the galah

Aardies express makes its australian debut toinght in race 6,a $50,000 mares race.The former telfer trained mare now being trained by jack trainor.10.42p.m. Interestingly,its price has drifted from $1.80 to currently $2.20. Shes had 2 trials. The first she paced a bit rough like she may be a bit sore like she was over here. But then a week later came out and jogged a mile in 1.51.7. Her gait wasn't perfect but was a lot better than the week before. probably the best mare to go to australia for a while,so it will be interesting to see how fluent her gait is and how dominant she can be. going on her latest trial she should run 1.48 in second gear. All the money seems to have come for a clayton tonkin trained horse,soho historia. I see its won 13 of 32 starts,although i've never heard of it myself. I see in a preview of the 2 and 3 year old racing at melton tonight they refer to emma stewart as being the co trainer with clayton tonkin,although just his name seems to be the officail trainer. Not sure how that works. Does emma stewart still have a stay of penalty? Anyway,will aardies express show what she can do? Tonight will tell.

I think we all find the reports interesting as each of us has their own view on what we think is fair and whats not. Yesterday there was some interesting decisions which i think people could view a little differently. Paul Nairn got a 10 day suspension when driving the trotter forgiveness in race 2. i can understand that one. In his defence you could say,well the horse may have broken had he used more vigour. Maybe thats right as its a horse that just gallops for little reason if pressured,so its a tricky one for nairn when driving. But he did carry a whip and i think he just didn't quite look to show enough intent between the 200m and the 50m.I guess he got a longer suspension because hes been found guilty of that previously. I can understand why hemay feel a little frustrated he got found guilty,but what choice was there when you look at the video. Then you have the trevor grant case adjouned for a written decision. His drive at motukarara was on the 1st of april,and maybe the punters who backed him thought they were april fools after watching him in the final 200m. Now his case looked as clear as day so not sure why he defended it. But the decision will be interesting. Then you had lionel dobbs. He started the day by admitting a whip infringment from a couple of weeks ago and got suspended for 3 days.Then in race 7 he was charged with using the whip in more than a wrist flicking motion in the home straight. Now,mr dobbs doesn't have the greatest success record when it comes to his driving. one 3rd from 118 drives. But there is no doubt he can train a racehorse,just by looking at how well his small stable of gallopers go,especially emanon who has won $323,000. His horse yesterday,betterthandiva, fought hard all the way to the finish and ran a very creditable 4th. but as to his drive,I can see why the stipes looked at his drive,but shouldn't they take into account that mr dobbs is a very tall person. Did the way he drove down the straight really warrant the 5 day suspension he got? Personally i don't think so.

I just wonder who the punters they think are watching the tv ads that will be enticed to bet on the perth races? Also,i've looked at the tab website but i can't see any mention of the first 4 races being bonus back.Its on mainstream tv but not obvious if look at the perth races on their website. i find the whole thing a bit strange. I'm all for tv ads on mainstream tv. They don't seem overly costly. I would imagine given they produce their own clips that entain may be paying roughly no more than $500 for screening of the adds. They say a 30 second ad on tv 3 in the middle of the news costs about $9,000,so i can't imagine the ads at the timeslots they were using would be much. But how about use ads that possible customers can relate to and promotes nz racing. For example why not highlight say blair orange,the postman,will he deliver tonight. Highlight in say 3 x 15-30 second clips over a 1 hour timeslot the last 400m of his best placings for the night.Just start off the clip with his horse ringed. Raise the profile of industry participants who people will follow. It would be easy enough for the likes of the dunns as they are always in the same colours. someone at tracside could put that together in a short time and just play it the same night or next night ,whatever works for the tv . All i'm say,just use the tv ads in a way that actully may promote the industry,which would have an impact in attracting future punters spending.

I saw a couple of times a couple of days ago ,adds on 2 of the mainstream tv channels,from memory tvl 1 and 4. Only very short adds,promoting bonus back bets of up to $50 if you rback a horse that runs 2nd to 4th ,to win......at perth on saturday. you have to ask yourself,what value is that advertising to the nz racing industry? Races at perth run ,which will only start after nz meetings are finished. Perth,australia,i mean its not nz racing.No bonus back on nz racing. Another thing that i have noticed. Is it just me,or is the message that free to air racing is back,not been promoted in a way that it should be. Like i haven't even seen anything at the couple of tab's i visit that racing is back on free to air.

Easier than what that lady in brazil had to do. She was arrested this week for taking her dead uncle to the bank in a wheelchair, a couple of hours after he had died,trying to make out he was consenting to the withdrawal. They have a video on line showing the teller saying "i don't think this is legal,he doesn't look well,hes very pale".

