Gammalite

Don't you all wear these T-Shirts? or is it just the travel shirt dress-up when travellng?

Yes indeed Walt. Leap to Fame has not only taken the Win here in the Hunter Cup in this Photo a few weeks ago , but went on to do what his fellow Interdominion GF Winners 'Gammalite' and 'Blacks A Fake' couldn't (both ran 2nd) and Win the time honoured 'Miracle Mile' as well. But look at this brilliant kiwi horse Don't Stop Dreaming. closing on him late on here for 2nd in the Hunter Cup in this photo , and finished brilliantly from the back again tonight at Cambridge for a very close third to Merlin and Sooner The Better in the Feature race. Is His BIG Moment coming next week ? In the Big The Race by Grins ? Don't Stop Dreaming is still the potential Superstar. He's Not far off Leap to Fame now . and a Nz Cup beckon's Nov. and the Race by Grins is his 'Dreaming' Step up to the Elite ... (all going well 😁)

could well be. A very good friend of mine , recently raced his first galloper for 3 years (as a 5% shareholder) as that is very common over here , as they list up to 20 Owners in the race book. The galloper won a couple at Flemington and finished it's career of about 25 starts, at that broodmare sale , as is the way with all these syndicated mares these days. sold for $200,000 odd , (which was about what it earned). He was devastated though as after all the 'fees ' and 'adjustments' and No chance of a foal from the start or anything, he was lucky to finish just a few thousand in front. not much at all in fact. and steadfastly refusing to get another one after that . just not a great experience as it turned out and well short of 'sale' price it deserved too....

Don't laugh , but I used to just value 'tried' horses (Fillies and mares mainly) at the amount they they earned in prizemoney. just a rough guide so don't be too harsh 😅. I would of valued Melody Belle at 4 million, Imperatriz at 6 million .. and Belclare at $900,000 as that is what she could earn. so quite close to Pete's guesstimate. so e.g if someone like 'Renaissance Woman' turned up for sale it would be approx $600,000 .😃

He's an Open Class trotter. a Group 1 winner. 2 x 2nd in the Interdominion Trot Final . 2 years/ and 3 months ago narrowly beaten 2nd in the Interdominion Grand Final . over 3000m . Just Believe the winner of both Interdom Grand Finals (with series clean sweeps) since then was only 3rd in the Final against Majestic Man. (Anthony Butt drove him in that) . What's wrong with driving him (Majestic Man) like a Good horse ? you argue against yourself by saying he hasn't won because because blah blah. .... if that's the Case , as you want to present it . WHY NOT try something different then ? and use him a bit early to put pressure on the others.? to see if it gets him back near winning? . try something different with Jonny Cox the man for the job ? 'Temporale' had the same problems as he got older . young whipper Snappers nipping at his old heels. still ran placings and 'had a go'. Just drive em' like a good horse mate . They ARE good horses that try hard. get em' in the race. go for it Jonny ! sit back and let Ben Hope have a picnic in front is what you guys wanted ? that's a Nz answer to the problem lol 😄 and blame poor old Majestic Man for not being good enough . send him to those grass track races off 80m behind then ?? . We could see if Jonny Cox is a good driver then or not 😉 . and just let Muscle Mountain walk the Group races in with a no contest.... can't wait till the 'Big Trot-Slot ' next for him (can the Muscle handle the Aussie challenge?) ..damn shame Majestic Man not in it really . would have possibly done better than Mystic Max . ? Majestic Man had 21 Australian starts (for 5 wins) and always gave his best. beat the champ 'Just Believe' a year ago on his home turf. very very few have a better record. he's been a grand campaigner.

Plenty of excitement mate. used to be just the Interdominion and Nz Cup as the highlight acts, but the Aussies are smashing those to bits... so why not throw in some new Slot Races to try and get an Nz victory ? you've held on well for the first 2 additions at GRINS with the old Nz Cup winners in Self Assured and Copy That. But they've fallen by the wayside old mate ... so now it looks like an Aussie clean Sweep of the BIG races?. (that Big Aussie owner even won your last 3 Derbies ) you'll be watching with bells on next week Brodster . need to get some of these kiwi's a bit of a wriggle on ? you're getting swamped mate. watch out for the mighty Queenslander . SPEAK The TRUTH . he's a real doozy . Miracle Mile winner is already in Brisbane . might as well pop a GRIN's race winner here too. Add's to the excitement 😎

