Gammalite

Wow , no wonder the kiwis do well over here. 1.54 early 90's? that's way too good and fast. Now 1.51 ? Is that Addington ? ALBION PARK here quite quick and does 1 mile to 2100m races. Have looked up Nov 2000, 2010, and 2020. here's the times for the race card. Nov 2000 = 2.01.5, 1.58.9, 1.59.6, 2.02, 1.59.6, 2.01, 1.57.4, and 1.58.8 Nov 2010 = 1.56.4, 1.59.3, 1.57.9, 1.55.2, 2.00, 1.58.4, 1.57.2, 1.59.4 Nov 2020 = last Sat night 1.55.7, 1.54.1, 1.54.3, 1.54.4, 1.55.6, 1.55.9, (1.54.7 COLT THIRTY ONE) and ........ 1.53.3 from horse ONE CHANGE from NZ, unbelievably fast good horse, now 5 from 5 in Australia !!! you kiwis sure know how to make a good fast horse, that's for sure!!!!! so a 6 second progression in 20 years here. Year 2000 horses would be beaten 60-70m in 2020.

Mate , the only times that count are the races. Nearly all between a mile and 2 miles in distance. You miss the point as we are talking about those race times. A horse sprinting out of the mobile a 12. whatever second, furlong means nothing to nobody. yes I see you are trying to say that is the speed thing you are talking about. very good Winning times is the best guide to show the evolution from last century to this. And Agreed , Chokin very worthy competitor for this century. Too far ahead of his time? 3. 55.2 for the Cup this week ! Amazing!. That starter did a good job?

Ugly looking things those Cane Toads are too. Ashley Locaz ran a 1.51 over here in Brissy recently. Don't remember seeing anything near that time being run in NZ last century. They're going 25 point something quarters , sometimes these days. crazy He appears to be only third best there? But do throw him in the Trifecta tomorrow in the FFA . he's pretty quick. Spankem too quick ? Easy trifecta like the Cup for Allstars? Let's hope the starter doesn't stuff it up again !!! (or Did He?)

Spankem 1.47.7 in the Miracle Mile last year. Weee bit faster than last century pacers. Yes Chokin a true champion and won a NZ Cup to celebrate this great time of year in NZ harness racing (won the FFA as well on tomorrow) , what a ripper he was, 2 miracle miles as well in 2.00 and 1.56.2 Spankem by 50-100m possibly head to head?

3. 55. 2 for 2 miles yesterday. They're going Pretty fast these days... Noodlum and Lord Module would be way back up the track somewhere, and they were 2 of the best ones.

They went a lot slower last century. And you could use the Whip Way more to scare them on. Lots of horses would clamp their arses down a bit and almost slow up if you hit them too hard with the whip driving. Now banned. So it's all about the noise that makes your moderate runners stick on a bit. NZ drivers way better than Aus ones . Vinny Knight and Jimmy O gave some of their drives a terrible flogging, (but got results!! Whip and Noise combined! lol ) Makes me tired just watching Jimmy O win the Christchurch Interdominion with Lightning Blue. Phew....... Deafeners/ hoods etc have made better racing than Whip driving ? Is a Better look anyway ...........

They do make them run Faster than they Would without them though. Not as many horses are keen to run flat out to their absolute Maximum as you think. Train them to relax when on a helmet (drop the bit to conserve energy) and when you pull off their back at the 1/4 or whereever , you pull the plugs and bellow and roar , and storm to Victory !!

Absolutely!! . Noise is your friend out there. These days you can't use the whip much so its all about Noise. You are scaring the horse to victory. Drivers used to whack the dust-sheet, the wheel disc, the running rail even, to make as much noise as possible to make them 'run-on' Pulling the ear-plugs initiates that moment , and the horse responds more often than not (for a few metres anyway lol ) BTW , jockeys are louder than ever, screaming at their mounts up the straight. Scare to them to run faster. Not allowed to use the whip like before to make the noise. You can hear Damien Oliver from the grandstand . He is very loud......lol.

Hence the trouble you are having with all the starts you guys are complaining about......... The horse is the greatest variable, once they start dancing around and cannon into your runner , even the best educated horse( immune to the radio and dogs barking , before the days of Deafeners??) can often be upset by another trying to sit in the sulky with you. I remember having to push others off me quite frequently while close togeather waiting for the tape to go. I think that photo just above from the Chief Stipe is just beautiful and looks like every horse had a chance to get away IMO, without being interferred with by others . (a real problem previously)

Granted the "run-up start" does seem to favour those running up the fastest, but the whole idea is to get the field away safely in every stand start race. As Galah says there are a LOT of Variables. The main one is the horses themselves. As a former race driver with a lot of stand experience, (rocklea that race every Sat in Bris was so small a mobile barrier couldn't be used) I Can Say this method is much more better than making them stand up to the tape for whatever length of time and then possibly get a fright and swing sideways when the tape is released. Horses are Very Anxious at this point as you might imagine, like they are when going into the barriers at the gallops. It only takes one to play up a bit to upset some others as well. Sometimes the driver can't avoid this and the starter has No Chance of predicting that. You guys must of seen that a few times. ? horses swing sideways taking out another runner, or blocking the second row. At some tracks the tape would thump the outside fence (NZ and/or Aus) and make a hell of noise and frighten the crap out of the outer drawn horses (even just the sight of it sometimes) and cause chaos. They could swing/ duck and dive in all directions. The 'run up start' looked great in avoiding all that stuff, I must say compared to what used to happen.

Looked up to see what went wrong and why Allstars have missed one. Seems in the trot FFA the current Interdominion Champion now trained not by Mark/Nat even though Mark drove it. Must have unsoundness issues maybe? Specialist trainer? So All stars were Three out of Three G1's technically Chief . Not a bad day at the Office. Enhance your Calm now in Aus and first start last weekend in Vic, was 5-1 ON, and ran 2nd.

