Gammalite

The Monsters of the sport All strutting there stuff in incredible style tonight. 1/ Leap To Fame powers home in Kilmore Cup to defeat NZ best horse Republican Party in a great battle. Carter mixing it hard with the locals at the first corner 🤣👍😂 2/ 18 year old Jye Coney drives 4 winners at Menangle including the FFA driving Grimsons 'HI MANAMEISJEFF ' to a narrow victory over hot favourite, the current Miracle Mile champion Don Hugo in around 1.49. low flying. they bolt 5 lengths clear of the others. 3/ No room for former NZ horse 'The FALCON' at Grimsons so he sent him to Albion , where Pete McMullen wins the FFA in 1.51 with him for owners 'Grim' and 'Boots' 4/ NZ feature trot winning GUS for Pete, resumes off 40m handicap and donkeylicks them and is near best trotter in Australasia now. 5/ Pete gets a treble with former NZer FRANCO NEL , from the deep South of New Zealand. now open class winning 12 of 15 at Brisvegas past few months, and running 1.50 tonight winning by over 3 lengths. watch for him in some features shortly . (a 4 year-old by Vincent ) another ripper. 6/ Ex-pat kiwi Kyle Marshall wins training the Kilmore Popular Alm FFA sprint with SMOKEN ACE , an NZ bred he part owns and driven by Gun J.Herbertson in 1.52.5 some great performances from some great horses.!!! More to come with the 2026 Hunter Cup and Great Southern Star for trotters next week . bring it on !! 🏆🍻

She's a ripper mate . Put her in. You have to buy one of the 2 slots first lol. if she can't get the legs going quick enough to keep up with 'Zahara' i'll get Pete McMullen to send GUS over to race in your slot. Go the Lobster !! bet you're still singing like Fred Schneider here after the great win yesterday 🤣😅🏆

yes they are 2 beauties alright. Quinellaed the Addington 3 yearold Slot in November 7 lengths clear of the field. Come to think of it Captain's Mistress was in that Velocity Slot race as well, and finished 12 lengths behind them so she might not be the next Big thing after all. lol. A big ask for Marketplace and the 'Choc's' to run against this field in their first go in Open Class Ranks. They used to run the NZ Messenger as the Feature 4 year-old race , but changed it to Open Class in recent years , so they don't get that one to fight over either. What about Rebublican Party? NZ 's best horse and taking on Leap To Fame tonight at Kilmore too for bragging rights. He hasn't made a slot in your field yet ? (ran 6th in it last year behind Leap To Fame at Cambridge) arch rival Stonewall's should put him in their Slot ? hahaha🤣

Bootsie's horse Captains Mistress could turn out to be the best yet lol. She roared away by 6 lengths with a stunning 53 second last half mile the other night to win with real Class. She is gunna be a real beauty. the next Big Thing. might even Win the Miracle Mile next month 14th March 😎💰 DON HUGO is going to the Perth Slot race on April 17th , the 1.2 million dollar Nullibor. Luke wants to keep him separate from stable-mate Kingman as much as possible. so unlikely to go to Cambridge again after 4th last year.

yes that was a good example of what you were talking about previously for sure. Matt Cross the commentator a share in the winner Misty Blue . so was quite thrilled. good on him . He does a good job in his race descriptions in IMO.

quite interesting as the PACING race has 3 year slots purchases. The trot must of had only 2 year slots timing ? as has only been run twice. The TAB trot. The problem being Mikey , the race is over if KEAYANG ZAHARA takes a slot , as she is proving to be the next Superstar now that Just Believe has retired. Last week she completely ripped the balls off last years Cambridge Slot Trot winner and current Interdominion Champion in ARCEE PHOENIX , and made him look 2nd rate past 2 starts. No one would be able to take on a horse to beat her in their slot . so sort of ruins it by being so good lol. 🤣 I thought Don Hugo would win the Pace last year ( having defeated Leap To Fame in the Miracle Mile) but Leap To Fame drove him into the ground in one of his Freakish performances. But the Pacers slots are All filled up ok , and these are the slot holders for them . A Fabulous lot of Long Time Harness racing Supporters. footnote: Craig Whiteoak owns QLDer THE JANITOR at Pete McMullens. would be great to see him there. He's a powerful horse and might give Leap To Fame a run for the money 👍💰 The 10 slot-holders are : All Stars Racing and Chris Ryder Craig Whiteoak Dennis and Mark Dunford Harnesslink Montana Park Pty Ltd N40 Racing Rakero Racing Rampant Pty Ltd Solid Earth Pty Ltd Stonewall Stud Ltd

