Gammalite

That's an easy one Newmarket. He didn't bring the Group 1 winners from December over. Ultimate Sniper, Cruz Bromac (nz Cup winner) Winterfell, One Change, Amazing Dream all not here. Chase Auckland , a gallant 3rd last night Hunter Cup, but was well behind even Ashley Locaz in the Interdominion Final as the 4th favoured stable runner. so is not the best ALLSTARS horse. Self Assured (Auckland Cup winner) would of been favourite last night , but didn't run. His 2 x 2nds here in Australia were excellent runs in previous weeks, and if Spankem doesn't return, He may be the star of the ALLSTARS Show shortly.

Most activists are using the perceived cruelty treatment of horses as the main arguement. and whips fit the bill. People's Pet's don't want to be whipped. activists want horses having the same treatment as they give their pets. If they could see and get taken on stable tours even, and see HOW WELL with loving care these horses are attended to , and how happy the horses are, doing their stuff, (born to run and play) The loving care from the strappers, then they have NO CASE. (with no whips) yes?

They can't end racing animals Chief. They (state government ) tried to in NSW with the greyhounds and the live baiting but it came back that too many folk make a living out of it (as in NZ) , and so unfair to take their livelihood away, for the actions of a few cheats. I know through this thread you have said give them no leeway, which is admirable in your defence of racing, BUT removing whips surely takes the (some /a lot) of ammo out of their guns???

Both Thomass and Chief Stipe have put up numerous good points through this thread. The real gist main point being YOU CANNOT and/or SHOULDNOT be able to WIN RACES By breaking the rules of racing. The Whip rules are a joke, Thomass has pointed out cases already and the Melbourne Cup , made a mockery of them altogeather. It will continue and get even worse with big races. Who wants that?? The public perception is more on the Animal Rights leaning, more than the Finishing Order at the post AT THE MOMENT. If they go to change a result (adjust placings) because of this breaking whip rules , what a disaster. AVOID this happening. Take the Whips Away now. All problems Solved ?The activists won't have much left to argue about then either Chief , (maybe jumps) so will go quiet if anything , and NO WAY could they shut racing down , or even disrupt/protest it any more hopefully. xy and z's

No Question that it just HAS to, even unintentionally influencing, you just aren't going to drive as hard against stablemates as you would against other stables. It is truly a real Pain, as it is truly hard enough trying to drive your horse to victory any race, without having to' look out' for stablemates. Grant Dixon qualified 8 of the 12 runners in a feature trot here at Christmas. No one bet on that race at all. just a joke.

Hahaha well Globe , good to see you have balls to go with your Arse, and showing some true kiwi spirit there. good for you mate. Would have , could have , should have ....... great phrases used by both you and me often in this game of harness racing over the years , as well as by any combo of drivers, trainers, owners AFTER nearly every race to some degree, and especially by Grand Stand drivers criticising champions of the sport .The amazing 'Blossom Lady' disappeared and couldn't answer the 'What would/ could he have done better at all? question, regarding Mark and Nat after leading off this thread. No Balls. At least you had a vision of 'dust in the eyes' , no good dying wondering. maybe this week? best of Luck

would have, could have, should have ..... what about the NZ RECORD set by Winterfell on 6th Dec 3.20.5 with many (all) runners struggling lengths behind as Mark sitting there quiet as a churchmouse. maybe someone would have , could have , should have beaten him then as well. Then the Interdominion Final as short priced favourite and well deserved Win. and then the National trot as well for a beautiful hat-trick in 3.21.2 on New Years Eve. would have, could have........ Even the most hating Allstars people have to admit that is a Pretty Impressive 2700m Hat-trick??? . Nz record as the icing. Very lucky for the' best collection of trotters' you mentioned they have settled for that hat trick without going to GSS with Winterfell, and hope your arse is ok.

You are right Happy. As a retired person living on the 'Punt" I have written to Tas harness admin several times telling them having 8 stablemates in a race , out of 12 runners, several times a meeting, just IS NOT a punting proposition so Tas harness WILL DIE. No one will bet on that rubbish. At least with M House and M Purdon in NZ there , with several horses in a race, their horses perform well and are still a good betting option. Tas Harness racing is absolute and total RUBBISH.

