the galah

i can just see the Brodster walking down the street with his mask, sunglasses and hat on ,always looking down. Is he finally taking the covid thing seriously....No hes off to the TAB..

I thought a top drive last night was A harrison on chimchurri. She knew orange would not run the risk of being blocked on the fence and showed good thinking by moving at just the right time to get the perfect run on oranges back. It was a move that the horse between her and orange could have made,but she read the tactics of the drivers concerned well.They are the moves that win and lose races,there being a fine line sometimes. But the better drivers seem to get it right every time.

I saw the drive of n rasmussen the opposite. Normally she gets the tactics spot on,but in that race she didn't in my opinion.Kango runs its best races in front and was never going to give the lead to self assured without a fight.Had kango trailed he had no chance of winning. Unfortunately for Butcher,he probably didn't think Rasmussen would persist to the point where it would leave both kango and self assured vulnerable in the finish. You have to also factor in he beat her fair and square the week before by using the same tactics, which is even more reason to think the lead was never going to be there. Having said that,its things like that,that made for an exciting race.Mark purdon again got the perfect run. He just seems to do that so often that you can't help but admire his driving skills,even taking into account hes always on the better chances .

I think the harm protection policy,and the ability of government to have influence and control over the NZ TAB in respect of that sounds full of merit.The current situation of government having no control of enforcing overseas operators in that respect was something that we can all understand needed change.I guess that is part of how they influence public opinion of those who have little interest in gambling, to accept possible growth by the NZTAB. But like you have said brodie,Why should winning punters think they will be assisted by the tab or Entain. McAnulty said winning punters who beat the bookies shouldn't be restricted. Well why didn't he say that part of the deal was to include a regulation or law or whatever,that ensured exactly that. Had he done so, he might have won your vote on that alone. Maybe,...nah,probably not.

Good question.Its like they have cherry picked the best bits for the announcement to the racing industry but given the broad sweeping statements,is there a full report that gives actual detail that those who are interested can read so they can have a more informed opinion. Mr McAnulty does seem to at least understand the issues. Its just we've heard so called game changing announcements before,and they failed to deliver.We all remember seeing John allen go on and on about the new TAB website in 2019 being a game changer to improve revenue. That was a disaster that never made sense.And so it proved. At least this some of the claims by mcanulty appear to make sense to a certain degree.

That announcement said the tab would have the monopoly over racing and sports betting. But then it said that will happen once further work has been done. How long does that take as they first started looking into it in 2019. McAnulty seems to be pushing for positive change,but what it actually all means does need to be put into words that everyone can understand. When he said the nz tab will receive more punter support,because nz punters won't have anywhere else to go...well does that mean any betting on the likes of the overseas betting agencies like betfair will be prohibited in the future? sounds like it,but when are the laws for that coming into effect. And what about the online casions's,lotteries and the fastest form of gambling in nz the on line pokie machines. Are they part of what he has said will be the tab's monopoly of on line gambling.He says the tab will remove its 500 nz class 4 gaming licences(is that 500 pokies or 500 venues for pokies).What does that actually mean as far as income sources for the likes of the clubs who currently benefit. If so,will the TAB in the future provide those type of products online and if so where does the money go.Currently the overseas agencies for the likes of the pokies don't have any harm minimalization commitments, is that what he is talking about when he talks about reducing problem gambling harm,or do they just carry on as is. Whats this facial recognition the entain talks about. They refer to it as a way of stopping problem gamblers placing bets,but will that be another way of restricting winning punters. McAnulty said in his press conference that punters who beat the bookies shouldn't be restricted. Is that not a bit of a fairy tale claim which makes you wonder how accurate the rest of what he said is. Given the NZ tab clearly has a policy of doing everything they can to stop winning punters from investing,as do overseas bookmakers which i thought entain was,then why is much going to change. Like i said,how much of what he says actually be delivered and how much will turn out to be hot air speculation? And what are the timelines?

