Gammalite

The biggest disappointments for harness trainers and drivers are when the horse goes amiss. Is quite a normal event though , as they do have plenty of issues, just like human athletes at any level do as well . Sprains and strains send careers down the drains !!! In these tough times (and even over the years) harness racing trainers and drivers can just walk off and do something else, like farrier , stud-master, horse breaker , etc,etc as I have seen many do. one trainer even took the QLD handicapper job I applied for. those folk all make more money than the trainer / driver generally. Bris drivers not too bad, with not much travel involved and about 20 drives each per week for the band of 20 regular race drivers. Would be hard to get a dollar race driving in NZ for sure and certain!! . Just not enough drives to go round to make a living?? (esp meaning the young generation)

gee Karrots , that's a sad story with the cyclist you mentioned. think the young lady must of been depressed from not making the Olympic team this year. sport at the top level contains massive disappointments at times. Such a tough thing , with the hours of training , and you can't obtain the level you once had , or want to achieve. You can only hope the athletes enjoy what they do , as well as make money from it , at times. my daughter is 24 so felt particularly sad for this family of Olivia's too. Harness racing is generally fun for the participants , afterall the horses do the bulk of the running, Cycling is a very hard and gruelling training/ draining lifestyle to compete at International level. Here's the paste news on The young cyclist ......................... Olympic cyclist Olivia Podmore has died aged 24. The New Zealand cycling community has been shocked by her sudden death on Monday, confirmed by her family in social media posts. Mitchell Podmore, brother of Olivia, posted on Facebook: “Rest in peace to my gorgeous sister and loved daughter of Phil Podmore. You will be in our hearts forever.” Podmore, from Canterbury, represented New Zealand at the 2016 Rio Olympics in the women’s team sprint event and rode at the UCI Track Cycling World Championships that year. Podmore won silver in the team sprint and bronze in the time trial at the Junior World Champs in Astana in 2015. Natasha Hansen, left, and Olivia Podmore of New Zealand celebrate with their gold medals following the Womens Team Sprint at 2019 world championships.Source:Getty Images She was also the 2017 national keirin champion. In an Instagram post earlier on Monday — since removed — Podmore outlined the pressures of competing at the highest level. “Sport is an amazing outlet for so many people, it’s a struggle, it’s a fight but it’s so joyous,” she wrote. “The feeling when you win is unlike any other, but the feeling when you lose, when you don’t get selected even when you qualify, when your injured, when you don’t meet society’s expectations such a owning a house, marriage, kids all because [you’re] trying to give everything to your sport is also unlike any other.”

Embryo Transplant ? no , don't know about that. or who it is. Fun Fact for enthusiasts from the 80's in NZ . The Albatross stallion VANCE HANOVER provided a Massive boost to the industry , with having crops of around 400 foals for a few seasons. (FOUR hundred ! wow ! what an incredible amount of foals. thanks to Artificial Insemination and a cheap $500 stud fee . Up to $2000 after first 2 crops. So they swamped the races for a few seasons ! setting all sorts of records. Had First 5 seasons in Auckland area at cheap rate. then a season or 2 Canterbury at $6000. dropped dead from all that work at 17 years old ! no wonder lol.... That is one way to get a big Boost with plenty of horses (foals on the ground to race). Maybe they should re-visit a saturation idea like that , if NZ running low now, on racing horse numbers?

*@%*&@# 82.6% of the Vote ????? Bloody hell ! what a rip off !!! Gammalite would of parked outside Lovely Natalie and her pet Blackie and ground them down like a unstoppable freight train.!lol.... Lazarus taking care of I'm the Mightyquinn with 60% of the vote in their match-race. The Grand Final a true Interdominion with BLACKS A FAKE (Qld) v LAZARUS (NZ) as the kiwi rep. (Nat lucky enough to driven both of them in races!), what an honour to of sat behind the 2 very best of the modern era. Semi Final 1- Iron horse battle for two multiple ID winners that never won a Miracle Mile Blacks A Fake- 105: 72-19-5 68%win S/R v Gammalite- 179: 94-33-19 53% win S/R Blackie 82.6% Gammalite 17.4% Semi Final 2- The Battle of Aotearoa for two ID winners in the West that both finished 3rd in a Miracle Mile Im TheMightyquinn- 111: 58-21-13 $4.567m v Lazarus- 51: 37-8-4 $4.125m Quinny 39.6% Laz 60.4%

Geez thats some pretty poor spelling on your stamp there Karrots ! lol. a great old bloke named George Smith in NZ ,raced a crazy horse CONFIDENTIAL back when I was a lad. It was a crazy animal..lol.. how it won 3 races is a mystery never to be solved lol....

