Brodie

Yes you get this crap in every single race. You just could not make it up! Whoever or whatever writes the comments are just hopeless and Entain are telling us that they Trust this outfit for 20+ years? You can tell that they do not care a rats about harness punters!

It is not a matter of being scared to collect cash, it is more that the agencies and pub tabs never hold enough to be able to collect!

You are right that the tapes were not released at the exact same time, I have seen worse. The winner snd the transgressor that went through the front tape was meant to be UNRULY but when the front tape was released that horse was effectively on the tape snd not back from it. The 2 horse was well behind the unruly horse and that is the point that I have made previously, that we should seriously be not holding standing starts if they continue to dish out unfair starts.

It beggars belief that they are just so unbelievably bad! Many do not make any sense whatsoever, so What or who is capable of writing such BS? Yeah right, “Trusted for 20+ years” apparently lol. I suppose it is there to give us a laugh, but seriously, Could someone from the TAB/ Entain come on here and advise us as to how they have confidence in what is being dished out to the NZ punter!

Who is actually setting the Nz harness odds? Is it Nz or Ozzie do we know? Yes they are pretty erratic and always opportunities lol The website TAB comments are just so unbelievably poor and info is nowhere near as good as we had it before, but then again Entain doesnt care!

Ashburton tomorrow race 3, Major Linc I see is in s maiden race. Commentary comment from Sport and Racing trusted for 20 plus years for racing, said that it won by a nose at Phar Lap Timaru racecourse! I thought that is odd that it won by s nose and yet it is allowed to race in a maiden race?? Na, it didnt win by a nose , it was a dead heat! Does anyone actually know why this Sport and Racing produce such inaccurate info and comments in every single harness race in NZ? They just do not seem to give a rats about harness racing in NZ or they would not be so useless!

The rating system is clearly had its time. When horses that have won 10 races is a Ratings 35 and a maiden is a rating 50 there is something majorly wrong surely? Horses who have won $100k racing horses that have won $5k seems to be a wee bit out of sync!

Clearly Moran breached the rule and he wouldve known but I had never ever heard of it being done before and making horses run quicker! What I find a bit interesting is the number of times Moran used the whip with force and nothing mentioned????? He would have no doubt got done for excessive use in NZ!

Reality is that to my mind and other people I know that wager on harness racing, they are mostly turned off by this short distance racing! I do believe that the fields are affected at Nelson by having the second day racing over a mile. It is costly to send a horse to Nelson with all the expenses incurred and I think owners are saying just not worth it now with the second day mostly over the stupid mile distance. If they draw bad or miss away then they are not going to get any money, so they do not think it worth it now. If the Clubs insist on putting on these short distance races then they do run the risk of poor size fields.

He has been back for a few weeks as he was here for the West Coast racing as well! Poor marketing by HRNZ?

Mile racing is horrendous! Harness racing is not not in good hands! Any Club that thinks that mile racing is good for the industry is just deluded!

I try my best always Paleface, however I can not possibly apologise for incompetence from others surely??

To be fair any true follower of form could not have backed it the way it was going! The way the starter let them go also affected the race greatly. Punters will not offload on these shambles of standing starts if they persist with accepting poor performance from the starters! Is there anyone genuinely thinking that the standing starts are actually being fair to all??????? Brad Steel should be having a harsh word to his starters that he is responsible for and advise them that their performance is not up to standard .

Just Holla won two years ago at Nelson, Gamma. It had been going very poor if you watched all of its races over the past year or so. The start of any race is very important especially the standing starts and they are an absolute joke a lot of the time. If HRNZ think that it is acceptable to consistently dish up poor starts then they need to get rid of them or employ someone that can do the job. The thing is that the drivers know that the stand starts are a farce and they get away with anything.

Harness racing is going to struggle if it is going to continue to accept such mediocrity! We thought the previous starter was not flash well things have not improved at all! Just pathetic and why should punters have to accept this Amateur behaviour and nothing is said!!

