the galah

While its a change of topic,i just watched a very interesting programme on al jazeera which was about a 7 year old boy who was a jockey on one of the poorer, muslim dominated islands in indonesia. He came from a family of jockeys and first started training to be a jockey when he was 4. While his family was poor,the father no longer has to work like he did and the income from their sons riding makes their life very comfortable by the normal standards. He earns in a successful day what his father could in a month working..The horses seemed like big racey ponies and all the jockeys were small boys.The horses were owned by the wealthier on the island.The races are popular and the racing involved gambling which in terms of the poor wealth,the turnover was quite a lot apparently. The father of the boy dreamed of his son one day joining the army if he had enough money when he grew up. Just an interesting insight into what happens around the world.People just trying to survive and using it as a chance to make life better,despite the obvious risks.

Good post. Just a couple of things. At one point you state you have "never seen the level of hatred and contempt directed a politician as it is at adern...in your lifetime." While you've put your finger on much of why that is so, i do think you have very much underestimated the effect of vilifying those who wanted to remain unvaccinated. Its not about her intellect, its not about whether people think she cares or not,people don't doubt that. Its about how she has made us feel.Its never been about vaccines and in some ways its not even about mandates.Its about how she day after day,week after week vilified and divided fellow new zealanders. And then we all watched on as she and her fellow politicians from both sides refused to even enter into any dialogue with the wellington protesters,despite polls showing a third of new zealanders supported them.Personally i have never viewed a politician in such a negative way and i know of several who feel the same way. Another thing i think relevant. We have had the message of how wonderful she is over and over again from our media.Theres an obvious disconnection there. Adern hasn't picked up on that,or if she has then she obviously cares more about whats said about her than how she makes many feel. probably a bit of both.

So your saying you don't think informing the betting public of a trainers thoughts is a good thing.Is that it? Maybe it wasn't necessary. But when a horse comes in for significant enough betting support to result in it ending up 2nd favorite,despite having abysmal form,then why isn't it interesting to know the trainers thoughts post race? Theres plenty of things you could point to in stipes reports that deserves highlighting,e.g. consistency in action taken in different regions. But it seems not,all we get is a topic like this.

Fair enough to see it that way. But why do they still enforce the mandates today when its been clear for some time that they are no longer necessary? All they are doing is creating greater staff shortages in many jobs, including the likes of doctors and nurses. We should have had a government who handled it like the japanese. On their ministry of health website,where they strongly recommended getting the vaccine, they had the intelligence to highlight "no vaccination will be given without consent. Please do not force anyone in your workplace or those around you to be vaccinated and do not discriminate against those who have not been vaccinated.' This message was also prominent on prime minister fumio kishida"s website,and is the message his government has strongly reinforced. Now that is leadership. His government still has approval ratings in the mid sixties,and you can see why.

Well i voted for NZ first,knowing he would go with Labour. I always thought anyone who followed what he said over the years must have known that would happen if he had the balance of power. Seemed a no brainer to me at the time.It was all media hype to say he may go with National. The media is run by organisations with their own agendas who will do whatever they can to undermine someone with a message they don't like. Nationals handling of the vaccine mandates and the promotion of fear was just as bad as labour. They just would have been more fiscally prudent.But of course National always put the $ first,and history shows those policies have run roughshod over the environment. If there was one issue that i think you could sum up how poor labour is it would be the ban on live livestock exports.They decided that there was enough evidence to warrant the ban,but they said they wouldn't implement it for 2 years.They didn't have the balls to do what they thought was right straight away.

I tend to agree about the national party assessment. As to adern,if she really cared about people,then why has she knowingly disrupted so many peoples lives with her vaccine mandates and her rule by fear. Personally i think her actions don't match her words. And why does she feel the need to comment in such a negative way on the abortion ruling in the US supreme court. She just falls into the hypocritical group who argue for freedom of choice as far as my body,my choice when it comes to abortion, but did the complete opposite when it came to vaccines.Those arguing the other side of that are just as bad as they argue for the implementation of laws preventing abortion,while arguing pro choice for vaccines.They are all hypocrites. Adern always gives me the impression she is auditioning for some future overseas job whenever she talks to the international media.The fact the woke media love her,says a lot,given the media is so distrusted these days. As to andrew little,i think he always means well,and actually is more in touch with how the average person feels,than adern is.Its just he hasn't delivered. In areas like mental health the country is so much worse off now,and it need not have been as bad. I remember talking to a man who ran a business with 3 factories related to the building industry just after Labour got in the first time. It was a business who had 3rd and 4th generation empoyees from the same family.His assessment was i think the most accurate way to summarise the difference in the parties. He said Labour got voted in because people have the perception that national don't care as much about people,and just focus on the $,but what will happen is labour will end up spending too much and won't be able to deliver on what they promise,so people will again end up turning to national. He supported neither party,but like us,lamented the fact that you can't have a caring government who know how to keep the cheque book balanced.

it will interesting to watch its progress. Like you say,purvis does a good job,but even allowing for that it was surprising it got so much support. Thats what makes meetings like todays interesting.Horses like that create interest.Its a bit like watching alan clark drive. No one drives like him,so when you see something different, it catches your attention and creates discussion..

