Gammalite

Scratching is the Nzer TAIPO in race 5 at Menangle tomorrow night. The good horse Fire Fox (an Addington winner ) gets a run instead. Get your 2 Picks in races 5 , 6 and 7 from Menangle tomorrow night here to get the comp running. Chief Stipe might need help ? 😎........ so since he is busy with Captured By Love and that sort of thing here's some ex-pat North Islanders to keep him company. Chief Selections Comp Race 1 .the Chariots of Fire = Sooner The Better and It's Merlin Comp Race 2 . Open FFA R6 Menangle = Line Up and Mach Da Vinci Comp Race 3. Open FFA R5 Menangle = South Coast Arden and Hot and Treacherous Interesting footnote : All of Line Up, Mach daVinci, South Coast Arden and Hot and treacherous all Won at their very first starts in a Race (at Alexandra Park about 5 years ago) . Merlin and Sooner the Better starting their careers well there too about 2 years ago .

It's quite an interesting arguement . The thoroughbreds used to get a fair old whacking from Cassidy , Dittman and co around that era as well. Looked like they were hitting hard at times too. My theory is to do with the constitution of the best horse's in that era. With the standardbreds I found a Lot (Most) of the Top class stayers that won a lot of those Cup races and were often driven with great vigour (and lots of whip use) through the 70's and early 80's, were nearly all Stallions. Gammalite, Koala King, Pure Steel, Paleface Adios , Popular Alm , Hondo Grattan, Lightning Blue, San Simeon , and many many others ..All driven with great 'Gusto' by their Australian drivers. The Stallions are a VERY Hardy Beast and are quite happy/Able .. to cop the Hard driving . and bounce back straight away after a run/race seemingly No trouble at All . A few of them had near 200 career race starts !!🏆 the hardest horses ever. Geldings and mares would not take it so well , so usually the best 'mares' of those Day were in Nz with much 'kinder' better drivers ( e.g Armalight, Delightful Lady, Bonnie's Chance and others).

Very nice Walt 🏆. The Australian 'Cardigan Bay' was old 'Gammalite'. First to the $1,000,000 Dollars💰 down-under in Prizemoney. Main rivals Pure Steel and Popular Alm didn't quite make it to get there first. Cardy the first Standardbred in the world to get to the Million. Both won the Interdominion too bless them. Very fitting being trained by a dairy Farmer too, as he Kept trying that hard in all his races and kept giving till the Cows come home.

So Just put your 2 Picks per race on this thread before races start Saturday Menangle. Races 1 , 2 and 3 as listed above. I'll go for the Queenslanders to give the kiwi's a run for the money 😁 Gammalite Selections Race 1 /(the Chariots of Fire) Frankie Ferocious + Sure Thing Captain Race 2/ FFA Better Eclipse + CantFindaBetterMan Race 3/ FFA Speak The Truth + Spirit Of St Louis

Race 3 $100,000 FFA sprint . (Race 5 Menangle March 2nd) 1 Taipo Nz / NSW former North Islander 2 Rock N Roll Doo Vic Anthony Butt driving 3 Ladies In Red Vic (Emma Stewart) 4 South Coast Arden NZ Nz FFA winner 5 Beyond Delight Vic (Stewart) 6 Bondi Lockdown NSW L.McCarthy 7 Hot And Treacherous Nz /NSW C.Hart (Grimson) 8 Braeview Kelly EMERGENCY NZ 9 Spirit of St Louis NZ/ Nsw (McCarthy) 10 Firefox NZ EMERGENCY 11 Max Delight Vic 12 Speak The Truth QLD

Race 2 $100,000 FFA sprint. Race 6 Menangle Saturday 2nd march 1 Mach Dan Vic (Emma Stewart) 2 CantFindaBettorMan NZ/ NSW (McCarthy) 3 Curly James Vic 4 Line Up NSW 5 Kanena Provlima NSW 6 Expensive Ego NSW L.McCarthy 7 Better Eclipse Vic G.Sugars 8 Loyalist Nz/ NSW former Hope trained horse Nz. 9 Mach Da Vinci NSW 10 Hi MyNameisJeff Nz/ NSW Cam Hart (Grimson)

