mikeynz

Phillips listed as 6 horses in training now and 3 or4 racing later this week,its nice to have correct information,2 days in Central Otago and that's it for the year there,seems a little light on race days that area.

The way they are going numbers wise they may end up running those mini meetings Manawatu are going to trial.

I guess if you run lots of average racedays which attract limited interest then the clubs will get less stakes money, does it really matter,that's the big question,I guess its supply and demand,if stakes drop to 5000,will owners/trainers still bother,that remains to be seen gee at present they are struggling to run one meeting a week in the north yet Canterbury are running in some cases 2 or 3 do they need that many? The gallops in the south race less meetings but checkout the stakes for some of the meetings coming up over summer,maybe less but better quality is a option for harness,people still turn up on Cup Day,Central Otago will have crowds at new year and Westport,Nelson the same,interest is still there but people do have habit of losing interest if you get too much of same old same old,its not just happening to harness racing,look at crowds for Mitre 10 cup,one day cricket etc etc,there are a lot of race meetings that one just passes on these days,hard to maintain interest where we do have to actually work and live our lives as well.

The spitfires down at Ascot Park with all the O Connell team,I thinkn ya gunna see a fair bit of him for a while.

Plenty of Sunday meetings at addington coming up,next Sunday , why though after Orari the day before?

Well whatever or whoever,there is only one way the spitfire can go,he can't go backwards much more,he's been doing that all his career

Like it or not O Connell can get something out of his horses when others struggle but the spitfire,that's a different kettle of fish but it makes life interesting,Pete's Dash winning is not really a surprise,he was always there abouts in a lot of his races,I guess though that if these horses keep turning up all the time they must get there eventually.

After spitfires effort today one would have to say ,he can only improve with age.

I wonder if there will be a big buildup on trackside for the 1 30 at Oamaru.

What I mean is there must be some sports bettors who stack on a lot in play when the result is clear cut,so

I do realise that they have to make money,I just never knew what the deductions was,so ok they get the deductions from tote bets,be fair to say they can lose on any fixed odds betting so yes turnover can be whatever it is but it don't mean profit,surely some of the big punters must stack plenty on rugby ,tennis etc,so in reality the turnover rise is just masking things in many situations.

There was 10 dollars in the win pool,all horses were paying 8.40, based on that the TAB must take out 16cents to the dollars on tote bets.

Nearly 12 o clock on Friday and someone's already backed the spitfire on the tote,must be confident.

Another win for O C today,maybe just the man to get the spitfire spitting fire?

Spitfire steaks?

Might be a late bloomer.

In some ways this is what's fundamentally wrong with harness racing,some very much below average meetings and just looking at things this week a lot of them ,maybe less but higher quality might be a step forward,however the TAB appears to be going ok supposedly,however back to the subject at hand,Dennis O Connell seems to have a knack of getting some very average horses,(and I think we can safely say the spitfire fits in that category😄) and doing reasonably well with his all sorts team,so you never know,if he can get as much out of the spitfire as he can with Alexy then there is plenty of time for this horse yet over the next 5 or 6 years,interesting times indeed.

It's going to be a bigger challenge as Dennis cant drive him.

Smallish fields for Rangiora,same old same old for Oamaru and good sizes fields for Sunday,not easy for Oamaru having a drivers comp,some miss out,maybe they should be paying bigger stakes just to attract larger numbers.

I was referring to the ABS by the way.

They had a good break during lockdown,never missed them to be honest.

Perhaps instead of being the all stars he could call his team the all sorts😃

An opportunity for Dennis the menace to emerge from the pack,so look out all.

Yes but does the standard of horses racing in the top races go down,they have set a very high benchmark.