Dougie

Nice to see some of the old commentators will be calling a race on Thursday with the possibility of Tom Wood calling off the internet from Hong Kong.... little worried & curious as to why Davy Mc isn't calling a race, hope his health is ok. I too have great memories of Forbury, some from my sisters fence when I was younger as she lived on the back straight in the 90's but I can remember a fav of mine 'Tornese' winning the 3200m cup with her mate Phil Williamson driving and just looking up a result now as I couldn't remember the year but in 1996 'Role Model' ran 2nd in the 3200m cup for $20,000!!!!!!!!!! beaten by 'Jeepers' and 'Frances Jay Bee/Strietross running 3rd and 4th..... no chance in the last 10 years would you have seen quality horses like that racing at Forbury nor the offered $20k prizemoney. Kind of ironic some of these fields too on Thursday, those last 3 races are great betting races with decent numbers, now if they could have had fields like this for the last 5 years we wouldn't be having the conclusion Thursday that we are having..... on the other hand R7 is the battlers race from hell, Alexy coping the worst draw possible for him and Rick will need to weave his magic from probably 3/4 back the fence.

The skill of the man, 5 year old mare from a old time owner/breeder, first starter from a stand start and boom, well done Rick and maybe even nab another today but sure to get a full book of drives for the last Forbury meeting on Thursday.

Very true but from a punting point of view very hard to get a decent return, once they start in AUS and show form you'll never see a decent betting price again generally.... you look at the exported horses the last month of so you can also see why fields in NZ are getting smaller, pay $2000 plus per month in training and race for peanuts or sell an average horse for $20k to AUS. Waiting for 2 horses in Leer who I think will be a hot fav 1st start and the former Paul Young trained free legged pacer Conspirator to start in AUS, looks a nice staying horse that didn't do much in NZ, might get a nice price 1st start.

Some crazy prices last night too, how on earth did Copy That get out to $9 and I got Humble Ladd at $6.50 on thursday-- great win first up over 2647m for 3 months after coming from NZ and no trial either that I could find, yes easy win by Pick Galahs but Humble Ladd ran 3 seconds quicker and sat parked for quite a bit of the race too. I did have a bet on Gold Chain and Bob Butt learnt the hard way getting behind a slow QLD trotter who faded badly, I thought he'd lead and not hand up but still a good run first up in QLD.

Give Dennis the menace more horses is what they should do --- the results he gets from the 3 or 4 horses he has is remarkable considering the ability of the horses --- and yes I know they race most weeks and battle but if Otago/Southland had another 10 trainers like him with just a few competitive horses !!! They tell us field sizes equates to turnover so find away to get 12 plus in every race then suits........

After his win June 3rd Stewards report reads 'cleared from the unruly for future standing starts'...... and last night fractious before the start and you could see he was uncomfortable standing still so WHO asked to be removed from the unruly???? Surely John wouldn't after a win and him knowing the horse, most stewards reports I read state trainer requests to move horse to the unruly or after multiple breaks the stewards move the horse so which is it in this case?

Not good, sorry to hear about your on course experience - imagine the amount of first time race goers there yesterday, will they return?????? From a viewers point of view I thought the racing was great, pressure on the leaders in most races and drivers not afraid to sit 3 wide and at least put their horse into the race. Sadly a huge downside was the race caller making multiple mistakes with names, yes we all make mistakes but on the biggest day and to call 'Akuta' probably the most impressive winner on the day the wrong name and lets be honest totally stuff up the the last 300 meters due to forgetting the horses name was a disappointment.

Something sus is that race I reckon ---- Most of the races today at Cambridge got $2k to $4k in the win pool in NSW but the Bolt for brilliance tote was $11,676...... even R9 Copy That short price fav there was only $2800 in the win pool. Due to the pool sizes I'd say most of us bet fixed.

Paid $28 on the tote in NSW for the place !!!! was struggling at the 300 after a fast quarter and watching the replay was darn near going backwards!!! I was on Penbrook Playboy who was 4 back the fence and looked to be bolting on the turn....... you shake ya head how Laver ends up beating PP by 2 lengths but that's the beauty of racing.

Trials great but race day just not fast enough at the start to get handy, weak field and sadly I only backed for a win but they went 59 for the last half on a wet track off the front so looks wise it was a great run but U take a huge chance on backing a driver with hardly a drive let alone a win in the last decade..... Graeme Ward drove the first 2 winners I ever backed as a teenager so I've followed him since, shame he's not more involved, good front running driver in the junior ranks. Very well bred horse- half sister to Leaf Stride too so maybe a late developer.

WTF https://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/punters-fury-over-refusal-pay-out-110k-winnings

My eyes my eyes !!!!!! holy crap even at 150% I struggle to read that garbage a 10 year old has typed up. Without knowing the number of meetings for this season on grass have they increased for next year??? proven to be high turnover meetings so you'd hope the suits took notice but I won't hold my breath. 1st grass meeting I can see is November 21 and the last April 24.

