the galah

I think if gerard o'reilly was intent on leading then he should just have let dunn go to the front then come out of the trail before orange did,and take the lead back.Just driving at a consistent pace throughout that manoeuvre. But of course thats easy for me to say after the fact,but it still was a good option at the time. I agree its interesting to share different takes on tactics used.

Its a tricky one,as john dunn doesn't normally overdo it like that .It made for an entertaining race and thats how it goes sometimes. I would say,in my opinion i thought the g o'reilly drive was the poorer of the two. Maybe mr o'reilly has seen the dunn stable take a horse to the front,then wait for a stablemate to take the lead off it,so maybe he thought your not doing that to me. But i say o'reillys was the poorer of the two drives because The Falcon has supposedly had a few recent issues going by what the trainer said when it won earlier in the month. Yet,just when you would think the horse is getting his confidence back,hes driven to have a real gut buster when he could have taken the trail and got a soft run. After all ,he came from off the pace when he won,so wouldn't you think he would be driven that way again? Personally i just think it was one of those races where two drivers intially thought they were doing the right thing,but both underestimated each others stubbornness,and both horses, especially The falcon,had much harder runs than they should have. They still did run there last 400m in 27.0 seconds,so maybe they will both go ok next time. Time will tell.

Looks like most of those in tasmaian harness racing are either related to each other, have worked or drove for ben yole.Those that aren't don't seem to get along with the yoles Ben yole,tim yole,nathan ford and mitch ford are the ones currently barred from racetracks. Tiarna ford(apparently a talented sportsperson) and dylan ford(brother and sister) drove regularaly for the ben yole stable when they had multiple runners in previously. Seems they are related to the fords that are currently banned and when Nathan Ford was disqualified for a brawl after the 2015 tasmainan harness awards with the Hilliers,dylan ford also turned up and got charged with disorderly behavior. Now dylan and tiarna fords mother is tammy langley who often has multiple runners who run in races against the ben yole stable. They tend to be driven by either her son or daughter. Their father is Philip Ford,previously a premiership winning trainer,prior to being disqualified for 4 years for milkshaking in 2012,the 3rd serious breach he had been charged with in 8 years. His son used his training facilities and employed his father once his diqualification ended in 2017. Dylan ford was disqualified for 5 months in 2016 then for 2 years for milkshalikng in 2018.Obviously he learnt a thing or two from his father. Then you have allan mcdonough who regularly drove for ben yole and is down to drive some of the wayne yole trained horses on sunday. A harness trainer by that name was disqualified in 2008 then someone by that name from victoria,was fined relating to arsenic in a horses system while it was in tasmania last year. Imagine all them driving in a race for the Ben yole stable. Anyway,thats just from a quick look to fill time. It doesn't paint a very honest picture of what tasmanian harness racing is.Seems too entrenched and too many connections to believe they could ever clean up their act,which is a shame for those who actually play by the rules over there.

So Yoles father now seemingly has taken over the training of many of the yoles horses.He has 8 in one race on sunday. So the man who was reportedly ben yoles stable forman,who worked at his sons training establishment 6 days a week during the times of all the animal abuse ,race fixing and everything else that went on,just steps in when they ban his son. No doubt this has been the go to plan for the yoles for a while now,ever since the publicity Yoles father saying just before they banned his son,that he was looking forward to training more now he was getting a bit older.He trained his first winner for 3 years last month. Why would anyone think ben yoles father at age 71,or yoles staff who chose to work for ben yole when they must have known what went on,why would anyone think much will change? if their standards and practices were that low,In reality nothing will change,they will just get better at hiding that type of thing.

