the galah

Interesting that in all the write ups there has been no mention of A Butt getting suspended for 4 weeks for causing interference to king of swing.It happens to drivers occassionally,nothing unusual there,just strange the media don't think its worth mentioning. I see Butt and r thurlow were warned for a verbal exchange in the birdcage after the race. Probably both exchanging views on each others tactics.

all interesting points and of course there's merit in what you say. But your lack of acknowledgment of the degree of the dairy industries contribution to the problems being discussed shows a very bias point of view in my opinion. The bowel screening kits have been sent by the ministry of health for people aged 60-74 in the region with the highest bowel cancer rate in nz.(The one with so much dairying). I can just see you now,looking out over the paddocks as the effluent is discharged,observing the fertiliser truck spreading its load,you thinking what a wonderful rain we've had,ah, the grass will grow and the nitrates will leak great this year. All while you drink a glass water. For a brief moment,you stop,look at the glass and think to yourself, the best thing i ever did was put in that $7000 filter system. Your not ignorant you see,your aware of how it would effect your health without your filter system. Lifes good you think. I think i might put the beige pants on,take the land cruiser into town and buy myself another tractor.

I know e coli and nitrates are two different things. I have not meant for my post to be taken as you seem to have. Maybe my wording wasn't that clear.There is an accepted link between the dairy industry and e coli and nitrate levels. They link nitrates and bowel cancer.I recently lived in an area where they have just tested everyone over 60 for bowel cancer,and it is because of the high numbers getting bowel cancer,and they say a key factor in that is the nitrate level. your response is a typical one from a dairy farmer. Deflect the blame,ignore the science. Lake ellesmere?Have you studied the feeding patterns of the geese.I've got a neigbour who tells me he has to have his gas gun going all night to scare them off eating his grass. From what i've read they don't feed at 3 a.m. in the morning.He says they do. Hes a dairy farmer. I am currently waiting the results of my water testing.

Talk to the duckshooters,the fishermen,the people who test the water.If your saying the water is the same or got better then your the only one. I thought even the farmers don't argue that. Why is it some parts of nz with the dairying have such high e coli and bowel cancer rates?

Well i'm sure they are more aware of the impacts of what they do to the environment,and some farm accordingly,but only because they are made to be. But no one can deny the scale of the industry is such that they are having a huge negative impact on the environment,and water is one of the most obvious examples. And i don't agree with your assessment that modern dairy farmers care more. I say thats rubbish. Answer this. Why has Canterbury's water quality gone backwards so much if the modern dairy farmers are so caring. Its all about the money.

No.Although no doubting greenpeace are all over this issue,and its a winner for them. I have been referring to a story about details released from environment canterbury.Silly thing is ECAN is the organisation that drove the dairying water consents a few years back.. I remember an article from the days of allan hubbard where it said ECAN appointees were political and their campaigns funded by people like hubbard who was funding the dairy industry. Youv'e said your from a dairy farming background.Well don't you agree that your industry has been overtaken by people and corporations driven by the thirst for wealth. Old school dairy farmers had different values,and were more caretakers of the land. Things have changed for the worse.

They don't seem to be giving everyone the facts,so is natural to be suspicious. I saw the australian health minister on tv today say you only have a 1 in a 100,000 chance of getting a blood clot from a vaccine shot ,and a one in a million chance of the vaccine causing blood clots that will kill you. Then it was reported in australia media that there had been 6 deaths and 6.1 million doses administered in australia as at last week.The latest death being a 44 year old. So using those figures,and assuming everyone has to get 2 doses of the vaccine,thats going to kill 2 in every million. Obviously each vaccine is a bit different side effect wise,and some different age groups are more vunerable,but theirs no doubting there is a degree of risk. Just suppose you have to weigh up the benefits.

What do you make of the reported ashburton rural water testing showing the worrying levels of nitrates and e coli in your water. Anyone who lives down that way should be worried how that will impact their health in years to come.Its going to be a very serious issue for your region in the future.All directly linked to Dirty dairying.

