the galah

I think he trained a group 1 winner about 5 years ago.Best western i think it was.If my memories correct he was geoff smalls foreman.

Yes i watched that race and was thinking exactly the same thing. David butcher just out drove him tactically,but then again david butcher is very, very clever.. W house driving on the first nigh showed that he has the talent. You don't get the results he did without that. But at this stage theres not the consistency to his tactical nous .Hes getting there,but I had thought after the first night it had just been a confidence thing,but he didn't perform to the same level last night.i read somewhere that hes only about 19. so for someone so young he is doing well. racing at palmerston north can be tricky.Theres only a few drivers that go there. D butcher and b butcher would be the best .

Well if you read the stipes report you would think that his drive was totally fine. the videos on the hrnz website. Its race 7. Unbelievably they didn't even bother to ask him why he never pulled out when driving the hot favorite. He may have had a reasonable explanation,but punters will never know because the stipes didn't think it worth asking.i know hes a young fella,but everyone should be treated the same. Anyone with a memory knows that drives not as bad have resulted in suspensions for drivers. tim williams was suspended for a drive where he failed to pull out. Wasn't that at motukarara or addington or both.Maurice mckendry. the fella ford who drives the trotters.I'm sure theres been others. To be honest its a bit of the same oldd same old.. What happens at palmerston north is not subject to the same scrutiny as other places. I guess its a north island thing.

Well he had a great night 2 nights ago,but not sure punters who backed superstar legend tonight will be too happy. Not sure what he was thinking when he let the outside horse box him in with 250m to go.Only had to pull out to win,but he waited far too long and the gap had closed.

Thats the thing isn't it. Theres no longer any relatable examples for the regular every day people to look to for inspiration. All the big races are won by the big/high profile stables with mostly similar owners. You look at the auckland cup that walt has shown and it was a full field with not one stablemate. Many of the runners coming from small time trainers and drivers.Because there were no stablemates,all the drivers were out for themselves,with no team driving like you now see regularly on the big days. That was a major part of why the sport was so great back then. Those still around who experienced all that now realise they were privileged to have done so.Thats why so many who follow the sport nowdays are older. They developed a love for the sport and that never really goes even if things are different these days. The interviewer of gammalites trainer was phillip leishman,one of new zealands highest profile media personalities for years. He died at just 61 after a brain tumor. He loved his racing and covered it a lot and also loved many other sports like golf. Racings des coppins i think was his best man at his wedding. By the way gammalite,was that you in the white singlet at the start of that clip?

Wilson house almost had the perfect day today. 5 wins and 1 second from 6 drives. Only beaten a nose in the race he ran second. The michael house runners banking over $33,000. Thats an outstanding days results for the house team. They seem to be able to travel and all the horses arrive on the track happy and healthy. Tactically w house made all the right moves on each horse,which was impressive. Hes not perfect,but he came close to it today. Perhaps w house will be our leading junior driver next year?

Gemma thornley gets suspended for 6 days. Sheree tomlinson gets suspended for 2 days. Same adjudicator. One on saturday and one on sunday. Well if you read the decisions,you are left to ask,why does gemma thornleys suspension of 6 days include upcoming meetings held in southland,where she hardly ever drives. And why does sheree tomlinsons suspension not include upcoming southland meetings,when she does drive regularly there. In the past i've pointed out some seem to get a raw deal when it comes to what days are included,especially the amatuers. here we have a very obvious inconsistency which makes no sense. Its not the drivers concerned fault. Its seems the adjudicator moved the goalposts..

Can't agree with you on this occasion. She just admitted to the obvious...pulling her own horse to give the stablemate a better chance. Just think about that.Personally i don't know her from a bar of soap,but perhaps you mean this was an out of character action. look,i know no one is perfect,but like it or not,it doesn't reflect well on that stable. I can just see the peter profit headline tomorrow.That publication has a large following. For reasons unknown to me,peter profit has a thing about the mark jones stable. Well today the Mark jones stable scored an own goal.

She plead guilty and got a 6 day suspension. Seems fair enough and at least she had the sense to recognise her mistake.

I think most thought it was a surprising move to sit 3 back the fence and once he chose to do that he was never likely to get out in time to win. Whether he would have won sitting parked is hard to tell,but we will never know. I think its because he has such good skills and tactical nous ,that is why you were frustrated he wasn't as good today.But i think your reference to southland is not relevant. In my opinion it takes greater skill to be able to drive at consistently high levels when driving horses of all classes and abilities.He does that in southland.

The winner very impressive,but it was in the perfect position to capitalise on the tactics of the leader.Zac butcher bounced back to win that one. Mantra blue i think lost the race today by how z butcher drove it the week before.It couldn't replicate the same run this week. I just couldn't understand what he was thinking last week.It had galloped in excess of 150m ,yet he still chased the field then drove it out hard to the finish and gave it a very hard run,only to be disqualified. This week was its big race,not last week. I know its easy just watching them,but i do think sometimes even the really good drivers make some strange decisions. Thats why blair orange and mark purdon are our best 2 drivers,they just don't seem to make mistakes.

Well the all stars came unstuck in the fillies race. mark purdon on his game,but sam ottley's drive madrid, seemed to be a sacrificial lamb.Thats the way it goes sometimes i suppose. In the colts race you had 2 drivers who executed a bit of team driving that benefited both,which makes sense,in that race just run that wasn't the case.

Yes sunny's sister's manners have come right when it counts. The aussie went huge. I think the race changed when tony herlihy overdrove his horse when leading. That i thought was unexpected and it meant the gaps would be more likely to come for those back in the field. It was an exciting race though with sunny's sister a worthy winner.