Should they run a mares race each week NZ with preferential draw for their rating Chief?? I love this idea for mares that can win at the out of town tracks , so they are trying to breaking into the better prizemoney city races (say at Addington and Auckland) as Brisbane does at Albion each Saturday night. A mare 'Qualifying ' race is run and this week has range 48 rating (gets the 1 alley) through to a 70 rating (gets the 10 alley) Everyone gets a chance to win !! excellent. A race provided for mares !! excellent. Put a junior on and improve your barrier draw !! with a class concession !! gives a junior a go if desired ! excellent and excellent. obviously if you win too many of these you would be in against the boys (at equal rating) in the next class up. 80-90 rating.

Checked out the corresponding meeting last year . 9 races with average 9 runners for Addington. so about 15 more horses than this years mid August meeting this Friday. I think losing a race (8 this week compared to 9 last year) is a serious issue as chief says , instant 13% drop in punting revenue. Is so important to keep the RACE numbers up. As you will have the problem of horses starting Out of their depth against higher class runner. A problem Brodster and chief have spotted in last 2 posts. A very Bad thing. I wouldn't start My horse in a race where seemed no chance. out of depth. (Not counting group races with that comment) And the VERY concerning thing is 5 of the winners from that meeting 12 months ago have been SOLD OFF or now racing overseas in past year inc. Paramount princess, Arden Messi, Spellbound ,Alta sensation ,etc,etc and several placegetters too !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! never to be seen again? the quality dips dramatically as you lose the best ones, so some punters lose interest betting on the remainder. very concerning if not replaced with more quality runners???

If it comes down to Interdominion Wins with Aus v NZ then the Final 8 line up like this Blacks A Fake 4 Grand final wins , and 2 Grand final placings Im the Mightyquinn and Our Sir Vancelot with 3 Grand final wins each Gammalite and Hondo Gratten with 2 Grand final wins each Lazarus 1 Grand final win Pure Steel and Popular Alm 2 Interdominion Grand final placings each. Looks like Nat ?? and Blackie then.

Voting being conducted on twitter has seen the TOP 8 ready to face off in the quarter finals. The great Gammalite has knocked off Village Kid , and should have NO Trouble with Hondo Gratten. A coming match against the horse in the back image photo here, the great Qlder Blacks A Fake and Nat, seems a bit more of a worry !!!!! lol..... Go Gamma ! Lazarus against Popular Alm !!! wow that would of been a beauty. ! give an arm to see that go. here's the results so far ................... Anyone picking the winner ? or do you just see Gammalite taking it out ? lol............

Lydia Ko did so well there yesterday !, getting bronze in the golf. (After play-off hole for silver). The Aus lass was 5th not far off. Time for Karrots to get out on the Cambridge Golf course and start swinging ?? whack out some divots to try and qualify for ladies golf in Paris for NZ 2024?? Com'on Karrots , you can do it. !

Copy That and Amazing Dream , Self Assured , any horse good enough for NZ Cup or Auckland Cup just have to be set for the Top class races in NZ and Aus. they can pay their way easily. The problem lies in the need for 'Everyday pacer and trotter' having races available to race in all year round , to pay their way. Only 15% of horses that actually get to the races return a profit. (There's a large number of Gallopers and standardbreds that don't even get to have one start either). People race them for the fun and love of the game, rather than to actually make money. The handicapping system needs to PROVIDE races that are winnable for all horses looking for a race start. Last Tuesday a friend of mine had a win with his horse , an 11 year old kiwi bred Lancelot Bromac having his 425th race start .!!! . He has been able to get a start week-in week-out for years in a class where can be competive, He's not fast enough for Saturday nights metro racing but , pays his way midweek racing. still. You need handicapping that allows horses like this to go round every week. or they will be sold off as happens now in NZ.

Fantastic Karrots.!! See you in Brisbane then in a few years where you can re-live some of the experiences !! I thoroughly enjoyed Melbourne 2006 and Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth games , going to as many events I could get tickets for with the kids. Won't be going to track cycling though. I've just spat out my sandwich as all the girls were crashing just now in Omnium, at 60-80 kph , and just can't bear watching that.!!! Is getting like MOTO GP with the high powered motorbikes , Just going that FAST they lose control , and people get badly hurt. so don't watch motobikes anymore either. The Olympic cycling had that many crashes it was becoming awful. The kiwi bloke in the team pursuit, the Aussie's had a crash too, and Denmark. It's just getting crazy stupid. so so dangerous.

