the galah

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..

The horse "Pandaia" put in another very quick time today, qualifying almost 9 seconds under the required time for 2000m at rangiora. Its times are all over the place. In the last month its been asked to run hard all the way against a workout field,suprisingly being asked to run the opposition into the ground in 2.31. The next week it tried to qualify,but simply went too slow in front,running 2.37.7, almost 2 seconds outside qualifying time. Then this week it had another attempt at qualifying,winning easily,running a super fast time, 2.27.7 to qualify.

Actually when you think about it,thats the type of thing that could be given a push to get a bit of mainstream media coverage. "aussie driver shows you can chew gum and drive harness winners at the same time". All they would need to show was the 20 second montage of the differing stages of the race that trackside showed after the race,while telling viewers to take particular note of the driver in the purple blowing bubbles with her chewing gum while in a duel for the lead,they could stop it at the point she pops it on her face,then the 5 second bit of the end of the race as a wrap. They would have a footnote that the aussie driver was spoken to advisedly about the possible health and safety implications of chewing gum by stewards. Isn't it the type of thing that may get some coverage. People like to be amused and it would be a good bit of publicity for the sport.

The funny thing about the s o'sullivan drive on ardens delight was she was spoken to "advisedly about chewing gum,and warned of the health and safety implications". If you watched the trackside close up as they came down the straight with a round to go,you can actually see her blowing a bubble with the chewing gum,when carter dalgety is taking the lead off her. Quite funny i thought.

I have just looked at the southern harness racing interview. Captured the moment very well. I wasn't actually aware southern harness had anything like that,and not being a user of facebook had assumed it wasn't available to view to non facebook users. I know how to see your content,but had thought being able to view yours was not the norm for facebook stuff. Theres some people doing great work out there to promote the sport,its just a matter of getting it on the hrnz website so that people can see it.

Nice to see that HRNZ had a link to one of your segments. it was in a part that seemed a bit obscure,For those who aren't familiar with the unhinged content,it was at the end of the story on hrnz website about boarding call. The segment was about stephs boy's win and referenced the person who connections wore the black arm band for. There are often many very interesting and colourful characters shown,both equine and human. Ideally it would be nice to have a spot on the hrnz website like they do each week for the whales selections. I think it would get a lot of people viewing it. But it was progress and good to see.

It looked like chilcott just maintaining a straight course,as she was entitled to do. As you say,he had just driven well to win the previous 2. You would think he would have been very happy.Directing chilcott towards the fence after the finish ,simply because he didn't get a run, was a bit of poor sportsmanship. I think he probably regrets it now. The hughes are good trainers and their horses always consistent and well prepared.

Seems some drivers get as unhappy as the punters if they don't get a clear run. It looked liked mangos was never really in the clear until after the finish when driving treacherous reign in race 7. Then when he got into the clear after the finish he seemed to lose his compass and ran the horse outside him off the track for no apparent reason. You don't see that very often. Funny in some ways,not so in other ways.I wonder what mr mangos will be thinking when he watches the video of his drive after the finish.

I have one of those biscuit tins in my garage with cardigan bay on the lid. Mum passed it on to me. The above article appears to indicate that the fella from the auckland trotting club seems to be trying to punish the hall of fame people for daring to previously disagree with his views.At least thats my take. The hall of fame people just seem to be trying to do what they believe is the right thing. They seem to have taken an understandable position. maybe i'm missing something,but shouldn't HRNZ leadership be having a word in the ear of the ATC and saying get your act together and take steps to unite everyone up there,instead of dividing.Just another one of those things that seems rather silly. But i guess its the ATC.

A missed opportunity by the bookies. Had they priced them at realistic odds they may have had punters investing and the tab could have made profits from those losing investments. The tote prices were ridiculously short as well.Judith gwenda and beautiful noise both should have been paying at least $10,even with the dewe factor. Yet they were both only paying around $5 on the tote.Like i have said numerous times,the tote odds always seem to reflect the ff odds,and many punters who bet on the tote just take the bookies assessment as being accurate,when we know its not always the case.

I thought it looked like her horse just came to the end of its run in the last 20m. Is still quite inexperienced and has never looked a horse than you would want to see driven too strongly with the whip in a finish.Just doesn't look foolproof under under real pressure yet in my opinion.So i didn't see anything wrong with the drive. Actually i thought she made the right moves and recieved a good run. The whale tipped it,so while hes a good judge,he has an uncanny ability to stop them,in my opinion.

Interesting observation. Those odds seem just as poor as the one brodie refers to as well,if the horses race day performances are compared to others they run against. Just reinforces what brodie has said in this thread,that the tab bookies often put up prices that no one will bet on . Just shows what we have been saying. The tab doesn't believe in their own ability to set a market,then change the odds based on the money invested on each runner, to factor in a margin that should return a profit for each race.They take the meaning of risk adverse to a whole new level. Of course by doing that they are limiting their profits. Thats why they don't take brodies bets,thats why they reduce ff win dividends when the TAB liability is as little as $10.O0,based on who places the bet on their account.Of note,and quite important,is the TAB doesn't do what bookmakers are supposed to do,they don't push out the price of other runners. Which is why some of us say,it is the tab that is souring many punters from investing,thus costing the industry.

Dewe has 13 wins and 9 placings from just 32 starts,so i guess he is someone who only lines them up if he thinks hes a chance. I agree that the current $2 ff price seems too short on its trial form. I actually think the trainers who focus on the udr are good for the punters,but not so good for the industry going forward. The likes of mark jones,greg hope,michael house,bruce negus still maintain good strike rates. They don't focus on the udr and race a mixture of both good horses and the durable type horses.Owners can have a lot of fun racing the durable horses who go up and down a bit in the handicapping system,and they provide the numbers that make for better betting fields.