Race 1 The Chariot's of Fire . 1 23242 SOONER THE BETTOR NZ B Purdon, S D T Phelan Gavin Fitzpatrick FR1 2 12211 DONT STOP DREAMING NZ M Purdon, N Purdon Mark Purdon FR2 3 8s911 BETTER BE THE BEST Nathan Turnbull Nathan Turnbull FR3 4 11s11 FRANKIE FEROCIOUS Jason Grimson Cameron Hart FR4 5 53s45 CAPTAIN HAMMERHEAD David Moran David Moran FR5 6 131s3 SURE THING CAPTAIN Shannon Price Adam Sanderson FR6 7 11112 ITS MERLIN NZ B Purdon, S D T Phelan Zachary Butcher FR7 8 21517 EARL OF PEMBROKE NZ (Em 2) Julie Douglas SCRATCHED SCR- 9 s1331 CAPTAINS KNOCK Brad Hewitt Brad Hewitt FR8 10 38s23 OUR VINNIE Jason Grimson Jack Trainor FR9 11 55s56 DOUGS PLATTER (Em 1) Kevin Pizzuto Menangl 02/03/2024 Joshua Gallagher (C) FR10- 12 s2264 ROCKNROLL HAMMER NZ Luke McCarthy Luke McCarthy FR11

The New comp will see Australia and New Zealand pitting their best harness horse's against each Other the next 6 weeks . Finishing on the Night of Champions at Cambridge 12th April when the BOAY champion 🏆 will be crowned.💰 All you have to do is post 2 (Two) selections in each Feature race nominated between Now and the Race by Grins Champion night. Points will be allocated 10 for 1st place, 9 for 2nd , 8 for 3rd >> down to 1 pt for 10th last place. Bonus 3 Points if you pick the Quinella Selected races will be Put on this thread that contain Nz and Aus horses from various locations starting Menangle this week. If you miss a week / race doesn't matter just go at it again the next week . Person with the most points is the Winner on the Night of Champions . First 3 races coming up here shortly ...................

i would think betting limits apply to everyone. in some cases it is a good thing . to save them losing too much on a day when they're on a mindless bender (Like they do with Pokies) ... in these more expensive cost of living times. Credit cards have daily limits for a lot of folk which is also a blessing. (definitely not for me though , I'm a 'pay as you go' type lol.) ...pay dearly too stuck with my missus 😂🤣

Not true Brodster. Punters are Problem Gamblers a lot of the time. If they could put on What they want , when they want ... there would be MANY MANY suffering (possibly hungry) families , and the Bills would be in danger of not being able to paid. You Need Limits mate. From what i've seen here in 4 years is enthusiasts like Galah, Walt, Newmarket and myself are happy with $50 bets , and our knowledge of the sport is exceptionally high. Mug punters are just going to lose mate , that have less knowledge of the inner workings of the Sport. You Need Limits for them. they'll spend all they've got (like the pokies do to them anyway) You want to plonk $1000 a place on something all the time , but most (Nearly All) folk find that an unrealistic prospect . who wants to lose a thousand on something running 4th even once ? And if you've got a thousand to waste , why not a weekend away at a luxury resort /holiday /visit someone/home improvements etc etc , a million things you could do than 'Waste' a $1000 on a bloody horse bet. A keen Person would be WAY WAY Better to just race them/ one if you've got that money to spend/waste/invest... good on Dean Shannon giving some new types of owners a dabble . seems a great initiative.

Back in action tonight. The $100,000 Newcastle Mile . A few ex-pat kiwis to take him on and beat him ? Loyalist, Hot and Treacherous and i'm picking CantFindaBetterMan . nicely drawn. the winner qualifies for the Miracle Mile I think , to be run early March. Old Kiwi horse Cantfindabetterman was enormous last start , and Luke McCarthy (now training in his own name instead of in his wife's thank goodness) might knock off Leap to Fame tonight at good odds. ? 😆. he has done most of his racing in Brisbane since coming from Nz , had 9 of last 10 starts there. went ok winning Interdom consolation at $1.20 Dec. 1 73657 PETES SAID SO NZ KerryAnn Morris Robert Morris FR1 2 75923 MASTER CATCH (Em 1) Lisa McDonald SCRATCHED SCR- 3 65313 CANTFINDABETTORMAN NZ Luke McCarthy Luke McCarthy FR2 4 42184 KANENA PROVLIMA KerryAnn Morris Joshua Gallagher (C) FR3 5 26836 PITCH PERFECT NZ (Em 2) Roy Roots Jnr SCRATCHED SCR- 6 31921 MACH DA VINCI NZ Peter Hanson Jack Callaghan (C) FR4 7 11111 LEAP TO FAME Grant Dixon Grant Dixon FR5 8 580s1 HOT AND TREACHEROUS NZ Jason Grimson Cameron Hart FR6 9 11r32 MAX DELIGHT David Aiken Nathan Jack FR7 10 07s11 LOYALIST NZ Joe Conolly Seaton Grima (C) FR8

Has got some nice stock in recent times . Dean Shannon did try and sell his sprawling stud in South East Queensland. think it passed in at 8 million once. he might have leased it to some other horse folk now. He missed out on bidding for MERLIN's yearling brother last year. Dean was the underbidder in the end. The winning bid going to a nice Queensland friend of mine was quite a surprise. By Captain Treacherous too. should be a real beauty . Has been left with Cran Dalgety at this stage. If it makes the NZ Derby next year i might fly over with Terry and join the party and give him good luck 😂🏆💰