So whats happening with the rangiora racecourse? Is the harness club taking it over?

they haven't come up for air

Is pukekohe the same as franklin? Isn't the auckland club selling franklin land after having it re zoned then re leasing it back until they have purchased some land further out in the country. It said in their agm from last year it was doing that in consultation with pukekohe trainers. All so as to lessen the huge financial hole they dug for themselves. I can't imagine anyone from 30 years ago in that area who has given up, still hanging on to their training facilities to rent to trainers,when it would be worth so much if sold.

Look at nz racing today.One galloping meeting and one harness meeting.Oamaru gallops starts 4 minutes late so right at this moment you have the galloping race being run at the same time as the harness race is being run.Only two horse racing meetings and thats how they plan it. How moronic is that?Who are the people who make these decisions.

Your the one saying its revenue. I believe there are many other factors just as relevant to speeding up the decline in numbers participating,which are not being addressed.. Basic stuff.I'll give one obvious example.Say you want to train a horse,where can you do it? Racecourses are normally closed shops run by people with no interest whatsoever in accommodating new participants.I've previously pointed out that too many racecourses would rather lease ground to committee members or relations for farming than have horses trained there.Have you ever contacted one of these clubs.I actually did the other day. Third time. Same response,i'll get back to you .Of course they never do.Also have you not seen or heard of the infighting that goes on at some of those tracks?.They talk the talk but never walk the walk. So what next. If your in canterbury,you have to pay $650-700,000 for a 10 hectare block within 30 minutes of christchurch.Whos going to do that? Don't say you need to get off your arse and ask around. I can tell you from an experience i had about 5 years ago that trainers,big and small,have little interest in having others train from their facilities even if they had spaces available. I don't blame them,just point out the reality.Thats in canterbury where the industry is still relatively strong. Its happening throughout the country.Answer this. If you were from auckland or one of its outer suburbs and you wanted to train a couple of horses where are you going to do it? People go on and on about the lack of horses racing at auckland and point out how few trainers there are,yet never talk about the most obvious thing,which is if i want to train where can i do it near where i live. Well the answer is you can't,so go get another job or hobby. What does hrnz do to help co ordinate linking those wanting to use training facilities with the rare example of someone having them available. Nothing . It shouldn't take einstein to realise what i have just said is linked to why the big trainers are getting bigger and the small trainers are disappearing.Thats only one aspect. I could go on about others issues that need addressed to stop the decline,but i can't be bothered.

Sounds like you got a nice collect. well done. While amazing dream paid an amazing dividend again,i guess anyone backing it was going on its win a couple of weeks ago,and not its run last week when it was beaten into 3rd in a weaker mares race. Obviously those that backed it got it right. King of swing didn't seem to have much gate speed tonight,so probably had himself to blame for getting into the position he did early,not sure whether he was checked. The commentator over there is really good. He helps make the racing exciting.

The form of american dealer over there has been quite a turnaround. Before he left for queensland his form was noticeably dropping away,and he always seemed to be best driven with one run at them. He hadn't beaten krug in their previous 5 meetings,but did beat him 9 months ago. Now his form is the complete opposite on all fronts. And krug who was the dominant 3 year old prior to his below par jewels run,only struggled into 3rd tonight,beaten easily by american dealer. A butt is winning a lot, thats one consistent thing.

i haven't said the big stables are the cause. I have said the increased numbers in stables like telfer is a symptom of the drop in numbers!

I read a woodlands stud article,which i have just looked up again.i assume it is accurate. It said individual mares served as follows 2016/17 2584 2017/18 2359 2018/19 2333 2019/20 2193 2020/21 1969. So its obvious there is less being bred,less being owned and therefore available to be raced and trained. And if the the bigger stables like telfers have increased numbers at the same time as there being less horses available,then common sense says that there is decreased participation levels of both licenceholders,owners and breeders. Anyone who thinks the telfers having increased numbers is a positive sign for the future of the industry is ignoring the big picture.

So thats your take from my post. Not that i am wrong,just ask me how do i know overall participation is dropping? Whats any different from the all stars runners end of season participation numbers to any previous season. Are you aware of how many all star horses are pre trained elsewhere,and of the numbers waiting to get into that barn.Likewise the dunns.What does that tell you of how many owners view and don't want to support the small time trainers. What do you think of tasmania harness racing and the domination of the big stables.From memory you've posted more than once about its negative impacts on that states harness racing. Hows the breeding industry going,with its ever dwindling number of studs and domination by a handful of studs. Do you actually think its a good thing that the bigger studs have got bigger,while the smaller players are no longer financially viable. Harness racing is no different to any sport. Without a strong base things become too top heavy.Thats reality. I've commented on what the telfer stable reflects the future holds.

