Gammalite

Might be Virus there Brodster ! better to dodge that one. You are right on a few counts IMO , Communism NOT the answer. Hong Kong was handed back from British rule late last century, and the poor locals there have been battling/protesting /rioting, even some deaths, for a while now this century, so not to lose their freedom, and then be under Chinese Communist rule. very sad situation. And the 'Black Lives Matter' BS going on, is racist BS by all the participants . All that crime you mention ,because of it, etc, It really Should be ALL LIVES MATTER. just as our governments have provided for us past year. And yes of Course You won't know Anyone with the virus ? That's Exactly what we are telling you !!! The Health department made that happen . Why complain??. (Although the NSW Health got the blame for disembarking a Covid containing cruise ship and so 28 people died) Anyway have a great week and very happy you are safe and sound (as for all kiwis and ockers) and leave you with a hope and a prayer for the humanitarian total disaster in India, that something improves there soon . geez it's bad.

Yeah think all the posters are Boomers on here BOAY lol. I scraped in as am same age as my mate Markie boy, Mangos and that era of Faaaabulous drivers.!!!

Hey Brodster , just realised I'm a bit older and Glenn Campbell been dead a few years now, but sure you know him. Here's some great words from his song , for anyone reading to enjoy. !!!! Try A Little Kindness Glen Campbell If you see your brother standing by the road With a heavy load from the seeds he sowed And if you see your sister falling by the way Just stop and say, "You're going the wrong way" You've got to try a little kindness Yes, show a little kindness Just shine your light for everyone to see And if you try a little kindness Then you'll overlook the blindness Of narrow-minded people on the narrow-minded streets Don't walk around the down and out Lend a helping hand instead of doubt And the kindness that you show every day Will help someone along their way

Aus just stopped all flights from India. wonder if NZ is doing the same.? For sure yeah ! I think you're right and the continual trickle of people will continue way more than 6 months. In Sydney they dropped the number to 1500 from 3000 per week coming back to the 2 weeks hotel restriction, as not to 'break' the quarantine by too many numbers. I agree they are 'unlikely to pay' the $4k each they spose to. Ardern may make mistakes and do things you don't like (hope there is the odd good thing for you) In the news in Aus she handled the Christchurch massacre well , and seemed popular. I don't support or denounce either party, the Democrats folded here a few years back lol... just kidding. Good to be Kind ! ask Glen Campbell. great song.

haha yeah all good ! thought Ranga and Brodie were after some political debate on this thread. lol. The disrespect is outrageous on both sides. I turn Question Time OFF 1/2 the time, TV parliament ..... hopefully some of the 'Learned' folk can make decisions that HELP our countries, and I am happy to give credit where credit is due. Harness racing could be a good Political distraction? If the parties race/ sponser some horses? Be a bit of 'Team' Driving then !!!! would be great.

Oh well ,maybe the government is Not popular with him either. I wasn't criticising them enough maybe? sometimes they make errors, the Aus Defence Dept had 1500 troops in Afghanistan in recent years. What a fat waste of Millions that was !! Thank the heavens the last 80 troops return in Sept this year and we are finally out of that mess . Providing hotel's for returning travellers (the travellers pay about $4k here) is probably a better idea considering what is happening in India.

sounds like Tasmania as well. lol.. There's a LOT of pensioners and state housing down there. Huge percentage. Just at the end of footy ,and now HIGHWAY COPS came on TV. seriously I can't stop laughing. kiwis are great !! guy just got a pink ticket thing on car and now wandered over for a piss on the fence, (with cops and film crew still there) this is great show !!!! Back at the trots, and Speaking of Tasmania , the Hobart trots last night had 6 races. ONE TRAINER had 40 horses in just 5 of the races. (He skipped race 1 for some reason) So he had 40 horses against just 11 opponents !!! across 5 races. five of those 11 got placings too !! hahahaha Needs some better 'Team driving' I think lol....

No , we definitely don't need to hear about this 'shite' everyday. yeah great if it went away. Not at the front of our domestic news at present. But still pretty big on the World stage. The hotel quarantine is 'extremely necessary' as still people returning from overseas All the time. Aus currently has 300 cases total , of which 72 are in hospital , all quarantined . (thank goodness) could you imagine the chaos in the hospitals and community if we let them all wander ? without the motel/hotel s ? don't think of it as a wasted $1 million. Just watch the WORLD NEWS and see the results , without it. Not seeing is Not Believing seems the problem ?. Example: Whooping cough is making a come-back as 10% of new parents are complacent and/or don't believe in vaccination anymore , BUT when their child comes down with it and is screaming in pain and near death (a small percentage die) from not being able to breathe properly for days on end 100% of that small group deeply REGRET they exposed their child to that type of preventable harm . I say governments DID WELL , and have kept our oldies (some would like to kick on, even if some don't) as Safe as can be, until vaccination kicks in , and they can live without the 'terrifying drowning death' that some ignore. (or just plain haven't seen first-hand , so don't care?) Business can recover/adapt/change. Cancer will continue (sadly) , accidents will happen. (sadly) But the current million/ day is Well Spent !!! people aren't sheep, they are Citizens worth looking after. p.s PANDEMIC (horse) was just in at the Adelaide races !!!, so backed it as an 'omen' while writing just now !!! oh shite it just ran second , Blah ........ that id be right