Reading some of the stories that have come out of the USA recently. One thing that seems pretty clear. That is the UTSA leadership is viewed as one of the major problems for the sport going forward. Many articles have been written about many different examples of that. The lastest was relating to the UTSA getting involved on behalf of high profile owner and lawyer,howard taylor. Howard Taylor was one of the owners whose horses have been banned from competing at jeff gural operated tracks,due to being tied up with the massive drug cheating scandel,that many went through the courts in the last couple of years. The UTSA has tried to put pressure on the john campbell led hambletonian society who stage many of the bigger stakes races and breeders crowns. They want the hambletonian society to join the fight against gural ,but john campell has said jeff gural has every rite to do what he has done and they won't be changing venues. A recent article written by the well read paulick report said "lts telling the UTSA have chosen to prioritize an investigation into taylors exclusion but not priorotize an investigation iinto the merits of the allegations that prompted the exclusion. The UTSA want us to believe the real scandel here is gurals reaction to taylor being named on fishman'(the drug cheating peddlers) list,not why taylors name was on the list in the first place." Of course you only have to look at how the UTSA dealt with other aspects of that massive cheating scandel. The UTSA chose to throw the book at the whistleblowers who chose to come forward,admitting their own involvement and providing evidence and shining light on the cheaters. It was widely seen as a statement from the UTSA ,if your going to air harness racings dirty washing in the public,then we are going to punish you big time. We,the UTSA do not want dishonest deeds having any light shone on them." Just this week on the alumini harness show that had an official from the state of indianna saying how he feels indianna leadership has no integrity ,with a possible insinuation of who has been putting pressure to remove him from his job. That offical stating that he would only work in harness racing agian if he were to be employed by someone with integrity which is why he is no longer employed in indianna. Then you have had not that long ago the story about how in certain states the draws for some of the higher stake races were apparently rigged. Theres much more,but what it seems is there is a real clash of some high profile paticipants with the decisions and personalties of the leadership of the UTSA ,who are seen as lacking in integrity. It really sounds like harness racing in some place over there is led by people who place their self interests ahead of anything else. Then you have the UTSA fighting in court the introduction of rules which introduce policies relating to racetrack safety,anti doping and medication control.(called HISA). Stats are already showing that in the districts which have embraced the HISA rules,racetrack horse deaths have shown a significant drop. That has given the thorougbred industy over there some respite from the bad publicity about racehorse deaths.

Just read on the hrnz that Allamericanlover has also been retired to stud. A top mare who the Telfer stable got the best results possible from. Majestic man had 105 starts over 8 years of racing. allamericanlover had 35 starts over 4 years. Both top horses,and both able to achieve the results their ability allowed. Allamericanlover i had thought for a year or so now seemed to be troubled by soreness somewhere if you observed her gait,so she did very well to win what she did. Both the horses mentioned epitomize the courage of the horse. An element of drawing out that quality is not only them wanting to win for themselves,but also wanting to win for the people who care for them each day. theres nothing worse than having a horse and thinking, what might have been if only that didn't happen, sort of thing,so its always good to see it can happen,even if it be to others.

Well done to the connections of majestic man,from the owners to the williamsons,they have always placed a high priority on the horses well being and they have decided now is the time to retire him. Having been such a talented horse,he had 24 wins and earned $855,545. . Thats a lot of money. as the write up on his retirement noted, he "was a noted short course specialist with devastaing gate speed and was a multiple group 1 winner across the tasman". Even the best horses are not machines and sometimes very hard racing takes a toll on their bodies. At one point majestic man had a bleed when in australia and no doubt that would have been in the back of connections minds when considering whats best for majestic man. They say he will now live out his days on a property just out of oamaru. Horses like majestic man are once in a lifetime type horses and the fact that he got to show that for his connections and to punters was a great thing.

I agree with the biting the hand the feeds you,but funnily enough think its the other way around from what you mean. Take me for example. I no longer bet much.I no longer have an entain/tab account and never will again. Why,well it was a consequence of a tab policy they implemented. I was never restricted on nz harness. I think that was because they recognised i was a smaller % of a syndicate that generated large tote turnover. But also because they knew that my ff bets were never large,mostly around $20. The policy they implemented did save themselves money on the ff payouts ,but not much,but cost themselves far more in % of take from $ no longer spent on the tote.I've explained how the policy they implemented worked previously. Thats why i say,its entain that has bitten the hands of many who have fed them. I'm certain i'm not the only one with a similar story. Also,you know you ring up the tab/entain and you say to them,hey this thing your doing,can't you see how much tote turnover you are losing because of that. And their answer,well yes,but the bookies do their own thing and they are the ones in control of the policy.Then they come back to you and say,hey we spoke to the bookies,they aren't going to change. You know how forrest gumps mumma came up with that "stupid is as stupid does" quote? She used to have an account at the tab.