I read the article on the telfers and thought this is what nz harness racing is becoming. The bigger stables like the all stars,dunns and telfers continue to have increasing numbers on their books,while overall participation drops.Anyone who thinks that is a good thing for the future of the sport is mistaken and oblivious to the difference between what is good and bad.Its no fault of the aforementioned,but it is definitely a bad trend and not a good indication as regards the future of harness racing.

Maybe it was ben hope. Its the first time i've seen him intent on staying in front for a long time. Also could have been one of the whale money launderer followers? The whales tips often get bets in the thousands which the tab is happy to take.Or maybe matt cross,it was his bet of the night and maybe hes getting paid more than he lets on? Or maybe brodie has listened to ranga and got his wifes sisters brother in law to put the brodsters bets on. No that can't be right as that would still be brodie.

The only thing i would clarify re your comments on the rating system is that a horse that has 8 starts where its placed 6th or worse,will generally be back to the same grade it won in 8 starts ago,so should be competitive again. Not 10 races as you have mentioned ,although not much difference i guess.Also I had said earlier most winners go up 6 points,i think to be correct they get re rated up to 8 points for a win unless they are those age concession horses. You do see with those house horses that they can put 2 or 3 good results together. I think there are probably 2 or 3 factors for that,but no doubt the self belief those seasoned horses gain from a win would be part of it.

The grading system isn't that hard to understand once its explained to you. You just have to go to the hrnz website and click on the rating next to each horse and it will show the rating history of each horse. Basically they are either mr(for non winners) or r(for winners). Then next to that they have their current rating.If you look the ratings will go up i think 6 points for a win,stay the same if 2nd to 5th,and go down 1 point if placed further back if the horse had a current rating of r60 or below. I think they can drop an extra point or two if rated 60 and above and run 6th or worse. The only difference to that is horses with 2 or more wins don't drop below r45,and you get the 2 and 3 yo given concession ratings. Personally i think the current rating system is o.k.,but i do think there should be changes made so as to retain greater horse numbers at the bottom end of the rating system,as that is where the most leakage horse numbers wise is.

The hrnz website has a story on it where it infers the owners of Copy That have turned down a million dollar offer. Just goes to show what they are willing to pay for a good horse. Personally i still think Copy That will not last that long at the top level due to the amount of hard racing he has had in a relatively short period of time ,but thats just my opinion. Good on the owners for hanging on to him though.I guess they aren't in the sport just for the money.

Have you read the article in the bloombergbusinessweek on the 1st of july . Makes for a very interesting read. While it only touches the surface of the whole picture and those involved,it does talk about the 2 trainers you've referred to. I don't know how to post it for others to read,otherwise i would.It actually has a brief reference to what you have talked about. It refers to how there was a common feeling amongst many participants and punters/racegoers that cheaters were over running the sport at certain tracks. In particular the article focused on the dishonest crooked horse trainers Navarro(a.k.a. the juice man) and Servis who appear to have been comrades in the widespread use of performance enhancers. There was a widespread network of trainers,co trainers,vets and chemists distributing and administering performance enhancers across both codes.While the article seems to focus on the thoroughbred trainers,the leading trainers at tracks like yonkers have of course been charged.They peddled products from the lab known as snake venom,bronk(broncodilator) and monkey(endurance) amongst other things. Some interesting phone conversations and texts. One from navarro to servis "i've been using it on almost evrything,we'll sit down and talk about this shit,i don't want to talk about this on the phone" then another from navarro..."he would have caught our asses f..ing pumping and pumping and fuming(milkshaking) everything thats run today" then one from a navarro associate"you know how many f..king horses he f..king killed and broke down that i made disappear" Of course the drugs involved were generally accepted as not being detected.

Unfounded conclusions??? Obviously you never read the jca reports. Are you still ridiculing the coronavirus escaping from a lab theory?