the galah

Its always blamed on the feed source isn't it.Since you believe that can you explain how come it had such a high tco2 level this day,yet not on the other days it was tested.Fed the same each day.And how come others fed the additive don't return high levels.

So you must think the legal representatives of the persons involved here were not up to it. They submitted a fine of $6000 was appropriate ,yet you suggest they should have only been fined $1700. And they accepted the costs figure as being accurate.( 60% was awarded.) I'm not a defender of the jca. They can't even see whats right in front of them sometimes.Some past cases show they are just rubber stampers of sometimes personalized enforcement .But this type of case didn't require much judgment from them as to whether a rule had been broken. And the penalties pretty much are based on what has happened previously.

So everyone seems to be moaning about the penalty.Can they give suggestions as to what you think should have happened? All this thread indicates is many are anti the enforcement of rules. Some making comment may have personal reasons to feel aggrieved in how they may have been dealt with in the past,but whats that got to do with someones horse having a high TC02 level. If people don't like the TC02 rules,then why not lobby to have them removed and let it be a free for all. See how that will impact the number of participants and punters.

They also barred me from posting. Couldn't work out exactly why,but i formed the opinion they only wanted one sided points of view. There was a definite dark side to that forum. People should be aware of that. My guess was those that ran it could easliy be influenced into suppressing peoples points of view,and used their forum to give one sided attacks on those they disagreed with. I have said this once before on here. After i was banned,someone using my actual name as their nom de plume posted a handful of posts,among them a personal attack on a trainer i used which inferred untrue information. Someone who ran the forum had to have given my name to the person making those posts,and after i contacted mr molloy twice the posts continued. In my view molloy deliberately aided and abetted the sinister posting that they were doing. I still occasionally read it,they have some good posters,but if you want a forum where both points of view are expressed,then this is the forum to get it.JJ flash obviously prefers the other site,thats up to him,but personally i think it good he posts here as well,as he has his own points of view,and when you read everyones point of view on here,it sometimes helps get some balance to your own point of view. Thats the way it should be,and i think this forum works pretty good in that respect.

Do you think the older trainers should step aside and let the younger ones take over? Same logic applies there doesn't it?

So you appear to be linking some of the older drivers still driving to having an impact on current junior driver numbers. If that were the case then why do the junior drivers of this era get more drives,as compared to those of say 30-40 years ago?And we know there was far more younger people employed in the industry 30-40 years ago than now. I don't agree there is a link.Other factors are of far more signifcance. Some drivers do seem to lose the desire and enjoyment,and reduce driving.its up to the individual. Some no doubt voice the opinion they need to give younger drivers a go.But they do so on the basis that what they have done is reinforcement that they have made the right decision. Ask yourself are they any happier? Also take the likes of ricky may. He doesn't train. The reason he drives is because people believe his current driving skills will assist them in getting the best outcome for them in races they have starters in.Why deny them.And of course maybe they like interacting with people like May.

I agree it is a major factor as far as early positioning goes,but personally think the tempo of the race is a more important factor. Obviously horse ability is the most important. Also maintaining momentum is important.What is notable is how the passing lane is not that big a factor over there,unless the leader has forward momentum.

i was referring to age in the context you had used it,i.e. as relates to older drivers. And i never said grant dixon is not good tactically. I said d graham wasn't.But i did say t dixon and c petroff are better drivers at the moment than g dixon. As an example I got a vey nice collect off the horse midnight queen at redcliffe mid week. The reason i backed it was because g dixon sacked himself and gave petroff the drive. The horse had clearly been resenting the way dixon had been restraining it during the running,and turned its form around for petroff. at very good odds. Credit to dixon though,he recognised his style didn't suit and gave the drive to someone better suited. I agree mangos not as good as he used to be,mckendry still as good but not with the same desire,Stormont and May still very good drivers.These fellas should keep going as long as they want. Enjoying what you do doesn't stop when you get older,so why should they stop?

I think age doesn't make any difference.Its just whether they are up to it tactically, and still have the desire.It would make a difference if they had a crash. The mcmullens do drive well. I have noticed pete mcmullen is very good overall,and narissa mcmullen very good in front in sprint races. Shes not as good in the longer races,as her horses over race too much,and not as good if not in front.Those other 2 don't seem to have driven much lately. I did think taleh mcmullen drives well,but Trent lethaby seems to be doing most of the driving for the J mcmullen stable at the moment. As to Grant dixon,i think his wife drives better,and chris petroff the best from that stable,but he doesn't get that many opportunities.Grant dixon drives conservatively most of the time,but does drive them well when he knows he is on a top chance.Maybe the conservative drives are because he also trains them.

Brittany graham one of those drivers who horses run for,and also has a very good tactical brian.A lot cleverer than her father when driving. He should leave the driving to her.

North island harness need to develop a proper business model which sees the sustainability of racing. For a start,stakes need reduced,and the bigger trainers up there should reduce their training fees accordingly.Auckland still has an asset than can be cashed up and racing continue elsewhere in the region.Thats just one of the most obvious is it not?

You have to laugh when you look at those bets.I guess its not their money,it would be like an imaginary game. Good on the TAB for giving the losses back. Its a good PR decision. They are a business, and it will help the tab long term. Anyone participating in the BGP syndicate should realise that. The TAB of course play the long game,and know the overall figures.

