the galah

Yes i saw that,watched it a few times . It did cause tim williams to be pushed a bit sideways as you say,but was his forward momentum slowed by a push from behind and ever so slightly the side? Theres no doubt watching the video that sinbad came from 4 lengths behind,sinbads forward momentum was slowed when the contact was made,and then after the contact sinbad improved to take the lead just before the finish. Stop the video just prior to the contact and look at the horses positions.Then stop the video at the point of contact and again just after the sulkies separated(sinbad is still behind).Then stop the video again a stride after the sulkies clear,sinbad is still behind. Personally i think for purdon to lose that on a protest meant he put up a less persausive argument that those who argued for the relegation. To me he had the video evidence to have argued a case strong enough to not be relegated.

So the above stable has again made the headlines. Same old same old unfortunately. There was a stable inspection done this morning and the result is the above horse was scratched under the rule that refers to administration of a substance on raceday. Well done to those that uncovered the cheating. Perhaps surprising the stable got to start the remainder of their team on the day.

Personally think she is very good. Really nice personality and knows her stuff.

Nice work gammalite. Yes blair orange is a driver that always seems to get the best out of his horses.He also is a driver that always goes forward. Tim williams another driver like that. One of those drivers that even when they draw wide you know will give your horse a chance. Anyway,great effort gammalite to keep everyone informed with your updates throughout the day.Much appreciated.,

Normally i agree with most of your assessments of races forbury,and yes they did relegate the purdon runner,but personally i was surprised there was even an inquiry. Sinbad came from 4 lengths behind,and i thought he lost his own momentum when he ran in a little and locked wheels. We all see things different,but if you backed sinbad to win i think you would be feeling rather annoyed .I only had a place bet myself so my opinion not influenced by that.

Thats a shocking read and you can see why people question why the sport is allowed to continue. As to the straight track racing. The stats from australia show that injuries are significantly reduced with straight track racing. So if those in the greyhound industry truly care about the welfare of their dogs,why does nz have no straight trcks.

Seems a very sad and unfortunate set of circumstances. Understandable why everyone feels for defilippi, as while so few will ever experience being in the position of having a cup drive,everyone can empathise with how it would make anyone feel should someone be prevented from driving in such circumstances. Also because everyone has the greatest respect for defilipi it has not been well received. Those who made the decision have said the penalty guidelines mean they had little choice other than to suspend, (and were unable to impose instead a fine/lesser suspension as mr defilippi had requested). I guess we assume that is correct,so why do the penalty guidelines not provide that sentencing option? Doesn't that logically mean that its not those who have made the decision,but it is those who made the penalty guidelines that have created this situation.It does seems very reasonable to think a penalty for this charge should include being able to give a combination of a penalty of fine and suspension. So it all seems a bit of a failure by those who were originally involved in setting penalty guidelines to recognise the possible future impact. That would not just be one group,but you would think involve several decision makers in different forms. I do agree with those who made the decision when they say they can't treat people differently. The reference in the appeal hearing to previous leniency shown in the case of rasmussen really could be argued both ways.When rasmussen was viewed by many to be given treatment different from others,there was justified criticism in my opinion of those that made that decision.And so that decision came home to roost in this case. Heza sport is a horse many would have as the horse they would most want to run very well in the cup before all this,and now there will be even more cheering for him.

Wasn't that dog race just run a terrible advertisement for the game. Lure breaks down,the dog Marcus,who i put $5 on for an interest,seemingly breaking a leg and yelping constantly in pain as it had no option but to jump the rail as it went inside dogs pulling up in front of it,the 3 dog also being forced to straddle the rail as well . Commentator mark rosanowski,stating he hoped all dogs are ok. Well very obvious not to anyone watching. I normally watch the dogs,but hard for anyone to watch that type of stuff and think its just part of dog racing. Maybe its time for the change to straight track racing.

The don't stop dreaming race was a bit of a joke as far as a spectacle. A $200,000 race and they just walked around then ran a fast last 400m. Not one driver had pulled out of their position to improve as they swung for home. Its was like no one was trying except the first 3 or 4.Putting such big stakes on for races where the drivers seem resigned to just following them around for practice seems a waste of stakemoney. Even tim williams,normally a great driver,just elected to follow the horse drawn 1 who had little chance,effectively putting his horse in a position where it had no chance to place. Muscle mountain was a wonderful performance. Its unusual to think ben hope would outdrive john dunn,but for whatever reason dunn elected to sit in the running line and Hope chose to move as the pace slackened. Muscle mountain,sundees son and bolt for brilliance are 3 great horses who have a significant advantage over every other open class trotter. Given they are all off the front in the dominion,you would think maybe the connections of other open class trotters would be in for a thrashing if they line up. Last year Mark Purdon made a wise choice with oscar bonevena and ended up with a win on show day in a supporting race,maybe one or two more may do the same this year. I thought the most exciting race was the last,where riveered had dropped back in grade ,but had a wide draw,and with no gate speed was always going to be vulnerable. As matt cross said,it was one of those brilliant tactical c j defilippi drives we used to see in years gone by that pulled off the win for bob butt and happy places connections,,with riveered a very gallant 3rd.

My opinion is it didn't happen last night. The stable won a couple of really good races,and the team all went well in the other races,however there was no boost to performance from the recent racing and the horses ran and were driven in a manner that made no attempt to factor in an advantage of having superior stamina to anyone else. Last year cup day was when the form improved,so will be interesting to see this year. Other things of note last night were again the dominance of horses who got to the fence in the 1980 races.The 2600m races are always the best races for excitement,yet we always get large numbers of these 1980 races dominated by those drawn to lead.Only when you get races like the last race last night,where the couple of horses had a significant advantage on recent form over the others,do you see a horse capable of overcoming a bad draw.

