the galah

Look,you know i named the person as john curtin,owner of auckland reactor. The man who made regular trips to new york The first nz person to get covid. The person who used harnesslink to attavk gural for banning certain trainers. The one who used his website to criticise anyone who said the all stars were on anything. Remember blue magic and how that came to be in use. I named him because harnesslink actually published the list on their website....

For petes sake. Here is the United States attorneys office statement after his sentencing. "seth Fishman received a 11 year jail sentence today for his role at the helm of an approxiamtely 20 year scheme to mayfacture,market and sell to racehorse trainers and others in the racing industry untestable performance drugs for use in professional racing.Gishman was one of over 30 defendants charged...each arising from this offices multi year investigation of the abuse of racehorses through the use of performancing enhancing drugs..... Fishman created and marketed these drugs as untestable under typical anti doping screens and extolled the virtues of these illegal drugs by describing his method of creating customised products. Fishman incorporated a sham business operation designed to appear that it was outside US juridiction and pressured employees into signing non disclosure agreements.... he designed labels so as to give no hint of the provenance of the unsage drugs he was shipping across the country. He vragged how he had used political favors to quash a 2011 incestuigation.Drugs seized included blood building drugs(for example bb3 and other epogen mimetic substances),vasodialators and bags of bleeder drugs each designed to increase performance." Of course if you had followed the cases chief,you would realise that for example at the yonkers track,the leading trainers were his clients and there was a direct link in how they had gone to the top of the trainers table and when they became his clients.

Just had the same problem with betfair. Went to withdraw money from the account but it said needed to contact them as no longer could withdraw payments into the card that was used to deposit,like i had for the previous 2 years i had operated the account. When i rung them and gave them what they wanted,a bank account number with some swift code,they said it would take up to 10 business days. The person i spoke to said the issue was with nz customers. Then when i went to login againjust to see if i had any balance in there,it said account closed. I rang them and they said the account was permanently closed and no point speaking to them as they didn't know why and don't make those decisions,but confirmed once the account closed that i could never open an account with them again. Now i didn'tt use the account that much and i rememeber looking at my profit/loss a couple of months ago,and for the previous couple of months had a profit of $300,so i'm not a problem gambler,but i think it rather disturbing that they will take your money,but once you try and withdraw money from betfair they will immediately close your account permanently. So i would advise anyone who may have a betfair account,to check and see if you can actually withdraw money. Remember i had no problem depositing,they only closed the account when i wanted to withdraw money. Obviously newmarket had that problem not that long ago. Given the phone operator said,oh yes,your from nz and the issue was a nz customer one,are others also still having this problem?

Whenever we discuss this we both end up saying the same things. You say i said "some theory about widespread drug cheating" to which i say i never said it was widespread. What fact you ask. The thing i said was a fact. i.e. That a nz person was a client of the vet who got 11 years for peddling performance enhancers. I don't know exactly what he was buying,but suggested nz authorities should find out ,because it was well known amongst yonkers trainers what that vet sold. You say the 30 people or so,who nearly all went to jail and had to forfeit most of their assets,plead guilty to mostly 1 charge of label fraud. I say if you bothered to read the evidence and the coverage it always referred to racehorse doping, performance enhancers and animal abuse and fraud. i have said that everytime someone like gural says that perfomance enhancers are being used,you get this avalanche of people saying no they aren't. Then it all ends up down the track that gural was right and often the people who criticse gural the most have been those associated with those accused. I saythat type of scenario plays out around the world. The only difference being at the meadowlands they actually want to catch the cheats because they know how harmful it is to the industry. You say,no positives i a sign that no one is using performance enhancers,i say well just look at the usa and you will see thats not true because the majority who admitted to using peformance enhancers returned no positives and all many boosted that they were using stuff that wouldn't be picked up in testing and that the corrupt vet made sure of that. Then you and i sort of come to the end of our concersation,you thinking well i have to put it out there that i don't agree with the galh and me thinking,if nz authorities really are interested in catching drug cheats,wouldn't you think they would at least make enquiries with USA authoriities about what and why the high profile nz person was dealing with someone that was widely known to peddle performance enhancers.

