Gammalite

Thanks Davis ! while watching the Olympics and supporting the Aussies and kiwis , then was such a delight to read this article of the fabulous racing the past month. (and of course can I Never bag Blair Orange ever again, lol ) Harness racing should be at the Olympics. would actually be one of the better events !!! most nations love horse racing Am sure the Shiehk would of even sent something along. They do have dressage, showjumpers and eventing horses at the Olympics for the millionaires with their million dollar 'dancing' horses. But the horses in this article are the Best in the World to me !! thanks for posting.

Yes , we've been VERY spoilt by the presence of such great horses and trainers/ drivers from NZ in Brisbane lately. a true delight. 2 years ago Mark turned up with Self Assured and won all those 3 yearold races as well . Now Ray Green has had a great time , and to think he did All the groundwork with the Oz best rep, King of Swing as well, in his early race days. superb. Rickie Alchin is quite a good horseman from NSW . gets good results with his team. His colt Captain Crusader is performing well , and he puts the leading driver Luke on to get good results. Rickie drives ok himself too , actually won the Last Race at Albion driving himself on Black Hawk Joe, from a very hard barrier too. Hey!, if you know the Captaintreacherous sired horse in North Island NZ named HOT AND TREACHEROUS, you can say CAPTAIN CRUSADER by the same stallion, is Exactly the same Type of horse. They are Too good for moderate fields , so takes on the good ones like Krug for example, and runs lots of 2nds, 3rds, and 4ths. Both are terrific horses and you can only wish they get their moment in the Spotlight with a BIG Group race Win at some stage.

Yes the Franklin Park training centre managed by Karen Blanchard. was always the most important North Island hub. It's getting sold you say ?? that will be a critical blow to North Island trotting. 70 years + that facility been there and around 40 trainers listed as users. (and a further 20-30 out of town trainers , who use it when visiting for feature meetings.) Could be part of the Telfer Plan too !!. (shift to Canterbury) maybe they can see what's coming by the sound of it. A poor way to dig out of the Alexandra Park developement disaster. (wonder what happened with INSURANCE with the failed contractors on that developement?? musn't of paid up) I started out at Takanini/Papakura (much closer to Auckland than Pukekohe) I saw all the fabulous trainers at Takanini training gallops track , McKee, Verner, Jillings etc, and THEN the Auckland racing Club SOLD OFF the training facility in early 2000's !!!. what a shock that was , and led to countless re-location disasters. .... real estate gained , horses lost forever ...awful. very sad seeing the amazing places that so many great horses and trainers/drivers / jockeys strutted their stuff just Disappear.

Good grief , that does seem poor indeed for the punters wanting to see both races. The unavailability of training facilities is interesting arguement. Seems with the cost of real estate through the ceiling NZ and Oz you just have to use/re-develop current facilities , just like Telfers are doing. and Pukekohe Training in the north had many barns around the near streets, so if numbers are dropping in the North, wouldn't there be Vacant boxes/ barns for lease.? I can see No Problem with Telfer going big in numbers of horses trained. This means that you can train at a reduced rate , because you make a quid from the large numbers. AND as Brodie wants , New owners can come on-board with shares and some will punt as well, so Must be a GOOD thing?? I do say Yole is dominating Tassie harness with having Too Many horses ( crikey!!!, He has 50 racing today at Launceston) but if Chris Waller can have 700 gallopers on his books , it must be a proven Model to use ? Can only mean one thing . MORE people are involved . A good thing, owners ,young horsepeople etc etc now if only the TAB would take the bets lol..............

That does not sound like an ideal situation. The UK death toll is a tenth of what it was before vaccinating the population there, so something must be working. I had 'free' flu shots while working in a Government Department Vet for a couple of years , a while back. The nurse said that it only works against certain strains , and there are many strains of flu each year. so you might still get flu if in contact with a variant strain, .. They're literally 'Fighting In the Sreets' today in Sydney ,Melbourne and Brisbane with mass Anti-Lockdown protests happening. Very sad , as covid lockdowns are driving people crazy. only 15-20% of the country is vaccinated . once they mostly are vaccinated, they can get back to business like UK has , even with the 'dreaded Flu' rife in the community like it is there. I don't particularly care , and not rushing for a vaccine personally. I had tetnus shots (as high risk 'vet' group) and kids had Menningococal shots (as were high risk 'adolescent' group) for those nasty diseases , and those vaccines are nearly 100% effective. One can only hope, the scientists can develope something safe for the flu too, if it's currently lethal like you say.