But he always makes for an interesting watch.From a betting perspective ,you always know what to expect is a positive i suppose. Megarock at $15 does seem great price.Well done if you had some of that. I took reformed.I thought it would have dictated in front,but just a bit slow to begin meant its chances were gone.. Reformed is by changeover,and to me they all seem to lack a mental toughness and they need things to go there way. The race i found frustrating was the black shadow. I anchored him with 4 in my quinella,but for reasons unknown to myself afterwards,left out hidden desire and only got 1st and 3rd. quinella paying $228 was frustrating. Not sure why the black shadow paid so much as it made a lot of ground in its previous fresh up run.I had thought hes samtas excuse was a winner. Loomed up to win but the horse seemed to have no interest in giving its best. All in all an entertaining days racing and well done to blair wilmott for winning the nz amateurs title.

If you watched that first amateur race and the non win trot you would have seen a couple of interesting and very entertaining races.. In the first of the amateurs it looked like sheldon murtha driving the 2nd favorite was not travelling well enough to keep up with the mobile and missed the start by 4 lengths. He never paniced and in the end settled back and when the pace slackened at the 800m sent it forward and in the end won nicely. A well judged drive. After the race it appeared the horse was bleeding behind the back foot,which looked like it must have had mud fever,so that would be why it looked a bit uneven in the run to the start. So a well judged drive by murtha,and the horse showed some courage to run so well despite the discomfort. Then in the non win trot you had alan clark set his horse alight from the start,running very fast sectionals before it inevitably ran out of puff. It was an entertaining race.

The horses that ran 2nd and 3rd last night to Von Art had both won over $200,000 ,one with 9 wins from 45 starts and the other has has 12 wins. It did beat off n gone the week before. Deus ex was risky over here in stands and didn't seem to like to stand long. Didn't see the race in question last night but they do stand there a long time in some states of australia.Probably predictable he wouldn't go away if he had horses on marks close up behind him. Amore vita drawing 1 and the honey queen drawing 2 meant their races were just a procession. Obviously good horses,but from a competition point of view their races weren't exciting.Its such an advantage to get on the rail at that track.I suppose if you like seeing good horses run you would have been happy,but who would bet on those races when they have red hot favorites paying $1 to win like amore vita did? Give me a competitive non win race at methven any day.But thats just me. I did watch a derby i think it was,where the hot favorite drew 6. Chris barsby said pre race that it was the first time the son of somebeachsomewhere(i think) had run beyond 1700m.And sure enough he was right as racing parked was too much for him,and he faded out. Sounds like the redcliffe cup was a good watch. Those handicap races make it more exciting to watch. Love your enthusiasm for the queensland racing. Chris barsby the best commentator in the world i think.

You would have to wonder whether the above ross and chris wilson trained horses got mixed up when they went to australia. Robyns playboy,a good horse here,can't keep warm and doesn't appear to want to race from the morris stable,whereas von art,a noted one pacer who did a handy job in the 45 and below rating races here,has grown 2 extra legs and won its last 6 in a row for emma stewart ,beating easily the likes of off n gone along the way. Tonight it ran a 1.55.3 mile rate for 2230m.

Most wouldn't have thought it could have get off the ground.But it did.So that must be a reason to think positive for the future. There can be no denying the benefits to the industry from having such a programme,and its entertaining. I hope all those involved,including yourself can continue their input and the programme can be adequately funded.Thanks also to the sponsors. My wife and i look forward to seeing the programme again soon.

You obviously are a thinking punter who invests based on their own knowledge. The TAB seem to use the whale to cater to the casual punter who has no knowledge,so in some ways the TAB is dumbing down its audience and showing they consider the casual punter of more importance. Which type is more likely to return as a consistent customer? I'm not a mick guerin fan He insulted the unvaccinated and gave them a lecture on how they were bad people,and how ,because of their choice,they deserved no consideration or respect. I just switch channels when he has any input.always will. The other trackside presenters i have no problem with as they are just doing what they are asked to do. They are generally easy to listen to, although i don't take much notice myself either.Presenting wall to wall racing from who knows where means they have to be a bit robotic most times. Thats why the channel 83 that they had been showing was such a point of difference for harness racing.Its format reconnected the viewer with the product in a way trackside never will.I like it that jason teaz has the knowledge to tell us steve clarke is good at getting any horse away from a stand,that teaz helped matt purvis get hold of victor bravo,tells us when chris butt drove his last winner,etc,etc ... I also like the way they go through each horse pre race,video replays of previous wins,replay of last half of race again after dividends,etc,etc. On the main trackside channels half the field never get a mention.If you have one of those horses,theres no connection for relations,or work mates,or friends who have tuned in to watch. No excitement watching the recording to see what is said about the horse you spend a good part of your week attending to.

Another good nights viewing tonight. I look forward to it returning again soon.