What is destructive and harmful is people who would rather bury there head in the sand. I'm just stating a fact. Just look up the list of clients that the corrupt vet that they ordered to forfeit 3 million,fined $250,000 and jailed for 11 years for supplying so many trainers with performance enhancers.His business turned over a million a year. Just scroll down to where it has NZ beside his name.

If you've got a spare 2.5 million i think i could mount an investigation which could gather enough evidence to get authorities to take some action.Thats what those connected with the meadowlands spent. Lets put that to one side. The question i have is,does hrnz or our RIB have plans to contact US authorities? If they are really interested in tracking down cheats over here, you would think they would want to know what products the new zealander was purchasing. The one who's name they published as being on the list of clients of the corrupt vet. Surely we don't want owners in nz buying performance enhancers overseas,or knowingly using trainers in the USA who use them.If he was going to do that,its reasonable to ask what would have stopped him from bringing them here after his many visits to the USA. I have always thought it was easy enough to put 2 and 2 together and get 4 ,when gural chose to have the nz name published,instead of having it blanked out like he did some. My guess would be it was because of the personal attacks the nz person made against him.. Then once they got what products he was paying for,they could either exonerate him, or if not,they could undertake a proper investigation and see where all that leads. Of course i think that would be the last thing HRNZ would want to do for obvious reasons.They wouldn't want to turn that rock over would they.

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I think jeff gural hit the nail on the head with something he said about trainers and owners. .. "Honest trainers have got to Feed their famalies". They must be given a fair chance to do so.

Now this man is someone who clearly knows what he is talking about. Much maligned for banning a few trainers not that many years ago,but in those cases it turned out he already had access to the evidence that those he was labelling cheats,were just that. Well hes doing it again,based on all the evidence gathered by authoritites in that recent huge drug cheating scandel in the USA.Turns out he helped fund the investigation to the tune of $2.5 million of their own money. So this is part of what he said when banning another 33 trainers,who he has evidence of having used the likes of EPO.Many had been setting their horses for upcoming racing at the meadowlands.He expects to ban more as the authorities release exactly who else was buying the performance enhancers for use on their harness racehorses. "The whole thing is terrible. They lucked out that i kept the meadowlands open,but their luck ran out because I am honest. ITS SAD BECAUSE THERE WERE PEOPLE WHO HAD NO CHOICE BUT TO CHEAT. THEY FELT THEY HAD TO FEED THEIR FAMALIES AND THEY COULDN'T WIN A RACE UNLESS THEY DID. Whats sad is Howard Taylor.Hes an owner,not a trainer.He had to be giving EPO to his trainers to use and NOT A SINGLE TRAINER PICKED UP THE PHONE AND SAID I HAVE AN OWNWER WHO WANTS ME TO USE EPO ON HIS HORSES.HE HAS 150 HORSES AND LOTS OF TRAINERS. YOU WOULD HAVE THOUGHT AT LEAST ONE TRAINER WOULD HAVE PICKED UP THE PHONE AND TOLD US WHAT WAS GOING ON...".But they didn't. Jeff Gural is not stupid. People in australasia aren't stupid either. They know this type of thing happens even here.Obviously not on the same scale,but it happens and authorities need to focus on it.

i think yes they did improve the 3 lengths that they seemed to lack for a month or so,but i also think the likes of sunndees sister,dalton shard,hadron collider and magic four(through a handicap let up),were all dropping in grade. I think that was the main component which saw them winning. The temporary slump in form i believe was real.You just had to compare previous performances. Not all the team,just most. But why that was is somewhat unknown,so given it was only a slight drop off,we can only guess what the reason was. They are a stable that come the big days,i personally don't put in the small category of trainers who have real major changes in form.Those that do are the ones i wonder more about.

I think he argues his point well. I'm like you,i don't agree with all he says,but i think he has some very good points. Is it not an obvious question to ask after watching Luberon. If she is sensitive to the whip being used,why don't they just run it without the whip? It just seems so logical.