Ashley Locaz is a pretty good horse mate, BUT under team driving instructions which is fair enough, 3 back along the pegs he went. Happens every galloping race where jocks are given instructions. If I was driving Ashley Locaz for you JJ if you were owner (in a different stable), I would hold the lead and say to Mark "Tough titties Mark , I'm gunna try and win this thing, you'll have to sit one-one behind Spankem when he comes round the field, and try your luck from there lol." Maybe I'd win the the race for you !!! (or NOT ,lol)

No nonsense JJ, In my races you worked for the lead. And worked hard too. or abused them lol. Gammalite left in the death most times. ( One great night at Auckland squeezed in behind Poppy though) Didn't see Spankem or Self Assured having ANY TROUBLE WHATSOEVER with the lead hand ups. Not many pull out from trailing the leader and go round to lead. (as Happy Sunrise predicted) TEAM driving at it's Very Best !! on full display for you !!. Did you not see it ? And good luck to them I say !!

Pull out the mobile then. an extra 400-500 runup might tire Marks horses a little more (or Not) Lord Module rearing up and giving them 50 was cool, Wouldn't of won either if Sunseeker didn't drop to the pegs (forgetting there was a couple of North Islanders there and wiping them out) so Cecil got in from 3 wide trip. lol. Gotta love that TEAM driving !!! beautiful .....

That is AMAZING . get much faster and they'll be competitive in the Melbourne Cup 2 miles lol. Self Assured had 4 starts winter 2019 in Brissy and mopped the floor with us. 4 wins. Ashley Locaz this past winter popped over to Brissy and had 2 wins (1.51 in one of them) and a second to Colt Thirty One , who is our best here (but hopeless in Auckland against the kiwis) managed to Fluke a half head win over Ashley Locaz one race. It's only a fluke if you beat Mark and/or Nat in a feature race these days !!!

Not average time though. Did he say 3.55 odd?? far out!!, would of lapped Gammalite, Poppy and Blue, lol

Just tuning in from QLD for the big race. What an easy Trifecta that was !!! $80 in QLD and HAPPY accurate as usual, with his prediction here also. Number 1 barn strikes again !! lol .... and again and again....

Sorry to disrupt site Happy . I am sick of all the negative trolling so am out of here so not to cause anymore disruption. Debating with some , will only make you miserable like them, and you blokes have already lost a lot of contributors already from it. Better to acknowledge Champions than knock them. All the best and Happy Punting.

Sorry Hunter, I should be more honest. Lets go with:- Blossom (the very honest One) is a true credit to the sport of Harness racing.!! Not one negative Post. No accusations without Proof. No Insults to anybody. A pleasure to chat with. His/her support of the ALL Participants in harness racing and forum posters is Second to None. Full of bright cheer and enthusiasm. Highly recommended !!

There is your true colours , after trolling my UPBEAT article on how well KIWI horses are doing in Aus, I responded with courtesy to your negative 8 point backlash with answers and you come up with more personal attack. Typical troll. Overnight, I had some messages that is your 'usual form', also 'you're wasting your time with him, Gammalite' and 'ALLSTARS stable staff horror stories' is part of your TROLL method with lies. Haters will hate . That's what they do. Not at all good for one's respect and honesty in life. That answers my question that you refused to answer of 'Do you actually like Harness Racing?' Answer obviously No. Just actually like Trolling strangers on the Net forums instead, Good grief, why not buy a horse or something.

Fair comment, I guess I am talking Australia mainly, where the top barns have owners that are consistently buying each year, to keep that stable competing in all the top races like the ones I said, Bond, Hall, McCarthy, Gath, etc, buying from New Zealand. Your 2 best drivers should be Peter Wolfenden MBE and Tony Herlihy MNZM as best ever , both won many, many races for the famous Purdon barn as well, so yes a good trainer/ driver combo does work well as you suggested.

Politicians are always grizzling about something all the time as well as talking crap. Are you a politician ?

Thank-you for your feed-back , most of which seems fine although you lack any positive spin nearly all the time. Harness racing is fun! Not proving anything , just hinting to owners to not undervalue their stock should and when the Aussies come knocking. 3 of those Bond horses won their last 2 starts at Gore before being sold. With this latest success they'll be back. Yeah agree with you the Aussie drivers are poor compared to kiwi ones. including Luke . Maybe because all the Speed racing has to effect your judgement after a while. Albion Park here is all speed racing , instead of stayers and driving ability is limited for sure. Going back, the Reid's breeding nice horses and 'Black Watch' with the Purdon's, they have had lovely bred horses over the years and always competitive , you and I could make a grand list of Magnificent animals, over 3 decades if we wanted Blossom. Dunn's and Cran seem to be struggling in just regular races with a lot of horses these days. Good to see Dr Susan doing well though , yes? Is Barry main NZ rival now? 2nd in the Interdominion with Mach Shard and Belle of Montana winning G1's . Is he under your scrutiny as well ? seem to be abnormally good performances. sorry but have already said I don't know the ALLSTARS staff , Canadian or other. stuff you know that is making you disturbed maybe? (just kidding) give you some credit , at least you say it how you see it hahahah only way to be.

I'm totally in with you Globe. Count me in for a share. Have already done battle with Blossom about 'Chase Auckland's fine record. NZ FFA win, Cambridge Mile win, 3rd Hunter Cup, 4th NZ Cup, 4th Auckland Cup. Fine by anyone's standards. You have somehow picked up HunterthePunter Post quote, off my Post. Definitely Not something I would say.

Some good news Hunter, is Dexter Dunn WON the last World Driving Championship they had down under in 2015 for NZ. Shame he's still not over there to give Mark a run for the money