What a clever drive by mark purdon. He knew he if he could cross the favorite that he could hand up to his stablemate, who would keep the lead and take him to the passing lane. He knew nathan williamson would either probably have to come and race parked or stay 3 back on the inside. Either way it was to his advantage.When nathan williamson stayed 3 back the inside he knew blair orange is so cunning that he would go as slow as possible so to help oranges chances by not letting williamson out. and so it played out just as he planned.$65,000 for him and blair orange a $19,000 stake for 2nd. thanks for coming he would have been thinking. I didn't back him myself,just admire those fellas driving skills.

I guess brodie is talking about place bets. Do you bet on your tab account or at a tab brodie?

What did everyone think of the drive of the number 1 horse. Maybe to the casual observer they may not realise that the two jones runners had different colours,but anyone who follows the sport knows they were stablemates.Very ,very obvious team driving in my opinion. I personally can't understand why anyone would do that given the likely consequences and the perception it creates for that stable.

P.s.. I'm not saying you don't care about animal welfare gammalite. I'm sure from what you have written many times, you consider it the top priority. I think the difference between you and me is you also place high priority on peoples feelings,whether they be doing things legal or not. Personally i think people who give horses illegal things to improve performance,knowing there's even a small possiblity of serious major adverse effects ,don't deserve to be treated with the same level of respect.

I would have thought everyone would have a problem with a cluster of horse deaths in similar fashion from any stable,should it occur.I have no problem with the telfer stable. I think the telfer stable have changed things so they now place the welfare of there horses as top priority. Its a fine line and some put the $ first. You seem to be suggesting a top horse that tries 100% is somehow straining its heart more than a poor one that tries 100%,I certainly don't agree with that. Your right that certain stables have the occasional problem with horses dropping dead. I remember talking to an owner 30 years ago who owned a very promising horse that dropped dead. Apparently the stable had 3 that week. He believed it was a result of some sort of treatment. He never used that trainer again. Then once i was told that a certain product was a good product to use on horses with a virus. At the time it was perfectly legal.But a couple of weeks later it got a lot of publicity ,being trainers were being warned not to use in to close to a race as it would return a positive. Well i was only interested in treating my horse. Not racing. And guess what. the vet i contacted said they had stopped selling it because,in an attempt to improve performance,trainers had been overdosing their horses and killing them. He said many horses had died. Did you not read the new york cases. There was clear evidence that the multiple horse deaths were related to the perfomance enhancers being used.Remember the wire tap when a supplier was recorded as talking about the rene allard death camp. I really can't understand why people prioritise peoples feelings over animal welfare.and turn a blind eye to the obvious

Well speculate is what we both do on bit of a yarn. I add 2 plus 2 and get what i think is 4. I'm just not a fan of the dolan or stewart stables.I started threads on why in the past. But many are. I've seen what i have seen,you can't erase history. I have formed my opinions not on one off occurences but what i believe are patterns. You don't agree. Fair enough.

I guess i will say what most are thinking,but don't bother saying except to their mates and that is, that can happen when you pump things into them. The article goes on about how much they care about their horses, well yes i'm sure they do care a great deal,but they care more about the $. You know,harness racing is strange in how it worries about how the public percieives the sport.They focus on the whip rule but that is so insignificant when you compare it to stuff like horses dropping dead on the track.We all knows its what a very small % of trainers do to enhance performance that is the most obvious thing that is detrimental to their horses long term health. It happened on the same week emma stewart was disqualified for 6 months.Her partner was the blue magic guy. These people are great trainers but often the long term health of horses they train is comprimised. Some may say that p williamson had a young horse die recently,but you have to look at how they die. His horse got sick and died after receiving veteriarian treatment. Its the horses that drop dead on the training track that are possibly the dodgy ones,like amore vita.

number 4 for me thanks

Last year they had 11 starters ,7 of which were from the all stars barn. This year there is only 7 starters and 3 of the 7 are non win 2year olds.2 being from the all stars barn. The leading 2 year old ,chase a dream was taken out of the race a couple of days after his big group 1 race last month. Apparently a blood test taken from him showed he needed a spell. From hitting the line strongly for an outstanding perfomance to needing a spell within a couple of days. I'm certain they know what they are doing,but would be interesting to know what the blood tests showed.Was it his red cell count? The 2 year old colts and geldings trotters race only has 9 starters,4 of which are non win horses. The 2 year old fillies have reasonable size fields. so it seems the perdicted increase in numbers,because of running these big races in december has not eventuated in the last couple of years as was predicted..

I just watched that replay. Nerano impressive. A possible winner of final if he draws well and leap to fame doesn't.same owner as swayzee. I used to follow him over here. I backed him when he won his first race at manawatu,although he was one of those horses that seemed to hang a bit and do just enough to make you think he could win next time with the right run. One of those horses you keep following thinking he had speed,but that you seemed to end up chasing your money on. i just looked it up and see he had 2 wins from 16 starts,1 at manawatu and 1 at addington. I have followed him a little in australia because of that,but haven't taken much notice of who trained him. Certainly looks like he has gone to a higher level recently,especially this week. Has grimson always been his australian trainer?

T wilmas boy is an intersting one. won like a champ first up then never trotting ok last week .i liked judy j in that one although may get too far back as following wrong horse out. Deceptive lee in the last looks tough to beat.

i think looking to blame someone for having a hand in where it all started doesn't achive anything and is just confusing because there would have been no one person.. Also i think it again reflects the "either your with us or against us " attitude that some foster. I think everyone in the sport loves it in their own way and people should just try and do and say what they think is right.Its just on some things,many will never agree. But the one common thing is they enjoy the horses and most of the people in it.