Gammalite

But the horses connections aren't running at a loss Brodster. They are ALL actually getting some money now. This will keep them interested. If you lose the remaining participants there won't be ANY Racing At ALL. And then it would be because no silly bugger was putting on any races for them to compete in. 'Something' is better than 'Nothing' mate. You should know that as a Punter even. even if not an owner of a race-horse. the owners need as many runs as they can get from their horse. QLD send them round every week. only way they can pay their way. The days of sitting around waiting for the grass tracks season (because they go a bit slower) are over my friend. All those horses would run at a loss over there. Except Dunn's I spose who are game enough to race fast tracks as well as grass. Did away with racing on grass altogether in the North Island I see. Not a FINANcially Viable thing to run Brodster ? you'd love that.

Long as we can remember Chief , that bloke has been sinking the boot into Dunn's for ever. Just a hater of harness racing. Wish we could send him back to NZ. He did get arrested here once for his ridiculous crusade against someone. Dunn's Diamond stable are NZ's leading trainers and know how to treat their horses well. I'm not a fan of Ben Yole in Tassie either , (because of the loaded races) . He was once Australia's leading trainer (most wins per year) He trained many 'Out of The Paddock ' in Tassies freezing conditions. But RSPCA inspected many times (from neighbour complaints) , and found the horses to be fed and rugged ok, and injuries were treated etc by all the young staff there doing the best they knew how'. So seems the Animal welfare is under control there and profit wrong again. (Ben Yole is currently warned Off along with brother Tim.) The drivers Mitchell and Nathan Ford also were charged for Match fixing driving Yole runners. somehow Mitch and Nathan are back driving though, so seem to have beaten the race fixing charges 🙄. bit of a surprise really) Horses currently race in Ben's Dad name now. Wayne Yole . but he only allowed to start maximum 4 horses per Race (new rule change) to stop all the fixing lol 🤣😂 instead of having the entire race field in 2 or 3 races every raceday . seems a good move lol.

It looks like a great race-card tomorrow 🇳🇿 for NZ racing , with some nice horses, the Top jockeys and even some good odds to be had . In a beautiful setting. I'm sure the 'cones' can be moved for the day in case Huey gets worried by them . They'll Need them at the RBT's anyway , on the way home 😆

What a beautiful spot Chief. Loved going up to the Shifting sands of Ruakaka to drive in the 80's. Legend and champion of New Zealand Mark Purdon won his Very first race there in the summer of 82' driving Dark and Dusty. Just seems like last year lol 😆. Not sure when harness stopped but I'd gladly come out of retirement and train there , if they bought harness racing back. could even do track management for them ! shoeing ? no. get someone else lol 🤣

The Thursday 'slow' horses are normally racing at Redcliffe Walt. way out of depth today. Just having their weekly burn at Albion Park this week for some reason🤔 . possibly track surfaces work today at Redcliffe or something similar. Everyone knew for that race 5 today, that one Albion Park winner/performer in the race would win it. Even from the bad draw. Cosmic Flyer the only regular Albion Park horse in the field so was a living certainty.

Yes much better value in the Victoria Cup on Oct 12th . his main assignment . at $1.80.💰 Leap To Fame did get beat a head in it last year though by Act Now. (since retired) so there's always a chance of getting beat I spose. Current Victoria Cup odds .Leap To Fame $1.80 , and won 15 of last 16 starts, go close 🤣 Catch A Wave (who won the Fremantle Cup and Nullibor Slot races in April to pick up near $700k for the Gaths. (Gotta love the slot races to get some decent winnings 💰👍) Catch a Wave 5-1. and the Grim-reaper Mr Grimson with his Two runners of Swayzee 7-1 (current NZ Cup champion) and the 'New' Old kid on the block Major Moth 7-1 . A 'major chance' in that too don't worry with a bit of that amazing Grimson Spit and Polish 😁.