Yes , thankfully some u-beaut kiwibreds from the Bris carnival last month have hung around . TOMMY LINCOLN wins ok tonight. and ALTA ORLANDO runs down our best of Colt Thirty One to win yet again for the Dunn's (owners) . alas SMOKIN BY (Kerr's horse from there) was driven quietly into 5th , stopped me getting the 100-1 treble with those 3 nice kiwi-bred horses.!! had a tenner on it too. At Menangle NSW, the Grimson and ex-pat kiwi Jack Trainor 'Superbarn' was in fine action again !!!, being in 6 of the 8 races and winning 4 of them yet again. They'll be ahead of McCarthy's soon ?!!! lol......... keep swabbing boys lol.....

I would of gone women's soccer penalty shoot-out as a Brilliant Psychological 'Win' Ludwig. was quite amusing. Overnight, the womens Gold medal match and Sweden (who unfortunately knocked Matildas out ) v Canada and went to Penalty shoot-out, at the end , after scores tied during regular time. The Canadian goalie Labbe', absolutely 'Psyched out ' her Swedish opponents as they stepped up for their attempts at a penalty goal. she was Right in their face. jumping around on the line. staring em' down. she did the lot . and they missed 3-4 shots accordingly !!! quite extraordinary.

Well that article does show a dire situation. Not enough horses left for racing = No racing in the future , at that rate of decline. Today 60% of Australia's population (Mel,Syd,Bris,Newcastle) is in lockdown as covid cases excellerate , getting out of control. Amazingly the harness racing and horse racing continues in those areas unabated ? (Not sure how it is an essential service) so many folk told to 'Stay at home' and their businesses struggle to stop the spread. Where as the harness folk , are travelling all over the place? some things don't make sense. Like hotel quarantine being conducted in Major cities .... lol. with 3 planes from India every week still coming in lol... Did they think it could be contained ? lol. I could of told them straight up THATs NOT POSSIBLE. And now, An estimated 10,000 people a day lose their jobs in Australia this week from it. protestors arrested in Melbourne. all getting a bit stressing/depressing. They will be trouble next week, once the 'Olympics Distraction ' feel-good moments dry up , that's for sure. Anyway , we were lucky enough to have that July window between lockdowns , and see the great kiwi representation at Brisbane last month racing at Albion Park, and the great efforts by Ray Green's horses in the article above. Great stuff by Ray there!!!. AND At least Super Horses Copy That and Krug went back home again !! thank goodness , so you can still get to see them race in NZ later in year.

You've got that bug in your bonnet alongside the mile racing mate. Telfer, Herlihy, Purdon, Hughes, Hackett all winning at Auckland last night. And all Very accomplished horsepeople. What is the problem FFS? Haven't seen any punters myself ,saying "oooh thats a mile race , I'm not betting on that , I want 2500m to ease my mind " lol....... The shorter races are commonplace USA and Australia as Horses recovery is better , makes it easier for the Trainers mate ! and the drivers ! sorry if you think punters can't get a bet on. not correct IMO. They Can't all drive and win every near 2 mile race going like Mark and Allstars horses did. ?? Imagine how flat your horse would be after a couple of goes at that.? Tiger Tara at his peak, even found that out.

Yes that Marburg is for the 'show' horses or poor locals needing a win in that area. (you wouldn't see Dixon or Rasmussen there) More punters could be attracted with 'regular ' racing. Instead of Southland area, or Waikato area racing every second week for $10,000 races. For the same 'Available prizemoney,' They should race Every Week of Year for $5000 races. (more $dollars for feature races of course) THEN you end up with more winning horses, therefore more winning owners (likely to stay interested) and Punters likely to get some 'form' to follow . and then have a bet as a result ? It all becomes regular , just like going to work for normal workers day-in , day-out to pay your way . This is the case around Brisbane 5-6 days a week. weekly races are practically the horses 'fast-work' each week. There is one MASSIVE problem. You can't 'SET' horses for particular races . you're just playing for luck week to week, waiting your turn to draw well , and get the win. and just go round and round. Therefore when Feature Group Races come round to be run , BIG stables that can SET horses will clean up , as what happens with McCarthy and Allstar runners Every Year. they just win.

2 year old racing can now be spread out through the whole year !! instead of just a few months in first half of each year. a terrific advantage. The biggest race carnival of the year (NZ CUP week) can now have the 2 year olds racing ! will be fantastic.

