the galah

I agree with you on the mile racing brodie.It doesn't appeal to me as a punter. And from a spectator perspective,even worse are tracks like ashburton,whose track is not designed to encourage people to attend.Your always too far away and its inside a galloping track. Menangle looks like its been designed to encourage the public to stay at home. The public want to get close to the action.Thats part of the appeal of grass tracks. People attend one off days like oamakau,i went there once,big crowd,but given i was there to watch the races ,i wouldn't go again as even against the rails its was impossible to get a decent look at the on track action because you weren't allowed anywhere near it. How many of those that turn up for that day get an experience that makes them want to come back to the non holiday race meetings? And if mile racing is a successful strategy,hows harness racing in the usa going?

Your right. You can't blame purdon or some others for advocating for a handicapping system that had favored their horses and connections. Its what he should have been doing. Its just the consequences of taking so long to change an unfair handicapping system can't be changed.Many gave up in frustration,which of course ultimately lead to less horses being bred. And you may have noticed a few moths ago they changed it back to the help the young horses again.Ask yourself this. Why should a horse like dashtothebeach be rated 55. Its had 5 wins from 21 starts. Then you have skiddale who running on friday who has had only 2 wins from 15 starts rated the same. How is that fair? Its not.When will they ever learn that just because a group is vocal,does not make them right.

I had also been wondering the very same thing. I hadn't been able to figure it out.Either they have made it less obvious as to how you do it,or for some reason they have decided to make it less transparent. As i have stated before,they hardly ever catch anyone through tc02 testing anymore.Its a tool,but the resources put into it could be used more effectively else where.I think part of the reason is because they want to be able to say we have tested x amount,and it proves harness racing is clean. I've always been of the belief that until recently previous hrnz and riu leadership had no interest whatsoever in being proactive in uncovering the use of performance enhancers. Of course they reaped what they sowed, and recently got the rash of rule breakers most could tell existed,when they actually did some proper enforcement,and of course with that they got the negative publicity that predictably went with it.Sweeping things under the carpet ultimately leads to people noticing and complaining about the increasing lump under the carpet,and eventually they had to do the job they had ignored for so long.

Does it really cost $2000 a month to have a horse trained nowdays.Thats about $70 a day. If thats the case then its easy to see why there are less owners out there. Sounds way too much. O.k. the all stars owners may be happy to pay a lot more given their deep pockets and acceptance of all the extras that go with having a horse trained there,but i can't see most owners being likely to continue with the lesser successful trainers if the figure you have quoted is right. Also why don't hrnz have a website where owners can go to get the approximate training fees of any trainer who wishes to disclose what they charge. Shouldn't there be not be more transparency around this subject. You mention stakes of $7000-$9000 being off putting. Obviously it is a factor,but how important really is an extra say $1000 a race. Take queensland for example. You can't help but notice the fields those $2600 races at marburg on sundays,or those $4000 races at albion park during the week get. They seem to be doing ok.Is that not because they have a better handicapping system that retains horse participation at each level. And how much is the current lack of horse population a result of hrnz operating a handicapping system a few years back that drove the average participant away. Remember the races where the 6 and 7 win 3 year olds would get a penalty free win ,whereas the 4year and older 1 win horses in the same race were given a penalty for the very same race.Hrnz failure to recognise that pandering to the elite at the expense of the bulk of participants,was always going to have long term negative consequences.You can't undo the consequences that previous dumb policy had on current participation.

Thats an amazing stat isn't it. I never realised K bublitz stats were so bad. 82 drives and not one win. Then you have N delany. Doesn't he work for B purdon? Hes only had 2 wins in 88 drives this season. Either these fellas are getting some awful drives,or they aren't going too good.Perhaps thats part of the reason why the current series struggled for entries.Like i've said previously. There are horses being discarded because they are no longer competitive at the rating 40 level. There needs to be a handicapping system where uncompetitive 1 or 2 win horses on r 40 can drop back further and run against non win horses. Those races would have the junior driver conditioned concession attached to them for those that had already won a race..You only need another 15 or so of those horses to have enough to add another race per week,and give the less successful drivers more opportunities. Its common sense to me. Just run them for lower stakes.

That one may have run one good race,but its a stable that had a major drop off in form this season.If you follow southland harness you would have seen that.