Sorry mate , those galloping horses look like they got zero. maybe we should go to the dogs ? 😆 Yeah if you think that is a bad day to race on a Tuesday then that might be so I guess. I always wondered why they don't race Saturday nights in New Zealand ? A lot of folk that like to bet (like Trademen and office staff and that) might be more likely to look for somewhere to go out to dinner and enjoy the racing after a busy weeks work , on a Saturday when they're not working , so not tired or anything , and can have a drink or 2 ? Albion Park Brissy is quite lucky and gets a lot of the galloping folk who had a win at Eagle Farm or Doomben during the day , looking for a quiet bar, dinner , entertainment on the way home with their winnings and friends each Saturday. ( next suburb from gallops tracks 10 mins away) Saturday night TV must be rubbish in New Zealand ? it is here anyway😆 , and people are always looking for somewhere nice to go for a meal and entertainment for their weekend treat. I guess their local RSL and that sort of place's, does good trade, so why Not get the trotting dollar then/ there? that would be more encouraging for the CEO ? . ( the Aussie trots start a lot earlier than they used to so the early races would be on the screens too , to get the Entain mob some more Saturday night bucks. ) Probably everyone still playing those stupid Pokie machines though.🙄

crying as usual mate. by the time you got to the last sentence anyway (should of just stuck with just your first sentence 😂😎) Why don't you just do a ''normal 'person thing and bet on some gallopers then ? instead of trying to Lampoon the few trots races that are left for those poor participants. you must really hate them. Cambridge Gallops only has total of 6 races today . Why aren't you shooting them down with Lunacy claims ?? Tell ya what . here's some tips to get you a quid and be not so Bitter. After all the ULTIMATE FOCUS to you is being able to get a place bet on?. 'Ultimate Focus Race 4 at $2 place. excellent 💰. You want TOP DOLLAR ? get on him in Race 5 then . double up your winnings. 😁💰💰 and bring it home with 'Hoard The Bourbon' with a Great little Aussie jock on board in Race 6 , the last race. And you can then sit back with all the winning bets with a nice Bourbon to celebrate 🥃. cheers to that !!💰💰💰. There we go mate. some to help you out through all the Doom and Gloom of NZ racing. 🥇

Yes it seems I have to relent and finally come to terms with North Island trotting' has 'had It'. that Race card today perhaps the smallest ever assembled in NZ. A lot of the Trainers still going along today are so old , they are near the finish line themselves. (Retirement that is 😁) like Ray Green, Sean McCaffrey, Dave McGowan, Rogerson, the good Dr and others. Mike Berger they are missing already . just retired. Good to see Benjamin Butcher training some runners. Think Zac will have to do more too. Philip would of been a good trainer but went off sulking instead. David B is a bit long in the tooth too , like Mitchell and P Ferguson and McKendry who all don't seem to be training many runners at all these days. James Stormont just doing Rogerson's now? Nicky Chilcott and Arna Donnelly should be having larger stables and running more horses (after the success with Sacred Mountain , Kango and that) yet don't seem to have many runners ?? Matty White is a good driver. Start training Some more Matty!! ( and Zac!! ) or there will be NO races for you to drive in soon , and you'll have to shift to the South Island . Too cold there 😎. Ra

Fair enough Chief . I guess you could. I think I'm used to Melton Vic, Menangle NSW, and Albion QLD for years and years just having city class FAST performers each week on Friday and Saturday nights racing , Just can't get my head around maidens /slower than 1.57 horses, running at Alexandra Park 🤣🫣. doesn't seem right ??. You Really are Desparate for horses to race. They have worked out beautifully here in Brisbane to give everyone (owner and horse) a chance. e.g horses that can only run 1.59- 2.00 min s run on Thursdays Redcliffe for the whole racecard the 1.57 to 1.59 capable ones run on the Wednesday night there. the 1.55 to 1.57 mile capable ones run Tuesdays Albion. example = Old SMITHY"S TERROR who had one win from 20 in NZ last year for Dunns (but still got 3rd placing in the Auckland Cup showing Just how Weak your FFA grade has become) . he is winning twice recent weeks in 1.53 odd . So put in mid week grade he can find the winners circle once again as a bit quicker than those rivals (But he GETS Less Prizemoney than Sat but IS getting some) ! . an important thing. he'd get zero Sat night. The Metro horses are generally 1.51 to 1.54 mile capable on Saturday nights. FFA class broke 1.50 last Saturday night. 1.49.8 . Just f...ken ridiculous fast 🙄. Old Kiwi TURN IT UP finished 3rd in that, still capable of getting his old legs around in a 1.50 rate . what a trooper !!! great old horse. so every horse gets a chance to win a race every week. so just seems normal to me the BETTER horse gets the Greater prizemoney 😆 at what you call premier meetings Friday nights... so by BETTER , I mean proven to be FASTER , which isn't hard to do Chief. One race start will tell you generally. I like to bet on fast horses. Faster the better lol 😆. don't want to see slow pokes crawling around at your premier night meetings. Not even Brodie would be enjoying that lol ? 🤣

