Gammalite

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?

Take the last 2 Melbourne Cups Thomass. Your kiwi mate M Walker fined in both (10k in 2019) for a great ride(s) on Prince of Arran. Michael stating "It's the Melbourne Cup, I was throwing everything to try and win the race" In the 2018 6 jocks ( including the first 3) were fined for breaking the WHIP rules in this prestigious of Group 1's. With millions up for grabs on the big stage do Jock's Just Do As They Please? Do we criticise/ or even fine the Jock's that don't break the whip rules for Not trying hard enough ?? Oh the Irony hurts. hahahaha With a huge amount of people watching , local and international in our flagship race. Quite funny really , Imagine when they DO change the placings in that race, due to whip rule breaches. Racing will NOT easily recover well from the Fallout. FRED above is right IMO, just have to ban them whips altogeather. Problem solved (for the Cup and ALL races)

You have an unusual view of what a victim is Chief. People that lose homes, more than a million animals, people who have a cardiac arrest while fighting fires, people who crash into a fallen tree and burn and die in their cars trying to flee. They are all Victims unfortunately. More Sad reporting than Bad reporting unfortunately.

Why wouldn't it be 'my business' to care what is wrong with Ricky or Michael ? we (the public ) have supported them for years and years and they have had a MAJOR medical incident . We are concerned. The least we can get from family is what happened and a diagnosis/ prognosis. We are not totally ignorant . (like Schumachers family) Agree you do need 'Accurate' reporting, but without it , as you suggest we should be, everyone is guessing. You cannot say 'Mind Your Own Business' and then not expect to get Wrong Social Media Guesses/ stories. You can't have both ways.

The more detail the better Chief, people want to know what happened and how he is doing. Even anonymous people like the volcano victims and Bush fire victims over here in OZ currently, that are injured, deserve some public recognition. And we should hear of their improvement to lift spirits. And what happened to put them in that circumstance. Michael Schumacher (7 time F1 champion) has been hidden away by his family since 2013 from his adoring millions and no one knows if he can talk , walk or crap even as the family won't release a statement , photo or anything. Just threaten to sue if anyone does. What an awful end to a star of history. Ricky May is a star of our harness sport adored by hundreds/ thousands. We and he deserve to know what happened , what is happening next , and future prospects. Not just being told ' he is in critical condition ' . Best wishes/ thoughts in your recovery Ricky.

Bring em over boys. The Aussie trotters are at an all-time low at the moment and big prize races abound. Get Away from Allstars stable and Win a Group 1 instead of just thinking about it.? (Dickie's did with Speeding Spur picking up 400k on 4 visits to Oz , very smart thinking) Tonight at Bendigo TORNADO VALLEY won again, this time a 50k Group1 mile 1.56, EVERYBODY KNOWS was 2nd!!! It hadn't got anything in NZ since 2017. ?????? Last years Great Southern Star winner Dance Craze only 4th (best Aus trotter) Sky Petite down the track not much good but picked up 25k for 3rd Great Southern Star last summer. Some of your trotters like Massive Metro would clean up here !!!! way better than Everybody Knows and Sky Petite you would think.

Well just checking results and Allstars taking out all four feature races at Auckland. Auckland Cup a bit like NZ Cup with a horse that is not in AllStars stable, sneaking into third amongst their cohort. No Aussies like Gammalite, I'm ThemightyQuinn or Flashing Red are likely to take an Auckland Cup this Aussie side of Tasman for quite some time by the look of it. [ Not likely to even attempt it anymore either, as Impossible with AllStar dominance] 'Thank the lord' the stake money in Brisbane is piss-weak and Mark only popped over with SELF ASSURED (won all 4 starts)and PRINCESS TIFFANY in the wintertime and of course won the QLD Derby and QLD Oaks very easily. We had the Queensland Cup G2 the other day and Colt Thirty One back home could win that without Allstars around. phew !!!

Interestingly this all happened many years ago in Brisbane. Many horses were checked by stripes after each race and fines and suspension common for horses with welts on the rump. The races were full of big strong men then who were big whip drivers. Virtually forced out and replaced with skinny kids as the landscape changed dramatically.

Won't work to gain anything. Racing doesn't need Video Game views of the action. There is only one winning view per race, so all the other runner 360 degree Losing views that punters are riding along with, are sure to gain more criticism than what there is now watching a race and more punters will be Lost.

Very well done to chief Rangatira, the only player to tip both the Grand Final winners tonight in the challenge . Happy Sunrise and Flagship Uberalles excellent with a first and a second each as well. Not sure where Trotsfan went, maybe watching the cricket,(not good for NZ at the moment) so stuck on 155 points. Gammalite reluctant to claim victory on the back of the TROT Final Trifecta so will take the Winterfell/Cruz Bromac points only. thanks to all you good sports for having a crack, and congrats to the Purdons on a Mega-dominant night. Will be great viewing when I get to watch them Christmas Eve when I get home from the beach.! Wishing you all a Very Merry Christmas and catch you some other Interdominion one day. Final scores Rangatira 40 tonight total 181, Rusty 29 up to total 167, Gammalite 161, Happy Sunrise 161, Oldwhiteman 151, Flagship Uberalles 145, Trotsfan 155. See ya from Gammalite.

Hi Greg, Mark Purdon (with Nat) qualified 5 of their 6 runners for this year's final. Barry with 3. Interestingly the brothers qualified 5 runners between them for the 1999 Auckland final but didn't get Top 2, won by Our Sir Vancelot, but with 8 this time should be winning. Mark has won 2 of the last 3 Grandfinals (Smolda and Lazarus) both way over in Perth, WA.