Not once have I ever Not been so happy to of lived in Aus and NZ. where is better? no-where is answer. A billion people + would want to be here if they could. (and that was before any virus!!) lol.... I'm not scared of death or anything. Just the preventable 'total disruption' to society, that could happen if things went out of control. Who wants clogged hospitals? and funerals? no-one is answer. Therefore my summary is the Health Department has done a sterling job. Financially we are trading fairly well now? SURE, both countries missing the overseas tourist dollar. But am sure the locals can rally and support 'their own' and now Aussies are touring NZ again and kiwis getting here too. !! excellent! why Grizzle ?? grateful is better.....

All good. No deaths is a great statistic. Aus and NZ are going about their business as per normal. I think I had to wear a mask for a total of 6 days (2 x Qld 3 day lock downs this year) not a big price to pay for empty hospitals. Rest of world in chaos. I'm a Grateful Person . Don't care what party is in government as just people doing their jobs (ALP in Queensland) The Health Department makes these decisions. so blaming your PM is irrelevant. We elected the governments to SERVE and PROTECT it's citizen's ! of all AGES and HEALTH CONDITIONS. What a spanking job they have done !!! Mass funerals in so many countries , while we are FREE to FLY across the Tasman Sea now ! excellent . hope the lock-up hasn't got you down or upset too much lol........ go to the races to cheer up ? you can in Aus and NZ.

Hahahaha All round the world Millions (probably Billions) are now wishing their Governments were the NZ and Australian ones, as their countries in total disarray with 10's of thousands dead and dying. US,UK France some of the most developed nations even in disaster. Don't even mention 3rd World like India and Brazil in total Catastrophe. Meanwhile 70,000 at the football in Melbourne last night, Brodie safe in NZ with no deaths . How good is that ??? well done NZ government (and Oz one) did you really want to not isolate and people die Brodie? for the sake of a few jobs and dollars? Go and do something else for a while is the answer. easy. I had change of scenery a few times and is part of the fun of life. !!!! unless you're DEAD. Are you the Wolf in Sheep's Clothing ? lol......

Four Group 1's in one night again!!. this is great. Yeah, John Dunn has his hands on the 2 Trot G1's trophies by the look of it , as they are Hot to Trot at the moment. Mark P may have to look at the other two G1's for his usual win. SUNTAN could do it for him, as the amazing Nat at unlucky 13 alley in the 2 yearold fillies with True Fantasy over 1700m looks a big ask. BUT speaking of amazing, The Auckland Cup holder AMAZING DREAM at $4 sportsbet . thank you very much. !!! Time to send CopyThat back to the also-ran's like in the NZ and A'kld Cups I think lol.......

Sheryl is going great guns. two trifectas training already I believe with her stable runners!, cool!, so for sure she must be itching to drive one of them. Won 50 races from 150 drives to date, (51 after last night?) so sure to get support, and be worthy of a bet. Definitely worthy of graduation from amateur level! The juniors were a strong bunch back in the day too, as young Tony Herlihy and also Mark Purdon in the juniors and you Just couldn't wait for them to graduate out!!! as they absolutely mopped the floor with their rivals lol..... , no matter what they were driving. never beat them once. McKendry and Mangoose were amongst the fray too, at times. Those Big 14 horse fields you always had made it VERY, very, hard to even get a placing. more likely to be On the Deck, lol...with one of those time famous "Not another crash in the probationary race again" scenarios lol.....

It does seem ironic that the race they are targeting has a lot of attrition. Racing Victoria has Already scratched overseas runners after CT scans (Marmelo and Ispolini in 2019) so were somewhat applying a couple of these measures already. Cliffs of Moher (2018 Melbourne Cup fatality) broke a shoulder , so don't know if their scanning will pick up any abnormality before something like that happens. Yeah agreed Chief, Why just Melbourne Cup? english horse won the Queen Elizabeth the other day , is he immune? Like all Athletes that compete at the highest level , the horses (and jockeys) race with past and present injury, and is impossible to predict. (bleeds, etc) , so we will see more 'sad' events as you say. All the runners should get the same access to 'scans', etc, not just some . How is that fair. Overall though each and everyone of these great horses racing would be getting DAILY care and Assessment from Trainer, strapper , track work riders as to their racing condition and ailments. How sound is 'SOUND"? does Moroney need to scan him now been over NZ a couple of times for Auckland Cups internationally? lol (for example)