Punters promise. Interesting to read it only applies to nz races and for a win bet. The last time i had a bet restricted,just before i closed my account a few months ago,was when i tried to put $20 ff for a place on a dog running in a non win 350m race at goulburn,nsw. The $14 profit a bit big for them to handle as it turned out. And i hardly ever bet on the aussie dogs,let alone made money on them,but they stopped me having that bet.Shame as it ran somewhere. Always the way.

Another thing thats struck me about some posts on this topic. Theres been an inference in some peoples replies that at the end of the day,once a few meetings have passed,BGP can never come out ahead on harness racing. I simply don't believe that. I only know a bit about their harness selectors,but i know the likes of matt markham and andrew fitzgerald are very good judges of form. I can't say for sure,but i would be very confident they would be winning punters overal themselves. Why would people think they couldn't bring that success with them to BGP. Besides,given BGP are so well organised as far as every other aspect of the syndicate goes,why wouldn't they be just as professional when it comes to tapping into using knowledgable and successful punters on harness. Personally i believe that is something underestimated by entain. I still think they should take their bets like they do,but entain shouldn't come crying to anyone down the track and start suggesting they should place unrealistic limits on BGP bets due to success they may have on the punt. Instead Entain must use it properly as a marketing tool if it happens. Thats a real possibilty in my eyes. Entain has to realise theyv'e taken the top off the jeannie bottle. You may just see a thousand brodies pop out if you start limiting bgp unrealistically in the future. Now wouldn't that be interesting.

I believe brodie has always been consistent. He hasn't said entain/tab should not accept sizeable bets from the BGP.He has asked why others are restricted so heavily. That is 2 different things. I agree with entain accepting large BGP bets is basically what you and tab forever and entain and others have put forward as to the overall picture of why. But very important is having a consistencyand fairness around how all punters are treated in comparison with each other. i think brodie is simply saying,i may be a winning punter. But entain should at least place high priority on the perception that punters can win,as its an extremely important factor in peoples motivation to bet . Brodies saying i have just as much rite as the next punter to be one of those winners.If your going to limit my bets,be realistic and still give me a fair chance to win a reasonable amount. Using the casino analogy you gave gamalite,brodies saying what would it do to customer numbers frequenting a casino if they knew no one wins. People go to a casino knowing the odds are against them,but there will still be many winners on the night and they believe they have a chance one of being one of them. Is the cost of having brodie win sometimes,and he won't always win as no one does,really that bad to warrant the level of restrictions they put on him?Do the negatives really outweigh the positives. i can't see whats unreasonable about that. if entain is taking a big picture approach to BGP and including all the syndicate members private betting,then why when it comes to brodie do they solely look at his betting only and not include the thousands of other punters who bet on the same race.

Its hard to follow the consistency in your logic tab forever.. Brodies on the money,the issue we have is with the tab/entain,not bgp. Perhaps the easiest way to explain what i mean is ask yourself this... How many times has brodie complained about some punters getting on large amounts and him not being allowed to. Using the logic you are sticking with in this thread,you would say brodie is jealous,hates,critical(your words), of fellow punters who get bigger bets accepted. Yet you know thats not true,brodie has never once criticised a fellow punter. You know he wouldn't do that because you know thats not what he thinks.You know hes criticising the tab/entain. Think about the inconsistency in how you've applied past logic compared to this thread. Anyway,as walt has said earlier, your posts are mostly seen as good.And even if they weren't,as long as your saying what you actually think then people just move on when the next thread starts,a bit like looking for the winner of the next race. I do get where your coming from when you ended the above post with brown nosing,arse licking,tosser,etc. Personally i thought that funny ,funny because you always try and be positive with your posts,but you've shown your frustration on this topic. Thats just my sense of humour. I do believe a lot of the people who post on here would actually be quite tough mentally,at least thats my impression,and thats just reflected in how they post. I'll give you an analogy of how i've come to view a bit of a yarn. Theres nothing nasty ,just if other posters think you lay on the wrong side of the ruck then your going to get raked over a little. None of this the ref blowing the whistle straight away like they do now days. I just think thats something people who stick around o here come to realise. It can be frustrating if you happen to be getting a bit a of rucking,but after maybe a few minutes in the blood bin,or in our case a few days off bit of a yarn,we get back out and go again.

i was too for a while. i also knew someone else who was and they got a few nice perks but was spending somewhere between 1.5-2 million per year for a couple of years. That was the tote figures and didn't include ff. Most of that was on nz harness. Not sure whether they are an elite customer anymore,but i know they don't spend much at all these days,directly a result of policies the tab implemented.Strange but true,but thats what the tab did. Actually i was talking to that person today and they happened to mention cambridge. They mentioned bgp which they are a fan of. When i mentioned the refund bgp got, their reaction was similar to what we have been saying.