Well the Blacks A Fake Group 1 has been run and won at Brisbane and it's the great mare AMAZING DREAM again !!! Maybe some of you kiwis got a piece of that ? was good odds in Australia, as King of Swing goes for a gallop early but still he and Copy That seemed to have their chance afterwards 3rd and 4th. 1st 4. Amazing Dream Nz (4) 2nd 6. Rockin Marty (6) 3rd 2. Jeradas Delight (2) Bet Placed on:24/07/21 20:08:47 AEST You would think Gammalite could of popped the $1.20 fav KOSwing in for third ? in the 2.5k trifecta? . or taken a Quinella that paid $1,300 in QLD ,but not clever enough . had something on the great mare though at 40-1 sportsbet. Tote fixed odds ended up being 60-1 too!!!. quite incredible.

You're a Good Judge Brodster !!!!! and Kim has instructed you well. He's TOP of the TOP 6. !!!!! Mr Anthony Butt !!!!!! Hope you got to see the absolutely Top Notch drives tonight in Brisbane, on TOMMY LINCOLN, then TOUGH MONARCH , then AMERICAN DEALER in the Derby !!!!!!!!!!!!! three of the best ever drives seen at Albion. better than Nat and Mark even !! (did I really say that???) hahahahah Gammalite is gunna be mighty sad once Ant's and all these fabulous visitors from NZ and NSW and Vic leave town. sadsadsda but for the moment Lapping it up. what a treble by Anthony !!! who is Krug? who is Blair O? lol....... great stuff Ray Green.

Definitely NOT a fan of multiple runners in a race, but it happens. Telfer often with a few in the north, (and Bernie Hackett in the trots) and sometimes the things happen we don't like . e.g Temporale , Dance Time , even Beyond Words v Amazing Dream lol..... YOLE in Tasmania , is cheap. Good for cheap owners. Terrible for punters. wouldn't bet a Tassie race with your money !! lol. (wouldn't want to lose it on you) Dixon has 80 in training going roughly at the most. so generally close to lead like YOLE in premiership. Hard to win though . last Sat and then Tuesday , just 2 x 3rds from 18 runners. and Brodster thinks it's easy in Oz ??? lol ............. Telfer's ran ad's on the WEB-site for $55 a day training for many months !! you advertise, you DESERVE results !!!!!!!!!! good on em !!! If the smaller trainers want more horses THEY NEED to WOO owners like Telfers have ? and get some yearling sale purchases , etc. Which stables are short of horses you are thinking of ?

All stars have none now, Cullen had 1 horse past 2 weeks racing so no increase there , Dunn's do they still have a Pukekohe Barn? they seem to have the same number of wins year to year so must be same number of horses in training.?? Telfer's look the only one with a significant increase you describe, and that's because of the re-structure. Doubt any of the Canterbury folk will be scared off. and as Brodster says , will be good to have a big professional stable in the Chch area that can cope with a fair numbers of horses.

The vaccine does mean you can keep the community in action without lockdowns and the death rate does drop. UNITED KINGDOM (advanced health care nation like NZ or Oz) this week for example has had massive increase in daily /weekly positive covid cases, but only a mild mortality hospilisation rate. They have 88% coverage first dose/ 70% with 2nd dose. Sydney only about 35% vaccinated at the moment so 5 weeks lock down. awful for businesses. meanwhile HUGE crowd at the Gabba in Brisbane , without masks for the LionsvSuns footy being played right this minute. It's a funny world?...... The Past week in UK sees 300,000+ positive cases of Covid19 !! as it kicks again, with 5000 per week (900 daily) hospitilized, and just 400 deaths (60 daily). so same as any flu attrition rate you might see in the elderly any year in a western nation, so seems like any Flu year total. Why all the fuss now.

There you go ! some serious opposition for Cullen's and Dunn's then. and BD JOE with a jewels Win over Krug and ENJOY ME won the 3 year old Sires Group 1 win over Bettor Twist on New Years eve , as well. That Sure shows they know what they're doing in preparing horses.!!! Best of luck to Telfer's and Williams.

