Brodie

Sometimes there is just too much racing! when you at times have small non winners races, there is an issue. Yes, get rid of all Mile races, just crazy if you are looking for wagering! Programmers that include these mile races are doing racing absolutely no good, they need to wipe them. Not sure the North Island need or deserve extra racing as they dont have the necessary number of horses and they continue to lose money!

All you can do is win as they say and that is what Market Place is doing! Controversial it may be, but I reckon Got The Chocolates has gone much bigger races in running second behind Market Place the last 2 starts at Addington! If the 2 had swapped running positions the last 2 weeks Got The Chocolates wouldve won both races easily enough. Got The Chocolates runs have been massive sitting parked outside Market Place and still finishing very close! Market Place has more quick speed at this stage but Got The Chocolstes is every bit as brave if not more so!

One of the most stupidest things Entain brought in was the removal of the place odds on the Trackside presentation. They have only the win odds tote and fixed and yet many of these horses have no show of winning? People are at the pubs here and in Oz and in front of the TV, if they had the place divs up then many more would have a bet and The TracksidecPresenters used to mention the place odds, but now arent able to. They really havent got the best people making decisions that are beneficial unless someone is prepared to come on and justify their decisions? Na, wouldnt think they care too much.

Totally agree and far too many of these pathetically small fields and often run for good stake money boostered by Entain's generosity. Would be interested to see what the actual turnover is on these small fields, nothing surer than they can not be profitable for anyone but the owner? I do believe that there are some that nominate and then scratch just to get the race off the ground.

Entain are a big global betting corporation that didnt come to little NZ to help out NZ racing despite the media hype of being the saviour of the TAB. The way they are putting in this $900m I believe is not being spent in an intelligent way and what is going to be the result when the 5 years is up? The business plan has been flawed by the TAB for a decade now by restricting punters to pathetically low limits in this day and age! They promote this bonus bets and bonus cash to show that turnover is going ok when they are keeping the turnover up by their own cash! Maximum bonus bets of $20 is just laughable seriously. They should be encouraging punting as the consequences have a flow on affect to racing.

“Hot favourites isn't helping turnover” What isn’t helping turnover more, is the fact that the TAB is not wanting punters who want to put a reasonable amount on or punters who actually wager to win! The fact that they limit the bonus bets and bonus cash to such pathetically low limits is clearly telling us that they only want the smaller punters! They are very risk averse, and do not treat punters equally by any measure. Entain really are biding their time till they have thrown the 900m into the pot, and what have they to show for it? money at harness racing

They shouldnt be in the business then Ranga, if they arent prepared to to pay out to punters that can beat the odds! Should be advertising “only losing punters need apply”

Courageous lol quite the opposite! Responsible in driving wagering away!

I note Deidre Franco is starting from no. 1 in the 3rd Addington from the stand!! From as far as I can remember back, Deidre Franco has been Unruly from the stand and has been ok away in recent starts except for last start at Addington! Seem it galloped after the start last week from the Unruly, wondering how and why the Stipes have taken her off the Unruly? nothing mentioned in its commentary as to the Stipes taking it off the unruly list? Seems crazy that they have done this under the circumstances surely??

Early fixed odds coming out. Tab/Entain have now become very very restricting with certain punters! You couldnt really call them Bookies more like accountants! They are massively restricting the turnover on harness racing which is going to kill the harness industry.

Race 1 Addington Friday night over 2000m stand is dominated by the Mark Jones Stable! Of the 9 starters due to step away in the first, 6 of them come from Mark Jones stable! Where are all the other 40 to 50 rated horses gone? Never seen so many line up in any race from Mark Jones stable ever before!

Yes the drivers can say anything and the Stipes say ok! The drivers are hardly going to be saying, hey we have not been trying so that we can drop a few ratings. The Stipes nowadays do not actually do a lot to be fair.

Downtown Orlando was second last at its previous start as it galloped in the straight when running on. It had showed a wee bit of ability in Canterbury and the fact that it had a change of trainer and driver wouldve definitely been advantageous. It was racing down in Southland where the class of opposition is much inferior to Canterbury was also a determining factor in running second. But yes there are form reversals that do not get a Stipes mention but often it is because they can be driven by average drivers that drive averagely.

