Gammalite

The actual event was Halwes pinced with a nail to hop around for an hour or 2 in front of the stewards on grand Final Day. (Very easy to do) nail pulled out and horse fine hours later , as you would be with thorn in finger for example, and Aub received twice the prizemoney the Grand Final win would of given him.

Correct Barry. FOR A REASON 3rd to Adore Me in the 2014 Nz Cup for Luke. Also 3rd in 2 x Interdominion finals to Beautide at Menangle for some more 'History does Repeat ' at times..

Spot on Greyhound !! Halwes won the Miracle mile soon after (the second running of the great race in front of a huge crowd) by about 8 lengths from First Lee (the brand new Interdominion Champion) who ran 2nd. Don't feel sad for Halwes though. Aub (Halwes owner/trainer) was quite happy to take the money offered from NSW bookies not to start at Auckland. My dad travelled with him from Tassie. Dad said he was never sure if the same thing happened the year before at Perth (where a heavily backed Binshaw had won the series) when Halwes was 'withdrawn' during that series as well. Bit of a Phar Lap Caulfield Cup type of thing .....

Wishing that young rider a speedy recovery. sounds an awful injury and the pain must of been extreme. Heaps of folk in ambulances get 'ramped' in Australia. (stuck in the vehicle parked on the ramp at hospital to emergency , until they can squeeze them in). growing popualation = growing problem alas.... Love the ambo's . what a job they do. Rang an ambulance just last night actually, as old 95 year old bloke I tend to daily who lives alone in own house still , suddenly couldn't get out of the chair or hold his feet. thought 'stroke' of some kind. poor bloke got a bit distressed as you would , and ambo's arrived in 5 minutes. very thorough and professional. had to wait 3 hours for admission after though, as hospitals are chock full of covid/ flu compromised people all over the place in these parts.

"F" for Friday . and some F first letter of name horses to figure out in the daily quiz. Can anyone guess these five fine fab fantastic 'F' horses today ? have a crack at one , or 2 of these then................ Q1/ This horse was famous for one of those miraculous runs in the Cup , whereas Lord Module and the 'Terror' still managed to Win after breaking and giving away 50m at the start, this bloke gave away 80m approx and missed the win by a head. He may of raced without hopples? Q2/ Speaking of Lord Module , Cecil loved a NZ Cup win and didn't the number 2 quiz horse deliver that ? what a ripper his F horse was , was on the backmark with Caduceus in that horses famous Harold Park Interdom Win too.. Q3/ Before Barry became the legend partnership trainer with dad Roy , he won the Kaikoura Cup of all things as a junior driver lol..... with this horse. and Aussies to have raided NZ shores......... Q4/ Luke McCarthy tried to do a 'Gammalite' and have a crack at the NZ Cup with this bloke but came up just short. (suffered The same fate in the Interdominion at his home track too) Q5/ This horse of Newman's was truly blessed, as 1/2 a century ago a Tasmanian was running records in Auckland but scratched from the Grand Final when a Red Hot Favourite. allowing this 'visitor from Oz' to take the spoils instead.

An interesting one Mikey. Haven't heard of it before but seems she was very competitive running places against some top notch trotters like Petite Evander, Easton Light, Cee Ar, Best Bet , Waipounamu and more in the 70's.

E day and a picture Clue for the Trotter lovers out there kindly supplied by Rangatira. We were chatting on the wrong thread (apologies to Davis) Q1/ Who is this grand old trotter? Q2/ Hammering out some Huge wins at Auckland and being the best in the land, Alas another North islander twarted the big Cup dreams at Addington on 2 occasions, with this horse. and The Aussie to of raced in NZ Q3/ This handy 'E' Aussie came over to Nz on a Derby hunt. Winning one of his 3 starts (because the great Mark Purdon drove him on that occasion.) but ran down the track when another Aussie horse took out that GN Derby 2 weeks later. a tricky one for you guys? answer one , two or all three to join in on the daily quiz

Well to complete the D-Day a special mention to DELIGHTFUL LADY, Gammalite beating her on her home turf into 3rd place in the huge 1983 Interdominion final but was there to see her win somewhere between 20 to 40 races at Alexandra Park and the fans would bash the panels in the grandstand that hard you would of thought the stand would fall down and the noise was just incredible !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Q6/ Name Delightful Lady's full sister who was a trotter and won many to the surprise of many to complete our D day trotters memory?

