likes of win and place were up or down. The number of roughies coming in may have helped the gbr maybe making figures better than they seem as relates to GBR also.I suppose thats part of the reason grass track meetings are such good contributors to funding.

the analogy of the airline i think is a good one. the thing is though,by airlines providing a service to some regional centre's that run at losses,it means the quality and cost of services on the profitable routes are compromised and tickets often expensive. Actually if you look up australian regional airports,in the latest budget the australian government just put in an additional $40 million funding over the next 3 years, on top of what they already fund them. Then of course most regional airports are already funded by the councils who provide all the infastructure and many councils are always calling for more governmant funding.Same as in nz. So,theres no local coucil or federal government to help subsidise harness racing,its all got to be done by the industry as a whole,so therefore it goes without saying that providing funding,whether it be for infastructure or stakes,needs to be done in a responsibly fiscal way. So its responsible fiscal management that the likes of brodie and myself support and its not accurate to say that we don't want northern harness to prosper. personally i think the answer lies somewhere in between what gammalite and brodie say. To me there is a place for late afternoon/early evening harness racing at both northern and canterbury on tuesdays. They have to be mini meetings with races programmed at stakes levels that are susainable and not a drain on the industry overall. And of course the handicapping penalties have to reflect the stakes.I believe that $8000 for cambridge is too high.Turnovers at cambrdge haven't been that bad,they just haven't warranted the $8000 stakes currently being paid.. of course also you have to have handicappers and programmers understanding that they should be running races with conditions which encourages everyone to start,with things like $ won the last 5 starts or whatever as part of the conditions.There should be races at cambridge for all horses who have run 4 or 5 starts at auckland for no placings and its just a matter of programming. canterbury has more participants in need of these races,so surely the leadership of hrnz should be able to see that by providing a smilar choice with extra tuesday meetings would create a more unified indutrsy. Only problem is there has been nothing to come out of hrnz,apart from the horse utiilisation group,that meakes any sense. So you end up with no confidence in hrnz leadership and what your seeing is people pointing out the obvious flaws in what hrnz are currently doing. doesn't all that seem obvious?

looks like harness racing on sundays is all about long drawn out days. Take your sleeeping bag as with the gaps between some races,you'll have time for a nap. They are also all over the place. todays its 25,32,34,40,29,42,43,25,25. just looks like entain have decided they want multiple gallops meetings on a sunday,and realistic gaps between the harness races have gone out the window. Seems another backward step.

Sounds like someone stuck in a tunnel,saying we still can get to the light we see at the end of the tunnel. But are they acknowledging the price that they will pay to reach the light,if they ever make it?

Another day,same problem with the hrnz website.Can't watch any videos,the circle just keeps going around and around.

Doesn't help tonight that the HRNZ website not working properly. I've been unable to watch any videos of horses previous runs all night and its still not working..

The $35,000 trot race was a nice even fileld. Over here we had the whale on trackside telling us it was a great betting field and good on the club for putting on these $35,000 races to get betting races like that. Only thing is,its just not true that $35,000 races will get any more betting than any other race.. The pools on those races may be slightly more on the entain nz pool. like the win pool was $2000 more than the prior race but about $4000 less than the previous 7 horse race at auckland. the tabcorp win pool on the $35,000 trot was less than the 2 year old trot and just because theres a higher stake race has little impact on tabcorp betting which gets less each race as the night goes on. So when i hear the whale telling us its a great betting race,hes not talking about turnover.

Ill give up the tipping.ideal delight just can't get around that last bend at auckland without breaking anymore. In hindsight should have realised that. Oh well, maybe at cambridge.

betting turnovers interesting tonight. That timeslot around 5pm in australia certainly make a difference to the pools.In race 3 at addington tabcorp had a $14,175 win pool,$5144 trifecta and $2865 exacta pool.entain had a win pool $12063,trifecta$10099. like i say,its got to be due to more exposure and the time people are at the pubs in australia. Like the following race at addington only had a $2321 win pool on tabcorp and $8139 win pool on entain even though the fields were quite similar in numbers and form.

i'm not betting myself. But i like ideal delight paying $4 a place in the next at auckland. Do you like anything tonight to give mesomething to watch for an interest?

frazzled... in my opinion,very well driven. Looked to be getting close to galloping in the last 100m and did just after the post. Maybe if she hadn't gone quite as hard once she reached the lead, would have kept a touch more in the tank to fight the stablemate off,but then again maybe it needed to run along a bit to keep its mind on the job. beaten fair and square,but only just.