Semms gavin smith had a secret weapon when getting dashing major home first in the feature race today at methven. A hat thats bobs up and down. I don't think its likely his head shrunk ,so perhaps the hat was new. i thought i quite funny anyway and it looked like mr smith was seeing the amusing side of it during the running as he appeared to smile a couple of times. Maybe heknew he was going to be a winner. they say winners are grinners.

Seems you have listened to what others think,but haven't taken it on board.Up to you. I do think if your connected to the tab then it would help for you to at least have some empathy for how many punters feel.Just a suggestion. As to your reference to chosen customers getting invites to free food and drinks. I have never heard any punter complain about missing out on that type of thing.My guess the reason for that would be because they realise theres a difference between free drinks/food and refunding $25,000 or more. And your reference to elite customers. You should at least be comparing like to like if your going to make that argument. When you made the point about perks elite customers get,instead of telling half the story tell the whole story. All entain customers are eligible to become an elite customer if the turnover on their accounts reach certain levels. Brodie ,some elite customers can easily be winning customers . In fact i would think to reach the highest levels of the elite status,it would pay at least to be getting close to being a winning customer otherwise you wouldn't be able to maintain the turnovers required. I suppose your differentiating between customers who bet on the tote and those who bet mainly on ff. I'm sure your correct when you say that if you were an elite customer,you would be heavily restricted on the ff if you won consistently and given that wouldn't turnover the levels required to be an elite customer, or you would be someone who lost regularly on ff.

For someone who seems to think they are in touch with how the average punter thinks,i'm pretty disappointed you have such a low opinion of so many. You know,when you make multiple references to the haters and the jealous,i really do think it underlines the weakness of your arguments in addressing the reasons given for the lack of wisdom in the gift to the boys get paid,that allowed a total refund. Name calling is a classic sign of a weak argument and frustration.In your case i would say mainly the former as relates to this issue. What youv'e done with your response is divert attention to the positives of boys get paid,which sure,does have some relevance.But i would point out,No One on here has ever said they didn't recognise and agree with those points so hopefully you grudgingly accept that. How about this. I'm interested in how you can rationally come to the conclusion that there are many haters,jealous,gloating people when it comes to the boys get paid. Can you explain what it is that makes you think that. Have you had some type of experiences which make you categorise with a broad brush so many.I'm genuinelly interested in how you justify such sweeping statement. hey,i'm not denying that for some they may look at the boys get paid and think hey i can select better than them,or glad i didn't put my money in that syndicate because i prefer my own picksm or even i hope they lose.People are people,i get that. But you've taken it further with the words you've used. Personally i've been called all of the above words you have used on here over different things and not once have i thought the person calling me those names has any understanding of how i think or what i am. I think if they had,then they wouldn't be calling me names,but i've learnt now that they still would because thats all they have to counter something i have written about.Can't address the reasoning,so name call to divert. Finally i can honestly say,good luck when you invest with the boys get paid,i hope they do take the bookies to the cleaners,as i like seeing any punter win,as long as they are working under the same rules as everyone else.Whether you believe thats genuine,i can't change that,nor want to,i just want to understand how you think to get to that point.

just read the stipes report and I see a post race vet examination was requested by the dalgety stable and they found forever dream was sore in a front leg,not a hind leg like i guessed. Funny thing was i said to my wife during the running, the dalgety horse looks sore in behind,but my wife said,no its sore in front,not behind. anyway,pretty good effort from forever dream under the circumstances to still run second.