If thats the case about watch me now,thats a turnaround in form again from the horse that raced disappointingly from the dolan stable a couple of months ago.I always thought watch me now was a bit hard to follow form wise.They run fast over there don't they.I happened to catch nandolo first up over there a couple of months ago and he put in an amazing run in some ridiculously fast time. I wonder if he has raced since as he looked like he could have run 1.46-47 without raising a sweat if he had a decent draw that night. He's watching is the sire of watch me now. Hes by american ideal from a real desire mare. American ideal has some good ones running at the moment here.

Amazing dream paid $21.Unreal really,given its won so many big races. I didn't back it,but amazing that krug was only paying 2.60 compared to amazing dream.The first 4 paid $479.

Yes ,great win by mark and nathan purdon.I personally thought krug ran up to his best. Not a bad effort by a three year old.Once amazing dream got the trail,those $21 odds were looking pretty amazing. king of swing looks a bit of a champion,so some good racing to come.

Yes good win by americam dealer,seems to have recaptured something like his good form.That warmer weather must agree with him.Nice drive by a butt,and mark purdon also gave spellbound the perfect trip.

The only thing i would disagree with is nathan purdon. I never backed him,and thought he could stop a $1.20 shot from winning.In fact i started a thread that i thought it crazy that he could be driving a $1.30 shot before it ran,and sure enough the stinking hot favorite managed to get it all wrong. To be honest i miss him not driving for that reason.Theres no doubting he has done very well as a trainer and deserves credit for that,and it appears he recognises his horses are better with someone else driving.

Just my opinion.Horses just go better for him than anyone else. He won the nz cup with cruz bromac who was the all star 3rd string at the time,simply because orange can get that bit extra out of any horse. I rate him similar to d.dunn.Only natalie rasmussen would be somewhere near him here,and maybe luke mccarthy or gary hall jnr over there in my opinion,but they are always driving the better horses for big stables..Chris alfords obviously very good,but i think Orange and dexter dunn are the best nz have seen in recent times.I also think consistency is a factor,and orange drives at his best wherever and whoever he drives.

Orange is the best driver in Australia and NZ, so if hes available then they would be silly not to use him. Will be interesting to see how krug goes. One thing i'm a bit unclear on as far as the driving goes, is can drivers push another down closer to the fence like they can here,and if so at what stage of the race can they do that?

So many now days take it upon themselves to get offended on someone elses behalf. All that does is ultimately take away the seriousness of an actual or real racial slur,a bit like the girl that always called fire. I had that a couple of years ago when i was interviewing someone for a position in the company is was in at that time. He was a big man with a big stomach,and we had recently had comments from clients that another employee of similar build was unintentionally exposing parts of his bum when that employee bent over,with bending being necessary when doing part of one task. So i pointed out in a diplomatic way in the interview that we expected all employees to be dressed to ensure they didn't expose parts of the body when bending over.Well,while in no way was the new employee offended, the woman who had done the interview with me whom i had recently been a little dissatisfied with some aspects of her job performance,complained that i had made a derogatory comment about the new applicants physical appearance. Of course they asked the applicant and he advised that he had not felt that at all and was unsure what part of the interview was being referred to. So the point i make is,people like thomas are always on the lookout for comments and situations that can be used for their own purposes. They hijack an issue,think they may be doing some good where in fact they only cause resentment and further division where none actually existed.They manipulate the situation to somehow in their minds think they have taken the moral high ground,but in fact they only end up looking unhappy and a little bitter for reasons that people can only guess.So many people who do this are also the biggest hypocrites. But thats the world political and media groups have created. Its a bit like my wife used to watch one of the usa housewifes programmes.But she told me last night she had given up watching it as all it seemed to be about this season, was a new housewife who had been brought on the show,and all she went on about was the white privelegde of the other housewifes,who all just sat there and agreed,i guess so as to look politically correct. All rather pathetic.

I thought the commentators all did a great job tonight. Must be a while since kevin payne called,but he did a great job. Forbury has had quality harness callers over the years and going by tonight they seem to have retained all their commentating skills.It was nice to hear them again.

i would pick hazer,for chris gerken. Although i wouldn't be too confident in what looks an even field. henry skinner was a long time ago,but i do remember him being a leading driver when in southland. I remember being at forbury one night.It was about the time the shirley stable had a lot of runners.At one point the shirleys seemed to have a run of interfering with each other,and one night at forbury i followed them back to see what their dad said.It was rather funny,he shook his head and said,"well whose fault was it this time".. Its funny the things you remember.