alas the roos a dime a dozen i'm afraid, and many get culled for pet food all the time . A disruptive one at the Tour Down Under cycle race is a Not going to get any sympathy unfortunately. Yes the rider Jay Vine had successful surgery after . He's a top rider in Europe too , so am glad he repaired ok. He said in an interview straight after that final leg of the race there were 2 Kangaroos and they decided to jump out of the bushes as the Pelaton came past at 50kph. Can only imagine the carnage with that. some kiwi raiders performed very well in the racing too .🇳🇿 👍 Alas most of the Wallaby's around my home area , which has lovely bushland not far away on 3 sides ( and one of our local kookaburras too ) and plenty of possums have been depleted on the road kill list. People are shocking drivers. I'm always watching closely for them, as worked with animals nearly all my life and would feel terrible if hit one.

it is huge mate. Queensland had some monster Summer floods up North all through January. We usually get some down here in Brisvegas , with the odd summer storm and that. BUT we have had ZERO rainfall so far for weeks in the southeast corner . I'm watering every day 🙄 as do gardening one hour a day( in between watching races ) as the place is getting brown as the grass starts to die off and plants still in 30 degrees days every day mid summer. so even in the Same state we Can have flood and drought at the same time lol. Feb usually our wet season. Happy NZ Day to you ! 🇳🇿 🍻 , and hope for a winner( to break the drought 😉 ⛈️) Australia Day was Jan 26th public holiday so has been and gone already. Like the idea today of NZ grass day trots as can enjoy while doing my weekend Gallops study picks 🙂🏇

Looks quite the winner after good Addington run . is hard taking $1.85 though when could get $2.00 about Leap To Fame last week for your multi's lol. 🤣 Am loving your idea of some multi's though. a good way to get a few runners in the action. Have no odds for Sunday Methven available to the day in these parts 🙄 , but good luck with your big price multi 👍💰. Might look at taking yours Sunday but will probably drop the trotter in race 5 (as they make me nervous galloping about the place lol 😅) For today though its your pick My Wingman $1.80 into my fav Grass track driver *Sam Ottley on Stormy Vista R3 $12 into BAZOOKA in the Amberley Cup at $7.00 to 'Blast em' apart lol 😉😅 . $150-1 for the treble. *Sarah O'Reilly , another Grass track whiz too so have a $6-1 place double for her too . ( to supply the weekend beer all going well 😁🍻 lol ) with a tenner on R3 My Shatjie into R8 Flyaway to both run a place . At Albion Park today , our very best driver **Pete McMullen has 3 very nice New Zealand bred horses to drive to score a $40-1 treble. in Chezzdale R1- La Sabina R3- Brian Chris R5 , so might go a tenner on that at 40-1. 👍💰 sure to go close.