Well in a way it is. Unless you have evidence of races fixing (which has been elevated to the level of Match fixing and is a Police criminal charge) it should be a No go area . Dunn's and Allstars and we've even seen some Telfer and D.Ferguson occasions over the years have often used stable-mates to 'Gain advantage' over a Main rival in a race. Allstars win with Amazing Dream in the Auckland Cup was a beautifuul example how to pull off a defeat of the star horse rival Copy That . these people are fabulous horsemen (and women) Team driving is a real thing . and usually while driving to 'Give your horse Every Chance to place first in a race' they can help stable-mates achieve the same chance and simultaneously Prevent the Main Rival getting that same chance. You're just 'barking up the wrong tree' with this Majestic Man example. An open class trotter should be able to pressure Muscle Mountain all they like to try and beat him... a quick first quarter is fine . after all ... Muscle mountain had to trot that same time as well ? and therefore be more vulnerable at the end of the race (all going well lol 😉) Majestic Man has had 3 Great Southern Star runs and a whole 'Catelogue ' of great wins over the years. Here he is 'Beating Up' the current Aussie Superstar Just Believe last year. (Just believe has nearly gone undefeated since then ) he is down the inside in this photo. Go Majestic Man !!! (and good on Jonny Cox not taking a 'backward step too ' in your National trot the other night . ) all good mate . Jonny not my favourite driver, but love it when someone has a crack at beating the good ones, and seems a little unfair to be criticized for it IMO )

pretty slick. yeah I guess you could expect that with the speedy trotter Muscle Mountain in the vicinity. just wasn't really what I would call team driving nor driving to not gain the best possible placing IMO . I actually thought he was driving to Win rather than 'just run 2nd or worse' so I guess it is whatever way you look at it. and could easily of been driving instructions given as well from Phil Williamson.... , that you see the Dunn's and Allstars use with catch drivers too, in a a lot of feature races throughout the year . but anyway .. the great Northern Derby was a bit of a surprise with 7 x Mark and / or Barry Purdon runners in the field , and Tony Herlihy (their brother in Law ) having a good old crack at defeating All 7 of those rivals for another Trainer altogether !!! lol. I thought it was very funny . even though he has absolute Swags of Winners for decades for Barry and /or Mark. and you would of guessed the great man would of been engaged for one of those runners in the GN Derby Christopher Dance all but pulled it off too, for the AGH superman, with a Big Mid-race move to put pressure on the lead , and even get the lead for the last lap for trainers Logan Hollis and Shane Robertson. just beaten a just a Head in the end. (by the fav of Barry's who drew one) actually Tony beat a Hollis/Robertson runner into 2nd place, 3 years ago with KRUG when he drove that horse to GN Derby victory, so might of been looking to get one back for them 😁 🏆 Tony showing No 'family favouritism' then like that feature Addington trot . Brodie won't be happy seeing such great racing in the North 😉.

Sounds great TABman . seems you cop criticism if you support new concepts that give breeders a nice reward for their Fillies and mares in a series that gives something for the smaller players to aim at. a few hail mary's are in order lol? seems a lot of races were run in that series, and a few wins had, and plenty of happy owners /trainers and jockeys even, which is what it's all about . all in with a chance. I like Novelty races . some of the Trainers here in Oz, that are No Hope of a Golden Slipper or big Group race win against the Juggernaut stables , actually get a chance in a few of those.🏆 the novelty $2,000,000 Kosiouszko run each year can dodge the Gai , Waller,Goldolphin,Snowden, etc and the 6 winners to date have been trained by >>> John Shelton, Keith Dryden, Brett Cavonough, Terry Robinson, Geoff Duryea, and Matthew Dale trained Front Page to win the last one. 💰 A BIG Randwick race giving All racing lovers (owners/trainers) a fair crack at the big money for a change. on a big races day. Bring on more Novelty races .. good on the 'Pearl creators' there !! just the tonic to help support Nz racing along ..🏇

That doesn't mean you just hand the lead to them and follow them around for 2nd . You can still respect the opponents by trying to beat them , no matter how good they are. Majestic Man has won group 1's , ran 2nd in not one , but Two Interdominion Trot Finals. No reason why he can't run along for 1/2 mile at the start..... and have a crack at beating the young Ben Hope on his star trotter. give it a go I say 😁 for some great racing !!!!! and handing up to Love N The Port is fine . Majestic man had finished lengths behind LoveN The Port at his 2 previous starts when finishing 4th and 5th (LnP was 2nd in both those races) so take a sit on him and HOPEFULLY push Muscle Mountain 3 back along the fence ?? and therefore a Chance of it getting beaten ?? seemed a fantastic strategy really.🏆 they could be a chance of beating the 'Mountain' with 2 horses if that eventuated ...... Ben Hope too slick/quick though , and hopped out . And finally I would say even if Jonny Cox did what you and Taku Umanga and Tacula wanted >>> and just had Majestic Man immediately hand up to Muscle mountain ... yawn ...😆🥱😴 lol.. the very good finish by more favoured runners Mystic Max and Midnight Dash may have seen them run 2nd and 3rd anyway . they very clearly ran in those spots..... your boy 4th was his lot for that race I feel. sorry about your 5 bucks though old mate.

