Joe Kidd

Basil with his trusty word counter. So is it Basil Fawlty, Basil Brush or Basil the Mouse Detective ? The mouse detective would be raging hot fav.

Absolutely Flag. Still remember every moment of every win. We shared the love at the time and that love is still be shared back years later. Would never begrudge anyone who was fortunate enough to win a big one but when the same names and faces are scooping almost the entire pool season after season the cream starts to sour.

I'm sure we all feel desperately sad for poor old MP who hasn't been sleeping in his own bed recently due to harvesting millions of dollars from what he does. Will be suffering in complete comfort. What does interest me is the last bit of waffle. What exactly is "flying into Auckland today to put the finishing touches on his team for Derby night at Alexandra Park this Friday. " a euphemism for? Miracle cures for viruses and hoof abscesses ? Miraculous form turn arounds? One thing for certain, when MP stops training, he should bottle and sell his "finishing touches". Would be worth a fortune. I will market it for him. How does a blue bottle with stars on it sound?

Are you for real or do you just enjoy being a prize prat? Anyone who does not think the AS assist each other when they have multiple runners in a quality race is either ignorant, totally bias or dangerously naive. I'm genuinely shocked that you can't see it. Did you especially enjoy Pollyanna when growing up? As for Sheriff winning the 12k Cheviot Cup. I won't mention previous allegations etc in that area and instead just focus on the "cup". Despite what you've witnessed on Star Trek, we haven't yet developed the beam me up system. As a result, it's difficult for Mark Purdon to be in two places at the same time let alone two countries. Most of us appreciate the AS leave the crumbs while going after G1's elsewhere. How many AS runners were there in the Cheviot Cup? Zero of course is the correct answer. Also should be pointed out that the victor is a Derby winner, was a clear fav and driven by NZ's current best driver. The Dunn team using or not using their numerical advantage in a run of the mill 12k race is not comparing apples with apples, but you knew that. You just wanted to be obtuse and passive aggressive because it's safe to do so online.

They sure are Globe. The potion that most impressed me enabled reasonable horses to go wide, sit parked, press on, deal with challengers and then leave them standing in the home straight when the rest were gasping...and then look like they could repeat the performance five minutes later...Just magic. The part that amused me most was when significant betting movements went hand in hand with the performance. It was instrumental in me giving up my journey as a professional punter. I admire your enthusiasm and tenacity to press on with optimism regardless of the total AS domination. I sincerely hope you are well rewarded. If MM wins on Jewels Day, I will not stop smiling for hours and will raise a glass of single malt to you and toast your success. Glenmorangie a favourite at this time.

I'm sure you noticed the AS pair especially at the finish Kakama. Both, in particular Spankem looked like they could go back around to the start and do it all again. Remarkable. I knew Spankem was a decent enough horse. I didn't know he was one of the very best we've ever had.

100% Flag. Our family has owned 35 horses outright since 1970. 29 of them made it to the races. 11 were winners. Our best performer won 8 and second best won 6. We've had no group or listed winners. Haven't been involved in horse ownership since 2014 for several reasons unrelated to the AS. Seriously contemplated getting back into it with a considerable investment early last year but what we were seeing in several areas including the AS convinced us it was futile. Further confirmation came from regular communications with several trainers and owner friends who have become more and more disillusioned in recent years. I was at the forefront in encouraging the NZ TAB to invest in televising horse racing for several years with numerous studies. For the bulk of that time it must be said, I would have had more success communicating with a tree. For an organisation that's all about gambling, they had squirrel gonads themselves when it came to taking a gamble. When they finally relented and decided to take the plunge, I recall receiving a call from a big wig thanking me for my determination and persuasive argument which had finally hit it's mark. I've been regular punter for many years including a stint on both sides of the Tasman where I gave up a successful career to become a professional punter. I've taken dozens of first times to the trots over the years who are not only still in the game but have introduced many others into it as well. Perhaps I'm no loss to the sport for wanting what is best for the game and the masses rather than one stable and one small group of owners. One thing for certain, it will take more than a piss ant wearing full blinkers to stop me articulating my P.O.V.. The cheap shots from shitheels that I'm motivated by envy of the AS has about as much credibility as an eleven dollar NZ banknote. They may get traction with that angle throwing it at a wet behind the ears school boy with an intelligence quotient under 30, but if they said that to my face, the next ride they take would be in the boot of my car.