I believe Robert was the trainer of 'Just An Excuse' .... (also unlikely to be seen in an amateur drivers race. Double Trouble for Elsu in a feature ??? You must be on to it now?. or you should be 6 months in a leaky boat lol...

He's a Legend ok 😉 for getting it all confused lol....

That's our Boy Ranga .!!!! won't see him in an Amateur drivers race lol..... Bet the connections are pissed with Robert Mitchell. Split Enz said "History Never Repeats" but they are WRONG lol....... why?

Yes , only one win (and this 2nd placing in the Methven 2 year old ) for the Nyhan's in it's career . You are the legend of NZ harness Ranga !!!! ENTERPRISE going on to bigger and better things including an easy Auckland Cup win with Wolfie driving . great night out that was lol....

Incorrect my friend !!!! but great try .... you should of been thinking North Island Champion . Here's your boy . If you can name the second placegetter ,(also an 'E' horse I'll be totally impressed !!! as will the world lol...... And the great Interdominion Winner slipped by your grasp lol........

That was as easy a win as you will ever see. Hey Ranga , you are the best on this site at knowing horses soam surprised you haven't popped up on my A-Z quiz. I bet $1 you can name the best 'E' horse for tomorrow before I give the clue even lol hahaha. I dare you to post the photo of him now in advance ???

Com'on Ranga , Sheryl (the professional) not even running in this series . has seen the light. Bob Butt sure meant business with this runner on June 12th. Nose nasal strip and all (just like Allstars lol) and a very easy win for Happy Place. Had 100 on it , as looked a special lol.

Yes it seems a rather fruitless idea. And Davis is right in the lead of this thread. fancy expanding it to 3 races.???? Run as many of them as you like is fine by me (a former trainer/driver) but have them between Tote races for a few hundred dollars maybe, so the amateurs can have their fun and the very slow horses about can have a race . So much un-necesary trouble like Mrs Negus had ,when a tote race. Why ? No betting would be Best indeed .!!!

Diamond Field correct but Q2 is David Moss. Diedre's Pride from Royden Lodge was with Fred Fletcher through her career rather than Bob Cameron. Credit to John Cox too , who did a lot of work with David Moss through his career as well as Bob. ( interesting that David Moss didn't start racing until a 6 year old ) did pretty well for an old boy lol......

'D" Day for the quiz. Lets go with some trotters today. Can anyone name these great 'name starting with D' trotters?. Walt should have no problems being a squaregaiter fan, Q1/ Driven by the great Tony Herlihy for Roy to all sorts of wins . Tony even kept the drive when Mark took over the training as he was busy winning everything with Pride of Petite. Tony drove her to an Interdominion win for Mark as well as winning one with this horse. Q2/ An arch rival of Q1 above this trotter ran about 10 quinellas in all sorts of races with him for Bob Cameron. Q3/ Long Before Collabarating with Michelle Wallis with Temporale, Tony and Michelle were smashing out wins with this big NI trotter on both sides of the Tasman. Q4/ and it's Tony again !! Now he's winning with a horse bred to be a Pacer. Is there nothing the Iceman can't do with a trotter? She has never missed being in the quinella in her career yet ? who is she? And The Aussie... to of graced NZ shores. Q5/ before Tony came along Charlie Hunter trained many great trotters including Geffin and Castleton's Pride who won Interdominion trots in NZ. An Aussie parked in the death seat stuck on well for 2nd in one of those Grand Finals. This horse gained great 'fame' at Moonee Valley 3 years later, by ending a 24 race win streak of one of the greats.