My take on it is, peoples opinions are peoples opinions whatever they say. Everyone can make up their mind for themselves. in this case the fella saying that referred to something that anyone can look at and make up their own mind.In effect tells people to look at something which if they do,will undemine his opinion. The best rebuttal to his opinion is to tell people to go watch the race and ask yourself when you do,did newmans horse get driven to win and did he in any way assist the john dunn horse finsih any closer. If your going to say people can't ever call someone a cheat then your just suppresing the spotlight that cheating deserves. And it goes without saying,some people do cheat.Cheating can come in different forms. thats my opinion.

You can see why the small breeders are disappearing. Increasing costs,diminshing returns and uncertainty and apprehension about decisions being made by industry leadership. All thats applicable moreso for the small breeder than the commercial breeders. The commercial breeders focus on breeding horses for the yearling sales and providing horses that race early in races where stakes and bonuses are being diverted. also commercial breeders can take advantage of tax changes that winston brought in to assist commercial breeders. Its hard enough for the commercial breeders to keep going,so its inevitable that the small breeders will continue to diminish in numbers. Small breeders concerns and struggles are being paid lip service by industry leadership. so currently,i think if you talk to people,you will find many small breeders doing what they never want to do,and that is give up their hopes and aspirations for any foals that may be bred and instead are facing the reality that they need to get rid of their broodmares,whether it be finances,lack of affordable grazing,lack of finding anywhere to graze,breeders getting older and maybe having to focus on their health,etc,etc.. Thats whats happening and i don't see where anyone in charge has done anything tangible to assist them. Its all really sad,because most breeders would still have the passion,but times have changed and reality is kicking in.And harness racing as an industry will be much poorer as a result.

spatchcock has said race 3 and it must be that one,between the 400m and 200m newman checks to see where the john dunn driven horse is. Sounds like someone on the unhinged website commented it was a big con. That person didn't imagine what he said he saw,it happened,but if you watch it you will most likely think it seems unreasonable for him to infer newmans actions warranted any criticism. Just part of racing,everyone has an opinion which makes things interesting.

Its sometimes hard to get into the mind of some punters as often i find things i think obvious are not seen that way by others. I'm sure you've nailed the race.Maybe he follows the gallops mainly and just calls all harness races the trots.Who knows. Calling him drunk seems unfair as he noticed something that i think most who watched the replay would have noticed. Clearly newman was focused on the whereabouts of his stablemate driven by dunn when newman felt the horse he was driving wasn't going to run somewhere. When is the last time you have seen a driver look around like that for a stablemate? Personally ,i didn't think it came close to being anything dodgy at all but in my opinion newman should look at that replay and maybe not make it as obvious next time. Besides dunn needs no help.

i just looked at the latest gavel house results and it was interesting to see what a couple sold for. Huzuni,a horse who has a win,2nd,2x4ths in its last 5 starts over the last few weeks,only went for $1900. I suppose its got to race in the higher grade because it was a promoted winner after the yesberg runner got disqualified this week. But still,$1900 doesn't seem much . Then you had the 10 year old mare Dolly jones.Her first foal is the 3year old Edward longshanks who has won 2 of 6 starts,the latest at addington last month.Also shes a half sister to an open class trotter herself. She only sold for, $600 and there was a $200 transport subsidy from the owner. theres no doubt several contributing reasons,but really thats very sad that they seem to be valued at so little if sold within nz.

Interesting thoughts but personally i think sires stakes racing has its place,but if it was the answer,then why are hrnz and the sires stakes dipping into their cash reserves. I read an article not that long ago by garreck knight which said the sires stakes board had built up nearly 1 million $ in cash reserves over the past 40 years.but the sires stakes board had commited to spend a significant portion of that over the next 3 years on those races. in the same article it said HRNZ was using cash reserves built up over the last 4 years to fund stake increases for the high end races,including the sires stakes series.. So you've pointed out mark purdon won a particular final 10 years in a row. No doubt hes won the other many times ,just like his brother.And you pointed out the one stable,emma stewart gets all the victorian money. so the very obvious point is,look to the reasons why they aren't self funding anymore. isn't it very obvious that if your going to pump the industries cash reserves into the elite races over the next 3 years,well who benefits and what happens after that. Where does the money come from after that. And using victoria as an example may well be similar to what nz is doing . But given the outcry in victoria that a large % of their land they own,a bit like cash reserves in another form,was used to bankroll their industry when it wwasn't sustainable,then somehow i don't think replicating what they have done is a very clever strategy. You iknow when you think about ,its looking more and more like the decision makers are looking to get what they can out of harness racing while they can,before the cruch comes which seems inevitable given their decision making. Its all rather sad ,because ok,if the idea is to get what you canhow come they get to prioritise their own interests first. To be honest,i don't really care much anymore as it won't effect me either way,i just think its like a slow train wreck coming that could be avoided,but isn't. And people who have tickets booked for travel on that train in the future are already thinking,why did i buy that ticket.

