Gammalite

Yes is best when safe as possible. In early years I lived Takanini where 'hundreds' of horses walked down to the training track everyday , once i came across a accident and a car had hit a horse very badly, the trainer had rushed to the scene and was trying to punch the car driver out. Was very dramatic. Thankfully the horse was rushed to Takanini vet just around the corner, and emergency surgery, the huge abdomen gash stitched up , and the horse actually did race again. Amazing effort by vets. wonder if they are still training at Takanini ?(and old mate Bob Vance) he went off to Aus with Mr McGinty and won a big one at the time , so we were in total awe at that effort. Well done Bobby.!.

Only a Group 3 now ? my goodness. It was one of the 3 big 2 year old Group 1's in the early 80's when Melton Monarch won it, and Lyndon Robert for Robert Dunn. Is awful when races lose their prestige. sad.

Crikey Ranga ! that looks like it could go pear shaped any second. hahaha what a sight it must of been !!!! Here's one from the Brisbane Exhibition ( is like Akld easter show) where Donny Ross and Tony Turpin (dad of leading trainer Chantel) would charge around for ten minutes like Charlton Heston in BEN HUR . Magic !!!!!

Auckland is a huge city, and am sure the people there love to get togeather at the week-end. Why not a Sunday lunch-time meeting every 2 weeks? or are there too many shadows? (grass track South Island Sundays trot meetings look great?) I always thought the 'track' was a great spot , as food and drink , available, put some kids rides out the back of stand, etc, grandparents get 'day out' as well as most don't go out at night anymore. The Auckland trainers could race their 'Second stringers' there for moderate stake money and get some wins?, (maybe some owned by syndicates of family members) and some great entertainment had by all.

whats the top price so far? see a $110k colt out of One Over Kenny?

Bag Limit is the horse , without the pole running second in that photo? Is he hanging in it? could be slightly actually if looking closer. Had a on-going fetlock problem. Vinnie trained horses Very Very hard, POPULAR ALM broke a bone in a hind hoof once which is very unusual. Slow motion replays of the horse in Full flight, actually showed the horse would thrust with each hoof individually, thus giving him the speed that made him near the greatest ever . (as opposed to the regular sway 2 leg action , side to side , a Pacer has)

Fair call. Trainers do tend to pop them on and off (mental training lol) Richards is doing a good job and knows whats best I guess. as with Waterhouse. It's a constant battle to have the win edge . doesn't always work . but try things.

Bag Limit (horse on inside ) sadly went sore and was scratched from the Interdominion Final after easily winning his 2 heats. That ironically gave the 1st Emergency in the final a start . who was MY Lightning Blue !!! who then won. Amazing turn of events. I did say about the pole Chief (in the high-lighted bits previous post) those 3 great stallions, even though 3 of the best ever been in Australasia, they can lose Concentration , gawk around, so just like removable deafeners or a whip even , the poles are 'AIDING the Driver' to get the best result possible, at the end of a race. And it worked with those three Champions of the track. near 200 wins between them. just like Winkers work on some horses too. Melody Belle has one?

Any trainer of horses can soon work out if a horse is sore or needs it's teeth rasped Chief. Gear additions like Blinkers , Lugging polls (Deafeners aren't correcting anything, well sort of are I spose stopping your horse from getting stirred up and Pulling hard) but are removable so you can stir your horse up the last bit these days lol. reverse correction ? lol. Things to HELP YOU WIN the Race . Here is My LIGHTNING BLUE ,the fastest I have driven, winning a trial at Addington , complete with Pole and Burr !. beating an Aus great in Bag Limit and Vinnie Knight prior to 1987 Interdominion. (biggest plum there is) Lightning Blue, Colt Thirty One , and Gammalite are all Stallions , ALL completely sound through Long careers, but prone to looking around, and Losing concentration , WINKERS would of been great, but Boring /lugging Pole an ample 'distraction' as you called it as well . NO PAIN involved, Chief . concentration and Mental Training is involved. and didn't it get results ! P.S Lightning Blue went on and won this Interdominion Final at 50-1, then came back to Christchurch later in the year and won the NEW ZEALAND TROTTING CUP. still wearing that magnificent Pole too . Bless it.

There was nothing like seeing what fabulous Southerners would come to Alex Park each month when I was there as a lad, starting from the first time I went there at Christmas 78' LOCARNO stormed to victory in the Messenger with a devastating sprint (like his brilliant 1980 miracle mile sprint) to take Victory. !!! Not long after SAPLING won the Auckland Cup for the Southerners too on my second Alex park visit. each month brought someone new, Matai Dreamer (GN Derby) Even Speed for Rowe Cup. Great times .