You need to do your form a bit more newmarket. The field it raced against a couple of nights ago included 1 that had won a group one race,another who had placed in a group 1 and won a listed race the week before,and another who had run 4th in a group 1 race. And the rest were all mares who had very nice records. So superstar legend actually ran a very respectable race. The week before when it won,it was a handy field and a very nice stake,but not as strong as the latest race.

team 3 for me

That about sums it up. if you look at recent performances,the form reversal came from the driver,not the horse. If they had a write up for the driver,it would be....capable on his day,but normally running on far too late.Expect much of the same tonight... That would turn out to be accurate 95% of the time,but last night we saw the 5% of the time.

I think the first thing the ambulance crew do is put all those wires on you and do an ECG while ascertaining what the symptoms were. If the ecg shows you've got a blocked artery ,they get the big needle out and give you something to dissolve the clot that has caused the blockage.Obviously the sooner they get to you and can clear the blockage the better,as damage is done to heart muscle while you have a blockage.Sometimes they wait till they get to hospital to give you the treatment,sometimes they do it where ever they find you depending on how far away from the hospital you are.,because time is so important. They can give you aspirin sometimes. My wife always makes sure we carry a couple of aspirin where ever we go just in case. I often wonder about people who live more than a few minutes away from emergency services.I suppose no one expects to have the likes of a heart attack,but shouldn't quick access to emergency services be a factor in where you chose to live as you get a bit older.After all,if you happen to have a heart attack,for many it can be a very life changing event.

I had it rated as the top selection but didn't bother having a bet as i thought wilson house would probably go back from his outside draw,like he did last start. I always think his go to tactics are go back to last if drawn wide. Instead he drove a very well judged race. It went very well last start,running home well in a race run in near record time. The previous 2 starts it never had much room to improve in the straights,when travelling ok at the time. It had won the most races and earned the most money previously than anything in the field,so was very well graded.Half the field had only won 1 race and it had won 10 prior. So it wasn't a form reversal,just a positive drive when you don't normally see that from house. I have to admit,after 100m i was kicking myself for not having a bet,but well done to the house team. Also good to see the Tappers who own it back in the winners circle. I think they trained a dominion handicap winner at one stage.

Actually i would imagine it must be rather strange for someone seeing people commenting on social media about your health issues. I find it that anyway. Everyone has different levels of empathy about all things,often based on whether they have seen the consequences first hand.

heart attacks have always been called serious medical events haven't they?Certainly could be life changing for whoever had one and their families, if they survive it.

thanks chief. I was actually meaning the unhinged part afterwards that you somehow seem to have worked out how to post on here previously.

Chief,dont know how you do the above,but are you able to put up the one for big mama morris at rangiora last week. I'm sure people would enjoy seeing that one.

i think maureen pugh was the national MP who Luxon censored for simply saying she was engaged in dialogue with the protesters at the beehive. The galloping industry does seem to employ a lot of people from overseas. So many industries do,obviously because they are mostly hard working and committed to working what are often long hours for just average reimbursement and stressful work environments. The rest home industry a classic example. One thing which i think deserves more discussion than it gets is the amount of remittances that foreign workers send back home to there families overseas. For example i just looked it up and in 2017 the world bank estimated $2,408,000,000(2 billion,408 million in words i think) was sent by people working in nz,back to countries overseas.They estimated,from data they had,that china got $624 million,india $341 million,australia $248m,uk 215,philippines 189m,samoa$65 m,south korea$63m,south africa $60,tonaga $55.m. Yet nz only had about 1/5 of that coming in. Australia $228m,uk 21m,usa 12m and brunei $10 the highest 4 countries.. Those figures would have gone up significantly prior to the covid thing,and no doubt are on the way back up again now. So all that money going out of the economy.Not being spent locally. Oh well,i will get back to picking a winner for the weekend.