There is so much history there. Wouldn't it be great to have some entertainment between races from someone knowledgeable talking from the commentators box discussing historical events which have helped shaped the local community and their landmarks.Kapa haka groups,punters with losing tickets going into draws to be invited to a hangi,.Sponsors you would think could easily be encouraged to give a bit more to have their names associated with races appropriately named in conjunction with local groups,with the extra sponsorship going to provide assistance to the groups supporting the days expenses thus encouraging participation. Would make the racing day more interesting.Dreams are free i suppose.

The biggest problem i have with him is he influences the dividends so much.As brodie and nowornever have said,he often tips hot favorites,but when he doesn't he always cuts the price in half. Its not his fault that he appears to have such a following.Its hard to work out whether hes good or bad for turnover as he encourages many to bet while at the same time discouraging many.You either love him or you just mute him. We do have channel 83 for the moment..

Actually i've been thinking there are many ways they could have promoted the day with the involvement of the local community,but it would have taken a bit of organising,and in reality would the local maori community be motivated enough to make a race meeting the centre stage for promoting their culture and local history? Who knows. But there has to be some type of substance behind it. Personally i think the increased use of the maori language being promoted by the media and the government is partly just tokenism. Call me cynical,but its just one of the many things the "we know best" woke crowd that are starting to run things are promting now days,and when you look at what else they promote it just turns many off.

Do you actually believe it when you say "have at least a race named around matariki and make the day special". Can you explain how that works?

6 months ago st john reported they had stood down 314 paid and volunteer staff due to the vaccine mandates. 20 full time and 59 volunteers(ambulance),plus 6 paid and 229 volunteer non-patient facing.So just look to the government for who helped create part of the problem.

Do you know what the betting figures on the amateur races are in comparison with other races?They used to say they held up pretty good in comparison.So,if you are worried about turnover dropping,then you should be encouraging them to run these races,especiallu given they got good support from trainers.Its up to you whether you participate betting wise. I guess whether you like them or not depends on whether you can back the right one.Thats not as easy as picking the best horse,thats for sure.You do have to factor in the drivers.But this weeks series has the best amateurs in nz driving,so each of them should be able to give their horse its chance. The non win trots i think are probably the races i have the most success on. I didn't used to like them,but nowdays find them the easiest races to select. I guess the reason for that is there is a greater gap in current performance from each of those in the fields. Finding value is getting more difficult these days.I don't bet on every race as much now days. The races i always give a miss are the races where the whale tips one the same as i select. I personally don't get why he has such a following,as anything he tips pays well under what it should. He does know his stuff,but backing a horse paying $3 when it deserves to be paying double that makes no sense. When i hear the trackside presenters continually giving him big wraps,i just think they are just blowing hot air. Thats one of the reasons i much prefer marc cookson to the whale. He knows just as much and no one over hypes him.

Last week dr bloomfield said only 20% of patients in hospital with severe respiratory symptoms had covid,and over half had the flu. So half is more than a third,but who knows what they are saying today as they have always manipulated figures to paint the worst case scenario. While i don't normally listen to talk back radio,when i was channel surfing tonight on the way home,they were talking about the nurses and doctors who are still, even today, losing there jobs,this time because they hadn't taken the booster within 6 months of receiving their previous jab. All at a time when they complain about nurses and doctor shortages. Just another example of a crisis created by the current government.

I see Adern today pleading for people to get the Influenza jab and to wear masks to take the pressure off the health system. Given just last week we had dr bloomfield tell us we had more than double the number of people in hospital with severe respiratory problems from the flu than covid,shouldn't we be asking why the inconsistency in the government approach. Surely if they still believe they were right to sack all the employees who hadn't taken the covid vaccine in workplaces like the health sector,then why not sack all the employees who haven't taken the flu jab. Clearly,as predicted by many,the flu is more of an issue than covid. Either adrens government aren't doing the right thing now,or,they have come to realise they were wrong about the covid mandates. Isn't that the only logical way to view it?They clearly have two contradictory policies for the same problem.

Obviously an error of judgment.But what difference does or should it make? Motive,or lack of isn't required to prove the charge. That may have some relevance when it comes to penalty if the person concerned had a history of similar drives. I don't think i have a bias. Not sure who you think i am defending. I'm just judging it on its merits in my opinion.

Maybe instead of the photo's,just stick up a video of the horses last 4 runs. The 3 winning ones and the one where he went to the rail,instead of taking the option of getting a clear run,and most likely winning . The charge was did he take all reasonable measures,and it looked a no brainer to me.Thats no doubt why he admitted it. No one was saying he wasn't trying,just he made an unusually poor tactical decision ,especially by his standards. You in an earlier post on the inca cases suggested the stipes should have been the ones who had properly policed any driving that looked questionable.At least thats what i thought you said. And i agreed had they done so there would never have been an operation inca. To me this article just totally misses the point.

Im genderfluid tomorrow and will be using the pronouns she,her and hers when i visit the changing rooms at the netball.Thanks for asking. Yes,you have to wonder when you hear of people still getting more jabs after having 3 jabs and then catching covid. Obviously they have forgotten about natural immunity as well. Don't suppose you will be attending the celebrations in a couple of weeks. There will be some interesting sights if you do. The council is flying the flags,and even painting zebra crossings. I like a bit of colour.