Yes Just Holla won. Who is the starter up there today, is it Donnelly? Seriously needs to learn what a standing start actually is! If harness racing wants to have credibility they need to be employing people who actually give a damn! Very poor, standing starts should not be moving starts and all horses need to be in a line not all over the place! Very amateur performance these stands and should be abolished if that is the best they can do.

I see Just Holla in race 5 at Nelson today is into $3.40 fixed to win! I acknowledge it is trained by Ken Baron and Blair is in the cart and in an 8 horse race but surely $3.40 is too short? It has not gone a decent race for ages as the run on the second day at Westport didnt seem that good as they only went a 2.11 mile rate and last half in over 66. Even a trial run before the Coast circuit was not great either. There are several picking it to win but I do not know why really and do not believe it warrants being so short even with Blair giving it every chance! Anyway maybe Brodie is missing something as there appears to be winning chances in that field at better odds!

What is wrong with being a horny beast?

TAB, so much to respond to and hope that things do come right for the sake of harness racing! Yes they have chucked money into stakes and breeders bonuses just as they promised they would do in order to take over the NZ TAB. Hope I am wrong and things are going to improve and make harness racing a viable business for so many again. I unfortunately do not hold your confidence that what they are doing is going to be enough to ensure Entain continues to back harness racing past the next 3 years. Personally believe that the communication from the TAB/Entain is very poor. Yes they have made changes many that are just stupid but then again that is right due to what McAnulty signed away. At the end of the day time will tell whether your confidence in the current lot running the Racing industry is justified, and I hope you are right. TAB, great that you are fully behind them but I say that these large gambling agencies are known to flog them off and Dean Shannon's past will tend to suggest this will happen at some stage. Happy New Year!

So effectively what Gamma is saying is that the NZ TAB will be getting sold going by the track record! This is what I believe is going to occur and harness will suffer!

Excellent at setting up betting agencies but how did this improve harness in Australia? The TAB website and accuracy since they took over is crap compared to before! Personally waiting to see results which hopefully occur. Wouldnt be taking evens on it though!

Gamma, it is always good to have peoples perspective on things. At the end of the day, hopefully everything being done has a positive influence on harness racing, as it was once a great industry. We are effectively at crossroads and the decisions being made currently is of massive importance. What Galah and myself and many people I know are very disappointed in many of the decisions being made and the lack of communication to the public. What we would like to see is the ones making the decisions, fronting the ones paying their salaries. Apart from money being chucked into stakes and promises of breeding bonuses, what do others see that have been improved for everyone?

Aye?

TAB, firstly not sure what you mean by tag teaming? We both are individuals that generally think along the same lines, and express our thoughts which is what more should be doing. The truth of the matter is that I want harness to continue and thrive but I have my doubts as I firmly believe that Entain are only luke warm about harness racing! There have been many decisions that just do not appear to be very well thought out! You say that some have only been in the jobs 5 minutes, which is not correct! Personally do not have much confidence in what is happening that will ensure harness racing flourishes in the future. You say that it is their job to increase field sizes, well doesnt seem to be happening? Nelson fields this week have dramatically less numbers than there used to be, with many races just not profitable for anyone! TAB, can you unequivocally state that Entain are not just playing the 5 year game and are not going to pull the plug when their 5 year guarantee is up?

The reality is that the TAB wasn't going that well a few years ago due to very poor decisions! McAnulty should never have signed away the NZ TAB for 25 years, simple as that! Entain are not the White Knight that many think they are, and we will see that in 3 years or so. We will see in 3 years time whether there is a future for harness racing in NZ with Entain pulling the strings. as I say great that there is more money being out into stake money from Entain, which is what they promised to do as part of the deal with the TAB. They also guaranteed that the current employee’s would retain their jobs for 2 years, which Entsin did not honour! At the end of the day they are a big corporate gambling agency that have got what they wanted and we are now forced to just wait and see! Just do not hold your breath thinking or believing that they actually care about the NZ racing industry.