Yeah place has gone STUPID with lockdowns. Sydney in real strife. Lock-up will come to Brissy soon too, no doubt. Not going to see the big races at Albion, Very sadly, as can't stand those stupid masks. Probably would of been better if just said anyone ill with any symptoms at all , should self isolate and people can get on with their lives . Tasman Sea crossings cancelled again for 8 weeks I think. every news bulletin has silly covid stuff. They literally announce all the places a contaminated air-hostess has visited or similar shit like that? At least I can change immeadiately to OLYMPIC stations now !! fabulous. hey the womens rowing 8 from NZ just won heat and went through to the final !! fabulous effort. shame they Not mentioning the big race tonight anywhere with the great girl Amazing Dream lol.......

No mate, all attacks are no good. I didn't read it like that . I thought Chief was questioning your support of a guy talking about going for high public office , that probably doesn't warrant support, as has NO RESPECT for anyone but self. (At this stage , going by his comments and attitude, but he might chill out sometime ?......lol....wouldn't hold your breath) I wouldn't take that personally. Good on ya for posting ! people can do what they like , and/or man up , and post . and be civil too. Ranga and Brodster don't see eye to eye all the time, but even on this very thread , they can still ask each other a question,... ?? all good mate. Join in and share your good knowledge I say. yeah !! sure is shame about Happy and Jones, as enjoyed their input. Never mind , still good racing anyway. And you and chief are smart enough to recognise the champions of harness too !!! hahaha there you go ! something in common lol..... who ya on tonight ? Krug (derby) and Copy That (In the BlacksaFake)? or the Gammalite prediction of American Dealer and King of Swing. let em rip ..................

Launching a web-site for the enjoyment of all by the Chief, is quite an achievement JJ. And then we have to read your insults on it? Think would be better to be more appreciative sometimes. As for your mate 'Pound4 Pee' you would of seen his vulgar insults ALL over 'Go Leo' thread and every thread , with insults against Australia and many many many others doing their jobs, or even just 'Posting Something' on a public forum,???? You would think , who could possibly support someone into a high public office with that Hate and anger attitude??? my goodness , that's the last thing Auckland needs is someone so 'Off-side ' with everybody. Maybe you should recommend Councelling to him instead of Chief????

Ray and his wife bought COPY THAT for $7000 originally , then sold it to the current owners for a hefty price. They decided to leave the horse with Ray after the purchase too !!! He was game and/or confident to carry on training him after the sale . Lot of pressure ? but at Ray's age in his 70's he probably doesn't feel it. He originally raced KING OF SWING too himself. Must be a terrific horseman is Ray ? unfortunately with King of Swing drawn 1 Alley for the $1/4 mill Group 1 Blacks A Fake Championship on Sat night . The KING might be to hard to roll a second time, but you never know. Speaking of the 4 time Interdominion winner BLACKS A FAKE , here's a 'happy Snap' ! of our golden girl Nat visiting him last week at her parents place , while holidaying in sunny QLD . The old boy now 21 years old.!! what a marvel he was on track.

Hahaha you are right on all counts there Chief unfortunately. Too many movies for Gammalite. (Absolutely adore horse movies , esp racehorse ones like Secretariat) Yes a lot of those mobs ate the horsemeat as well as the dog meat even, through all history. I personally would NOT. I can't even bring myself to eat Kangaroo, as Australia the ONLY nation in the world that shoots and slaughters it's NATIONAL EMBLEM. there is something fundamentally wrong with that concept. (or just mentally wrong with Gammalite lol.......) I took a thoroughbred, as a favour for an owner (with a serious knee issue that couldn't be repaired) to that 'MERAMIST abattoir' near Brisbane once. It is one of the 2 horse abattoirs in Australia , and was featured in the ABC broadcast about horse cruelty. I WAS SCARRED FOR LIFE. They were unloading a double semi chock full of Brumbies when I arrived . crippled horses everywhere. some standing on 3 legs with the snapped one 'Swinging in the Breeze' ) I actually said 'Did that stock truck roll over or something?" It was an 'Apocalypse' to horse loving Gammalite seeing all that. Swore on mother's grave would NEVER go there again. ever. never. ever. (actually BIG part of reason gave up training and went to vet for 15 years) We used to breed from the mares, and give away the old trotting geldings to girls for riding hacks (pony club etc) and chuck em a bale of hay , and even trim the feet for them if they rode around. BUT you are right , there are vet things/costs these days that are large , Hay was $4 bale in the 90's. god knows what they charge these days. and guess no one will 'shoe for free' anymore. Best days are gone. Racehorses for Dog/Cat food ?.. awful. would never of started out, if knew it would come to that for them. sad days.