I feel like I've just been mauled....by a new born lamb When it comes to "hammering" you stick to what you're best at.

As I have stated previously Brodie, I was hugely impressed with the All Stars several years ago when the started dominating harness racing. After several seasons of it especially in elite races, I started to see a different picture. Not only where they scooping virtually all the high value races, they were often doing so in a manner that obliterated anything that even vaguely resembled a level playing field. The All Stars absolutely use their numerical advantage to assist each other in racing. Anyone who disagrees with that is wearing blinkers. They invariably have the best horses in a race. Good on them for astute buying / breeding. They invariably have the best conditioned horses in a race. Hats off to them on that score also. MP and NR are among the best in the gig and I applaud them in that area. They do their homework on their rivals and consistently produce magnificent results. None of these things of course are negative. They have raised the bar to a level most others could only dream of. If AS runners racing each other were actively competing against each other as individual identities for the entire race, their activities would not leave a bad taste but that only ever happens in the home straight. The advantage AS runners almost always have is increased considerably by the way they assist each other much earlier in the race. This is invariably where races are won for them and lost for any rival who has the audacity to compete with them. They use their numerical advantage to squeeze out and ultimately eliminate any meaningful opposition. Watch the way an AS runner is determined to hold a controlling race position if they are the sole stable representative in a feature race. Then watch how meekly they hand up to a stablemate in what is unmistakably a contrived / choreographed move. It's all about gaining control of the race and doing so without using excess fuel. The AS are masters at this. Then look at their rivals. They have no hope against the numerical disadvantage. AS won't hand up to them so they will be left posted. All of a sudden, their dream for that feature is over so what can they do? Wait and dash late? So come from behind multiple AS runners who have full tanks and have controlled the race, then expect to compete with them? Good luck with that. Fact is, most of these results are a virtual fait accompli before Lamb even spouts "Rightttttttttt". If there is a rival that has enough ability and bottom to compete, it will be a rarity. That horse will need to pull out all stops to compete. That leaves it set up perfectly for injuries. The AS may also suffer injuries while negating the threat but who is ready and waiting to claim the cream when attrition inevitably kicks in? A production line of other AS runners is the correct answer. Saturday's Miracle Mile showed once again just how helpful team mates can be. Spankem is drawn 6. How many previous MM winners have won from that draw? The Fixer gets the lead in a breeze from draw 2 as it was always going to do for NR. Then MP pressed on for the lead from draw 6. Very few horses would have attempted that from the draw yet MP knew the lead would be his. How many leaders would you expect to hand up the premier position in a MM without a fight and risk being caught three back etc? Very few if any is the correct answer yet NR remarkably, didn't even look over to see who she was handing up to so meekly. Why not? Because she knew exactly who she was handing up to as the move was totally contrived. Not only was it the winning of the race, it was also a virtually guaranteed 1,2. A smart move? Absolutely yes. It was appropriately named the "Miracle" mile as a miracle was exactly what was needed after the choreographed move for it to be anything other that an AS, 1 ,2. The performance of both runners in the home straight was sincere. NR did all she could to beat Spankem but that runner was gifted complete control and still had a tank full like The Fixer in the home straight. To my eye, the race was a farce. The only real race was for about 100 metres in the home straight between MP and NR to resolve who got first and who got second. I anticipated it being so and didn't watch it for confirmation until the following day. The result and how it was obtained has become routine. Call me old fashioned by I'm a fan of fair play. These sorts of results are some distance from being fair play. I am concerned for non AS owners who's dreams in the game are gradually dissipating. I'm also fairly confident that some trainers are only staying in the game now because they have limited other options. I honestly can't see how the dominance the AS and their owners achieve season after season in virtually all the high value harness races is good for the game. Perhaps I'm wrong. Time will tell but one thing for certain. I loved harness racing the moment I first went to the Nelson trots with my dad as a young six year old boy in 1968 and have loved it every year since. I've been to harness meetings in France, Denmark, Finland, USA and almost every track in Australia and NZ yet watching the AS dominate yet another elite meeting is about as appealing to me now as a visit to the dentist.

