Brodie

Probably is, but so is showing the horses from above with the shadows ! I am sure most people would agree that it is not adding anything to the viewing except for being a novelty!

Fair enough Blackie, I prefer to see the horses after the start and the drone distorts it . If it was so good, why dont they do it for the whole race?

Coverage was good snd so it should be on our premier day! Once again, get rid if that stupid drone! Adds nothing in my humble opinion!

.? Not sure where Brodie has blamed any Club or volunteers? Which Club or volunteers am I blaming ?

Unfortunately there is no way that the Chinese are going to be settling. They have changed their mind and wasnt hard to see that this was going to happen! They will get to keep the deposit of $10m but at $500k per month interest and time it is going to take to actually sell it at its reduced true market value, it is going to be a catastrophe for Auckland.

No shortage of horses in Canterbury unlike the North Island which is looking very sick! Palmerston North today had 6 races snd very small pathetic field and a huge loss for harness racing coffers. Yet, Ashburton on Thursday has 14 races and full fields with approx. 212 horses engaged! And yet Entain want to blow their promised stake money on the Club that is not performing and continues to make poor decisions??

Will be interesting to see what turnover was on the meeting? Just a Michael House Benefit Day, but without him the meeting would not have happened you would think? Just continues to show how poor the horses are in the North Island generally.

The thing about the standing starts, is that it is just an absolute lottery as to what you get! I remember when Jack Mulcay was the starter, horses were told to stand, and that is what they had to do! Over the past decade or so, some would stand snd others would be in s full blown jog up to the tape. Poor beginners from a stand now are allowed to be on the move and get away with it! Many of the top drivers know that they can do what they want. Not sure why HRNZ continue to allow this, or call them rolling starts and have them all like this. No consistency whatsoever.

Seriously, the meeting at Palmerston North on Monday is another harness meeting that is guaranteed to lose money! 6 races programmed and dominated by the Michael House stable! Good of Michael I suppose that he has brought his team up or the meeting wouldnt take place! The TAB fixed odds place bets on the Michael House horses are just pathetic, and shows just how the industry in the North Island is! They are offering place divs fixed odds of $1.01 on 2 horses in one race and $1.02 etc in most of the races! Seriously you can not continue to run any business like this and expect to make a profit! Entain chucking money into it is not a solution!.

Trained some very good horses over the years. Depends how serious he takes it down here, think he should go OK! Normally very good when interviewed. I see that Gemma Thornley is back from overseas and driving at Rangiora.

I know it was mentioned a wee while ago, that Steven Reid was probably heading to Canterbury, but I notice he is actually here! Where is he training from, do we know? Wish him all the best down in Canterbury, as he is a very good trainer.

Race 1 at Oamaru has just been run! Says it was meant to be a 2000m standing start! It was a 2000m jogging up start by the whole field! Seriously, these starts are just a lottery as to what you get! If this is what they call a stand then they need to wipe the stands altogether and just have mobiles. Is it really that hard for starters to make them stands?

Yes I didnt bother offloading at Methven, as just couldnt find anything worth the effort for the return and the distance of the races are not what I believe are needed. At the end of the day doesnt affect Brodie personally at all as a punter, more worried about whether it is good for harness racing in general, to keep the harness racing viable. Great that some different owners got money whereas they may not have over longer distances, and we need to retain the existing owners. Nigel Armstrong in his interviews post race ask winning owners about other horses they have raced and whether they are breeding horses! Many times you can gauge that they are scaling back on owning and breeding horses , and without owners and PUNTERS there is not going to be a product! If these mile races or 1700m stands are that good then lets have them each and every week?

To be fair that would not be hard to beat! Auckland fields and racing doesnt entice too many to offload, been saying that for a long time. Stake money doesnt affect the punter, it is the horses and the type of race and odds set. Auckland battles in all 3 of those departments.

Thats the issue I am pointing out Westview! It does suit some horses racing over these short distances, but difficult for the punter! The problem is that if you miss away then you have no chance and yesterdays racing showed that clearly. Anyway, it is the Clubs that make up the program and if they think it is going to attract betting more on these short races than the middle distance, then so be it! How was the turnover yesterday and was the crowd very large? Personally believe there are some decisions that are made that are not in the best interests of the Clubs for turnover and profit.

Get into Pantani tonight. According to “The Whale” he has got a 15 minute start over Paramount Kiwi?? You would think with a 15 minute start, he should win?

Is anyone seeing any merit in Methven running these mobile miles and 1700m stands? Miss away and you have got no chance! Personally think they are doing nothing to attract interest in harness racing. Seriously what is it with these Harness clubs thinking that they are doing the harness racing industry by programming these very short distance races? Are they under instructions to program them from HRNZ or what other reason could there be?

Think there should be a recount and the serious fraud office brought in Gamma? Where are the Brodsters points lol Bob Butt trained the winner lol

Doing a great job Gamma. Can someone kindly speak to “ The Whale” to see if he is Ok? Think he is a bit confused for some reason, not sure if he knows where he is? For some strange reason he thinks that Ashburton is racing at night?? On Many occasions he has says tonight, I am looking out the window and it does appear to be daylight!

Totally agree Galah, does not reall6 make much sense! They also race the wrong way around on a track that does not suit a lot of horses. I suppose they are trying to keep Auckland harness racing going. At the end of the day Entain will spend the money they promised how they want to even if it isnt the best way to spend it!

Great work as per usual Gamma, you do put in a lot of effort which we appreciate. I will be first in with Slot 8. Westview be working lol

It is just a total waste of time that they comment as they are just diabolically bad! HRNZ website is so much better for harness! Entain does not give a damn about improving racing in NZ, they splash the cash and then have the control for 25 years. When the 5 years is up watch how they down scale everything saying that they tried! Smoke and mirrors!

Was interesting that Michael Guerin on The Box Seat tonight, stated that his opinion was that the losing punters shouldve had their bets refunded! Totally agree With him! The Punters were led to believe that they were betting into a 1700 metre race, and yet that is not what occurred. There have been other occasions where there have been errors by the TAB and certain punters have been treated very poorly by the TAB! They are a law unto themselves and the punter is the loser! I note that Auckland this Friday are running these 1609 metre races and have stake money of just over 200k. The fields are very even and will be very interesting to see if they can actually turn a profit for a change L

At the end of the day the people who derive their living from racing are reliant on the decision making of the people who are in charge of harness racing! The TAB was sold out to Entain for 25 years and they have the controlling interests in that time and what they say goes. We all want them to make a success out of it so that racing can remain a viable industry for all. What I have seen is that they promised all this money to be thrown into increasing stakes for 5 years. That is great but not sure what is planned after the 5 years is up? We have all these people saying how great Entain is but apart from the stake money being put in, what else has been done? Plenty of advertising to attract punters but are we seeing any newbies?

This outfit that runs the TAB website now that Entain has control out of Ozzie is very mediocre at best! Racing and Sports trusted for 20+ years is a very poorly managed site and so much inferior for correct info than what we had when the NZ TAB was in charge. The race comments and commentary is absolutely abysmal for harness and the new CEO Brad Steel needs to take it up with Entain and get it being run professionally and not by a bunch of amateurs! A lot of the comments are just diabolically wrong and a waste of time. If they think this is helping to improve harness racing then they are deluded! Every race seems to have the same Bs and so inaccurate with their comments. A classic example is Krystal Delight at Addington tomorrow night. Race comment says it has the ideal draw??? It is a standing start and it has the ideal draw of being “unruly 1 ???????? This sort of BS is in just about in every race. They should be employing people who actually know what they are doing and saying!