Brodie

CP, 6 weeks would on the face of it be rather too long to still be in a trainers name if he has not been gearing the horse up! A different trainer can make a helluva difference to a horse in a week or two, by change of feed and training methods. High time this anomaly was changed.

Saw that as well! Was showing as scratched in my iPad, but on Trackside it was a starter and was showing the divs! Just an absolute shocker and what should the TAB do about it, as you couldn’t back it at all!

It’s in the blood!

The last 20 minutes is far better than the first 40 minutes. What I don’t understand is why Greg and Michael go over races that have already run????? Does anyone apart from the AllStars fans give a rats as the divs have already been declared and no money to be made! It is just a Blue and Silver sponsored show and most are over it!

The thing is this sort of thing happens quite often! If Mark Gill hasn’t got the horse in his care then he is not the trainer! With respect, there would be a helluva difference in training ability between Mark Gill and ken Ford and the punters should be advised as soon as the horse is being trained by someone else! Often horses go to another trainer and the horse performs a lot better and then we hear that it is being trained by someone else, and too late to offload!!!! Caretaker trainer my arse! Punters should be advised straight away and not weeks later!!

Probably not! Driver still waiting for first win after 151 starts!! Field appears to be far better than it has been racing as well recently. Is following out a reasonable horse but you would be a brave punter to be taking offloading too much. Lightweight drivers tend to be the ones to back on the grass especially over 2600m Dont let me put anyone off if they think it has a chance though!

He has been with Ken Ford for several weeks now. Had several starts, has been in horse movements and you can tell by the turquoise breastplate in his races

Whiplash, have you been on the drink again, Greg is hardly a female name?

Haha! Greg seem you know it all, what was Whiplash on about, that was BS???

What part is BS???? What was I moaning about? Explain yourself please!

Booby, Don’t think I said that he was the best Junior driver around! Junior drivers are required for Harness racing to continue, as without them there will not be enough drivers left as the existing drivers move on to greener pastures. For some reason there seems to be this need to hammer our young drivers, some of which I mentioned earlier! Yes Ben was careless with that drive and he is very vigorous in the cart, but he is not flogging his horse, there is a lot of reign action. Young Ben always tries to win every race he is in, you only need to watch him even when he is driving a bit of a dog and doesn’t have a great chance. I personally find the drives from senior drivers far more frustrating when they don’t put their horses in the race, and I believe that gives less confidence to the punters than Ben Hope driving with vigour. We will all have an opinion on the way some drivers drive whether it be Juniors, Amateurs or Seniors! Why hasn’t anyone commented about the senior driver Ray Needham’s drive today in race 4 at Oamaru, although it is fairly typical drive from him!!!!

Greg, I said Brodie was back!

The Hopes are lovely people and committed to harness racing and it is not an easy industry to be in. 7 days a week with bugger all time off. Ben has been interested in harness racing from a young age and of course his mother is going to stick up for him whether he is right or wrong and good on her. Ben comes Across as a knowledgeable young man on Trackside. Great to see Ben being so enthusiastic with harness racing and this is what we need in our young juniors because geez it would be very easy for them to give it away and go and have an easier lifestyle away from racing. 40 hour weeks and better money. Personally think the attacks on our young Juniors are unnecessary. Bronson Munro, Sam Thornley, Jeremy Markham, now Ben Hope and Alana Cameron and others! These Are all young people who are trying to make a living in a difficult Industry and some keep bagging them. Yes they sometimes make mistakes just like The senior horsemen who are far more experienced. We can ill afford to lose any of them from harness racing as they all Seem likeable people

Firstly Ben is the probably the most aggressive junior driver In the cart that we have seen for quite awhile. Due to his competitiveness in the cart, there have been incidences where it looks like he doesn’t have as much control as he should. However, a lot of the time when he is moving around in the cart, he is only using the reins to encourage his horse. Totally agree that we don’t want any accidents due to any drivers lack of control, but don’t believe that there have been too many incidences recently due to Ben’s driving. The fact his father Greg continues to give Ben plenty of chances shows that he and the owners are more than happy to give young Ben drives, and he has done a pretty good job on the whole! If the senior drivers are worried about any driver, they should be having a word to them I would’ve thought.