A good ,honest hard working man was dick caskey who always had a couple in work. Often raced his horses in southland and would always make the round 10 hour trip on the same day. Used to love a drink as well. I remember hearing a couple of stories about him. One was when he raced a horse in central otago and when trainers came to feed their horses in the morning,there was dick lying on the ground,half in a stall sound asleep after a hard night out. I think he was a shearer for many years. I remember getting to know him when i was quite young after my car broke down one day and he happened to be going past and helped get it going again. He seemed to know a bit about car engines. Of course that was some time ago now.He once told me how he had taken bambi to australia to race.From memory bambi stood on the mark in its last race there and didn't move and he was told by the stipes to take his horse home and don't come back. At least thats how he told the story.He spent some time shearing in australia. He was one of those characters that you wouldn't come across these days. But a really good hearted bloke.

This has made me wonder,how did the word dick ever become given the name for a penis.Well it seems the word dick came from english slang It seems back in 1550 there were a lot of men with the name richard,and about that time people who had been calling richard rick,started using the name dick as it rhymed. Then in 1665, an irish playwright,with would you believe the name Richard Head,wrote a very popular satirical novel (the english rogue),where he had a character whose real name was richard,but he gave the english slang name of dick.In the novel this dick,impregnated a woman who was having trouble conceiving. So then apparently the word dick being referred to as a name for a penis became quite popular then english soldiers,about the late 19th century started using it all the time.Up until then the word willy or yard(you would think that wishful thinking) had been the more popular. So there you have it. Whether you needed or wanted to know that or not.

The person who told me said only a handful of trainers ever used the grass and they only trained a couple and that they only ever worked around the very outside of the track anyway once or twice a week when allowed. Just a case of another club prioritising who they think is important to them i suppose.

I wonder if he ever drove against the maurice skinner trained Colossal Dick?(by.. dick adios /colossal queen)

I also used to think they should have some sort of raceday showcasing the horse, where all horse activities and disciplines paricipate and give displays. ponies,barrel racers,trick riding,carriage driving,big and small,clydsedales to minatures,Young and old. That would be the type of day where hrnz showcase the employment opportunities within the harness industry like a career day does at school. Prizes could include future tandem sulky rides at high profile horse trainers training facilities.Thats the type of day that feed companies,farrier companies,equine health companies,etc you would think would easily sponsor. A lot of work the first year but then not so much thereafter. Shame really stuff like that doesn't happen.Just wishful thinking.Harness racing has a very promotable product,but it doesn't happen as well as it should.

Yes i remember them at addington.They were very entertaining and always brought support from their sporting clubs numbers wise that added a different dimension to the nights racing. i also remember bowls night where they would have a roll up and then there was golf night which from memory was where they did a bit of putting. I know from many years of observation that sports like bowls and golf have many harness followers and punters. Of course rugby clubs used to have their night as well and i think that may have been sprints as well or maybe they wer the ones who pulled the sulkies. All those things at addington. Then there was pubs nights i think. Darts is another sport which had a lot of people in that liked a bet.Thatb would have been an easy one to have a promotion on course. Race days at country clubs used to always have the undie run. Not enough people for that these days but i can imagine on days like geraldine in november,that type of thing would go down great with the pre christmas crowd they get,but it never happens these days. Of course all the kids activities were always good to attract the families. Of course no reason that sports clubs and kids activities on country race days couldn't intertwine. Also some clubs used to have racedays where local radio stations would have representatives on a local committee to promote activities with the raceday being called the radio station or newspaper raceday and would be heavily promoted by them for free. Never seems to happen today. But somehow it seems that HRNZ has taken the focus away from clubs promoting on course attendance and clubs no longer have the energy or desire to go there. Given how it all worked so well in the past its rather sad,but thats the way some things have become. No reason it wouldn't work again and its the type of thing sponsors could be found for,but like i say you get the impression the energy,drive and resources from hrnz and clubs is no longer there.