It's quite an interesting argument Galah. What you are saying is >> That a driver is 'trying' if he sits behind the leader on ONLY a HORSE of YOUR SELECTION. in this case the Hot favourite Muscle Mountain. Because JC held out your selection for the lead , in an endeavour to try and beat that hot favourite and superstar horse, and elected to Trail his stable-mate , the very good trotter and Current ROWE Cup Group 1 champion 'LOVE N The PORT' .. who led and Won that long distance Group 1 race, then that is 'NOT trying' in your book by JC ??. so can't agree with you my friend unfortunately. seemed a fantastic tactic. Used by Allstars on many occasions. (TheFixer in Nz Cup win a good example) Cox trailed the leader either way anyway ?? so that must/Has to be 'Driving to achieve best placing' in one way , a position that a Lot of driver's seek in a race ?... He was trailing the leader and given Every Chance to Win . you cannot Possibly Charge him with anything. (except enterprising driving maybe)??😆

JC has plenty of goes on plenty of horses, and you can't really fault the drive on Majestic Man in my opinion... It was a BIG Group 1 and Majestic Man ( who has often used his gate speed in Mobile events over the years to get up near the lead early) . once again came out trotting beautifully from the mobile. The horse is a wonderful credit to the Williamson family and picked up $6000 for 4th still , in the twilight of his career. good on him🏆 Jonny Cox drove how most drivers would love to drive in a group 1 .. >> Lead out then trail , then Sprint lane into the placings. I give the drive 10/10 IMO . was really 'having a go' . and doing their best to make life hard for the Main rival. i.e trying to beat Muscle Mountain. What a Win by the Winner !! Ben Hope kept cool and just death seated (and trailed for little bits for a quick revivor with the Muscle Mt) a 10/10 drive as well IMO . And they will beat the Aussie 'Just Believe' in the trot-race by Grins at Cambridge, based on that great winning performance coming up soon...

Incredible Brodster. seems like the other day and yet almost 40 years to the day that big crash . The last horse to get up off the deck after spending over 10 minutes plus, all tangled up at the bottom of the pile of bent sulkies and fallen runners... was future champ ROYDON GLEN. after a spell after that mishap he came back later in the year in the new season as a four year old and was undefeated the whole season scoring 12 wins from 12 starts including the Messenger and Auckland Cup. A real star of the track and luckily not taking any harm from that Derby pile-up. yeah they will stop a race with any driverless horse involved these days . no risks are taken at all as horses do crazy things without their drivers on occasion. (and sometimes crazy things while they still have them lol 😁)

Well good on you Chief for sticking up for Te Akau through this thread. They are doing a great job and now with a Super Strong presence in Australia as All the racing world can see , with the great mare. And Nz won 2 races at a feature meeting here at the Valley on Saturday. Not just Imperatriz , but a Marsh runner beat a Te Akau runner in a support race. And that team said "Wait until you see the Good horse go if you thought that was good !! " lol 😂 Orchestral I think that is ? lol. well done Nz Racing, and Ellerslie looks great too ! people going and having fun . Yearlings selling well , no matter what the price and number. (try and keep Gai out lol 🤣 NZ Racing is still changing with ENTAIN taking over

A very good post I thought amid a Flanders Fields of posts. Must say it would be a phenomenal effort to get even one feature race winner if you were trying to just spend 100k to buy 10 yearlings. The ability of the Te Akau bloke and Gai Waterhouse and several other trainers have a better strike rate than that , as can invest more and use lots of Expert methods and breeding patterns to select quite a few very Successful Horses each and every year. they (these gun Group 1 winning trainers on both sides of the Tasman) don't race too many in your 3rd division races these days though, as have 'earned the right' to be in the SuperLeague of Tall Poppies , ready to reap the rewards of a good harvest.... they Have to be careful though as Opium poppies swabs positive lol 😁.

yes he sure is a lucky bugger. 🍀 winning the 2 Derbies with Merlin last year. Dean had missed out buying Merlin's half brother 'Magician' at the yearlings sales . as went for $200,000 and now at Dalgety's . Dean was the under bidder and saved a lot of money. Magician won a trial on Tuesday for his bunch of owners but looks well short of being anywhere near a Nz Derby prospect in the Spring. So Dean had bought Cold Chisel instead at that sale . winner of the GN Derby last week.. and must be near fav for the Nz Derby now after that ?. Dean Shannon could get the Double Derby Double lol...? . the DDD for big D.