There's no doubt that taking on the leader was of great benefit to Heisenberg. the leader being 'The Falcon' who still had it's chance with only a 56.7 last half (for Fast Class that's not too hard.) John Dunn had a look for the lead from the 2300 to the 1900m points of the 2600m contest. I see nothing wrong with trying for that Walt . A 400m burn does em' good lol. 😂. no point gifting it to The Falcon lol . toughen him up a bit ? John's horse only a battler from the bush anyway. 😆

yes I guess if Wayne gets rubbed out they turn to Bens brothers Tim and Mark. Mark Yole is actually a very handy driver and catch drives for others a fair bit , and only trains a handful himself. At one stage after fighting with Ben about something in a family squabble, he didn't drive his (Ben Yole's) horses for a period of time. Younger brother Tim was sentenced with Jail time in 2014 , 2 years (suspended) as killed a cyclist on the road while paying no care apparently. No evasive action by Tim was taken in the collision, and there was 2 cyclists and a clear stretch of road on a clear day. Luckily Tim doesn't drive in races very much 😎. Usually the 10th string driver when Ben had 10 (or more) of the 12 runners in those 'loaded' races they had each week. avoids the risk of PTSD and piling into the sulky in front 😎

Another exceptional article by you TABman . Again covering a huge range of events and status of Nz harness racing. The items all of great importance. thanks for the imformation. you fill in a lot of gaps for people in your posts. A New Board at HRNZ you say ?? Can ONLY HOPE someone as knowledgeable and observant as your self can get a position on it . They need people with a ready insight and acute understanding of things involving ALL the stakeholders in the Harness racing Industry.

Competitive racing mate . Easiest answer yet. Champions of all time were put off handicaps So all runners have some chance to win. If Cardigan Bay and Lordship were always off the front they probably would never of been beaten. in modern times what have you seen happen ? Fields have dropped away mate. Won't be long to the NZ CUp won't have a full field at this rate. Mach Shard and other good horses like that had extended Australian campaigns because they can't beat Copy That off the front for example . Many Nz owners just sell them as can't beat Allstars off the front (and lately brother Barry) The Fields there have got Smaller and Smaller as No-one will Bother to take them On. Butt's race horses in WA currently . to be competitive. even leading Trainer DUNN's are struggling ? with pacers . But of course had the No handicap Bonus wins with Sundee's Son in the trotting races recently . The opponents were No Chance . PRIME EXAMPLE for Michael >>>>>>Not long ago Mark Purdon raced last Years Brilliant Dominion Group 1 Show Day winner Oscar Benanova off a 30m handicap in a support race on Dominion Day. He knew he COULD NOT BEAT Sundee's Son off the front in the Big race on the day . Mark Won the Handicap race ok. A competitive Trainer who looks after his horses. (and now winning the Dominion himself with OscarB now Sundee retired ) Dunn's more likely to put their pacers in Midclass Handicap races nowadays , around the provincial circuit Cups and that. Marlborough Nelson and that . They're Still Run as Handicaps . For Competitive racing .

wow TABman . thats a cross between reading a weepy tear-jerker novel and a Steven King horror story. the developer bloke dying was a real catalyst towards disaster. The racing past couple of Fridays has been exceptional . I'm glad they got a Friday night spot back. The Franklin track going is a Huge loss. where will those trainers go? and visiting trainers. The ENtain CEO bloke is a good dude from Queensland who is investing in the yearling sales there past 4-5 years and is keeping his runners there now (with Barry and Scott ) and already won the Nz Derby with Merlin in Dec. He is the man to help keep it going . Not just for his horses but he must have BIG-WIG mates he can get to buy yearlings and race them too .

A sad day for me , as was one of my top favourites... ever. Leading up to that big Melbourne Cup 🏆 win . the prize of all prizes . (well it used to be) Just go to gallops once a year with the Mrs , usually Melbourne Cup 🏆 day at the local Brisbane races . And definitely remember that win fondly on the day by the lovely mare Verry Elleegant, .. She (VE) whipped em' by 4 lengths too, the Mrs always keen for a trifecta , so I said take the QLDer to go with the champ NZer mare . ( the Queensland horse ran 2nd) . so the Mrs had to pick 3rd ......and for 3rd she just said 'There's a Spanish horse in it too, so I'm taking that " .... bingo 😆🏆. can't argue with that logic .(Spanish Mission placed 3rd) so a happy Mrs leads to a good day had 😄.🏇🏇🏇 (Chief and I talked her (VE) up often , so am sure you feel a bit of sadness today too Chief ) One of those irreplaceable champions , that we had so much pleasure watching strut her stuff.