Gotta be a tough gig but yeah often sits on the fence but when he doesn't he gets the majority wrong for some reason .... again today he has trouble with stablemates in the same silks but different caps and seems to get them wrong more often that not. The Aussie in Southland struggles in a photo finish too.

You beauty MM is back, 4 genuine winning chances if they all accept I reckon.... If any of the lads in the syndicate are around no trials or workouts for MM and hasn't raced for 6 weeks since AUS did he go home to Oamaru or has he been with Tony H in Auckland? Cheers.

You're fighting the wrong fight mate, the question should be should Mitch Kerr banned trainer be permitted to work within the standardbred industry, as a life ban should encompass all facets of the industry ....... would you be ok with Kerr for instance turning up at PGG as an auctioneer or working as a groomer/seller of yearlings?

If it's right then it's wrong - surely he can't work as a stable hand at $20 an hour when in reality he'd be training the horses just as much as his father would be.

As it states he's barred for life- training/driving/stable hand....... is he allowed to go to his fathers house/stables?

Never knock someone for trying but surely it's easier to win races in the NI than the SI and on the face of it more $$$ in the NI, if he's got nice young horses they're just coming south to compete against Cullen's best young horses.

Jess Young 5 drives today - placed with all of them for a place multi of $1046-1 !!!!

More importantly what chance of nags off the pace being able to make up ground today, been a constant on the grass lately that on pace is the way to go unless your at the MOT ( but not enough meetings there), and has the look of being a tad week too.

Forbury have been stuffed because of a number of reasons but a huge part for the last 5 years has been the race dates been given by HRNZ, very hard to have huge turnover on a wednesday or thursday evening or sunday afternoon, although these race times look perfect to get the students in for a drink or 10 and a bet they failed to even capture that market in student town!!! Why can't the major 10 trotting clubs in NZ have say 3 or 4 saturday race meetings a year starting at 13:00 or so and help fill the clubs coffers with $$$ and maximise the biggest betting day in our country and Australia, doing this will allow for the crap days clubs get for turnover. Having Addington as our only place with lights in the South Island isn't great planning, I for one don't want to see average Southland/Otago horses hiking up to Canterbury and getting beaten on a weekly basis over winter as eventually owners will give up- what's the plan for June to September for Otago/Southland this year? can't just have Winton/Invercargill every second week in the freezing cold, owners paying $1500 a month for a horse in training and very few meetings to even get a race they'll give up or a huge horse population will just be spelled and only race November to May. When Forbury goes I want to see the suits have a plan A/B/C/D/E but I highly doubt they even have a plan A.

So Blair a repeat offender gets 8 weeks for being over the limit to drive and on the same night Nigel Chalmers an amateur driver having his first drive of the season gets 6 weeks for not suing his whip in a flicking motion, no warning at all, last season 4 drives for 2 placing and was a decent junior driver many years ago so is no mug....... strange times we live in.

I have no issue with the article, I have an issue with industry participants like Anderson and Kerr acting like sooks and wanting sympathy when they have knowingly and willingly brought the industry down yet have the nerve to cry foul when the punishment in there eyes is to harsh.... how about you piss off and get a different job. no matter how good a driver and potential trainer you think you are your actions and choices over the last few years show you only give a toss about yourself Matt Anderson and any potential owners would have to be bonkers to invest in you.

If it was a party/farewell for an industry person why the hell hold it a day b4 a meeting, could have got absolutely hammered friday night with no meeting on saturday. On a positive note how good was that drive by John Patterson at the MOT, fist winning drive since 2013, his horses have always been well mannered and for a bloke who hardly drives he always seems to find the 1/1 or behind the leader/3 back the rail. Small time owner/trainers like him are few and far between now but blokes like him, Graham Telfer and Noel Taylor seem to like the challenge of having a few trotters and yes they may not be the fastest but the majority of their horses are competitive and I'm happy to back them in the right race.

We all know were the majority of the horses are in NZ - Canterbury and Southland, yes they had the meeting canned at Omakau and January is traditionally the best time for trotting clubs to hold meetings and the West Coast/Nelson circuit is great but shit those idiot suits have missed plenty of opportunities year after year........ hundreds of horses looking for a race opportunity down south of Dunedin, Wyndham raced on January 6th then N.S 13th, Winton 20th and then Forbury the 27th===== that's effectively after Wyndham 21 days with ONLY 3 meeting at the height of the holiday/summer season these suits are just throwing away potential turnover $$$$ cos they just have no idea. Meetings are turning over $1.3m to $1.8m on NZ TAB, add to that a building Aussie market etc, racing on grass at this time of the year and over shorter distances is the way to go, limit expenses by having 2 days at each track over 4 days and its a recipe to print money.