Sure is a pretty horse to look at. Went all the way to queensland ,but didn't like the place and kept galloping.Certainly won easy tonight although he can gallop sometimes for no reason,just like he did in the dominion last year.I've read his trainer has a higher udr that anyone previously. certainly would go straight to the top in nsw i think. Southlanders no doubt enjoy seeing him win,but no doubt secretly wish he would move to canterbury as well. Surprising that his horse wag star paying so much later tonight. Go back a couple of starts and he would clearly have been the best 3yold around.It will be interesting to see in say 3 years how much longevity his best horses got. He doesn't over race them. Bolt for brillance i thought just ran like he has when he has come south recently. i thought he never looked like he was going any good,even if he was slow early.

well the dunn stable back winning. It had to happen.Well done to them. To be fair magic four,sunnies sister and dalton shard and the quinella hadron collider and mikis courage all looked like they should have won easy,even on recent form. They all good horses and had well placed tonight.Magic four handicapped to win and finally driven to race on speed. Surprising dalton shard paid so much. I always think k newman is a driver that given the chance of driving a horse that looks a winner on form,he will got the job done. Personally i think hes a bit under rated by some. Just on recent form,the only one that surprised me a little was who's delight. i had thought francom indie a bit of a stand out in that one,but who's delight used the draw and driven the same way he had when winning previously,so returned to the form of 3 or 4 starts ago. They ended their long losing streak with a bang,thats for sure.

Driver officially warned to exercise greater care. I guess the fact that the horse outside didn't break helped his cause. Hes got a fast sprint on him that winner on grass. May be a chance in something like the westport cup. it will be interesting to see where they place him in the future.

probably get a couple of days. It was a bit risky but a winning move and no harm done.If it was a southland or auckland stipes report they would say the horses outside him were hanging in and that was a contributing factor.It may still say that as maybe it was. That race was a r35-49. Just how unfairly 1 win horses are rated can be seen by comparing the records of horses in that race. For example the horse kirkman who won its first start will now be rated ahead of every runner except the winner blue rock dancer. So you have r52 blue rock dancer 4 wins 6 placings from 18 starts. then r50 kirkman 1 win 1 start, r48 topaz 3 wins 18 starts, r47 goodasgold 1 win 4 starts,kalasa 2 w 5 p 18 starts, then it dtrops to r44 american sniper 2 w 13 p 40 s,rapid response 3 w 5p 24 s r 43 takemybreath away 9w 11p 99s, r39,kennedy 4 w 6 p 79s,hes a jackalack 3w 5p 19s, r38 on report 2 w,8 p 35s, r36 lets go ringo 2w 9p 43 s r35megarock 3w,19p 71 s. So you can see by that the rating system is set up so horses who win early in their careers are forced to run against horses with superior records and it would take them to run there horse unplaced at least once a week for 3 months just to get down to a level where they could take on 9 win horses or a horse with 3 wins and 5 placings hes a jackalak. about 6 months ago i started a thread acout adesanya,a 2 win horse from the dunn stable who appeared to be slaughtered in the rating system after just his 2nd win. Well 6 months later where is he. Well hes dropped to a r45 after having been raced for virtually 6 months non stop for 1 3rd placing and a few 4ths. Now,to me he is a horse with his share of abilty who doesn't try that hard sometimes because he realised ,whats the point, due to having run in races he was so unfairly forced to run in.Obviously its up to his owners,but i wpuld imagine they must have known they would have had to pay 6 months training and racinf fees just to get back into a grade where he may have a chance.Personally i would have thought most owners would have sold him long ago to australia . but the point is the rating system is encouraging some to keep racing,but also forcing others to be realistic and make decisions to sell after only a couple of starts.,unless they have deep pockets. To me there should be a syatem which caters for both. It should have a $won factor. They do everywhere else so why doesn't nz.

Trackside sometimes captures some good clips of happy punters. The last race at kaikoura today one of those . They celebrate different in the north island. The finish of race 7 at cambridge on 12 october an example of that. all good fun i suppose

Can anyone explain how you get the inconsistencies in the scratching penalties. Like today you had a couple stood down for 3 days then the rest for 5 days. Have the 3 day ones got vet certificates,but even if they have how do they come to the 3 day penalty. Also i've noted sometimes there are horses nominating and accepting for 2 race meetings within 2 days,that are then scratched from the first race,given only a one day stand down ,then run the next day.Obviously there can't have been any vet issues.When the trainers have nominated for both meetings,the trainers must know that they have done that,like they surely just don't forget and then say to the stipes,hey i'm in another race in 2 days time,i don't know how that happened but i just need a 1 day stand down so i can start.Are they not abusing the system and getting away with it?Why should they be treated any different from someone who gets a 5 day penalty. And if you say,no they aren't abusing the system,then ok,how about all trainers be told they will be treated the same if they nominate for 2 meetings in close proximatory and can scratch from which ever one they want and still start in the race they want? I've followed the scratching penalties over some time,and there is no consistency to it all. Its got me beat how some are treated differrent to others.