With the final meeting to be run in a couple of days,i thought some may enjoy sharing memories of past experiences they have had there. I remember as a kid mum and dad would take us on regular holidays in dunedin,always timed to take in a race meeting. As a kid,there always seemed a lot of people there to watch,and i remember they always seemed to have a fire engine parked out the back of the main grandstand beside the main tote and hot dog and chip stand. My uncle had a friend called mr bailey,a friendly short older man,from christchurch who often was there,and the word was he knew his form,so my brother and i used to follow him around a bit for some reason,but he was a very fast walker. His son was actually a high profile nz doctor/specialist who tragically drowned while swimming in the sea in bali. Once i started training a couple of horses,i would make what always seemed like long trips to forbury ,and actually trained my first winner there,and a short time later drove my first winner there as well.Whenever my wife and i would go,my parents and brother would come,and my wife's aunty who was a local would normally turn up for support. The results often seemed rather mixed,but did provide some good memories. Forbury could be a frustrating track results wise.I had a horse i thought was ready to win fresh up,and i took it all the way down there,only to be badly checked on the first bend,with the culprit driver given a suspension. The following week i made the decision to go back,but the 12 hour round trip was a disappointing one as believe it or not we were knocked down again on the first bend. Then you had the stipes down there. I remember asking one of them one day if he watched the programme "lost in space" from the late 60's as a kid,he said he did.So i told him he reminded me of the robot on it, that every week would go round waving its arms uncontrollably,yelling warning,warning,warning.I also learnt that stipes will only show camera angles that suited the picture they were trying to paint.I remember them one time showing me the film from the back end of a 12 horse field,and giving my horse a warning when he supposedly paced a little roughly when outside the leader. I told them show me the front on as i couldn't even see my horse,they said there was no front on available,so i said show me the angle they had on trackside,they told me to go before they charged me.Drivers should always insist they are allowed to view each angle before they admit to anything if they think they are being railroaded.I also remember i occasionally took a horse to have a pee on the grassed end of the float car park.For some reason unknown to me i noted the racecourse inspector sometimes hid behind floats,while he observed what i was doing. I thought what a dick and that rather strange. Then of course there were the long drives there and back. Whenever you went over those big hills close to forbury on the way down it always looked like it was going to rain,and then it could be a long drive home on the cold and frosty nights.It really depended how you went as to how you felt. I remember the clerk of the course always seemed very friendly and helpful. There was always a level of anticipation when you arrived on course,and like most racecourses everyone seemed friendly. You also got to watch how the top drivers and trainers operated.Your respect for them as people grew when you got to see how they acted and treated others. A strange experience i had with a driver was when we had a very short priced favorite who had won the week before. When i went round to give him the colours he had just come off the track after driving a hot favorite who had taken no part in a mobile event. Before i had a chance to give him the colours the owner of the horse who had just run,came round and went in the box to discuss what had happened with his horse. All you could hear was laughter whenever he spoke to the driver and trainer,and the owner came out and commented what a waste of time that was. He would later go on to own a multiple nz cup winner.Anyway i gave the driver my colours,while he seemed very jovial. Come the race,despite being hot favorite,he was intent on racing parked with the driver of the leader later telling me he had told our driver twice he could have the lead,and couldn't understand our drivers tactics. . Anyway we got beaten a length and only ran 5th in a close finish.While he was a nice bloke,I didn't use that driver again,and he no longer drives.That was before they pre raced tested drivers for things like cannabis.It was also back in the day when they had some big pick 6 pools which syndicates used to target,and i had made the mistake of telling our driver the day before that i believed our horse may have been a bit flat from his win the week before. But at the end of the day the main memories really are that our shared experiences with the wife and family. And i personally think its a real shame forbury is closing.