Good point Chief, but to me, it comes down to how close you are to your animal. Virtually no-one would send their dog to an abbattoir. Throughout history dogs and horses have 'given their all' loyalty and effort for the benefit of their owner, whether be farming, hunting , entertainment for glory (The roman empire had Chariot racing with beautiful teams of horses) transport, war-horse and just plain old conquering . Like Genghis Khan and the mongol empire (the biggest in history) where he had no trouble slaughtering tribe after tribe of people but looked after their precious horses like gold ) Cows, pigs, sheep, goats do provide milk, hide, wool etc but as a true 'companion for the master , nothing beats his horse nor dog. Cowboys and Indians happy to kill each other , but both camps prized their horses more lol.... not quite a racing horse , but Bet they liked a FAST one to get away from the other mob ,when the calvary wasn't about lol..... Hi ho Silver !!!! sentiment to the end.... a horse is more of man's best friend through history than the dog. Let's look to re-home them all where possible. NZ and Oz have plenty of farms still (and you have grass too !! )

Brodster you are on a hammering today lol... , Spatchcock been dishing it up to ya, and now Kimberley with some evidence above, of Anthony Butt being the greatest Champion driver currently. from not being in your top 6. I also see that Anthony Butt WON the NZ Junior drivers title Twice back in his day?. Posted the results on the 'CONGRATULATIONS SARAH O'REILLY' thread. So Ant's has always been a Champion it seems..........??? I'm a bit biased as first time I ever saw him as a junior at Auckland , he jumped on a horse i was helping with named 'Metal Mickey' and he WON by half the length of the straight at Alexandra Park. I near fell down in Shock.! Who was that bloke A Butt? Maurice McKendry was Mickey's regular driver, but had his own horse in Most Happy Milly (who ran 2nd that night actually). The following week that great junior driver led up the GN Derby !, chock full of wonderful 3 year olds , Mickey got run down late for 2nd, but wow! !!!what a great first time impression he made on me (and many other junior drivers too) and Ant's still winning the big ones now near 4 decades later. exceptional talent.

Here's a list of the winners. North island had some good un's at the start of it all. Maurice and Tony H still go round each week. also in a lot of those junior races early 80's Auckland were Mangos and David Butcher. many young drivers had NO HOPE even then of getting established ( just as it is today) and along came another young Purdon too. Mark Purdon starting out as well 1982 with just 12 wins in his first 3 years as a junior driver !!! That tells you, Was hard to get drives let alone wins. he did take the title still one year on this list of champions which is fitting!! He was of course North Island Rep in those days. Junior Drivers Championship Winners Year Winner Second Third 2020 Kerryn Tomlinson Luke Whittaker Alicia Harrison 2019 Sarah O'Reilly Kimberly Butt John Morrison 2018 Alicia Harrison Benjamin Butcher Mark Hurrell 2017 Rory McIlwrick Ben Butcher Katie Cox 2016 Stevie Golding Dylan Ferguson Katie Cox 2015 Robbie Close Michelle Neilson Jack MacKinnon 2014 Michelle Neilson Dylan Ferguson Robbie Close 2013 Simon Lawson Mitchell Kerr Roydon Downey 2012 Zac Butcher Matthew Williamson Jack Trainor 2011 Tim Williams Shane Butcher Matthew Williamson 2010 Simon Lawson Joshua Dickie Roydon Downey 2009 Zac Butcher Joshua Dickie Anna Stormont 2008 Shane Walkinshaw Amber Jenkins Tim Williams 2007 John Dunn Reon Tither Amber Jenkins 2002 Lauren Pearson 2001 Stephen McNally 2000 Mark Jones 1999 Blair Orange 1998 Lauren Pearson 1997 Scott Wallis 1996 Stephen Boyd 1995 Logan Hollis 1994 Michael Langdon 1993 Brendon Scobie 1992 Logan Hollis 1991 Peter Ferguson 1990 Phil Jeffries 1989 Bradley Anderson 1988 Anthony Butt 1987 Glen Wolfenden 1986 Mark Purdon 1985 Anthony Butt 1984 David Butt 1983 Paul Black 1982 T Herlihy/J Curtin 1981 Tony Herlihy 1980 Grant Payne 1979 Maurice McKendry 1978 Maurice McKendry 1977 Maurice McKendry 1976 Maurice McKendry

Fantastic you had a win! with that great driving by Sarah and her double win today, and her great driving through the whole series . John Morrison a close second just 8 points behind. Both these fine drivers now get to represent NZ in December, at the Australasian Young drivers Championship , to be held during the Interdominion (making a return after a year miss), at Menangle later this year. Even if they don't take that young drivers title there, they'll get to see "live" some of the fastest horses ever to race, as some of these amazing horses like King of Swing, Copy That , Amazing Dream and Expensive Ego strut their stuff. WA with Shockwave as well, who is sure to give them all a fright. gunna be grand. and very very fast.