Thats sort of a different topic from what i've discussed. I personally don't think young people really give much consideration to body shapes or what current participants look like or wear, when it comes to them considering participation in harness racing. When you raise the point of "who is the future of harness racing? young people". I look at it this way. firstly If you run a business you should recognise and understand who your customers are and why. secondly the most likely pool of new customers are always going to be people similar to your current customers,so in other words that is who you should target and consider for future participation. $ spent on marketing just need to look at who attends and when currently.Then direct the marketing $ in that direction.Niche marketing for certain days. In other words days like cup day,more focus can be on young people,say 18-35. I'm just talking big picture. It all depends on what sector of the industry you are trying to attract people to. For employment in the industry i think harness racing underplays the female side of things. Harness racing has many very good female role models. That needs to be promoted more. For punters. The industry should follow the advice from the wagering companies on things like that. But the stats tell the story on the average age of punters on horse racing. Sports groups is another target group they could warrant marketing,but once again only on niche days. But if your looking to attract more owners and regular racegoers at tracks like addington,then the traget group should be people over 45. Again there is a niche market for grass track days where families should be targeted. The industry needs to look at the different sectors within the industry and have different strategies for attracting each group. Thats why i say when i hear people say the future of the industry is young people,i think to myself ,well no its not. The future is people the same as who are currently involved. You just want more of them. This emphasis on young people to me is like a rest home saying the future of our industry is people in their 60's. Well yeah they may be,but not for another 20 years in most cases.Just start marketing for those customers 5 years out and not 20 i say.

Fitness and especially being overweight, are factors which would influence performance for someone whose job it is to commentate. Its just common sense to me. We all know that for example,someone who is overweight has reduced lung volumes and greater chance of laboured breathing.Studies show that .Just look around. I make this comment about aaron white because it wasn't that long ago that you could hear him breathing when he did race commentaries. I didn't imagine it and i found it off putting myself. Trevor wilkes was the same near the end of his career. Thats why i suggest it was factor at that time in him being better at calling short races like greyhounds and gallops. Now he may well have taken steps to improve his weight and lung capacity in recent times.i hope he has as he would know better than anyone how it impacts his job. People may gloss over it,but it is a relevant point.

my son applied for a cleaning job a couple of weeks back with the canterbury dhb,but has since been told he by someone in the know that he would have had a much better chance if he was maori. Then yesterday he was telling me how he was talking to a filipino friend who had applied for a non paying,voluntary position within the canterburty DHB involving cleaning. He had hoped by gaining the cleaning skills without receiving pay would help him get a full time or part position at the dhb. Well the filipino friend got a call a couple of days back from the person who was deciding who it was they give the unpaid position to. Initailly the filipino man was delighted to get the call,but the call then was only brief. The last 2 questions asked were..was he maori to which he replied no i'm filipino,then do you have a brother or sister who are maori,to which he replied...no i'm living with my brother ,but he is filipino as well and asked did that matter as he thought he was just voluteering for cleaning as advertised. Then the call ended without further questions. So i looked up the canterbury dhb policy on such jobs. It said any vacancy or new position that occurs within the canterbury dhb has to be assessed for the need to be redesignated as a position maori or pacific island should do. It was interesting that a couple of years ago 3 of the 7 community and public health team leaders with canterbury,south canterbury and west coast were maori. Then i went on to read what must be considered every time a position is advertised at the canterbury DHB. Now i'm not sure whether this applies to all cleaning jobs,but certainly applies to other jobs such as health care, before deciding who gets an interview and what is asked at those interviews. Aspects to consider. Do you know if the interviewee is maori. Is there maori on the interview panel and if so,what roles do they want in the interview and have they been involved in such things as short listing,developing of questions and preparation pior the interview. it also says interview panels should have at least one maori. All interview incorporate questions based on tikanga,te tiritio waitangi and maori health inequalities. Interviews to include questions about cultural competencies as required and that maori questions and competencies included in the short listing process. Questions to be asked in relation to health care roles to include .. Partnership,participation and protection are commonly recognised as 3 principles of the treaty of waitangi-how would you incorporate these or other treaty principles in your work within this role. Maori health inequities within nz are well documented-can you give an example in the canterbury/south canterbury/west coast district. How do you believe your work in this role will help improve health inequities for maori. What experiences and exposure have you had with te reo maori. Anyway you get the picture . this is what the labour government/maori party/ green party prioritised when in government. So when i read all that i can see why maori are so anti the currwent government. They must be worried about the gravy train drying up to a small degree,although you would imagine 6 years of these polices would be hard to undo. Which all goes back to what the filipino friend of my son said. Why can't they just judge me on whether i can do the job or not.