Up to your usual passive aggressive bum licking I see. If people don't agree with you, they must be wrong.

More like shocked than surprised Globe. Your MM is a superb animal that will win plenty but Kings Landing has more strings to his bow than Stent as he's a better stayer and will in time be better than Monbet who I told everyone would be the next big thing at his third start. Big claims I know but I'm sure more will get on-board each time Kings Landing races. You are absolutely right about hope as without it, we are doomed. Ironically, one of the first 50 cent doubles I collected was in the early 70's. First leg was First Tuesday beating Armbrose Lodge and Sir Troubador while the second leg was none other than Springs Eternal who I followed every time it ran. I think Bill Cherry was the caller down South. OMFG, am I that old

At no point have I denigrated "elite". That is selective nit picking and hair splitting. I also don't celebrate mediocrity. Some who have very little substance to add to a topic of vested interest will passive aggressively reach for that bullshit. I should be grateful at least that the old chestnuts weren't dragged out....again. The two favs are "other trainers need to lift their game to compete with the All Stars" and "anyone who thinks the All Star dominance of elite harness racing is not wonderful is just jealous of their success". Both are total horseshit. All through my life I have strived for excellence in all I take on. I took this especially in the area of education where I have numerous post graduate degrees etc and in sport where I have represented NZ in two different sports. I've installed the same mindset in my children. My oldest daughter was NZ number 1 in her chosen sport for her age group and the next two age groups above. My youngest son is well on his way to being the best in NZ in his chosen field. I come from a family of achievers who consider second to be first loser. As with everything, context is very important. I use the word "elite" for expediency to distinguish owners and races in group and listed races from owners competing at the run of the mill level. I have been an admirer of what MP has achieved for much longer I'd wager than many of the sycophants sucking up to him now. Harness racing is not about one trainer which is exactly why I feel his dominance especially at the elite level is now becoming a negative with far reaching connotations. It's the elephant in the room that those with a vested interest can't or won't see. Same applies with the owners from the stable that are dominating. I've never won a group race with the horses we've raced over the years. Come very close but no cigar. To be fair, my family were never prolific owners. I imagine winning a group 1 would be an unforgettable very special moment. Those I know who have done so, confirm it's the bees knees. Pursuing that dream is what keeps many in the game. It does get old when I see the same small group of "elite" owners taking the vast majority of the harness racing cream of the cake season after season. I fear more trainers will be lost to the game and more owners as a result. This would be the worst time since we got into harness racing in 1970 to ever contemplate buying young horses......unless you were going to race them with the All Stars.

Hi Globe, We both share a love for the squaregaiters. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but you are already chasing only crumbs on Jewels Day. The most exciting trotter I've seen since I Can Doosit is going around these days. It can sprint, it has no bottom so can work extra hard and still be much stronger than the rest in the home straight. It's getting better and better all the time. It's only four FFS. Will dominate NZ trotting for the next few seasons like a Take A Moment, David Moss, I Can Doosit. It's name...... Kings Landing. Trained by....ALL STARS.....owner. Trevor Casey and a couple of others. What section will the All Stars not win at The Jewels? Only bad luck will prevent them scooping the entire pool. How nice and how exciting. Pretty sure I will be water blasting the deck on those days. Saddens me as I love seeing one stable and one group of owners winning virtually everything season in, season out. The only thing I enjoy less is Mick Guerin pouting while the brown stuff runs off his tongue on the rare occasion he removes it from MP's butt cheeks. Jewels and Cup Day were always my favourite race day. Now, I'd prefer a day at the Nelson trots or virtually any meeting at Methven or the other big grass track meetings.