I think you are wrong Chief, only because these gear additions are nothing to do with poor training and education , and what's money got to do with it. Some experienced horsepeople out there you know? Here's the Great One himself Gammalite, 'Sporting a lugging Pole " at Addington before running a place in NZ CUP i think. Just like Blinkers ,some bits of gear help get the BEST OUT OF YOUR Horse, concentration, mental toughness ,so that you have the edge to Win. p.s the very best current QLD horse COLT THIRTY ONE (81 starts 46 wins) wears a Lugging pole and shadow roll, and Grant is best trainer we have ever add, No poor training or education involved?

This is the issue Karrots, The mid trainers know that chasing Green, B Purdon, Hughes and one or 2 others around at Auckland with average horses , Can only lead to 'Burning them Out' and they stop trying altogeather. PLACEMENT is essential to results. better to go to Cambridge or such where they go a fraction Slower?. Also so many of the quality horses have been sold to AUS and USA. (Too many) Leaves it much weaker there for the group races at the main tracks for the top liners still racing. (usually the millionaire owners with no need to sell)

Hahaha yeah that sure is one horse that would of benefited from the Whip Change Rules !!! lol..... for sure lol. Tough bugger though, and a 'lot' of whip use resulted in 16 Group 1 wins. IS Still PLENTY of gear on the harness horses these days Chief. Every race Winton, Cambridge anywhere...... It's spose to help with the concentration of your horse. Hardly any horse 'volunteer's' to Win without mental Training. Is An addition of Winkers to a thoroughbred bad ?? why? It seems so simple. Waterhouse does it often with her 'Front running Mental Training 'of many of her horses?

Well I always used 1/2 blinds, (I called them CAN'T SEE BACKS) also used deafeners, hoods, lugging- poles, shadowrolls, headchecks, tongueties, cross over nose bands, any number of aids to keep horses straight and concentrating (therefore mentally trained). You need All the help you can get to win a race. blinkers were great because when a horse with one on , has another horse Loom Large outside (or inside) in the charge to the line , they 'usually' dig in and go a bit harder and run with that opponent, than what they otherwise would. ? very much mental training I think.

I'm thinking the meaning is go a "little harder at the business end 'of the event. Like the Blue Diamond 2 year old did yesterday. with more forward focus , I do think a horse can pull out an extra 1/2 second late in a race, that you mention, (but possibly not that quick as what you said , more like an 11.5 instead of 12 second furlong? maybe. concentration is the Main thing, afterall MOST horse trainers can get them Physically fit to race, It's the astute mental training that wins the races IMO.

The Garland of Flowers might scare the other runners?

Team NZ STRIKES !! just not with PROBABEEL for Jamie Richards and his great 'Team" picking up 300k in the Futurity at Caulfield today, Just Now AEGON wins easily in Sydney to make it 5 out of 5 and a cool near $1/4 million boost today. Fantastic for NZ racing !! and congrat's to ALL the connections around New Zealand.

Just looking at Addington Friday with 2 x 2 yearold races. colts and fillies divisions have 7 starters in each. There are 2 SWEET LOU's in each race so that looks promising? 4 runners out of 14 starters is good representation.

Hahaha yes I had a retail outlet of my very own from 2011 to 2017 , when sold it to the Chinese and retired. Plenty of people coming in coughing and hacking over the years Too!, which was Very annoying lol.... Lucky not Covid19 in the community then or mightn't be here to Chat ? a good thing in some eyes hehehe lol... Seriously though , Do try and feel PRIVILIGED yourself Chief !!!! as everyone in NZ and OZ should. I Most Certainly Do , as you suggested, lived in NZ many years, now beautiful QLD, and by far 2 of the BEST NATIONS in the world , in so many areas. !!!!!! Fantastic ! yes😴. should stick to horses on forum I guess so have to say... What a privilege as well to of raced the fabulous Harness horses in both NZ and Australia, !!! wouldn't of missed it for quids !!! I'm certainly glad Polio and Pox and assorted things similar, were eradicated so I had the chance... yes that all makes it even more of a Privilege to be in NZ. fresh drinking water a world issue too?