All good points,but wasn't it the decision to not sell the land and instead become property developers which meant the current ATC board don't have the resources to deal with the problems you mention as well as they should.So you have to cut the current board some slack i suppose. And from memory a couple of trainers,one being mr balle,were directors back then?, who made the well meaning but catastrophic decision around the property development. So i guess if anyone knows the pitfalls and has seen the consequences of really poor decision making first hand,who better to approach as investors than those that were on the board in 2014?

If we look at what you have just said. You say your "firm on the anti auckland thing",putting our opinions into that category. Whereas we are just saying auckland racing is more boring because we find it more boring. In other words,that has nothing to do with being anti-auckland. Then you refer to personel attacks when discussing commentators,as if someone saying aaron white is not rated highly as a trots commentator,is in someway meant as a personal attack. In reality we think there are much better commentators who could be doing the job and we say that because thats what we think.No hidden agendas,just saying what we think. So your countering the opinions held by others with an invalid arguments. Or then again ,thats may be what you actually think. Nothing wrong with that,but you didn't stop there,you went on to justify those opinions with what you should know was irrelevant. Personally i have a theory about the commentating side of things. That is that a commentotor needs to stay in good physical health to commentate at the highest level on a harness race,or a 2 mile galloping race or a steeplechase..Simply because its the length of time those races take.I believe that is part of why aaron white can't often maintain the energy levels in his calls at harness meetings and is why he is much better at gallops and dogs,because those don't last as long.

Aaron white does have a good accuracy and flow as you describe. However the difference between him and say a mat cross or justin evans or jazon teaz is that they seem to be able to transfer the excitement,disappointment in their use of language and tone in to a commentary and feel the excitement as if they knew the connections and horses. I also like craig rail. His calls not quite as exciting as the three i have just mentioned but because he displays and acknowledges the breeding and ownership details that many find interesting better than anyone else,his all round game is very good. The likes of fogarty seems talented and has really good potential to reach high levels and mccook goes ok.I would rate Mccook similar to aaron white,but mcccok has more transferrable energy in his calls than white does when it comes to run of the mill races. After all,90% of races run in nz harness are run of the mill,every day races. A good commentator can make those races sound just as exciting for connections and listeners as a big race and people who watch and listen to a commentary can feel that. So thats why i feel they need to use someone else for harness racing in the north. In fiarness to, white,he doesn't have the same product to work with like they do else where. In other words its just the same small group of people involved in northern harness racing and northern harness raci9ng is more boring than elsewhere. Mind you jason teaz used to have small fields at places like forbury but was able to capture the viewers attention.

Someone told me recently that no harness trainers allowed to work on grass anymore at motukarara. No harness workouts on grass due to that last week.Just to be used for raceday. So wouldn't hold your breath there.

I agree with you about the whale. great guy,but last night having greg o'connor in the studio was much better than having the whale there. Keep the whale for his on course comments at auckland. It worked well last night with o'connor in the studio and the 2 on course presenters. I don't mind the lady they have that does the trots on trackside either. And i totally agree about aaron white. I think he does a very good job when calling the dogs and gallops,but when it comes to the trots he just seems to have no excitement in the average run of the mill races. Theres an inconsistency in his performances,especially for the low grade meetings in my opinion. I've always thought if hes the man selling harness racing as an exciting sport,then harness racing won't get any new clients. Combine the whale in studio and aaron white as commentator and it comes across as a boring sport.