Mr Cook has posted some good stuff above , so will post back here a 2nd time. Gamma will have to be renamed 'Rambling Willie' lol. (you won't know who that is but he was a fine pacer in America who raced through the 70's for a world record 128 wins from 305 starts and $2,000,000 . bit better than Gammalite even lol 🤣😂😎 from Mr Cook . Space. Space>> I have tried to resist responding to Gamma's ramblings, based, unlike Ceemenow's facts, on emotion and ignorance. However, when he accuses NZ trainers of being lazy, I can't hold back. I'll start by pointing out that the two trainers he praises for lining horses up (the Green/Delany and Telfers) are both backed by obviously passionate men who appear to have bottomless pockets. Sadly, the majority of local trainers have, for decades, had to rely on selling horses overseas to stay afloat. Where does he think the majority of his hero Mr. Grimson's horses come from? As a result, many trainers and indeed, owners are reluctant to over race their horses, in case they run poorly and devalue themselves, something the Australian trainers don't have to worry about, they just race them until they drop. Comparing Australia and New Zealand in the racing industry is nonsensical. Apart from the massive difference in population and wealthy people, Mr. Steele comes from an industry where, if it wasn't for a couple of passionate individuals and supportive State governments, it would be a cottage industry, if that. Yet still some places are on their knees financially! In addition, where would harness racing across the ditch be without New Zealand bred horses. At one recent meeting at Menangle, every winner was bred in NZ. I'm not saying that, for numerous reasons, harness racing in this Country hadn't been mismanaged, what I am saying is that Mr. Steele was thrown a lifeline by the Entain deal, and has frittered much of it away on subsidising ridiculous slot races and two year old promotions. As far as the HRNZ Board is concerned, I suspect that they are being given the same misleading spin that is being fed to the public, but seem to be reluctant to question it.

this is a very good post. you make me feel bad actually for being a passionate supporter of both Aus and NZ harness and sounding critical of NZ trainers (whom I actually am very fond of ) You are indeed accurate that the major stables you indicated have the millionaires backing . We should add Dean Shannon to the Purdon/Phelan outfit as well as Stonewall and Green/Delaney. Mick Boots backs some there too like with his new Sensational horse Captain's Mistress , which is now with Grimson. after Nathan got injured there. MY local idols in Brisbane Grant Dixon (with 80 horses) and Pete McMullen (with 50) are not lazy and work every moment of every day to get where they are , and are backed by 4 Millionaire owners each . including Mike Tanev from Canada with his mass of fast horses all over the world. Of course this allowed them to progress to getting the best pacer and best trotter around in the champ Leap To Fame and GUS (trotter) , respectively. This leaves all my friends and colleagues racing for the Fish and Chips at Redcliffe twice a week (the country racing) where they send 'Frail' horses around each week to get by. yes this is a slightly different set-up to NZ racing , but they're not outrageously different . just Not Fast enough to compete with the Big Boys. Afterall , your 2 Top NZ barns of Telfers and Dunn's have very few Open Class runners (after the lofty days of Allstars dominating for a decade with their several Millionaire owners including Aussies like Mrs Feiss and the Butterworths ) In my ramblings I noted the similarities in VICTORIA to NZ harness racing , where they race in debt ( a recent government bail out helps them for 2 years) with the same horse population and participant numbers as NZ. Anyway In Summary I'm glad Mr Steele , and indeed Mr Shannon and Mr Boots have all tried to help in NZ at some stage racing horses, when they could easily do so just in Australia. (It supports the yearlings sales and trainers . I do hope you get a horse Mr Cook . Mine just bashes around at Redcliffe unable to cope with the unbelievable pace they race at these days . such is life. It's still a sport . and it's still a lot of fun. (which seems missing at BOAY these days) I did try and have fun NZ harness racing contests here over the years to cheer up the locals , but not much success in that unfortunately. kiwis seem to have a lot of the fun sucked out of them these days lol 😋🍋 BTW the slot races have resulted in fantastic contest , and the Perth one is on very soon. I believe DON HUGO going to that one. The Betcha race, the TAB trot at Cambridge, The Eureka at Menangle , the Protostar Brisbane , the Ascent and Velocity now on at Addington have resulted in Some of the Greatest Racing and horses assembled EVER seen over the past 5 years. Is a real PLUS for the Industry and big and small players alike , and yet you criticise these sensational Incentives for the Harness racing ?? waste of money ? hahahaha One good thing Mr Cook is, i'm not ignorant to that fine concept and Fabulous contest Slot racing. being embraced all around Australia and New Zealand . owners put up nearly the whole Purse !! how good is that . excellent stuff. Best of luck to you and thanks for your constructive criticism. and apologies for me being so ignorant. thought that was one thing I wasn't being by contributing , but there you go. 🙄 I'll repost your post after this one , with some respect as you covered a fair few things in it with some good insight . thanks for your input.