The driver of the 10 horse Tashs Bad Girl was Natasha Kyle who has now only had 6 drives. She actually drives a helluva lot better than Alistair does, but to be fair that wouldnt be that hard. She has probably got a future in harness down south as a Junior as she seems to have good hands. Anyway from the video she pushed out from the fence when she should not have, under the current law. The Stipes dont really care as they let a lot go without commenting. Watched many standing starts where the unruly horses are 30 metres or more from the front line and they call it FAIR? There seems to be a lot of consistency nowadays from the officialdom, consistently inconsistent and it just does not seem to matter to them. We do not want enquiries cos it holds up the next race being started on time and we just can not have that, can we?

Unfortunately for the TAB and racing they are continue to make poor decisions. They have failed to adapt to the changing decades and now are trying to entice younger generations into punting. Reality is they have missed the boat and is going to be extremely difficult to attract new punters and yet the existing punters they have had for decades, they victimise! There are some things that I believe have been beneficial since Entain took over, but there are many that you have to scratch your head and wonder why? Restrictions to punters doesn't just restrict turnover now, it restricts turnover indefinitely by the flow on affect that it has to everything! Anyway be interesting to see what the years betting figures show bearing in mind it is inflated due to the TAB giving away money with one hand with bonus bets and yet losing turnover with not allowing other punters on for reasonable amounts. Makes total sense, NOT!

Correct Top 4 and Head To Head’s taken off certain punters! Restrictions to such low levels that hardly worth the effort! They think they are clever but then again they need punters more than I need to punt!! They offer these boosted odds and cash back bets and yet they have a maximum bet of amounts such as $20?????? You would think we were in the 1980’s?? $20 You What?????

They have become very restrictive on how much you are allowed to win though! They continue to give this bonus cash away and boosted odds as if they are this generous betting agency? Yet on the other hand they are not prepared to allow punters on for what I consider reasonable amounts! They really havent got an appetite to take the punters on.

Not sure how many NZ staff are still employed.? I do know that there were many staff that were sent packing not long after Entain took over! Petone NZ head office would probably be pretty empty. Most of the work would be getting done by Australians out if Ozzie by now, you would think. The Ozzies have taken over from the CEO of HRNZ, Trackside track interviewer, Dean Shannon as well as other Entain suits! Probably no worse decision makers than what we had over the past decade though? The TAB was sold out by McAnulty to Entain which personally believe was a poor decision medium term.

Betcha seems to be targeting the younger ones with their advertising. Will be separate books, but the odds are clearly set by the same Bookies as the fixed odds are the same! Maybe the young ones bet with Betcha for sports betting? Betcha is probably promoted as being sexier than the old TAB name?

Not sure, but arent they basically one snd the same? Certainly are just as restrictive with certain punters they dont want! They want you to punt with them, until they dont! They are very poor losers, and dont take the bad with the good😢

Why on earth do the camera people always focus on the winning horse after the winning post??? A suggestion for the Trackside camera people, how about panning back from the front to the back as soon as the race is finished. Plain damn right annoying that they hold the camera on the winning horse on harness racing for so long that you can not see how the rest of the field finished off!!!! Surely it just makes sense to be doing this???? Yes we get great harness coverage generally, but focussing on the winning horse after the finishing line and also panning in on breaking horses at times could be changed??

Not sure he was hyped up, more emotional and he deserves every bit of success he gets. He is a passionate harness enthusiast and Diamond Stable supporter, that continues to put his time and effort into promoting and giving interviews with many that HRNZ or Trackside dont do! Labour of love for him when he could be focussing on making money on the punt. His syndication efforts are massive for getting people into his syndicates that couldnt ordinarily afford to race a horse, and all of this is done at no financial recompense. More deserving of a knighthood than many that get them.

Great to see Cool For Cats win for Nigel/ Brenda, unhinged syndicates etc. Passionate and enthusiasts like them is needed in spades to keep the harness industry alive.

Nigel/ Unhinged puts in large amounts of totally financially unpaid time trying to promote and give insight into harness racing! He clearly wants to promote racing, but I agree he is taken for granted by Too many. His wife Brenda also spends many hours as well on admin for syndicate horses and hospitality time at Addington.

Telfers were winning races in the North when they set up their stable under Amanda in Christchurch area. They were on fire as soon as they started racing in the South Island and was big competition for the All Stars and The Dunn’s! For some reason they are still winning races but no where near as dominant as they first were. They also do have a very large experienced staff roster, hate to be paying the wages bill.