Tipping short priced favorites seems to be the way tipsters go these days. I always believe those who do the tipping should state what they think is a fair price as well when tipping a horse. And backing several short priced favorites iin one night in my opiniion is not the way to make much money. You either win,but not much,or lose but not much. I never had a bet at aucklnad,but who would have picked mach shard to beat self assured. On form that had to be impossible to predict. And i watched All Cashed Up closely as i thought it looked the bet of the night,it was actually paying a good price for what seemed a sitter. I just watched it hoping it didn't win,like you do when you have no money on. Well i thought she couldn't have driven it any better if you were wanting it to get beaten. It was one of those races where you watch and think ,why on earth doesn't she just move up a bit closer,when they were going so slow? You could see the race slipping from her grasp like a slow movie,and sure enough it did. But that happens sometimes.You can pick the horse who looks a winner,but they don't always win.

Thats an interesting take honestjohn. I looked it up and in 2016 in the USA 25.3% of people under 17 wore glasses/contact lenses,whether it be throughout the day or just reading glasses. 53.4% aged between 18-34 and 77.5% over 55. Another study found 92% over 65 wore reading glasses. Another study found people perceived you to look 3.3 years older wearing glasses,once you got to 45. Whereas when wearing sunglasses,people percieved young people to be the same age but 1.8 years younger if an older person wearing sunglasses This was put down to the sunglasses covering the wrinkles around the eyes. Then the hearing aide thing you bring up.. Couldn't find any specific stats about nz other than just over 10% of the population have a hearing aide,and obviously the older you get the more likely you are to have one.They are worn on average 7.8 hours per day. People who have hearing loss-people with hearing aides compared to those without who have hearing loss. People with the hearing aides are less likely to be depressed or anxious,more likely to be more productive,10% more likely have all the following.. be employed,better sleep, have eye exams,cholesterol checks,take a pet to the vet,etc. Also as relates to the most common form of dementia,alzheimers. Hearing aides are a significant factor in delaying or preventing alzheimers, reportedly by up to 40%. In nz its been reported half the prison population has hearing loss. Whether thats because they are tested more there?,but poor childhood hearing has been shown to be linked to anti social behavior. More maori and pacific people have hearing loss believed to be due to the type of occupations many have. So how that relates to colin defillipi . well i guess the glasses stats show the high % of people who use glasses. And the hearing aide you say he uses, indicates he is most likely to be happeier and more productive and more likely to look after his health more. At the end of the day,personally i thinks its like somone who loves golf. They may have been on a one handicap when at their best 20 years ago,but they still love playing golf and even though they may have dropped to a eigth handicap,they still will be mush better now than most will ever be. So why would you give away doing something you still enjoy. So its really for anyone and their family to decide when they want to cut back participation,not for anyone else to decide or influence.

i just looked it up he won the 1997 group 2 herbert power stakes in melbourne. isn't that a lead in race to the melbourne cup? I used to follow australian racing back then but when you had all those imports from overseas running in the big staying races, i lost interest. Pretty sure from memory he had a pet dog,maybe he did try racing a greyhound or two like you say.

I think the property he and his family had on the main road just out of ashburton was formerly owned by the old fella macpherson who trained the great trotter sir castleton. He sold it to a fella with i think clydesdales when he moved to takaka. I think thats right,i will have a look next time i drive past although the roadside hedges have grown a bit in recent years. Carlislie bay and hurrah were a couple of good horses he bred and sold to hong kong that he was particularly proud of their achievements. I read once where he now sort of lives like they did in the good life tv series,on a few acres and does a bit of fishing as well. Don't think there would be the stresses of being a horse trainer with that lifestyle.

Robert thomas was a very talented man. He did have an interesting family history didn't he. He was particularly good at bowen therapy.A light soft tissue manipulation technique. I haven't met anyone better at it than him. His pre race bowen therapy sessions about 3 days before were a really good investment. Shame he moved to takaka, i think it was. I was speaking to a lady that does equine horse massages about 9 months ago and she was telling me she thought he was still up there.

Just looked him up. Last had a horse to the races in 2020 ,a horse called chorister. He trained an ex north island horse ,sandcastle to win an open handicap at ashburton in 2012,paying $40.Terry mosely rode.It was a noted front runner. Colours are red body with black arms with a purple armband and cap. Interesting what pops up if you do a search.

Are any gallopers trained at motukarara?