Is it just me,but every time i tune into a greyhound meeting in christchurch i seem to watch a greyhound race where there is a form reversal from a dog trained by mcinerney. Maybe theres a reasonable expanation each time,but the one constant is it sure bamboozle's the commentator as to how it happens,going by his comments. How do they get them to have a run of lasts ,then come out and jump straight to the front and win.I'm not being facetious,i genuinely want to know how they do it and how a punter can pick when its going to happen. I don't bet on them,but do watch them sometimes. Do they give them some type of practice routine from the traps or take them to the beach for a day out?

She deserves a lot of credit for the way she has handled the pressure and achieved what she has with the all star horses recently. Personally i was never really a big fan,thinking she seemed to drive a bit negatively,like not wanting to do anything wrong. But shes cetainly gone to a new level with her driving. Sure shes driving top horses,but there would be a lot of pressue to do the right thing and get results. She has handled the presuure well and her recent results speak for themselves. It will be interesting to see how akuta goes against swayzee. grimson seems to have it flying.It beat leap to fame running a 1.51 mile rate for 2400m and the driver said it could have gone faster,according to a harnesslink article. I wonder what his previous trainer,tim butt is thinking. Well i think we all know what he is thinking. Tim butt was a great trainer after all. Anyway a horse that can do that must be almost unbeatable in a race like the nz cup.Hes currently paying $3.40 on the fixed odds,but you would think he may pay a bit more on the tote anyway. Inexperience in standing starts may be an issue.Time will tell.

I always think,well if the drone really is better,then why not show it for the whole race. The reason they don't is because its not. Just because something is different and innovative,does not mean it is better. I think the popularity of drone coverage will be like the 3d movie glasses. The reason i dislike it so much is because it disrupts the continuity of the picture of the race i develop in my mind as i view it.Having to refocus several times is not something i enjoy. I read once that in england there was an issue with people using the drones to bet on the in play option on betfair. The idea being that they were receiving the picture directly,3 or 4 seconds before others who would be watching tv were. I have often wondered about peope who bet on the race as it is run(in play) on betfair. What second delay are people receiving the pictures in their homes. How many second delay is there for an aussie race for nz viewers and vice versa? Does anyone go to the races and do that on the addington races or the nz gallops. They are the nz meetings that go in play on betfair. Drones aye. I always thought that was a male bee with no sting that just sat around not doing much,waiting to see if the queen wanted to mate.i know some people like that,doesn't sound too bad,maybe.Seems they may have to get a name change one day. Seems the name drone for the things we have been talking about may have come from that buzzing sound they make,like the bees. i do remember,when i was a kid,upyou would occasionally here someone say,stop droning on,like stop maling a constant noise i guess in refernce to what the bees do. No one seems to say that anymore these days.

John dunn driving well,so thats not the issue. Its just the whole team, even today still about 3 lengths behind what they were just over a month ago. Those in the north island going similar. The punters are still backing them though.The race just run,Aardiebythehill the favorite. Punters who had not noted the stables recent form would have been expecting him to win with the run he got.I thought it was surprising the whale still tipped him to win. Having said all that,they must get a win shortly as they have so many nice horses in all the grades.

Interesting that the above comments illustrate that there are some people who actually like it. As i have said earlier,ithink its a total turn off myself. The person who i happened to watch a couple of races with earlier today moaned about it every time they went to the drone coverage. I was discussing the races at ashburton last week with someone,and guess what,they were moaning about the drone coverage before i said anything. So each to their own.