Have to say the HRNZ has to distribute the stakemoney as fairly as possible, to all still existing clubs. You still need Sponserships and Memberships (with some wealthy people involved) to make trotting clubs and race-days a GREAT PLACE to go ! People like Chris Garrard need looking after with-in the harness industry. Richard Brosnan , won at Melton Monday with a trotter. (first prize stake was just $2,200) Marburg meeting in QLD last Sunday each winner got only $1,500. not a great deal at all. But the connections COULD GET A WINNER> the critical element. Sure, you might need to win at least one race every 3 months , just to' break-even', because of the horse costs. BUT if you're winning people aren't thinking about that too much. just enjoying the wins !! NZ needs more races, that attracts more horses , that attracts more winners, That attracts more owners and interest from punters might even be possible. You won't attract punting activity on huge fields , standing starts , or poor quality. As long as people are WINNING regularly (owners and punters) they will continue to support the industry a little. (speaking for self and hopefully others) You need lots of Winners to keep owners and Punters happy !!!!!!! Smaller fields and more racing WOULD PROVIDE THIS . even if prizemoney is low. spread it thin if need be, to get these Winners!!!!

Unfortunately the New Zealand bloke needed to stay sitting on his butt on his bike, in the Team Pursuit just now . He was Riding for Bronze against Australia in the '4 man team pursuit'. Unfortunately he hit a wheel of a team-mate , (just like a good trotting driver would lol,....) and his butt was now sitting flat on the valodrome track, instead of being on his bike. oh dear. so Bronze to Australia on this occasion.

Not very easy at all to get a horse to run 1.50 Brodster. ? can't say there's Heaps of horses that can. 'Arms of an Angel ' (If that's the Teaz horse) had 10 wins from 14 starts was in 2016 , running 3rd in the miracle mile to Natalie in 1.48. , Likewise 'Alta Orlando ' of Dunn's , a terrific horse has a miracle mile third placing as well, in 1.48, and he did get a GROUP 1 win in 1.50 a year ago. But mostly in his other 25 starts past year, no where near running 1.50. It's a very hard mark to achieve. In recent times NZ FFAer Star Galleria arrived at McCarthy's, and only can get out a 1.51.5 mile (2 wins in 8 cracks at Menangle) And Spellbound did it !! she had a group 3 win at Menangle recently in 1.50.1 , so she is incredible. (Beaten a nose in a group 1 at Brisbane her last start in 1.52 odd ) so yes , there is one that fits the bill. I guess some of those Jewels winners like BD JOE and South Coast Arden and Akuta, would go real close to a 1.50, so maybe you're right afterall lol.......

That's asking a lot of Spirit of Anzac ? . thats FFA speed.!!! will be amazing if he can do it. usual mid-week Menangle speed is 1.54-1.55 miles, and Saturday night Metro 1.51-1.52 miles. SPIRIT of ANZAC running the 1.51.8 was a fab first up run for sure yesterday. Old kiwi FFAer, CASH n FLOW rattled off 10 wins in a row last Winter-Spring in 1.49-1.50. This season (year) he only has 3 wins from 9 starts as a bit more worn out, and can only get 1.51.2- 1.51.4 mile as best now. Still got the chocolates 2 weeks ago , and paid $20 the win !! fabulous kiwi 'trier' and hope your boy 'SPIRIT' can take up the challenge you set him, and follow in Cash's footprints as a FreeForAller. .....

did we ever get the 'reason ' Tim Vince handed in licence at the Wigg's training establishment? Just give Danielle Hill , the South Australia pocket dynamo a plug here as well, as she drives well like the Wigg sisters. Danielle (with only one eye after horrendous crashes) has broken her Australian record tonight !!! 6 wins (and a 2nd) on the 7 race card at Globe Derby Park SA today. wow ! that's great going she has driven 6 winners on the card on 5 Occasions now !!! Breaking her own record of being the only driver to have 6 winners on 4 occasions. Sure, they only toddle along at 2min mile-rate down there , but a fine achievement all the same.

Hope you didn't see the NZ weight lifter Hubbard. She isn't going on the Hot list !!! hehehehe Try Menangle NSW then for a bet. They just let em' roll , and they all get a chance if good enough . Spirit of Anzac was enormous today first up in Oz.

No , nothing found that has been reported anyway. results have been good all year. so they (stewards) used the retention barn to house the horses of Grimson and Trainor to see if performance dropped off, while they were 'under surveillance' , but it didn't.