well whatever way you look at it . The Te Akau crew are doing a great job and having that much success now in Oz the permanent stable number is doubling for them at their Cranbourne Base. to about 50 in number I think. (so are tiny compared to rivals and with the results achieving are simply outstanding when comparing 'weight of numbers'. ) Quintessa looked great in her 2 runs , and another sprinter was going well lately in Vic too, name has slipped me for the moment (so not just Imperatriz).... so they are doing very well while just setting up still?. Once established , it seems certain they will soon be tackling the Blue Diamond and Golden Slipper and having a good crack at it, like fellow kiwi ex-pats Busuttin /Young have done recently with their 2 year olds... and have a crack at beating the Massive Machines that are the GAi, Waller, Goldolphin, Snowdens and others on their elite Sydney turf .

A great question ! .. 'No mates' or Joe Bloggs have been connected to galloping stables and may have a rough idea of what percentage of their stable was bred by v how many purchased by their stable owners. Thinking of all the harness stables I know of...... it is about 50/50 but the horses are very cheap compared to thoroughbreds so have less owners per horse. and heaps of the owners have larger properties that hold their mares, foals and spelling horses. Thoroughbred Syndication is Absolutely HUGE business here now in Oz, and I feel with the 'extreme' costs associated with leading trainers training your horse , the stables have a much much HIGHER percentage of Purchased horses , than those bred by their clients.

Seems a lot of yearlings about in the Big stables after the Sales. These Slipper nomination numbers show that the Big stables Buy a fair few , as their owners have indeed got a hefty sized wallet , as don't a lot of the yearlings nearly reach $1,000,000 these days ? glad I bought Pacers back in the day . you can stay sane , and not worry about injury /or can't run as much lol 😆😅 2024 Golden Slipper Trainer entries. ( with Gamma accuracy disclaimer ) James Cummings - 111 entries, one runner Ciaron Maher - 111 entries, no runners Annabel Neasham - 106 entries, no runners Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott - 100 entries for six runners, including the winner. Chris Waller - 94 entries, one runner. Ben, JD and Wil Hayes - 84 entries, no runners Mick Price & Michael Kent Jnr - 78 entries, no runners Peter and Paul Snowden - 56 entries, two runners Tony Gollan - 52 entries, no runners Anthony and Sam Freedman - 41 entries, no runners Michael Freedman - 36 entries, one runner Peter Moody & Katherine Coleman - 35 entries, one runner Tony and Calvin McEvoy - 26 entries, two runners

You are arguing AGAINST a feature of your New Zealand harness racing though Brodster. Yes even away from the Main centres of Yonkers, Meadowlands and that the American racing virtually has the same drivers (all pro's with thousands of drives each mostly) and even here in Brisbane the same thing is happening . same drivers every race, same horses every week. And SO, as you accurately said on occasion , It all becomes a BIT Boring !! all the races look the same. I hardly watch any of them . Aus and Usa harness racing Is/are Boring. You have such variety there. much More Interesting . the grass racing , there's amateur drivers even, left and right, up and down.... excellent stuff . I still watch a bit of it after 30 years lol..... The drivers do get fined don't they ?? have seen Maurice, Mango, CJD, and Paul Nairn was fined recently for not trying apparently. ?? pick on the old boys they do ?? 😆😄 get some more kids out there like Carter and Crystal and that going great guns... old boys need there rest these days 😁

Sam Ottley very close to driving the Quaddie.. After that narrow loss to Mo'unga by that neck margin pegged back late on , she then drove the last 3 winners of the day . The Quaddie just over $1000 too with Mo'unga there NZ TAB?.. it says on the HRNz website . Quaddie only paid $180 sportsbet . just shows how small the 'pools' are in Oz on the Nz trots.

About to go at Waimate Cup. 'Mo'unga Day 'has arrived at last and he sure did finish well his last runs. has come in from $2.80 into $2.40 on SportsBet so is attracting interest. I think Sam Ottley driving well on the grass , and Smoke On The Water had won here before so might opt for him . Walt might be on his old favourite Homebush Lad . let em' rip !!!

when one goes a bit psycho crazy ?? >>

Freda is it possible to just ride a race-horse with the rider not being able to take both hands off the rein's ?. the rule in harness is you cannot have the reins in one hand and the whip in the other. A rein in each hand at all times. Therefore you are only tap, tap, tap tapping them with the whip still in a same hand as a rein. and the horses poor bum doesn't get hit hard at all consequently. Could the jockeys just tap tap tap on the shoulder? keeping the crop in a rein hand ? and that would stop any hurt to the animal (and Thomass posting more of those not so nice flank photo's) they could still 'slap' for noise on the shoulder while riding hands and heels ??