Yeah it is quite amazing Brodie. Ben Yole starts around 30-40 at the Tas meetings and scratches out a winner from 'Weight of Numbers" Usually 2 a meeting currently so this season 70 wins from 1000 starters. Very poor strikerate

Yes very good , I am still smarting as to how many here think they can out-drive Nat and Mark. But dreams are free. I guess they are my favourite stable as in performance. didn't help on the punt though with was looking at a massive collect on Tiger Tara 2 NZ cups ago , and Nat THE FIXER bloused it by 1/2head . Thanks Nat !!!! not. As for detecting irregularities, surely they would be convicted like anyone else if something detected ?? I did 6 months once with a little steroid detection Lol. but got to see the neighbourhood on a delivery truck for a while hahaha

You scored a goal there Ronaldo, I didn't pick up on that cynical approach at all. Blossom has got me rattled, lol One big race win in Oz, if I was a steward, where you would of seen the team driving was the GOAT Lazarus winning Perth Interdominion in Dec 2017. Nothing wrong with Mark's drive at all, won it easily. But Chris Lewis on 'Have Faith In Me" was only in it, and only attempting to block / obstruct/ get in the way of as many opponents as possible, which worked out well. holding up LennyShark, chicagoBull etc. He ran last as the sacrifice of course, driving like that, and nothing said.

Heck Ronaldo , back to Juventus for you. The disqualified list of persons here in Oz is about 100 foot long, hahahaha. Those stewards don't muck around here. Here in Qld our leading driver (Shane Graham) is still out DQ after 2 years, for running and handling. Grant Dixon took over then, as leader then his wife Trista got a year for team driving in a race as well. She has Just resumed driving again in Dec. swabbing and pre-race blood tests are STILL being conducted every meeting. Surely the same in NZ ????? If your unfounded accusations of doping are true, they would be caught/ detected for sure. What are you using ??

Tim Butt trained runners are still has some going around . My Field Marshall went around in Ballarat Cup the other day. Only a shadow of former self with 3 starts without winning this summer, since had Heart Attack of some kind and pulled up in Miracle Mile 2019 a year ago. 2 years ago My Field Marshall won the 2018 Miracle Mile in 1.46.9 so is still the FASTEST horse ever in Southern Hemisphere.

Apologies Blossom mate, as it appears I went off topic as your original post is about Mark's , not Nat's driving at start of thread. Well Yes, what a surprise for you that is I guess. 2 of them he is not listed as Training. Don't panic this run of 'Outs' won't last too long lol. We need your enjoyment of Champions not to waver. LongOwner fancies Mark can't drive a race without this criteria. Don't like his driving ability ?? 'No Mates out there', No mates on here either it seems lol, Mark is doing it tough it seems. IMO he drives 'quite' well . Plenty of worse drivers I can think of to pick on. hahahhhha With the Great Southern Star Trot ( our biggest trotting race) coming up this week , a great case at hand.!! (against your criteria LongOwner). Last year Mark catch drove an Aussie 'Dance Craze' to victory with another brilliant drive (20-1 odds) to win our biggest trot, and beat Temporale. Shame Mark has 'OscarB' there, as he could do it again this week with Dance Craze?! Dance Craze beat Tornado Valley just the other Day at Ballarat too, so he is in form ok. No actually, doesn't Temporale deserve it? after great win last week in Dullard Cup, and the brilliant second in the GSStar a year ago for TonyH.

What did you write 'once again' apart from the very unimportant " I am clueless and about my comprehension of English??? " Why not stick to the topic and answer my question about your 'woeful drive in Ballarat Cup' comment? . How many races Have YOU driven? I have driven hundreds of races, and can confidently say Mark and Nat would beat me 99 out of a 100 races. In the other one I would knock them down in a desperate bid to get a victory. hahahaha have fun trying ?? They are Superstars. To answer yours, Nat was married to Grant Dixon and YES they did indeed clean-up most of the Sires stakes age group races for many years (Grant still is) in Queensland, from being fine horsepeople, and from having the backing of multi-millionaire breeder / owner Kevin and Kaye Seymour , (so not un-like ALLSTARS in that regard with millionaires to bankroll the success). Blacks A Fake not Nat's only winner mate, The success for Grant has continued with Colt Thirty One and Governor Jujon in recent times. (not to mention 340 wins last season)

Thank you for this important information, maybe there is a kiwi dialect I don't understand????? Nothing wrong with being an ex horseman. Had a lot of fun and went a LOT of places in younger days. Yes I am clueless as to your attitude, sorry about that, your attitude towards Champions of this great sport needs some work. Before Natalie joined ALLSTARS she was here in Queensland, and won Miracles Mile and 4 (yes that is four) Interdominions with BLACKS A FAKE , as well as Vic Cup I think, with performances that DEFY LOGIC as you say. so nothing new. Always a Champion. What would the amazing Blossom done differently that wasn"t a woeful drive in the Ballarat Cup ????? Looped the field ?, outstay Greg Hopes horse? power away to victory ??

You guys are harsh on your Champions.?? If she pulled out 3 wide a lap out to lead up the train do you think would still run a place ?? Probably not I would say. As it was, she would of won in another 10 to 20 m more (watch replay) and Nat has won 20 of 42 drives this season over there. That must be best strike rate ever , nearly all in feature races and an Interdominion Final win too for some icing. A lot of you guys want them (Allstars) to get beat so often in your posts, and when they do you grizzle about it ??? Com'on mate fair dinkum, fair shake of the sav. It was a deserved win by one of your own kiwis who worked hard to lead in the Ballarat Cup, and Deserved it ???