Seems strange it is a 'tote' event , as given the level of difficulty in driving a race, for people to lose money on say the drive on AllyMae you discussed must be detrimental to the industry (as in putting punters off harness) I sent a horse around in the amateur race at Auckland once for a lovely owner, who had a fairly slow horse. It was run between the Tote races, as a novelty (or like a trial basically) and all the drivers had fun, and a rugby chap drove our filly home first to win the race prize. A big LAZY-BOY recliner !!! lol... the owner was delighted.!!

Just saw the article on The HRNZ site. April 27th. about Sheryl. Calls her 'Strike Rate Sheryl' with 50 wins from 150 drives. That's near as good as Nat ! lol and with about a 10th of the horsepower Nat get's to drive , and against a field of 'learner' drivers hehehe. Totally amazing record !! She is running rings around them with ability. fantastic. reminds me of Kate Gath (vic) Amanda Turnbull (NSW) and the 3 McMullen girls (Qld) who can all jump on 'anything' it seems and get the job done , and just keep winning. They had the Australian Female driving Championship in Tasmania last month with 2 girls from each state (so 12 in total) had a crack drawing randoms through 6 races. The two QUEENSLAND girls ran 1st and 2nd on the final points table !! sisters Danielle and Narissa McMullen . How good is that.? Queensland rules the world lol..... (have to admit Qld would of been 3rd and 4th if Nat and Sheryl turned up to rep for NZ though !!! lol)

It is a Professional sport with very stringent rules for safety and fair play . All of the participants are seasoned professionals born into the industry, qualified and experienced and performing a professional service for their owners (and indirectly the betting public. The amateurs (well they usually do something else, and this is like a hobby) in sport. They should actually 'Pay to be there' (like they are buying the fun) instead of being paid for a professional service. (They probably do get a driving fee though as a courtesy though) In my opinion, now Sheryl Wigg is a Public Trainer , amateur status should be finished, and she shouldn't be in them races now. She is a professional in the industry.

That's great Whippy, yeah the Galah and Karrots have put forward excellent ideas to 'raise revenue' and /or for 'people to have fun' and enjoy the harness racing still in comps or live or on the punt. Brodster even says if they let people on with their bets , they could attract more punters and raise revenue. spose that's true lol...... Pokies are truly designed to HYPNOTIZE as one of the 17 manipulation points , I would suggest. The people playing look like zombies lol. I prefer horses as more traditional and are majestic creatures, and the horsepeople very skilled. Not saying the Computer programmer that 'sets' the Pokies to take peoples money are not skilled, very subtle skill they have lol... , but at Least the horsepeople are Trying to win you, or their owners and themselves, and show their Skill off with some great drives and impressive training feats. And then there's the Horsepower too !!

The problem with machines is invariably they are programmed to make losing selections. People are spinning wheels with NO CHANCE of a victory on most spins. What an utter waste of dollars and total stupidity. I expect every dollar I put on a Horse to have show of victory. Punter's clubs are indeed for people who are 'after a dollar' with minimum effort as well. (like you said relying on an expert to bring home the bacon) Most Punters club's I have been in people have 'Turns' at applying the bets. So that you are part of the action and the fun of it all. Your method suggests giving your money to the 'reputable person' and hope for the best. Where's the fun in that???. I might as well give my $500 to Galah and Brodie , and send them away to TAB and hope they come back with something ? lol.... I did go in a $500 per week Syndicate once. Where 50 persons put in 500 each every week for 6 months. Every Thursday you would receive a e-mail Portfolio of bets for the weekend. (gallops) with how much placed on what runners. Great for TAB and Bookies, heaps of bets going on, and the suggestion you would be in 'front' and have some horses to follow. The problem was it was No Fun. was like they were guessing half the time . Things you wouldn't think were a chance with $4k on them and all this sort of stuff. Hard to enjoy the racing like that. So once the 6 month sign -up period was up , didn't do that again. pretty much finished financially not far off where started. (and the challenge of selecting winner yourself is Way Better and fun )