Well just for you Mikey as a general Sports fan , a chance for a answer late on 'C for Champions' day. (and No it's Not the Canterbury Crusaders , even though you are a Rugby Fan. (a crushing victory to them anyway) Horses 10 and 11 have Won 2 of the last 3 Nz cups Mikey. Can you get them without looking lol ?..... good luck champ. Who might they be?

YouTube harness replays from the past are great ! and could stop the boredom. Or if you want some real 'Heart in Mouth' stuff or 'Jaw on the Floor' watch some youTube GRAND NAtionals from Aintree UK from over the years. staggering to think that stuff really goes on each year.

Barry has wrapped that up so quick (leave this one for another maybe Baz) here is another great one or 2 !! Q8/ horse who smashed out his own Grand Slam that included the Victoria Cup and Hunter Cup , which are 2 of Australia's great races, so perhaps should be in the GRANDSLAM. now owned by his popular kiwi driver who bought him out of a 'Claimer' in USA. Q9/ Sire of the horse above in Quiz question 8 lol. A very popular NZ horse in his day.

Crikey Baz , you were quick !! you must be an Aussie like Popular Alm lol.... (p.s. hope you don't mind called Baz ) And 100% correct of course. Christopher Vance beaten by Marky boy driving 'Mark Hanover' at Auckland Interdominion to be denied being the ultimate Champion of Australasia with a GRANDSLAM. Stable-mate Chokin promoted to 2nd behind Golden Reign in a 1990's Interdominion Final at Addington.

Well at Day 3 we have 'C' for Champion. and there are a few of those. Can anyone name any of these quiz horses?? ( answer one Q or more as we go a new bunch each day) Q1/ This bloke set the world on fire !!! Also the Addington grandstand on fire too while he won the NZ FFA. Q2/ This kiwi Champ won at Harold Park once in front of 50,000 people as favourite !! can you imagine? Q3/ This quality horse won 6 Derbies ! will anyone ever do that again ? seems unlikely. Q4/ This horse was denied the GRAND SLAM by a stable-mate. Would of been the only horse to complete that set of majors. (Interdominion, Miracle Mile, NZ Cup , and Auckland Cup. Q5/ Like his stablemate in question 4 , this horse narrowly missed the GRAND SLAM winning 3 of them and running 2nd in the other (a Promoted 2nd from 4th when the past the post 2nd and 3rd placegetters were later DQ with positive swabs.) and THE AUSSIES???? to of raced in NZ. Q6/ This Nz bred horse won his first 2 races at Winton and went on winning spree in the 'west' afterwards. Winning near $2 million dollars . also popped back to Auckland for a run and Won beating Mach Shard. then was injured. Q7/ This handy 'Aussie' tried to take on the Terror in a Nov foray at Addington and pulled hard and ran 5th for Kate and Andy Gath

Bonnie's Chance did some pretty solid runs still , going the Alex Park way round in Auckland. Went very close to winning the plum prize of an Auckland Cup. took a masterful drive to beat her. Here's the good 2nd place to the legend himself Gammalite in the Cup. (beating the local champ Delightful Lady into 3rd place here, who was winner of the 2 previous Auckland Cups)

Bonnie's Chance a great mare for Richard Brosnan. (what a great photo that is of her) she won 32 of 75 race starts so a very good strike rate. I like the way after in 1981 NZ Cup when Bob Negus burned them off by 7 lengths with Armalight, with Bonnie's Chance finishing 2nd. (Gammalite was 5 wide the last lap 5th with not a pretty drive !! lol.....) Richard and Bonnie's Chance 'Returned the Favour' !!! lol and waltzed away by 7 lengths from arch-rival Armalight (2nd) a year later in the 1982 NZ Cup. Two fabulous mares !!!!!!!