Don't think he left the one /one.The horse in front of him eased to three back the fence.It did go a good race,just its hard if your not on the fence in those 1980 races.

Drivers causing their own horses to choke down has been a subject i have posted about in the past,and last night at cambridge in race 6 we again saw another example of it,and how dangerous such driving can be. Z meredith,a junior who i previously have said i think has much talent, showed no sense whatsoever and it was just luck that the 4 drivers and horses involved in the crash didn't come to more serious injuries. This was not a driver of a horse stuck in the field with no options,it was a driver out in front who decided he had to hand up to the stablemate. by restraining his horse so hard he cut off its air supply.Anyone watching could see that coming,how come he couldn't?

Does seem to be a good top 4 price . Seems to be better value than the top 3 dividend as you say. Hard to work out why its like that sometimes,but there is a good example. I wonder if make my sundon will trot all way. Its one of those horses that you think after its galloped,why did i back that. Could happen again tomorrow.

sorry gamma ,read all the post except the bit where you had nat and sam. As you said,first in ,so they belong to you. Should have known as your huge fan of them. I'll have instead team 3,blair orange,my favorite driver.

team nat and sam. Go the ladies

The one he got put out for improper driving. I think it was pocket baileyship,or something like that that he drove. The final of a sales stakes race,that from memory they covered on mainstream tv. Did involve changeover i think,So many good things he could have been remembered for ,but the thing i thought he is most remembered for.At least thats what i thought.

I get that maybe it could be said that i focus too much on a certain aspect of a great sport,but thats just part of how i feel sometimes. And i understand you must have reasons for your focus and how you feel as well about certain things. But this thing you keep raising above,i just think you are somehow going somewhere where it just doesn't seem appropriate. If that is what you have to refer to,to make a point,then maybe the merit of your overall argument isn't as strong as you think.That would be my comment to you.

So much is a witch hunt to you.When and if there was actually such a thing,no one would take any notice of the witch hunt claims, as they would have heard it so many times before. Like the girl who cried wolf. You have no understanding of what drives my comments if you think jealousy is a factor in anything i say. What drives my comments is a sense of being taken for a mug. Well i'm not and i will tell you i'm not. Retaining punter confidence is a critical factor when it comes to the prosperity of the industry,and everyone who makes a living from it. All the punter expects is for each horse to be driven on its merits. In this case we are talking about a very talented trainer who when it came to the crunch,delivered one of the most obvious cases of improper driving seen,all to assist another horse from his stable to win.That to me defined his career and what he thought he was entitled to do to achieve victory. In effect he gave every punter,and rival trainers in that race the middle finger. Sometimes i wonder whether being on a chat site like this is a good thing for me,as its like groundhog day so often. There are those who believe certain things are acceptable to achieve victory,then there are others like myself who believe there is a line that shouldn't be crossed. I look at this thread and to me,if you are going to remember the good about someone,and there was no doubting Small was talented,then you should also be honest and have perspective about all his contribution to harness racing.That includes what he did to cause joe public and other licenceholders to think harness racing had an element of dishonesty.

The facts are the facts. He got a heap of publicity around it. Did you have your head in the sand back then as well and miss it?

Channeling the chiefs thoughts there ranga?

No doubt he could train and had an eye for a good horse,but he had many controversies. Multiple positives...team driving charges...scratching his team just before the races were due to start supposedly on advice from his vet,poor behavior in the judicial setting. You can't rewrite history.

The only time i have mentioned blood spinning was on this thread where i had earlier said i didn't think it was legal anymore.Now i have clarified that. No idea what you mean when you say you told me something 10 days ago about blood spinning.I have not been thinking of blood spinning nor mentioned it..Maybe you thought when i referred to blood work and treatments i was referring to blood spinning. If you think i thought blood spinning may have caused the telfer horse deaths then you are way off what i have been thinking. Who knows what you mean or what you are referring to.

Seems you were right about the blood spinning still being legal and available newmarket. HRNZ rule 1004 k seems to cover it,which says they can do it if done by a vet and at least 8 days prior to racing.Also trainers can't store it,not sure whether setting up company at another address had anything to do with that. An example of one legal purpose, is for the vet to give it via a nebulizer and say it is for the treatment of respiratory bleeding. Just an example of how stables with owners happy to pay vet bills, can use treatments legally to increase performance. All done while operating within the rules.

I read each stipe report and think its worthwhile reading the entire report. Doesn't matter how long it is to me.. Betting on amateurs you need to factor in the drivers a bit more,but punters don't have to bet on them if they don't want to.When they hand out penalties,the amateurs do seem to get the wrong end of the stick and personally i think the length of penalties given to them and other not as busy professional drivers, is a bit unfair. But number of drives is how they currently do it,so they are stuck with it at the moment. Assessment of form is based on opinions and recent form of horses mentioned in the stipes report may not always be given the same assessment as you or i.You seeing sweet belles performance yesterday as no surprise is why you are a successful punter. I still think the more information available the better.Of course the vast majority of the stipes reports should and is made up of facts and detail around what actually happened on the day,and therefore if something happens that requires mentiioning,then it should be in there.

It was a long report,but i have always been a believer in the more information available to the public,the better. Also sometimes you can have a day when you get a few more things which deserve a mention. Its much better to think the stipes are treating everyone the same. Where you get dissatisfaction,or the perception of favoritism is where one trainer/driver is scrutinised or given a mention,and someone else or there horse has done the same thing and doesn't get a mention.Its a good thing if the stipes report is lengthy and shows consistency in the application of the rules. As to sweet belle. I think that falls into the better to have more information than less category.