What a great job he does with his trotters. Dr Chin drove a terrific race and didn't deserve a penalty for it (didn't interfer or obsruct anyone) so silly suspension really. Amazing effort by Nicky Chilcott too, closing in late off the backmark of 35m in that Trotting mares feature race with SACRED MOUNTAIN. Nicky can really get a trotter going too and gets a lot of placings around the Northern tracks...... and hope she can take out a Group Race in the near future 🏆 .

The great leveller is HANDICAP racing . designed in history to give em' All a Chance. As Walt tipped at Marlborough Cup last month , Mossdale Ben as a special. Went a great race too, But 4th was his lot off 30m. going 3 seconds faster than those off the front is a HUGE Ask. Auckland did it very well last night. Applied Handicaps to put the better horses back a bit so all had a chance. Mach Shards 10m start enough to beat self Assured. JASINOVA in the feature trot . buzzing along for Dr Chin for a great win off the front , had enough start with the Handicap to hold out good trotters like Sacred Mountain (35m) and Sunny's Sister the recent trotting Derby winner was struggling to get into it.(off 25m) A great leveller !! All Cashed up couldn't bridge the Gap either . you have to trot 2 and 1/2 seconds faster than those off the front to win these sort of races off handicaps like that. Sundee's Son was gifted Rowe Cups and Dominions 'Off The Front' before retiring recently. A real shame as that took the Thrill and Leveller of the Handicap out of it. . Copy That with same advantage to win a non-handicapped 2nd Nz Cup too.

I just saw them doing that with Imperatriz today actually. a routine treatment on a front leg in some great big boot that she always has. (Too bloody hot here in Queensland. The ice would melt before ya got it near the horse so would be just a cold bath 😄😂.) we swim heaps of them here . great for their relaxing , cooling , sore legs etc. and with the nice weather we can swim all year round too.

Was 2 very good races. The leaders getting a cheap sectional in both the races after using gate speed to lead. but still had to cling on late. (a nose margin in both races) Phelan nearly got there with KISS , so kudos to him . would of tried to make the favourite work harder to get the lead early but White was too quick with the winner. In the boys Phelan drove well too and gave his horse every chance. (and got 3rd) so i am wrong and he drove both to win . rather than look out for stable-mates. although Always B Elite was a bit of a sacrificial Lamb to try and help Cold Chisels chances from behind the leader. And Mark didn't follow Vessem up ?? that was strange . Maybe we'll follow Major Hot in future efforts. Great fields of horses ! those 2 races. Plenty of big wins in store for a few of those . Derbies and Oaks are on the menu ? 😆

Absolutely !! after many years in Vet surgery , where Bute was routinely administered Post surgery as the anti-inflammatory for many types of surgery. And many years working with racehorses , where Bute was routinely 'Not administered' (because of the high chance of swabbing positive) even if the horse had a nagging ailment . you must Use some other treatments for ""In Training Racing Stock ' as always has been done.

Couple of Big races coming up soon . $150,000 for the Fillies R6 at Alexandra Park and $200,000 up for grabs in the Colts just after in R7. There's going to be a bit of 'Riding Shotgun' with Scott Phelan involved with a few stable-mates. With 6 Phelan/B Purdon trained runners involved. Can't wait to see what he does.😄😎 Hope he watched Race 4 tonight closely , where the 'Mark Purdon /Natalie Rasmussen combo' worked their magic ,just like the good old days . Great Shotgun work there by Nat , to get the Phelan runner beaten . Duchess Megzit with no stable-mate to help a little in that one . Will be fantastic to see how Scott handles the 2 Harness Million Races soon !!! Mark and Nat could possibly Still run Quinella in the Boys division , being the Ultimate Masters in this sort of scenario...... even with Scott and BarryP running 4 horses in it . How good will the team-work be? will Mark and Nat use their 3rd number in Vessem (Blair) to 'cart them up' ?....Hope so . going to be some great tactics involved in that feature race.

Has the lead up tonight in the 'Hondo Gratten ' at Menangle. New catch driver Jack Callaghan takes the reigns tonight . DSD only at about $1.60 odds to win Well known kiwi SOONER THE BETTER also tackling that race tonight at around 10.40 Nz time . also being catch driven by Fitzpatrick . Meanwhile at Cranbourne , the $100,000 Gold Cup is a Leap to Fame benefit. BACH having his first Australian start for ex-pat Cambridge boy Kyle Marshall and driven by Ant's Butt , so a real kiwi flavour on that one!! . rumour has it they are a sneaky chance to Win , but must be BIG odds to beat Queensland mate Leap to Fame who is crushing Allcomers at present.