I agree,but the national party also was fully supportive of the vaccine mandates and only called for the relaxation of mandate rules near the end. Luxon wouldn't allow any of his party to even engage in dialogue with the beehive protesters. Remember mick guerin going on the box seat and saying those who didn't take the vaccine didn't deserve to be on a racetrack and were not deserving of any respect. I read an article earlier this week about the only doctor left in murupara in the bay of plenty,currently flying in unvaccinated doctors from the south island to help out.The murupara area had seen 2 of its 4 doctors go for being unvaccinated,the only doctor now left had been stood down at one stage for expressing his concerns about the vaccine. Now he can't find any doctors in the north island,hence the use of a southland doctor as a fill in. The unvaccinated southland doctor went on record to say,the reason she was travelling so far for work was because,being unvaccinated, she couldn't find a job in southland.Thats despite recent news coverage of a crippling lack of doctors in southland. Last month they had a court of appeal case involving unvaccinated teachers. It was being argued by the unvaccinated teachers that despite the easing of mandates,the effect of them still remained. It said over 3000 teachers had been forced out because of the mandates,and most of them remain out of the profession.Yet the nz government has recently been pushing hard to recruit overseas teachers and the funding of costs to come here. Of course,even today, there are many other professions where there are major shortages,where the government would rather look overseas than have the local unvaccinated.

Not sure about that chief. I was watching the race with someone and we both commented on what cox did at the time he did it.. Your right in that he has no doubt done what he did because he felt the trailing horse may have possibly injured him,but his reaction did seem over the top,and a mitigating factor was he did it more than just the once. it was a race,and the horse he was trying to hit had most of the field behind it and as you would know,the horse concerned may have reacted differently and galloped,so there was possible nasty consequences to what he did,which of course is why other drivers don't ever react like he did. I guess in his defence,The horse causing him the discomfort,obviously didn't worry too much about contact with him before he reacted,so most likely wasn't likely to after. I think he may have been better calling out to holmes to tell him of his discomfort. Holmes made a move off his back as soon as he realised cox's discomfort.

I obviously don't agree,but each to their own. From your posts i guess who you are thinking about,but i don't think that a fair comment about him anyway. From your posts,we wouldn't agree on that much,but i think we would actually get on well if we met. I like a lot about how you think.

I'm referring to the reason(error) for the stable having more race deaths in such a short space of time along with the higher number of horses dropping out of races,than any other stable i can ever think of. Obviously i believe there has been a pattern of events. Thats indisputable, even though not everyone acknowledges it. I think the most likely cause is the horses have been treated with something(not saying anything illegal here), and the adverse, unintentional effects of treatment, has impacted the racing performances/health of some of the horses from that stable. I haven't heard any other explanation yet that makes any sense. Its nothing to do with cullen,as you must know. i think he is a man of very high integrity. Thats probably part of why the telfers wanted him as part of their team. As i have said before,i think this topic is fading into past news. New horses will come through the stable,and the stable will put it all behind them. The topic to me is just another reason why harness racing has been on the decline. People place too much emphasis on defending reputations and standing. No one is perfect,people make mistakes,consequences often far outweigh actions,etc ,etc. But for harness racing,many people in the industry have this go to defense mechanism to observations or criticism.Too often the response to mistakes made are to always paint those who transgress as infallible, always maintaining virtuous behavior. However there is also often an undeniable double standard,depending on the level of success of the people involved. Why are the high achievers somehow incapable of errors and possessing of more virtue than the less achievers?Anyway,thats me done on this topic..

My point is i'm guessing they have been a little bit rattled by what has happened previously and have been trying to be cautious. Obviously they wouldn't take horses to the races if they thought something may go wrong and they take pride in their horses performances.Hopefully they have worked it all out by now as some,like myself,think some of the horses they care very much about have paid a price for errors they have made.

Fair enough. Though i would say that by limiting the view of the telfer horses to just the issue of horse deaths,doesn't take into account the point i have often made about the unusual number of telfer trained horses that have dropped out in their races over the last year or so. I've given many examples over time. They are after all the winner of the trainers premiership last year,yet they have had many run last by long distances,some pulling up distressed. I gave the example last month of the lead up meeting to the grins meeting. That night they had 7 starters for 4 lasts,with runners being beaten by as much as 80 lengths,47 lengths and 33 lengths. Sometimes manners has been a factor,and that happens, but sometimes its not apparent why.One of them they said that night choked down,but it had walked home a couple of starts prior as well.Then of course they lined up just the one on grins night,bd joe and he dropped out to a bad last by 36 lengths. I can see why there are differing opinions on the subject.