Well thank you very much nice kiwi people for having some fun and banter with Interdominion. I have always loved the Trans Tasman rivalry and the amazing horses from both these fabulous nations. At Bit of a Yarn we will have a Champion Saturday night as well!!! Will TROTSFAN hang on? Or can we pluck him like a sitting duck late? Points going in to the 2 finals. TROTSFAN 155, Rangatira 141, Rusty 138, Oldwhiteman 138, Gammalite 130, Happy Sunrise 126, Globe Derby 123, Flagship Ubeaut 110, Wolf 90, Nowornever 89, HunterthePunter 63. For the final 20 POINTS each, but for picking the grand final winners. With 15 for 2nd, and so on down. And 30 points if you can nail the BOXED TRIFECTA. In the 2 finals. (please indicate your main selection for the winner points though) TOTAL of 100 points is possible.!!!! Gammalite loves NZ Cup winners so going Cruz Bromac, from The Fixer and Chase Auckland for the Tri. In the big TROT, one heat was 4 seconds quicker the other night so going for them, Winterfell from Massive Metro and Majestic Man for Trifecta points. Good luck to you all, and may the best Gammalite win! Typo as that should be Best Man Win.

That is the score of Interdominion Finals run in Nz (Akld and Chch) since and including mighty Gammalite 1983. As a refresher, here they are. Aussies first ::: Gammalite 1983 (Q with Popular Alm), My Lightning Blue 1987 (Tri with Paleface Bubble and Sunset Candios), Golden Reign 1995, Our Sir Vancelot 1999, Baltic Eagle 2003 ( Q with Mont Denver Gold), and in 2011 saw I'm ThemightyQuinn promoted to first from the All time champ Blacks A Fake 2nd. The local Nz wins in past 36 years being just Mark Hanover 1991 and Elsu 2005. So Purdons can bring it back to 6 - 3 this year, all going well for Nz. Great to see the kiwis going so well once again with the likes of Lazarus and Co.

Thanks FLAGSHIP, I got it wrong then, In Australia 'Two Finger Salute' is the same as 'Obscene Hand Gesture'. I do wish GLOBE well and in fact posted the following to him last Saturday, so wondered what he was on about. Quote:------ MajesticMan will be fine in the final. The way I see it you have more in your favour than not. 1.Your horse is trotting well in gait and looks great! Great trainer of trotters is this man. 2. Mark has only one horse in this final. If he gets an easy lead with Winterfell , granted it will be hard, but no one to help him this time. 3. Habibi Inta suddenly trotting like he has chains on his legs. 4. Marcoola has been unable to win a heat as an unusual driving selection. Can't see her steering to win a final on the 3 heat drives. 5. Tony Herlihy will be trying very hard to win with his trotte,r so probably NoHelp to brother-in-law Mark on this occasion. 6. MMan has an enthusiastic Griffins bunch of owners to cheer him on the loudest !!!!! Good Luck Mate !?

Com'on fellas, thats about as weak as a bottle of stale beer and Teenage Girls could come up with better than a 2 finger salute. If you're so dirty with the world , and Allstars and Gammalite then how about a full mooning to show the world how you really feel.??? Now that would put us all in our place, who dare to question ones limelight moment. lol

yes the, one race MARCOOLA ever started in Australia , was our biggest Trot race $1/4mil The Great Southern Star last January. Clint drove him well as $1.80 favourite but he dropped out to second last , and Sheree was last on Ameretto Sun. Also unplaced there in that great race was BIG JACK HAMMER, TOUGH MONARCH (our Aussie reps this Friday in Interdom.) 2nd was TEMPORALE at 20-1 (great run), and the winner also at 20-1 , wearing lucky number 13 , coming from last a lap out, driver on a horse he didn't know that well, earning 150k for its connections, was a local called horse DANCE CRAZE. catch driven by the one and only, much loved on this site , wait for it, Mark Purdon. Is there anything this genius can't do in harness racing ????? p.s Dance Craze has resumed over here in Vic , running 2nd last Saturday night in Cranbourne Cup to TORNADO VALLEY who just keeps winning and winning.

Thanks for that , I didn't realise . I thought that was a FORD horse , but now see they partnered with Tomlinsons in the breeding of Marcoola. Thought that was a BarryP stable driver for moment. Well guess just have to wish them all the best and hope they get round safely with inexperience, and it's a great race.

Don't worry fellas , I'm in my last 2 days of posting before e noho ra from me as head to the beach for a couple of weeks holiday as you do in sunny Queensland, after son's Uni graduation tomorrow. In the meanwhile am doing my form, as good Grandstand drivers do , for my Grand Final selections. (will put these on Interdominion 'Bit of a Yarn' Champion thread tomorrow where I will add in TRIFECTA for extra points) Don't miss that. As that will give FLAGSHIP Uberalles a chance to storm home from last to emulate the great horse 'KIWI' in the 1983 Melbourne Cup. in Gammalite's Akld Interdominion winning year. Who could forget that one/two?. In the meantime , since I have spent a bit of time defending Mark while here (drives on Cruz) please look at the replay of the 1st trotters heat in the important long distance heats the other night, won by Temporale, at the last 400m drive on Marcoola. Now there is something to pick on , You had the magnificent driving style of AGHerlihy, JDickie and anthonyButt getting everything out of their charges, then you see the pathetic inept efforts of a junior driver on Marcoola, paralyzed with fear most of the race and then LOST 2 LENGTHS ON THEM TURNING FOR HOME TRYING TO TURN HER WHIP AROUND. my goodness , when you look at the pose of the other drivers at that point, unacceptable. where are the stewards?? I nearly throw-up on the floor watching it, UNBELIEVABLE. com'on Barry put a world class driver on in the Final !! surely surely Nat is available ?? could even drive him all week in training. Am I too harsh ? junior in an Interdom Final ?