You refer to the auckland trotting club confirming a loss of $90,000,000(thats a lot of zero's),for the previous financial year. Money that could have been spent in areas which would have ensured a future for those in the industry up there,has gone,never to be seen again. It will ripple out to those who make a living from the sport. All rather sad. But the reality of today has to be faced. And are those who run the ATC living in the real world. Heres a quote from rod croon,president of the atc. Its the last sentence in last years Annual report on the clubs finances. Of note this was made only 10 months ago. "In 12 months time,as a result of the hard work and energy we have all brought to the club,i believe we will be able to look out from our new facilities and look forward to a prosperous future". Delusional is the word that comes to mind. So what conclusion could you come to. Well i would have thought the obvious one is those leading the ATC are either really stupid,or have been deliberately deceptive, i guess so as not to be seen as incompetent. What else could you conclude. Did they really think anyone with any sense would believe them.Why don't they face reality,tell it how it is.

and the winner was ....doug

I do have one driver that is only good for raising the blood pressure,and that is B barnes. He seems to get a lot of drives for unknown reasons to me,and drives the odd winner,but he drives an awful lot of very poorly judged drives.

I also think its a combination of faster tracks,and g dixon the trainer gets his horses to run consistently,which it lacked here. That may be partly due to when it first ran in australia it was against horses of slightly less ability than it raced in nz ,but the last couple of runs its been able to maintain its form.If you look at the horses it beat last night when they went 1.53,they included skippys delight,franco nandor and sense of occasion, all ex nz horses. Skippys delight still is the same skippys delight from nz. Near the end of his nz career he always ran here like he had some type of issue holding him back,and over there hes pretty much the same. Horses like him who pointlessly are asked to chase round horses that run forever in fast times in age group 1 and 2 races generally pay a price.Having said that hes getting to run in many 1 mile races now which should suit him,and surely he may get a win one day soon there. I've been following the queensland races recently,and i don't think it is the state where any improvement in a nz horse can be put down to something illegal going on.

someone who wants to make an informed comment on it.

I agree logic says the vaccine is being oversold,but the same message has been delivered worldwide by many governments,so its not just here. I think the worry is once the virus does start circulating here,how much stress will that put on our health systems and what will its flow on effects be? I think we should all be considering that and giving thought to what steps we take now so as to maintain our own personal health in the coming years.

Just seems like he made a silly decision to start his horses at the trials due to forecast inclement weather,but there doesn't seem any intent to deceive anyone,nor gain an unfair advantage.Hes put his hand up and admitted his mistake. The people in glass houses comment from long owner,whatever that is supposed to mean,sounds unwarranted. From a punters point of view its interesting to see reininm patron is considered a low grade bleeder and receives treatment for that. It's always raced like it has had some sort of issue which holds it back,it only being a sprinter and never quite finishing off its races after appearing to be travelling easy at the 400m. This case nothing to get excited about,Just the system working as it should.

And chris petroff.He should get more drives than he does.

i've been watching the queensland trots.Seems everyone is trying,except the odd exception. It does look like a few of the drivers go out there thinking they havn't got much chance and drive conservatively , but thats understandable if they assess the form right. You seem to have a lot of good drivers. The likes of m elkins,n dawson and l manzelmann.

I had googled that myself previously. Apparently they don't recommend the antibody test,because the results could be misleading. They say thats because the tests have been designed to pick up the antibodies produced when attacked by the original virus,and the vaccine makes the body produce the antibodies once its attacked by the virus,seemingly can be two different things. I guess we've all become google experts now,or so we think. If you go on the u.k. figures and your going to get the vaccine,it makes more sense to get it closer to when they say they are going to open the borders,as if you had it say in april it wouldn't be as effective.(unless you get the third shot).The only risk of that is if there was to be a big outbreak in the meantime i suppose. Best to put all the virus thinking on the back burner i think,and focus more on picking winners.

Personally i think our government has done a good job,but the messaging around what happens in the future is misleading in that it gives the impression the vaccine will somehow make living with the virus less of an issue. The U.K. has the most honest official reporting,and this is the latest today as case numbers surge again even with 77% of the population fully vaccinated with 2 shots.The study was of 1.2 million fully vaccinated people. Protection from the vaccine(used in nz) wanes to 88% after 1 month,and then after 5 months to 74%.The vaccine effectiveness is expected to continue to wane,which is why they say you'll need a 3rd shot,and so on.They say it wanes around 1/5 a month after the second shot.In the u.k. they are estimating a possible worst scenario of only 50% of elderly and health care workers,who were the first to receive the 2 shots, being protected by the start of their winter(which isn't far away).Apparently the elderly sometimes don't generate the vaccine protection that good if they have health issues anyway. On the positive front,there are a couple of theraputic drugs which seem to be quite effective,which they are hoping to use more on infected patients.

Yes i read that last lockdown,but of course whats the logic for it currently when hospitals aren't dealing with covid cases.It makes no sense. I think industry leaders seem to have dropped the ball over this issue.Whats happening was predictable .It appears australian racing authorities plan better than nz do. Also how can auckland trainers justify full training fees when they aren't able to fast work even on a reduced basis.

But of course if auckland stay in lockdown for a month or more,there is no way any auckland racehorses could be expected to race within a couple of weeks.The longer the level 4 where you can't fast work,the longer it would take to get them back up to racing fitness. My advice for any punters is if there is an extended lockdown in auckland,which seems likely,do not bet on any auckland races for at least a month.I found in the last lockdown that there was no consistency to the form for about 2 months after it resumed. It was obvious that some trainers could get their horses to race well early after racing resumed,but to do that the lack of proper preparation resulted in a clear drop off in form after a couple of runs. The principles of giving a horse a proper preparation so as to retain form long term still apply,lockdown or no lockdown. So the longer a lockdown at level 4 where fast work can't be done,the longer punters should stop punting once racing resumes.Thats the wise thing to do.