That does apply for the year ending 2021. So that is a relevant point you make in respect to that year.In 2021,the extra 5 months boosted the telfer starts to 718 that year. Last year they had 506 starts. This year 1/3 of the way through they have had only 120 starts,a clear reduction. Mick Guerin wrote an article last december saying the telfers would be expanding the numbers in training to 120 individual horses this season.Obviously increasing numbers in training doesn't increase the number of starts overnight,but the point is there hasn't been any reduction in numbers trained.

In my opinion,it was obvious that there was more to the troubles the stable had,than just an unfortunate run of bad luck.Anyone who ignored that simply doesn't rate the issue of animal welfare as high as they should. Compare the scrutiny some drivers get when policing the whip rule,to the apparent lack of scrutiny the telfer stable got when this was occuring.When it comes to the issue of animal welfare,i know what is the more important issue. Having said that,its my opinion the telfer stable has paid a price. Apart from the obvious unwanted attention,one of the most obvious things any current harness racing followers must have noticed,had they given it any thought,is the significant reduction in number of horses the stable has been lining up,in particular the North island branch of the stable. Also the recent drop off in performances of many of the horses that raced from that stable last year.Compare their starter numbers and udrs from last year to this. Also as an indicator,look at the udr of what i thought was the number 1 north island stable driver.James stormont reportedly begun work at the telfer stable at the end of last year. In 2022 he had a udr of 2.173,with 19 wins from 158 starts. This year his udr is 1.111,with 3 wins from 52 starts. One consistent pattern when it comes to matters like this,you see what i have mentioned above occur after scrutiny,whatever the stable in question may be.Theres been so many examples in history that it's an undeniable fact. Currently. I think the telfer stable has made changes and they are doing their best to not make any mistakes that could compromise their horses health.They have recognised their horses health is their top priority. As to the issue of the fella who presides over cases and is related to t williams. I don't see that as an issue myself. If there was any preferential treatment,then there should be several instances to refer to as proof. But there seems no pattern of that. I think discussion on the the telfer thing has almost done its dash,but time will tell. Thats my opinion. One other sort of related thing,was i happened to catch the box seat for the first time in months and saw our old mate,mickey g,refer to comments that people make on social media, as being a waste of time being listened to or considered. Well,hes right in a lot of ways, peoples opinions are just that.But isn't that what he does on the box seat,give opinions? Only difference is,people are more inclined to say what they actually are thinking on social media,than he is on the box seat.

Theres an overload of information from both sides which is sometimes hard to decipher it all,but perhaps have a look at what dr aseem malhotra,a leading british cardiologist has been saying. Just this week he said"i've never seen something that when you look at the data,has such poor performance and unprecedented harms. He referred to the journal vaccine,the highest impact medical journal for vaccines,which recently published the findings of 3 imminent,high integrity specialists. They did reanalysis at the end of 2022,of the data from the controlled trials of pfzer and moderna vaccines,that led to the approval of regulators worldwide. They found you were more likely to either suffer hospitalization,disability or life changing event from taking a couple of shots of the vaccine than you were likely to be hospitalized if you caught covid. He also made the point that the trials would have been undertaken on healthy people,and not a true representation of a cross section of the population,He suggested a true reflection of the population would included people with health conditions, and would have made the results even worse had original trials done so. Hes also went public last year about the results of a trial on patients with heart issues which including imaging,which was showing increased imflammation in those who had taken the vaccine. Make of that what you will. It is,but topics often change direction. Those type of things ,so many different factors come into play arounf future consequences. Hopefully things have worked in his favour and reduced the severity of the consequences h. Main thing is he has got through the initial scare. We are all hoping he and his family can firstly get their heads around it,and he gets back to enjoying whatever it may be he enjoys,whether it be his family,his work,his horses and his other interests..