some excellent points . you are obviously looking for solutions too. 👍 Sounds like the main issue is the Handicapper ? . He needs to co-ordinate the Trainers to be at both places with certain horses. he needs to talk with them and fill the fields appropriately. From what you say , you would like Higher Class horses at Cambridge? . I think you might need the few that are left to compete at Auckland though possibly . for the better Metro prizemoney. The better the horse , the more money it deserves to win. You can't have both on the same racecard really. (Fast and Slow horses that is) . Albion Park Brisbane here, puts the ''slower ones' on every Tuesday including about 4 trots for the squaregaiter enthusiasts. Teenage NZer Riley Butt making a good fist of his trotters so far, racing old Kiwi trotters each Tuesday and winning some. No Lyell Creeks as yet though 😆😂. Redcliffe has the 'really slow'' ones race every Wednesday night and Thursday day. The city fast horserace every Saturday night. A surprising amount of mares races actually . the girls really getting a bit of pace up these days lol. I applied for QLD Handicapper job 3 years ago , when 500 horses in work needed starts in our region per week. I applied (and failed) this year again too, the horse number has slipped below 450 now and decreasing. There are No New Players. this number probably down to 400 horses, in 2 more years time at a guess. Times are tough. This is stunningly obvious in NZ at present. The cost of living a major culprit. Also what Chief is saying about 'Business Profit 'importance. Mostly the horses near run at a loss. The costs are high and just the retired and wealthy are the huge majority of owners these days. Barry Purdon and Scott Phelan having a wonderful time past 2 years with QLDer Dean Shannon having 17 horses on their books including the best in country MERLIN. even with Merlin Dean is probably still running at near a loss with so many horses. adds up quickly quickly.😁

exactly right Doomed . Just like a high stakes High Rollers card game at the casino's . The high rollers move in . Put up a Big stake and a Big Show (some are televised even) ( the equal of Grins Race, Everest , etc, but get a great field and lots of fun) and only a couple of them Win back a profit. It's a sport . People have fun . And want to Win if possible. just like the punters actually. Most lose . But have fun trying. As I indicated several times in this thread , the high Rollers basically pay for it themselves. and HRNZ can allocate stakes (whatever amount they can afford) to the Cambridge fields Each and Every week . To give the slower horses a regular start to pay there way as well. I'm in full support of both concepts . all is well . (except the Interdominion which needs work)

I think you're right in that it Doesn't promote wider participation , and as Nowor Never said earlier it just helps the 'Elite' , to be the winners in these big races. But it certainly gets Many of the Best Horses in our great two nations assembled in one place like the Grins Race, Eureka , Everest etc. Which is a great thing for Publicity and a that ? the Everest has 20,000 attend on the day. Not sure how many Cambridge had , but must of been good. The racing on Merit , is through the Ceiling High!!! Merlin , Copy That, Self Assured and Just Believe the 4 winners there so far. the very Best of The Best. Well Imperatriz put Togeather a series of Great wins starting with the 'Moir ' last season and quite happily by-passed the Everest. she didn't focus on that. but gallopers have Lots of big races to race for and win big prizes as she dominantly proved. Why is it fading ? you ask .= Because the kiwis aren't Turning Up anymore Chief. The Interdominion championship was once like the slot races. And Aus v NZ contests were popular and great. thankfully with this new Innovation of Grins race , Trot slot and that , Once Again you guys can see some great compitition with the Aussies turning up for every edition so far !!!!! and weren't you impressed with Just Believe recently ??? wait to you see Leap To Fame . probably the Lazarus equal , and a total Machine. awesomeness mate. Probably a bit rich them Aussies mugging you in the NZ Cup from now on though 😆 , but Mark and Nat have just about hung up the boots , and NOT Scaring off the Aussies invaders anymore?.