Haha you're taking it all too personally now. I've already said I had the cheap Tuesdays arguement with others. not yourself as such. And this site has many that have lampooned Auckland. I've replied to that many idiots worrying about 6 horse fields instead of the Great HORSEMEN contained in them that it's very frustrating to me . That so many can't enjoy seeing their champions of the sport go round. If you were NOT one of them , Good for you Mr Galah !! 👍🏆 you should back me up and fight the good fight for the great ATC then? there's a few here who think they're just the elite and getting too much money ? not you then ? 😉😁😎 I like em' anyway. I do know a lot of them personally and they are Fantastic people . (sadly no-one from the South Island so am completely biased lol ) CeeMeNow is an absolute joke who just counts starters in a view to belittle the sport. and has no interest in the participants well- being whatsoever, in any shape or form. He would be having kittens with the many 7 horse fields tonight at Cranbourne , as thinks that the end of the world lol 🤣 the fact they contain 6-7 of the best horses in Australasia tonight wouldn't even cross his mind. and I think that field size is just the bee's knees as they ALL get a chance to win , and it's great clean racing . the best horse Will win without relying on luck. excellent stuff. Have to go now as got to cook dinner🍇. and the amazing horses at Cranbourne are about to go !! will be great. might try the fab NZ mare Captains Mistress NZ- Leap To Fame QLD- Forty Love treble at 15-1 odds for a $50 . Demon Blue is in tonight too. Got nothing much at all for Purdons there in NZ , and Dixon here QLD last year. Now the horse is winning for Grimson lol 🤣 that guy so good? surely it's not winning a Group 3 though ? lol.

yes , it's one of those things. You put races on they cost money. It's very hard to do Brodster. The Australian Turf Club in Sydney have been declared Bankrupt in December and will be lucky to survive having an administrator appointed. VICTORIA harness has about the same horse and personnel (participant ) numbers as New Zealand. they were over 66 million in the red , because of operating costs , and the cost of running harness racing meetings when not many bet on them anymore . But What do you do Mate ? A lot of people are employed in different areas of Victoria. Do you just go eeny meeny minee mo ? and close some of them ? Which ones ? In NZ you say close the North Island . At least you're making your mind up I spose 🤣😂. ( I quite like the North and wouldn't do it myself but everyone's different 😉 ) Anyway the state Government have bailed the HRV out of the hole ( for a land acquisition) for 100 million , and paying the stakes for this year and next . with the Low prizemoney they race for now. YES, just like NZ they will run out of money again , but the money is allocated for all the racing for the 20-30 clubs for the next 2 seasons. If ENTAIN refuse to support you after the 2 years (as you claim) then the stakes money will drop as you say unless they get great sponsors (like you and OZ have Garrards at the moment for example) who will prop it up a bit. Ladbrokes (an Entain sub-branch) still prop up QLD harness so can't see why Entain won't prop you with someone. It was a long contract they signed with NZ TAB. All will be good . they're invested mate . all good. They won't RUN DRY mate. Don't Panic too much. People are trying hard to put races on still . Slots help the participants contribute so that is a SURE FIRE way to keep BIG prize races going. there are other ways . I've had discussions with David Brick who did such a spectacular job keeping QLD harness racing going through COVID and very trying times financially ,And he has now been poached by the galloping code accordingly, and is now Racing Queensland General Manager . A very high position. He is full of great ideas that keep the sport going. We'll send him over to help The Galah get an answer out of Brad Steele? . 💪 the Brick rules the world.