Two years ago I would not have missed an elite G1 Harness race but didn't bother watching the MM last night. Watching the same trainer and small group of owners own the game has become as nauseating as reading the deranged one's "Yussssssssss! Go Boy!!!!!!! Go the MIGHTY ALL STARS bla bla bla...I do hope one day the brown stuff he obviously has all over his / her nose, chin and tongue does not choke him / her If it had have been someone like say Doug Gale for example scooping the pool last night, I would have praised and celebrated the magnificent achievement but it wasn't. It was "just" another elite day / night of harness racing completely dominated by the same trainer and elite group of owners. I'm sure some of their runners could have been 3 wide the trip and still won. If Spankem had needed to go 1.46 to win last night, it would have. Good luck stopping that. You're only hope would be when it lines up in a 20k race and does a "The Fixer". Friday and Saturday highlighted two things for me. If the money is not up and the races are not targeted, AS runners can get surprisingly rolled even if they are at 1.15 but.....if the money is up and the AS want it, good luck cleaning up the crumbs as that's all that will be left for everyone else. Stay tuned for the next major day of one sided demolition @ The Jewels. I'm already looking forward to it like .....influenza.

Something clearly not right with Machete. Should have wiped the floor with them at Addington two starts back but got bombed by Letsspendanitetogether. To my eye, that would only ever happen under normal circumstances if the horse is not 100% or they had bigger fish to fry. I thought the former as it hasn't been the same horse as the earlier dominant version for some time. Perhaps they found the bottom of the horse and he's now got mares on his mind. Sniper a different ballgame. If the winner had been trained by someone else, I would put the result down to Tim Williams being outdriven by AGH at the start and that was all she wrote. However, the stable is renown for handing up very meekly to each other so not sure what to put the start down too. Given the run Sniper had, he should still have donkey licked the winner so something clearly not 100%. I thought he had sustained some sort of injury when he couldn't hold the back of the leader at the 400 but he finished well so not sure what was going on there. It's uncanny the number of times AS stars are surprisingly beaten when MP is elsewhere. Awesome to have someone advising other adults to get a Betfair account to wager on that. Have had a Betfair account for some years thanks. If punters start laying top line horses simply because the primary trainer is elsewhere, we should all give the game away. I thought both Sniper and Sweet On Me would win for fun last night but only one did so. If you were laying one because MP was away, you'd have to apply the same logic and lay both. Fact it, AS runners are often not as good when MP is away. It's absolutely correct to point that anomaly out, but unfortunate that observers can't express that without the resident poodle arriving to hump their leg...again.

Was either an enormous far koff to the All Star PR Man...or a bitter and twisted driver that at the time of his best ever win, made himself look like a complete Richard Cranium. Would have loved to hear Salesh share his wonderful moment so disappointing whatever his reason was. That aside, it was magnificent to see some NZ harness cream be shared around. Great for harness racing so I celebrate that and congratulate all concerned.

100%. Never has that been better illustrated than tonight. Totally different horses. Let me guess. The team all have a virus that will be gone very soon after the boss returns...then back to business as usual next week. Hilarious.

Superb tipping! Some very nice exotics around her as well so hope your account is overflowing. If the TAB paid out just prior to the turn, my tip would have been at 1.01 but they don't and soon after she was a million to one and drifting. As my dad always said, you can't be nice looking and lucky...it's a bastard when you're neither.

Merci beaucoup mademoiselle.