Like i said,when you know that you just have to factor it in. Its like if you walk out the door of your house and walk over your lawn and check the mailbox and walk to your car on the same path across the lawn every day.Eventually you will notice that theres less grass cover where you walk. Its not so noticable when its dry when compared with the rest of the lawn but is moreso when the lawn is greener. so you have about 140 horses running around next to the pylons each race meeting and methven is the club with the most grass track meetings. Say compare methven to banks peninsula. Methven have 1 more raceday,4 more trials and many more workouts than banks peninsula.on their grass track each year..Thats a lot more traffic.Now banks peninsula track will have a fuller cushion of grass on the inside,but an important part of the reason for that is because its not used as much.Simple as that. I saw kerry o'reilly on unhinged say the horses come from the front because of of race tempo. That may be a factor,but in my opinion all anyone has to do is just go and walk a grass track and you will see what i mean. Thats why jockeys walk the track. They are looking for parts of the track that doesn't have the same level of grass cover or may have gotten a bit less water from irrigation or may have a slight contour of the land.With a harness track you have not only horse hooves but carts wheels going over the isnside part.

I think you just have to factor that in when you make a selection. In my opinion a lot depends on the amount of use they get and what type of irrigation they get. If you were to walk some of those tracks you would see that the grass cover closer to the pylons is not as thick as that wider on the track. Thats because the more it gets used the less grass cover or thickness.Therefore it just makes sense that the less friction there is due to less grass cover,the faster you go. So in some ways it just can't be avoided. also if you look at those irrigators that go in a circle, you see a slightly uneven spread.I don't know what happens at methven,but if they are placed in the middle of the track then with either rail normally being further away from the thing throwing out the water,the more chance of areas with not as much water landing on them. I've seen one track where sometimes they move the irrigators over a little to do both outside and inside of track,sort of doubling up on some areas of the track.The same applies to galloping tracks i've walked. There was one track in particular that was both harness and galloping and you used to see them come down the outside when it got wet because the irragator never did the outer part of the track.Obviously each caretaker is doing their best,but its maybe unrealistic to think you would get an even spread. Also they raced a couple of cart widths out at methven on sunday. They did say they intended to mow closer to raceday but chose a more cautious approach and didn't,because of the expected rain. Tracks with longer grass tend to be harder to make ground on. Also methven is about the only track that tries to accomodate trainers by allowing trials and workouts to be run on them regularly. No other club i can think of makes their track available like methven does. I know they try and have some of their workouts/trials run around the middle of the track to preserve the inside,but they still have to allow the qualifiers to run on the inside.Hats off to them for doing what they do as far as that goes.

exactly and that still exists, so harness racing isn't going backwards because the sport has lost access to that. The main ingredients are still there,its just how they use those 2 aspects. Its the horses and people that should always be the focus. Instead the priorites of leadership is about creating a facade of high returns which they do by pumping money into a million dollar nz cup or trying to keep up with other codes slot races that 99.99% of participants view as unrealistic goals.. And over the last 2 decades theres been this yoyo pattern as far as the level of stakes. They increase them,then within a couple of years the stakes are reduced back to the previous level,then they make a big announcement about stake increases being great for the sport,then the yoyo thing starts again.Thats for the lower grade horses. as to the elite horses.Case in point .The nz cup. 16 years ago was worth over a million$.Then there was this outcry of you dumb arses are putting all that money into the top end while the people at the bottom end are struggling to survive. So gradually they reduced the stake for the nz cup as they realised they have done something 99% of people involved in the industry believed was a poor decision. So here we are,2024 and guess what the industries leadership thinks is a good idea,the same thing that they tried 16 years ago. The sign of the times is the lack of leadership and their inabilty to promote and sell a believable,relateable,sustaianable model for the industry. Its not that people don't like anything anymore as you put it,its that less and less people are feeling the positive vibe anymore. To me people in harness racing are often a bit too apathetic. I think this is evident in areas like canterbury. In my opinion canterbury is being neglected. Its the core base of the industry,yet leadership take it for granted and they are able to do that because most trainers and owners just focus on their own bubble and just lament how its declining but would rather voice their opinions at the local pub than take actions to demand a higher quality industry leadership.While rome burns type scenario. And personally i do think its possible for the industry to have a sustainable,believable ,relateable future,but persoanlly think while thats achievable ,i don't see enough common sense decision making to convince me it will happen.