Well the gambling dollar is what is needed to keep the harness racing afloat . 'Customers' can be the 2 types . Ones that love horses and want to be part of the fun (race a horse, etc like Karrots) or in it for the money. the Punters. your Punters club is a great idea, but you need 'regular participation' (on but mainly off course due to distances) and a product you can actually win off. The huge problem is , the enjoyment can diminish rather quickly , once the bets stop coming in. Blame for bad drives, bad horses galloping out the back and just Plain Old BAD SELECTIONS. Is often the case some of the 'Investors' get very agitated because the thing that galloped out the back , they wouldn't of backed themselves in a fit. So they Go Away and do their own thing next time, which is actually more sensible. The gamblers would rather jam $100 in a pokie and get 'some' results even though likely to put it all back in , even if a win comes up. Pubs and clubs do fine, but without the 'Knowledge of Brodie lol....' not many gunna jam $100 on trotters. (and get any thrill out of it, unless they jag the winner. therefore unlikely to try again next race. They just become more critical of the sport if anything. A huge chunk of the active supporters/competitors with the horses are from family involvement . generational. even myself when think about it. But someone mentioned how the new 'tech generation' have so much more on , and variety. like the farmers who have had a farm for generations with stock or agriculture, the young ones all off to the city , etc, so as the last of the late 90's persons retire and expire the land sold off and end of a hundred+ year era in a lot of cases. very common Nz and Aus.

With the NZ Messenger on this Friday, a chance to remember a great . The mighty Locarno. !!! Here he is winning the Messenger on very first time I went to Alexandra Park Christmas 1978. Had a win on him too , as was a beautiful standout horse. A bit like Gammalite !! lol.... BTW Koala King did manage redemption for Aussie !! soon after the Locarno Miracle Mile , winning the 1980 Interdominon Final at Harold Park (his home track) . Locarno a Fine Second.

The NZ Messenger ! What a race it is. Was always at Christmas in my Day during the holidays. Here are all the one's I was at and enjoyed. What a great list of Fine winning Horseman too !! 7 horses from the South Island too ? wow wee 1985 December Placid Victor Mrs L G Wilson Maurice McKendry 3:23.2 1984 December Roydon Glen R A McKenzie W F Fletcher 3:25.4 1983 December Nostradamus W J Francis & P I Renwick P N Jones 3:32.4 1982 December Hilarious Guest M G Vermeulen Peter Wolfenden 3:26.2 1981 December Melton Monarch J S Dalgety B Purdon 3:26.5 1980 December John Tudor H T & A P Dodds & B C Newton T H Knowles 3:29.3 1979 December Tempest Tiger P K Ryder J W Smolenski 3:27.9 1978 March Sapling G C Cruickshank & R Given H W Skinner 3:26.4 1978 December Locarno B J & E J Francis R D Butt Here's a quick quiz Karrots. Which one of these fine horses not only conquered the NZ Messenger, but went on to grab a Miracle Mile Win over Australian champions Pure Steel, Koala King and Paleface Adios??

109% is the allocated figure for NZ cost of living increase. And don't bring house prices into it. 1/3 of all NZ dwellings have been built this century, so costs WAY different, and real estate is an Investment Industry , with plenty of folk wanting elaborate Property portfolios. So it is folly to use that as a Cost of Living index. I say you are correct that on looking at it , the Stakemoney is stagnant for the novice classes. Waikato and Ashburton look like $8,000 races this week , and were possibly competing for between 5k and 7k 30 years ago, which would indicate those sort of races should be 11k to 15k these days just to be the same? so does seem is less result for owners as you say. That is why NZ and Aus (each state ) very big on the sires stakes races, as locals a chance to win big. Also agree the horse racing costs probably in excess of the index , due to 'professional services' like the vet, truck maintenance, the farrier , the feed merchant, etc,etc all going through the ceiling. Once upon a time you took a lot of these on yourself, People grew their own hay, stuck the shoes on, did their treatments without vet often enough, all the bookwork, even the stablework lol..... I'm with you also as a harness fan, would love to race a horse again, but this century? just no value , just the prospect of loss? no hope of talking someone new into it. Entertainment factor seems greatly diminished too.

I have some Auckland racebooks from normal meets, from the late 80's when visiting NZ again. The Auckland prizemoney you would think would be similar to Addington in those loose class events. c0 raced for $6,000 ($3,400 to winners) c1 raced for $6,500 ($3,750 to winners ) and the c2 were up for $7,000 race stakes with $4,000 to the winner. Conversion from that time is about 100% (just over in value) so the $6,000 for the maidens would be same as $12,000 these days. hope that helps you and Ranga a little.

Yes the start is critical in the shorter races. The longer run to the first bend being actioned, is excellent because it changes the race tactics. The Queensland miles at Albion 1000m track are 1660m. It encourages those drawn wide to have a crack for the lead (or outside leader) before the first bend, whereas if racing is just 1609m EXACT mile, the turn is too close , and the outside horse's would Have to drop back in field, as would be planted 3-wide. Second row runners then also get more chance as the 'extra pressure' up front early , sometimes causes those up front to tire slightly and the backmarkers can get into it afterall. ! So all good , and sure Ashburton TC would be thinking the same, and drivers will be happy ok.