Bloody Stablemates getting in the way, rotten things!!!. I am sure Mark would of won many more of your big races e.g the NZ CUP with Spankem, if other stable runners didn't get in the way. Lucky in the Interdominion trot final Akld no stablemates in the bloody way to stop Mark winning. Goooo Winterfell !!! As for the Pacing final, their were Purdons everywhere !! having backed Mark on Cruz Bromac I am bitterly disappointed all those stablemates/ brothers/ mates keep getting in the way ??? Am sure Mark would win more races otherwise than he already does without all this interference . AND YOU Say he is getting a helping hand ??? quite the opposite really Blossom . lol

Hahaha Well his record in Oz isn't too bad in recent times. Winning 2 of the last 3 Interdominions run over here.(Perth) 2 of the last 4 Miracle miles in 1.47 and change. Those are our 2 biggest races. although Nat might have driven one of those. p.s If you are good enough to have stablemates / friends/ mates / drags into a race, pretty smart to use them . ???? How well is Anthony Butt going now. ?? What a grand kiwi driver he has been and now trainer as well winning both the Vic Derby (drove winner, training 1st and 3rd) and the Vic Oaks drive on Dr Susan. we are privileged to have such talent in Aus these days. Happy Australia day !!

Have checked on Mark and he is quite happy and no disaster impending . Stylish Memphis went beautifully from the draw. Beat the Oaks winner last week when draws were better. Plus it was Nathan training. Smooth Deal failed last week no surprise. Ranked about '40th' in stable and hasn't won for nearly a year. just not that good really. The Fixer, race distance a bit short of his best. He went well. First 4 home all kiwi bred top class horses racing well. Cash and Flow went 1.49 last week .!!?!?!? and still didn't win this. Well done Barry Purdon with his horse instead. Oscar Bonevena still learning and that was a tricky race. MMetro was under pressure as well. Winterfell beat him recently anyway. Self Assured has 2 x 2nds after winning Auckland Cup that were both grand runs. Home in 54 seconds last night behind a very under-rated and potentially best Aussie horse in 'Lochinvar Art' 6 lengths clear of 3rd horse !!amazing !! Whitesocks indeed had his lucky moment in the sun last week Ballarat Cup, as did you see Chase Auckland's late finishes at Ballarat and Cambridge?. Brilliant !!! So NO Disaster anywhere . maybe not bringing Amazing Deam over to win VIC Oaks was surprising. Cleaned up those first 2 at Akld.

They would like all the McCarthy's and Craig Cross's to go to the States instead of them, as they are burning them every race now. Former Kiwis WRANGLER and CASH AND FLOW were 1st and 2nd in 1.48.8 last Sat night. Amazing !! Triton's 4 runners struggling at the back.

Their Metro race wins have been scarce for a while. Sure , they win Tuesday claimers like today with an 11 yearold. But take last Saturday night with 18 runners at the Metro meeting and came up with 1 x 2nd and 1 x 3rd. They are running away as when Shane Triton says this that Chief Stipe quoted:-- What he is REALLY SAYING is " I am struggling to get a City Winner these days"

Gidday Flagship and kiwi harness supporters. Well done for the great night at Ballarat last Saturday by the fine kiwi pacers. Were you asking what I meant by Stylish win I think Flagship. Stylish Memphis won her heat very well but bad draw of 13 in Oaks final this week. maybe Mark can handle it ok. sure to go close you would think. Trifecta in Ballarat Cup for the kiwis. AJWhitesocks he sure deserved that and Purdons runners charged late. Mark missed out on a Derby runner as AnthonyButt outdrove him in the derby Heat with Line Up and Smooth Deal didn't qualify. Mark has the drive on Virgil (a kiwi trained here in Qld by Grant Dixon now) as Grant has qualified 2 for the final. Maybe Massive Metro can win from the pole draw in the trot this week and give Mark another miss ?? Metro deserves it ??

A very Stylish Victoria Oaks Heat win it was too Chief.... tricky draw in final this week, but Jones and Hill are lucky to have Mark involved who kindly planted one of those ugly WHITE patch breathing things on her nose , that she didn't have at Auckland Dec31 when Amazing Dream went sailing past after a 3-wide last lap. . wonder if he will give a Breathing Patch to son Nathan for Dr Susan in the Final ????? ?

In today's World BOTH these 'smacking' and 'whipping' methods are perceived as wrong by the greater public, no matter what the reason they are being applied. Fred is correct.Times have changed (realization this is poor form). nothing to do with protesters. The current rules state you can strike a horse 'x' amount of times in a race still, which does mean you are correct in saying there is a difference as striking children, pretty much has zero tolerance these days. WHY shouldn't it be the same for horses?