Personally i think its quite rare that you get overs for favorites when the markets come out. What you do get,in my opinion,is some market movers who are favorites and you could say well if only i had got on earlier. Personally i think that approach greatly oversimplifies things and misses the big picture. If you want an example of what i mean.Just look at the whales selections. 100% of the time they are market movers inwards. If you want to lose,back the whales selections.Its guaranteed.Its not because he is a poor judge,he is a very good judge,but his selections are exactly the ones the tab wants you to bet on.That is,horses with a good winning chance who they open at shorter than realistic odds,then can create them as win movers in,and attract even more betting at reducing odds,which are even greater in the TAB's overall favour. Your guaranteed to lose overall because you don't make money betting on horses that open up paying about 70% of what is a realistic dividend,let alone at the further reduced price. As proof of what i have just said,on another forum they have been keeping a record this month of his selections,because like on here,most believe the tab promote him,because he is their biggest asset to sucker punters in to backing on horses at unrealistic prices.. His strike rate is 33 selctions for 8 winners and 11 placings. Pretty good really.That is until you look at his returns.For a $1 e/w hes losing about 18% of his money. 75% of the horses hes selected ,who have placed ,have paid $1.50 or less for a place.5 of his 8 winners have paid under $2.30. So for the whale to have broken even,he would have to be getting on at odds at least 18% higher than what other punters are mostly getting on at. Maybe he is,but if you think you are going to beat the TAB by betting on FF on most races,trust me you won't . I recently was told by a bookie that i returned a profit 16 months in a row,so thats why they have a system set up which will see anything i back,reducing in odds. Now i used to be a person who bet on every harness race run in nz every year. Well i have come to the realisation that while i could still make money,since the bookies target my account,it will never be at the rate i did before,and now i simply find that the level of profit no longer justifies the amount of time needed to achive that. So i simply have all but given up betting on most races. And i'm a punter who used to put 90% of my betting on the tote. I had more and more changed to fixed odds as the tote prices were being reduced because the tab was monitoring my account and reducing the ff odds,thus reducing the tote odds as they always follow. Now i believe you can still make money,but for me i believe no more good sized tote betting. I believe the the way to make money now is,as nowornever has suggested,recognise what horses are over the odds when the initial markets come out. Now i've been watching,and i would say that on average there is only 1 or 2 of those at most a day,that can win.Some days none at all. I do agree with nowornever that roughies blow out in price near the end,but i have also been keeping a close eye on how the tab bookies operate in that respect. Most of the times that only occurs in the last minute or two and interestingly,sometimes after the markets seem to have closed. For example nowornever last week you discussed the horse portelli. Well i van tell you i actuallly tried to back that horse a place as they were lining up. The price that came up jumped to $9 as i tried to get it on,but the tote closed as they staryed before i could confirm it. Well when i looked at the website it had portelli closed at $11 ff place. Well, to me it was jsut another example of the ff odds being adjusted after people can no longer get a bet on.

Some tracks do have rough crossings but i think motukarara's is pretty good. I often wonder whether the occasional horse that breaks there is as much about horses noticing the change in colour of the grassed surface of the crossing. Personally i don't worry about whether horses come from the back anywhere myself. I only worry about where they finish.If they are good enough to come from well back but not quite get there,then its up to the driver to make a move a bit earlier. I also think harness racing,like any out door sport is best on warm days. I guess some peoples plans for the day may be effected,but i'm sure the majority who intended going today will look forward to going on a warmer day next week. The only down side would be if it impacted the size of the fields for other meetings next week. Also,i think taking into consideration how a track will hold up if it did get rain on the day,is a valid thing to consider. Grass tracks that get cut up due to racing on wet ground effectes the future quality of that tracks racing surface. Methven gets a lot of use with their trials and workouts as well.So why wouldn't it be a consideration when they can run the meeting a few days later and not cause that issue.

Did you think he was throwing a dummy pass? I see he has only been training the winner for 2 or 3 weeks. Maybe it just went better than he thought it would. B barclay who drove it also elected to stay on the pylons at the 1200,but got off near the 700m. The winning of the race was when he made his move and he got around them while the pace was still just average.i think B barclay just made better tactical moves. That was a strange race where it looked like the drivers all expected the p williamson trained favorite would win,and they all just drove a bit negatively. Seemed a strange move for b williamson,driving the 2nd favorite, to give the lead away to his stablemate with 1000m to go after setting a rather slow pace. I guess he must have thought the favorite would be too good,but it just stopped.