He tried the tactics you suggested in the fillies race for a win. That one a 1/2 sister to merlin.The dalgety runner had an unusual action,not sure whether thats normal or was a touch sore in behind. Williamson has a few horses in his stable from families that are doing very well recently. That 2 year old fillies race that n williamson won was worth $70,000,but only had 5 runners.Entain and hrnz focus on promoting 2 year old races by giving them big stakes and bonuses certainly hasn't helped numbers wise. Never seemed to be a strategy that made much sense if increasing number of starters was the aim in the higher stake races.. The same good 2 year olds were always still going to win the same races.Maybe later in the season in the non win races it may help.. Also of note i thought today was seeing pinseeker having to start off 20 in the cup. Hes only had 6 starts for 4 wins,yet started on the same mark as Got you covered whos had 12 wins and 27 2nd and 3rds for over $200,000 .That doesn't seem to be fair on a horse with pinseekers limited experience.

Thats one positive,but there are many negatives. they include 1)seen as preferrential treatment 2)setting a precedent. Now they have given BGP their money back,why wouldn't anyone joining the boys get paid expect to receive the same in the future. If not,why not. If its a valuable gesture today,then the same logic applies each and every time. 3)did anyone who put money into the boys get paid syndicate ,expect to get a refund if money was lost. If they did,why? If they didn't expect a refund,then how is entain losing any goodwill by doing something not expected of them? Don't punters after all accept that sometimes you lose when you gamble.Gambling is by defintion a risk with no guarantee of success. 4)you say the boys get paid will reinvest today. The main meetings today are gallops,not trots. How does giving $25,000 money earned on the harness horses,then spent on gallops,assist harness income. 5)enatin promoting something based on the perception that if the syndicate wins,they win and if the syndicate loses,it loses. In other words, entain have created a degree of distrust with their twist at the end of the nights gambling. I have nothing against the boys get paid whatsoever. They do a great job ,without any entain help,of promoting themselves and promoting racing.The perception problem with bgp getting gifted money is an issue solely derived from entains actions. The only negative i can see with the boys get paid is they seem to let people they call haters,influence in how they enjoy themselves. Maybe thats a a sign that there would be a degree of pressure from gambling with larger amounts of other peoples money. But after all,anybody who puts money into a bgp syndicate must know its gambling,unless of course they have an expectation ,based on the past,of entain gifting money to them when they lose.

Well dreams are free had its chance. Looked like the money was there for the taking when he got an easy lead,but the telfer horses ran past him late. A bit surprising given his previous races,but it happens sometimes. At least johns boy ran his normal top race. He may be no champ,but just seems to be one of those horses that can take gaps early in a race and get a good trailing position.$4.50 a nice place price.

Hopefully he got some $ off the ff bookies.someone did. Pretty sure they opened kaipaki jack on ff at around $15 and close to $4 a place.I remember looking at the price and being surprised it was so big initially. The week before it opened around the same amount then crashed in to start favorite and ran a very good 2nd.

going by the figures on the Boys get paid facebook page. Starting pool $165,489. they put the $50,064 they had left going into the last and got a return of $140,179.20 165,489-140,179.20=$25,309.80. So going by their facebook page entain gifted them $25,309.80. As to goodwill,what about some goodwill to the average punter so they can reinvest. How about entain refund any losses in future for those punters clubs that are run on course ,or punters clubs at pub tabs,etc,etc.

Today looks to be a great days viewing and there are some very good horses going around. Dreams are free in race 3 is paying $1.60. I know you don't have to be a genius to pick him,but $1.60 seems a good price. Then you have wag start in the cup. Hes a very good horse,especially when fresh,so will be interesting to see how he goes.i see hes only paying $3.20 now after opening close to double that. Probably on form deserves to be,but not a real sitter. Then you have fiery banditio in the main trot.Hes off 30m and thats awafully hard even on a big track like winton. $2.10 seems rather short for that reason to me,but maybe he is that good already. Time will tell today. also a couple of roughies on the tote that seem to be paying good odds,but just need a little luck early.Johns boy at $4.50 a place one of those i think.

If that bet they had in the last was as you have suggested,then yes they would have only lost $25,300. I've never taken a power play beforef, so looking at the ticket on their website had thought with don't stop dreaming being the first named on the ticket,it had to win and kango run in top 4,but looking at it again can see what you mean. But that changes nothing in my eyes. Entain still have refunded them over $25,000. They have never refunded me a cent before. My posts may have got the amount wrong,but $25,000 or $150,000 refunded,changes nothing for the way i see it. as far as boys get paid goes,good on them for doing what they do to promote the sport.And to their selectors,whoever they may be,i hope they do take entain to the cleaners each time. But when i say that, i know puntings not like that and that sometimes you have to cop losses, like the rest of us. But no,thats not always the case. BGP have been refunded large amounts on multiple occasions,and i,the average punter have never been refunded a cent. Its clear who entain value more,and its not the punter who turns up and invests at nearly every race meeting run.There is a clear double standard here.