Thanks Chief , I do get it, and I did NOT say I support Lockdowns. yes the arguement became very Political., yes there are viruses around all the time, yes community immunity build up important , yes vaccination help and don't help, and yes NZ and OZ government s did such a good job saving their citizens that Brodie is ungrateful. and yes it is a fairly tame virus (as in not effecting the young to any degree) .... BUT what if it Mutated and got worse, ? covid 19 did start out looking very dangerous. some countries had a LOT of FUNERALS . there were a lot of ' infernos' around the globe Chief, not just UK. Brazil and Italy real bad and many other nations too. When Hendra Virus broke in Brisbane in the 90's I was exposed at UQ. It KILLED 4 of the 7 people ,that contracted it, and it KILLED horses. That is potent !! I wasn't allowed to go home for 3 days. There was almost 'Panic' for a week to find out where it came from . it was truly awful . CONTAINMENT absolutely ESSENTIAL. I

Well it's like this guys, blame me all you like, I'm just saying the Governments of Australia and NZ took/take action to Protect ALL their citizens. I didn't demand any lockdown. An elected Government is voted in to HELP ALL it's citizens as best it can, NOT EXPOSE them to all these overseas dangers and risks to their health. (Covid or other) YES I AGREE it sucks everytime a quarantine 'hotel worker' goes home with virus , as it effects everyone. Like Melbourne and Auckland this week. Very Sad. You do realise that a few Spot-fires of virus , can/could join up in the community and become a Raging Inferno ??? Chief and Brodie say 'Let the Fire burn for the good and future of the country'. Government says WE CAN"T LET PEOPLE BURN without Trying ways of preventing the Fire. good on them !!!!!!! that's their job I thought ? Yes, vaccinations are a great debate as well and will cause a lot more angst in society Very soon too! Oh Dear.... .A GREAT result Brodie , congratulations are in order. NZ a terrific country at looking after it's citizens. No opinion on this Chief, (nor the vaccination either) as I AGREE there are huge problems with both. OUR GOVERNMENTS make these decisions for the benefit of Everyone, especially the elderly and underpriviliged. It is a very Important issue , and threw some words down to support those folk. Not my 'Priviliged 'self ,alas. I Support government/ expert health decisions, not Lockdowns.

yes , Chief and I were not able to send mums to the shops either, sorry about that with you and yours too. There is help for people with mental health issues Always. Use it . You only live once and people want you to live and will help out in many ways, when times get tough. There is Never a time to harm self (or others) Sorry that the lock-downs and assorted covid related issues that have annoyed you. It is indeed PAINFUL and many hundreds of lives have been saved over past year because of covid 19 . They were semi- isolated and did Not catch the usual seasonal flu's you spoke of, that they would normally catch, and so many are still alive , whereas a number would of passed away, as you sugggested. (so an INADVERTENT BONUS !!) YES there will always be viruses, we survived swine , bird, spanish, russian, others, but shutting down countries TEMPORARILY actually did work !!! many lives saved ! well done NZ and Australia and everyones hygiene has improved. lol. had to wash up and sign in at 2 places today where elderly were .lol.

Hahaha , yes he was only the 9th fastest in the G2 Paleface Adios Stakes Blossom, but there was a very Sharp opponent that WON that race in 1.50.5 , (a real beauty that I posted about recently). bit good for One Change. I'll paste here what I posted early last month . Is he the coming G1 'Chariots of FIRE' winner maybe ? quote the horse no-body knows EXPENSIVE EGO won for Luke as well. three straight in 1.51 by large margins, jogging it in. The next Superstar ??? (Gammalite prediction) EXPENSIVE EGO now 9 wins from 11 starts (3 out of 3 for Luke) and had won 2 x GROUP 1's in Brisbane running 1.53 as a 2 Year Old for another trainer . Amazing horse !! .

NZ is a great country Chief. Don't leave. Standard of living is very high compared to most. Your opinion just here is fine , and certainly explains your emotion. Brodie and yourself thinking of the economy downturn as well, by 'locking up' the nation. so that's a good thing ! (thinking of others) However, Whippy and myself and some others do 'rely' on our governments to make decisions that Benefit Everyone, Not just Covid related either . and they Especially have to look out for the vulnarable , aged , poor as some NOT totally self sufficient. I am unbiased in political party supported. I have literally just walked back in the door from taking 93 year old father-in-law to eye clinic. He still has own home, hasn't driven for 20 years, still mows his lawn ! and lives off Government old age pension. He's a good old stick. The governments of NZ and OZ are Doing their best to protect people like these. AND there are a lot of them in Oz and NZ. all the best to you and readers.

Sadly, I think you can add EAGLE FARM QLD to your NZ list of stuffed tracks too , Chief. They've been trying to fix it , replace it, dig it up , put it back down , everything since 2014. and still not right.. such a beautiful traditional racecourse too, and now some trainers won't race there...