There is a solid earn in it for Robert Dunn long term. All Stars take the cream and RD mops up the scraps with his significant mop. Nothing defeatist about acknowledging reality. If you were serious about taking on the All Stars month in month out, you'd need a state of the art operation, a top line trainer, the backing of someone like Bin Rashid Al Maktoum and drivers like Blair Orange and David Butcher etc. Anything less will result in a huge amount of luck being required just to beat them very occasionally. Hypothetical questions. Kim Jong-Un decides he likes harness racing. He buys up the All Stars operation. He then goes to every yearling sale on both sides of the ditch and buys any horse that looks like it may be half way decent. Within a few years his operation are running the trifecta in every group and listed harness race in NZ. He's a very happy man. Would this be good for NZ harness racing and if so, why? Would this be bad for NZ harness racing and if not, why? I have no realistic suggestions as to how the stranglehold the All Stars enjoy could be broken. If I owned a half way decent animal, I'd be very happy with a placing in a Derby or Oaks etc. Just the dream would keep me in the game as long as the dream is not an unrealistic fantasy. It's the routine shut outs that I think do the damage. When a stable has the best three or four runners in a group race and they all race in a manner that is helpful to each other, the result is a virtual fait accompli. I would suggest that any and all stables are limited to a maximum of two runners in a group or listed race but I know that wouldn't work for multiple reasons. First reason being that if the AS started four runners in a race, they would likely have four different sets of owners and secondly, I'm 100% certain that should M P for example be limited to starting only two horses in a group race, it would be musical chairs with his other stable runners being transferred to family members so the result would still be exactly the same.

Sound run Happy. Sadly, closeness only counts with horse shoes. I went and had a look at her previous runs and agreed with your assessment. The money came so I got on board I hope you weren't relying on Davy Mac's call. A bit average post race. Gave the impression he'd been given the nod that MM had got up and even stuck to that when the replay was far from conclusive. Not his best work My dad always said, if the caller can't pick the winner even with slow motion replays, what hope do we have

Translated, "that sort of attitude" equates to a "realistic attitude". I appreciate your modus operandi is passive aggressive patronizing. You remind me of a little terrier humping away at your leg. You were also obviously a big fan of George W Bush with his "you're either with us, or against us". I've been in the game for 40 years so please save your condescending for children elsewhere. Yes, there are many trainers out there that haven't given up hope of winning elite Juvenile races and good on them. I wish them well. Lets face it, if they had given up hope, some would still keep their blinkers on. I am in regular contact with several trainers and numerous modest owners who routinely express to me disillusionment at numerous aspects of the game. More now than ever. At the sharp end of that disillusionment is one trainer and a small group of owners who are taking the vast majority of the cream season after season. Most are now finding it increasingly difficult to justify the "investment" in the game. The dream of taking the cream home has almost become a hopeless fantasy for many. Very few if any will make public statements on the matter for obvious reasons. You will also struggle to get a different perspective if you reside in an echo chamber. You can't utterly dominate the elite harness races season after season in a country the size of NZ and not expect there to be a flow on effect with at least a % of other owners and trainers. There are still plenty of opportunities to win run of the mill 2 and 3 year old races but that's mostly due to the fact a certain stable isn't terribly interested in those. The Sapling Stakes for example when it matters produces the same old same old business as usual. All Stars 1,2 and 3. If you're referring to Spellbound as the Westview 2 year old. Yes, looks a fair enough type but perspective is always helpful. Race was worth 10k. Not a single All Star runner in the field and even if there was, it would likely have done a "The Fixer" with bigger fish to fry. Good luck even grabbing some crumbs when it matters most.

I wouldn't be remotely interested in racing a 2 year old in NZ at this time...unless it was with the All Stars. Even if you were extremely fortunate enough to snare a beauty and race it from elsewhere, the numerical advantage the All Stars have alone and the way it's used is enough to obliterate anything that looks remotely like a level playing field. Add to that all the other factors at play and you would need to be more than optimistic to believe you had a show of sharing some of the cream with them. They have the market fully covered with virtually all the elite juvenile races are already in their bag. Not only will they win them all baring accidents, they will likely have the trifecta in every elite 2 year old event also. If you think you can change that from outside the All Stars, you will need a new wall and some medical intervention for the bruises on your forehead.

You know what they say about a trotter in form and also a mare in form. I'm a little surprised at the 2.90 put up for One Over Da Stars in race 8 today. She is so much better than these and ticks every box. Stable going superbly. This mare could be at yours for theirs to my eye. Will be genuinely surprised if she's not winning. Bet of the day.