well they do for some. plenty of mustard means plenty of interest. I see the picture fine. NZ gallops are even introducing sweepstake races Chief. they are the way of the future. Big players can get big collects. The Everest is Thriving. Alas the Race by Grins and the slot Trot have All gone to Aussie owners so far, and the last 5 or so Nz Cups as well. and that trand will continue. (Maybe that's why everyone seems to be against them on the harness forums lol 😎) I guess like any business , the management , in this case HRNZ, can only do as they see fit at the time. But why not contribute to the future ? they have too subsidise a bit? I agree with you , the traditional Harness ''JEWEL in The Crown ' the Interdominion Championships are fading as the Leading Light of harness. i is very sad about this 😪. NZ participation been small to non-existant past 5 years since the last Auckland one 2019. (It's Too hard on horses these days, 4 runs at the speeds they are going ) I could fix this in an instant though with a minor tweek) Sweepstake Racing is Taking Over mate, as the Plum events. Hey should BOAY buy a slot ? 👍💰

seriously you guys don't deserve harness racing as can't see the big picture. You have to support the participants otherwise the Harness racing will CEASE TO EXIST. Auckland is a Metro track with Big Metro Races . You need to supply good prizemoney to keep the participants buying horses at your sales and Racing for it !!! Aussie Dean Shannon (and the wonderful Herlihy stables) can at least see that and buys up at your sales and race as many as they can through the year, the prizemoney allocated according to ''the betting' is your answer ? that's just folly. sure there's more harness fans (like Brodster , slippery dip and others) in the South Island and the betting is bigger there , so what ? that doesn't mean North Island should go to the pack ?? you guys should fight harder to bet there (I do) better racing anyway lol 😁😂 e.g Tassie harness was rubbish (but cleaned up a bit recently expelling Australia's 'leading ' trainer Ben Yole) , and now the racing is better, but you don't bet on it much still. But they're still allocated prizemoney for their races ?? It's the job of Racing TAS. HRNZ allocate the money as they see fit. you PICK on em' All you like .they're trying to provide racing for the participants. that's the VITAL thing. EASY SOLUTION = what they're trying to do IMO. Metro class (Auckland horses ) race for 12k-17k plus races each week. THEN put the Country class (slower) horses at Cambridge for 7k races each and Every week. Gives ALL horse and owners a chance to get something. Easy as pie. Well done HRNZ . sterling job you are doing 🏆.( keeping the game alive! ) with honourable mentions to Dean Shannon and the Herlihy family too.

Think you should be right there , and they should put in bugger all. let the big boys pay themselves But if you are an organisation (Like HRNZ or racing NZ ) that wants to have the Best horses in the Best (highest stakes races possible as a showcase of the sport ) then surely you Have to Contribute something Towards this ?. Doesn't hurt to be involved. can't just sit back and watch being ignorant to these great innovations. Harness racing was dying without them. The resurrection is under way . Of course HRNZ contributing to, and supplying meetings for the low class horses is VITAL too, and therefore putting a few bucks up for the few at Cambridge each week is good stuff. This keeps a few more 'players/participants' in the sport. No Participants = No Sport. yes I know the 'Betting' is practically zero , but it's the same here. We have little trot meetings in OZ somewhere Everyday. It's a fun sport for the participants, and