can't see why you would draw that conclusion from what i have said. I was pointing out they are recognized treatments given to assist the effectiveness of epo which of course is given to increase the red cell numbers,thus improve oxygen levels. If you were using epo to peak a horses performance at a certain time,the experts say you give the bulk of the treatment several weeks prior to when you want it to have its maximum effect.Thats why they say if authorities were serious about picking up epo,they would do regular out of competition testing,but should never let those they are testing know when it is to happen as indications of its use only stay in the horses system for 2 to 4 days. They also say even if its use is indicated in the tests,you would have difficulty proving it was directly because performance enhancers had been used,as the horse apparently can sometimes produce natural raised levels. Thats how you peak a horses performance from a bottle. You keep going on about on post race testing being effective,but from what i have read even the most up to date post race testing has a very low likelihood of picking up the use of epo. So the experts say you are wrong. A couple of years ago,a leading expert in equine research in kentucky described the use of epo as an epidemic. No doubt your answer is whats that got to do with nz,testing works,that i believe in conspiracy theories. Just as i can believe my theory is true,there is no way you can prove its not.

I'm not saying this has anything to do with lazarus. But it does relate to red cell builders that i was referring to earlier. I read an article on the paulick reportabout 5 years ago,which i have just re read,which reprinted parts of a letter that was sourced from a whistle blower. The letter was from from a well known veterinarian in the usa,and was sent to client on how epo was to be used. It noted that "when introducing the blood builder into the horses system iron,folic acid,b12 and an anabolic steroid are used in conjunction. The steroids put the horse into a building state and the b12,folic acid and iron are all needed in increased amounts to make the red cell numbers increase". If you read about this type of steroid use,it suggests fertility sometimes can return to normal after a few months. Whats obvious is you would need owners who would be happy to pay big vet bills.

I have just read the decision of the jca on their website. They found D ferguson not guilty of improper driving but guilty of careless driving. Apparently they found he had no intent to steer his horse wide prior to the passing lane ,and it was just coincidence that his stablemate got a run when he ran wide. I think thats a brief summary of the decision. My take on that is the stipes did do their job,but the jca simply can't tell team driving when it is right there in front of them .The moral of the story is a precedent has been set,so don't expect team driving to be punished given the jca aren't up to the job. Anyone who has doubts should just go watch the video again. It appears he hasn't as yet been given his penalty for the careless driving.

just clarifying I wasn't meaning as a racehorse,but as a sire.

as regards the grimson/trainor team success. I think i replied on that thread that from what i have read,Epo type products that boost red cells,are given over a period of time,and require very regular blood tests taken after horses are worked,so as to monitor their blood and not overload the horses body with the level of treatment and cause it harm. Horses are given other treatments in conjunction.They say red cells last 100 days don't they. So a drop off in form of the stable you have referred to wouldn't happen overnight.Maybe in 3 months times may give a better indication if they keep them in the retention barn for that long. Thats why i said 48 hour retention barns are ineffective against such practices.

reading this, i can't help but think you seem a very frustrated person. I'm not saying you don't have reason to be,just saying the jockeys comments seem to have triggered something there for reasons which are unclear.Makes for an entertaining read i suppose. I would suggest next time you start a thread you actually spell the persons concerned name right. I have no idea whether you have been referring to shaun phelan,or shaun fannin. To be honest i don't really care either,but i'm just pointing out its a bit confusing.

gammalite. Are you aware of what Turn it ups record was in nz when trained by the all stars. 15 starts for 11 wins and 4 seconds. Three group 1 wins,and three of the seconds were in group 1 races. (beaten by spankem in two of those group ones).Thats why we don't think his queensland form compares with his nz form. Of course they have trained some great horses.I haven't seen anyone suggest otherwise. As far as you saying decades of success. Its only in the last few years that i would say the red cell thing has become a bit obvious. As i have said previously,i don't think it has been as noticeable with cullen at the helm,and just prior to that as well. So i have seen no one caste aspersions on any historical purdon success. Thats my take on things.

Fair enough,but can you name just one that has improved after leaving the all stars. Also can you name one successful stallion that the all stars have trained. And if you think anyone has said spankem is racing like a cat or queensland trainers are useless,like you have suggested has been said,then your obviously not getting what people are saying.Paleface's reference to lacking red cells couldn't have made it any clearer what some think. Also,i think you will find most people think spankems form when trained by the all stars was better than copy that. Thats not denying copy that is a top horse. Spankem after all has won 1.59 million. Also you mentioned turn it up. I think anyone in nz would agree that the Turn it up that raced in nz,was a better version than the one you have over there. Like i said,its just what many people believe.