JJ, the Oamaru grass track today has had tons of water applied going by his green it was. It also has not been mowed for a number of weeks going by how long and lush the grass was. No point continuing but all I am saying is that for early punters they should be advised that the track has a long sole of grass! No investments today when I saw how long the grass was but otherwise going very well,thanks!

What a load of clap trap JJ!! It is a major ingredient as to how a horse runs. Today there were many horses that just didn’t handle the long grass. Off course the track conditions are determined by the weather, irrigation and dry, that is my damn point!!!! Punters that net early should be advised as to how much grass there is!!!

FFS Ranga, the posting was made on the basis that someone from HRNZ or the TAB would read it and consider doing this! This is a forum where we are here to discuss thoughts and opinions rather than you thinking I am having a whine!!!!!!!! If you haven’t got an opinion then Don’t comment, continue just changing your picture as you seem to want to do for some unknown reason?

Yes I am well aware of that. However, for people who want to bet before the first race there should be some indication somewhere. I note the track has been changed from good this morning to dead now! The track has a lot grass on it and would be pretty tiring for the horses

There should be some consistency! As I said look at the Oamaru meetings I quoted and tell me that there is even a semblance of consistency. The track last week must’ve had a hell of a lot of water put on it and wasn’t cut. This has to affect a horses performance and punters need to know whether the grass is long or short.

Grass track racing can often throw out long shot winners who haven’t previously shown much grass track form! The length of grass mush make a heck of a difference as to how well a horse will go. A horse that likes an all weather track you would think would prefer shorter grass and a quicker surface where an absolute plugger would,prefer a much longer grass. If you look at the replays from Oamaru on 30th November 2019 and the grass length on 15th February it is like chalk and cheese. The November grass was quite short and yet the length last week was like a paddock grown for grazing. How on earth are punters meant to know the length of grass without the TAB advising the punters whether the grass was short or long? Yes I know you can see it on Trackside once the racing starts but for early punters, is it possible for clubs to advise this???

Whiteman, as I say I don’t see the animal welfare brigade as a big worry for harness racing! It is only a worry if the officialdom are as weak as piss! Tell them to sling their hook, as their are far greater things that happen to animals tha. Racing horses. We breed animals to eat!!!

Whiteman, animal activists will stop harness racing within the next 20 years? There will be other things at play that will do far more damage inside the next 5 to 10 years! Not seeing any activists at Addington but it would help the of course attendance a bit! There are not enough new people coming into the industry, which includes punters, owners and trainers!!!!! Personally do not rate Animal Activists as they would be far better putting their efforts into protesting about things that concern human beings rather than animals. Some just protest about anything including this so-called Global Warming that’s right I meant Climate Change!!!

Greg, I am pleased that you are optimistic about harness racing and I hope you are right! However, can you kindly point out why you are optimistic? Please detail why you think harness racing has got a big future in NZ, especially when Auckland is stuffed, CD is stuffed, Dunedin is stuffed and upper S.I. Is not too flash either!!!

There are several things at play that is slowly killing harness racing. The cost of owning and having trained horses compared to return is probably the main one. The coming generations are not going to be able to afford or want to race horses if there is absolutely no decent return on money spent. Young trainers won’t be able to afford the cost of land to train. TAB not interested in harness racing, more money in Sports betting!! Younger people not interested in racing unless it is Cup Day and that is not to do with racing! Personally don’t think animal activists are a worry, as racing is not cruel on horses. Far worse things being done to animals, like eating them!!!! If the racing industry show weakness like HRNZ did with the whip rule, then there will be issues! AllStars dominance in plundering all the major stakes money is also a major problem but that is included in the fact that there is very little return nowadays in racing a horse for the majority of owners! The fact was this week, the buyers of most of the horses was the major stables with next to no new owners wanting to pay $40k for a horse with the prospect of even coming out with a profit being extremely low!

Old Whiteman, some will say very negative posting, but you are on the money without doubt. Too many won’t speak up and officialdom gets away with making many very poor decisions, without thought for the consequences.