Grimson had picked up another 'old boy ' to paddle around with. This time picking up a horse from one of the best barns going , and Immeadiately winning with it , and now says will go close to winning the NZ CUP.🙄 MAJOR MOTH only won one race last year from 8 starts , from Australia's leading barn. Emma Stewart stable in Victoria. He won quite a few as a young horse for Emma's partner Clayton Tonkin way back through 2020 season . (14 wins from 29 starts career) How Grimson can improve it (The Moth) to be better than Swayzee, is yet another of his miracles. The miracles-man could strike again 🤔. MAJOR MOTH is 8-1 for the Nz Cup, with the defending Champion Swayzee 9-1 at the moment. Leap To Fame $1.50 fav on Aus market. been backed already. Watch out for MAJOR MOTH in Cup week. Grimson is 'Revving ' him up here in Brisbane. won his 2 starts so far tonight/last week . Tonight he beat average lot but won while still 'Pulling Hard' while running a 53.5 second last half mile , which was very strange to see 😳. was quite a performance . Better take him as a NZ Cup 'cover' I think 💰 , in case Larry (Leap To Fame) gallops away there in November Cup week.

I've met a lot of owners, trained and driven horses for them. Raced against many opponents with lots of similar owners. I can't think of any that returned a profit Chief. We did the best we could to break even. I only charged $150 per week training fee in the 90's. The millionaire owners like Seymour here with leap To Fame have actually spent the most. bucket loads of horses (before Leap To Fame) take bucketloads of attention , staff, breeding, vets, fees etc. he'd be down millions on harness I liked my owners to have 2 horses, that way they had one racing every week still (if one was spelling, injury etc) and they keep the interest that way. and aren't spending too much. just a good business model that worked. and then Try and win a race at least every 3 months just to break even with each horse. (that's hard enough to do) . If you do your math you could say law of averages says that with 10 horses starting in a race, and 10 races starts for your horse in 3 month period, you would on average run placings of one 1st, a 2nd , a 3rd down to a 10th and last placing. is amazing how close this actually pans for your regular horse. the ratings system pits them against horses of similar ability week to week. impossible to bet on. That's the return your average horse in QLD can expect through the year. thankfully they are usually 9 horse fields nowadays . so the win might come one race sooner. you need 4 wins per year just to break even . Much harder in NZ to get a profit with your horse. Not enough race starts per year. field size too big SI sometimes. a whole heap of your runners don't win 4 per year .Expensive training fees, and only a certain percentage actually get to the races to have a start. That's why I like the Cambridge idea of running each Tuesday for the slow poke horses. Give the owners a chance to get something back on their investments as you indicated ?.

Fair comment , but mostly it's the Millionaire owners/ consortiums / bloodstock agents that buy a slot in the 1st place . To race their pride and joy in. It's not exactly Joe Blow owner from Nelson or anything lol The $2,000,000 Eureka is on very soon. 10 slots . Who's got em? They all paid $300,000 each for a 3 years period of starters. so I call that a large entry fee. even if you don't Doomed. can't be too different in the Race by Grins ??? here's the 10 Eureka boys for ya . Space. Space. Space. Space>> Millionaire Kevin Seymour (QLD) bought a slot last year (for Leap To Fame but he only ran 2nd.) but Kevin has lots of horses Western Jewel farms (mcCarthy stud farm) have a slot ) plenty of horses to pick from. Millionaire Danny zavitsanos. Danny races plenty of horses. Victoria mainly. Tas harness racing . they own a slot to send best Tassie horse each year. John Singleton . multi millionaire , races gallopers mainly . everyone knows singo though. Aaron Bain and Summit Bloodstock. these guys have Bucket loads of horses for all the penny share holders around the country. They have contributed greatly to the downfall of NZ harness by buying anything that moves sometimes. even race horses in Tamworth trying to dominate the scene. Grimson stables current NZ Cup holders with Swayzee. also had a slot in WA $1,200,000 slot race that they won with cheap NZ buy BETTERZIPPIT last year. picked up 1/2 million in one go !! amazing. Slot probably backed by Mick Boots who is buying horses from you guys every month since Swayzee won. Are you running short of Numbers yet ?? Cordina Racing Italian family millionaire mob , been racing many horses for years. Soho Standardbreds racing horses for years . very wealthy bloodstock mob Queensland Racing . Who surprisingly have popped Grant Dixon runner in their slot coming up next month , instead of Seymour having him this year lol hahaha there you go !! all Multi millionaire owners . (Grimson still young so might not be at the million yet , but will be closing in on it shortly so don't panic ) They all paid up and can now race for the Big bucks . Best of Luck to them all !!!