Sarah O'Reilly managed to hold on with the trotter in Heat 3 today as well. a good effort. Also clinging on to 3rd with an outsider in Heat 4 , to hold out John Morrison into 4th with his drive, by 1/2 head. Those few points could be enough to win it from John ? both drivers are on a 10-1 shot in race 5 the final Heat on Sportsbet. thought ChaCha B would be 5-1 , so might have a small something on that. John does seem to have a great chance of taking the title now.

There's not exactly a Chris Waller or James McDonald kiwis in the racing world doing well, in the harness racing arena. NZer Jack Trainer at Menangle , is having a great patch lately with fast wins. 2 Good kiwi horsemen I know, Richard Brosnan and John Newberry been here many years in country Victoria and very moderate success for years. barely a horse good enough to take to the big city tracks. I'm just trying to say it's Not as easy as what you think for the kiwis to dominate. Graham Harris here in Brissy very moderate success indeed. I agree it is 'harder' to win NZ , but i put it down to way less races run and the 'Big' fields. It is much easier in 10 horse fields to get a win. And also the very accomplished horsepeople in your races (Herlihy, etc ) make it harder to win. Although the races throughout Australia are full of horsemen with Thousands of drives and experience. even last nights GROUP 1 winning driver Brendan Barnes (who you wouldn't know) with his very first Group 1 win defeating Amazing Dream , has 4000 career drives for 500+ wins . so not shabby at all. Anthony Butt of course doing very well here with the Stride Corp Ltd' company support. led by the brilliant WOLF STRIDE with 6 wins from 10 this year (and got 100k for 3rd in Miracle Mile) to King of Swing ,also.)

What a great trot Championship that was. Yeah Luke McCarthy got suspension for that drive on Humble Lad. Had to push out down the back (like the old days) and contacted sulky. He gave up the lead to the defending Champion of the QLD trotting Championship ,Majestic Simon, a handy trotter, and 'Leader Peter' McMullen, who always tries to lead with anything. So Luke probably not much choice but to hand up. Did you see PINK GALAH's go? pocket rocket. she takes a while to get going early and took a lap to even tack on properly lol..... 50m off the lead. What a rocket after.... whizzed away from them all at the 1/4 pole. and a Gammalite favourite , the old boy OUR OVERANOVA trotting into third , off the backmark. But No match for the Interstate trotters. Game as anything as usual though. a true marvel. The NZ rep, Mr Bob BUTT ? charged his horse straight 'out of it's gait' (GOLD CHAIN NZ) into the first corner? What was he doing? Had Blair and Ant's sitting on the sidelines? Think he should of used one of them lol......

JERADA's DELIGHT actually beat Spellbound home fair and square last week in the Group 3 mares when they finished 2nd and 3rd, so didn't think was hopeless chance as Spellbound was second favourite last night. Hard to go past Amazing Dream and Anthony Butt though. only beaten 1/2 hd and a head. She went terrific Yet Again. Yes he has been here a while now. but wouldn't he resume the Top shelf if in NZ driving ? I guess it has been a while since BLOSSOM LADY and all those Tim Butt trotters, And, if you're driving the best all the time , you do look good!! lol.........

COPY THAT wins the mini Interdominion for NZ !! trainer Ray Green and driver Anthony Butt !!!! In the feature Group 1 mile. exceptional performance for NZ. What a performance in 1.52.3 ,, beats the Oz dual Miracle Mile winner champion KING OF SWING by 1/2 head !!! What a driver that Anthony Butt is!!!. (Is he best in world?) but guess he was only third with AMAZING DREAM tonight in the above photo behind Jerada's Delight in mare's Group 1, so maybe just 2nd best in world to the great Mark Purdon?, who WON with Amazing Dream last week lol............ PINK GALAHS charged away with the mini trot Interdominion like some sort of Scotch Notch clone lol , so Oz got something at least on the night. Hope some folk in NZ enjoyed it all, as much as Gammalite !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!