The decisions are made by the Harness racing Board. you know this. Not one man who is the figure head. But just as the Prime Minister gets blamed (quite wrongly too ) for any perceived 'Poor Decision' and gets the blame in Government , it is really his party that approves policy. And usually it has to be approved by the Opposition anyway to be bought into legislation. Are you saying the whole NZ harness racing board is Incompetant ?? 🤣 Brodie doesn't like the way they run their business . the HRNZ put races on . Participants show up . That's the business Brodie. Simple as Pie mate. Even those you criticise so much are quite capable of doing that. has happened for over 100 years. and YES , when they put on Mile races , they are much better for the horse . they recover better . 👍🤣😂😎 Why this ? Because Mr Galah there has been Infinite calls for North Island harness, ATC and whatnot, to cease from you guys . That sure is the very definition of Anti Harness Racing to me ?? . I even had lengthy arguments here about the Plus's of the Cambridge Slot races ,and You guys didn't even want Cheap Tuesday racing at Cambridge ?? I had a few bouts of Brodie and others bagging that even , they were spending ONLY $50,000 to run a whole meeting to support your smaller players. We do it All the time around Australia . It's A GOOD thing . I support it 100%. Keeps the small GRASS ROOTS people in the sport , which I agree 😂with you is very important . As is the ATC , full of nice long term Harness racing folk over generations. Talked about on this forum like they're ferals or something 🤣 And yes the BIG guys are important too. Seymour (and NZ persons like him e.g the Stonewall guy) are more important than anyone . Big cash buying yearlings and so on, so forth. you know how important they are but just shoot em' down for some reason . So NO NEED for me to infer anything Mr Galah . You guys quite capable of SHOW just how anti -harness or anti harness people like HRNZ, Mr Steele, anyone North Island, Stipes, Junior drivers , and Especially the Programmers and Handicapper too, nearly every post . Anyway good on Brad Steele trying to keep it all going . very sad to read the bagging here. couldn't not say something , as someone should appreciate his efforts. even though it puts me in the 'Bad Books ' too. Such is Life lol 😋 Even in trying times in Queensland , we have managed to resurrect the INTERDOMINION. which was a traditional time honoured Harness racing 'exclusive' event, for NZ and Aus to compete in Thanks to people like Steele, and David Brick and pro-active people who want to see harness racing continue , even when it is a poor betting product (for most) these days we can still get great races and racing put on. Now lets shoot em' because they might run out of money in 2 years time lol 😂😁

You nice fellows are Constantly Worried about the Funding and how it's allocated. Over many threads. I've just defended the ideas that have been put forward about races that the money has been used for. People are ATTEMPTING to put on Great racing still in hard times. Well worth my praise. The cheap shot referred to Brad Steele who left his homeland to help you out, and all he gets is the poor character work you guys are trying to put on him. What did you expect ? Going to say the industry is diabolical like you guys all say it is ? well that IS Not the ANSWER I would expect . Aussies try and get on with it. and ADAPT like Chief said to Brodie he should try and do with his betting problems. He doesn't seem able to adapt unfortunately . You seem to agree that Seasonal Funding is allocated SEASONALLY and is used in that season . Brodie has a little trouble accepting that has to be the case. (he might be a Hoarder ? who knows ? 😁😋 ) but anyway there has been Many concepts and new races added to the Calender past 3 years with great HRNZ incentives. ALL of which I have enjoyed (for the sake of the participants mainly ) and none that the forum blokes seem to have enjoyed at all , and begrudge Auckland getting any at all . Because they are privileged ? it seems lol 🤣 Nigel won a golden Gait you know.? you should be happy for these type of amazing concepts. Anyway yes I do agree that the stake money will drop . Many states of Aus run at a loss but benefactors like Seymour and Garrard step up and donate funding (Seymour keeps the struggling SA trots going at this very minute ) not to mention what he does for QLD. Garrard Already Sponsors the Miracle Mile and a whole Heap of NZ races already in an attempt to keep the sport he loved at a viable level. All good , the racing itself is going Gang busters. As I said on another thread . Space your NZ main Problem is the Leading Trainers are just Not Producing ENOUGH Horses at the races . THEY've got very LAZY there mate. Exception being Ray Green (and co-trainer Delaney) produced the most runners last night so Rightly WON the most races. good on em' . showing the way . (Telfers trying hard too to keep numbers up , so good on em' too 👍🏆) Enjoy your racing while you still have it . ( it's better than this shitty tennis stuff clogging my screen currently 😂)