no they shouldn't. that's why Slot races are coming into play . Owners can race for Monster Dollars once again , and pay for the privalidge. The Grins Race has been FANTASTIC, and now they started a trot . Just Believe a Bit good in it , but can't have all the luck. still good prize for 2nd for your star horses. AND the owners 'subsidise ' it themselves. Have to pay a large entry fee. The way of the future. (think your gallops will do it soon too) excellent racing. Just put up, shut up and collect 😅👍💰.

like any sport , ya just want to be involved if you love/enjoy it. No the money isn't much , but we're not all Purdons, Butts, Dunns or Telfers so they need somewhere to go to win. (or race competitively) I was annoyed Barry put his horse in the junior drivers race at Cambridge this week actually, as just mugs the Battlers. I know several trainers here who don't bother competing AT ALL at Albion Park anymore at all, which races 3 times per week. Have to leave that for the McMullens and Dixon's with all their millionaire owners mainly. They just send a few around at Redcliffe each Wednesday and Thursday to still have fun, win one race to pay their way each 2nd week of so with one of the team , and make a living that way. Cambridge could be the 'ideal' Redcliffe equal if they race each week. which seems to be what they are doing to KEEP PEOPLE in the Great Sport . and winning enough to get by. The Mustard is cut already Chief . (only about 15% of horses that race return a profit for their owners by the time they finish racing when you add up all the costs. ) not many cut the mustard in the end 💰.

Berry The Cash !!🏆 what a great ride by Portia too. With All that weight too !! and she looked after him in the run as much as she could. And he Wins the Grand National Hurdle just now at Riccarton. his 2nd one possibly. The Gold Medalist of the Jumpers. 🥇 Berry The Cash and Portia Matthews (honourable mention to the stable staff and trainer Oulaghan too)

$2,369 for the winner of each race Chief. (10 winners got that each with horses barely able to break 2min mile that would get zero at Albion, Auckland, Addington) excellent stuff You have to generally win 4 races per year to just break even with a usual country horse anyway. The Cambridge Races give the SLOW-Pokes a chance to race. even though as you say they will run at a career loss , but you begrudge them Winning Anything ?? why ?? and all you guys is grizzle grizzle grizzle as usual. they AL need somewhere to race? I'd be happy if they ran them Non-tote (we did once) to stop you guys grizzling. But They NEED To Race 'NoworNever' is talking ELITIST just above , and he is right in the sense that Albion, Auckland , Addington generally have the rich owners these days. Mick Boots is buying up all your horses now Swayzee won there, and Dean Shannon owns big swags he bought at the sales too (inc Merlin the best in country) Therefore CAMBRIDGE TUESDAYS and meetings like that (Manawatu) Are VITAL for the battling poorer owners/ or trainers, and even the Learner drivers TO get A Fricken Go !!😁

The only way you can help owners and Trainers is to actually Have Regular meetings Brodster. The smaller the field the better. Means the owners chances of a 'return a greatly enhanced. (QLD country just runs 9 horse fields now for the whole racecard instead of 10 that it was 2 years ago) will be even better when it drops to 8 to give stables even more returns. Times are tough. Not a lot of folk racing horses at the present time. Those that are paying the bills Do Need a return on their investments. (Unless just going around for the love of it like the old days and in some remote SI areas.) QLD put a race meeting on last Sunday of 10 races of 8 horses for $40,000 total stakes for the entire meeting (4k per Race) That's All you need to do mateys . To Keep the owners and Trainers (and stable hands and drivers too) ALL getting some reward and a few bucks in the sky rocket (pocket) GOOD On Cambridge Giving something to the Participants each week ! is very Important. A great step forward is Regular Racing TO KEEP THE GAME ALIVE. keep the participants interested. 👍