Brodie

JJ, Brodie doesnt need any assistance with anything. Chief posts what he wants to, and not too sure why you want to be a smart arse, without the smarts?

JJ can you please state when I last mentioned being restricted?? Doubt it would be this year, unless you can advise us otherwise? Mile racing is not great for the industry so my humble duty to continue to point this out! Anyway have you got anything constructive to say to help out the harness industry??

Of course it is in the best interests for harness racing to have it string in the North Island. My postings are always to try and improve harness racing and point out where I think there are right or wrong decisions bring made and improvements. Auckland unfortunately are suffering from some business decisions that ultimately were financially very costly. Why does Auckland with its large population not be able to attract sufficient owners to race horses when Canterbury are able to? Without new owners and trainers coming through you would have to question any viability going forward? Some of the decisions that HRNZ and the Auckland Club make seem hard to fathom. I appreciate they are caught between a rock and a hard place but some soul searching needs to take place.

As long as you are prepared to read it SpatchCock! You live in the North, what do you see as the reason for the apathy in the North?

Harness racing in Canterbury is in fir s busy week. Addington on Friday night 127 nominations Motukarara Saturday 194 Noms Methven Sunday 159 noms Compare this to the north Island and it does show where the strength surely is for harness racing! Auckland with much larger stakes on offer has only 87 starters and only 9 races! What is it that makes canterbury so much more popular than the North Island?

Heard and read what Mark Hurrell said as well about going forward! Not sure why he did say that as well, as he made no effort throughout to put the horse in the race. Robyn’s Playboy at his very best would have slaughtered that field as he was once touted as a NZ cup horse, may have even started in it s few years back? However the horse has not performed to a high level for a few years now. He was unlucky in the straight and did not get a run so maybe bext start those punters on today will get their money back? Southland form can be very hard to follow too often.

Good to see the knowledgeable Matt Markham on Friday Night Lights, tonight! He is a harness enthusiast and has good connections and it isn’t talk about what he likes. Be a good idea to have him on with Greg for all Addington meetings in future. I see that Brittany Graham from Oz is going to be joining Trackside next year, which is good to see they are trying to appeal to the younger set.

Second night and 7 races. Only 46 starters and only one race with 3 tote place divs being paid! This is just not a financially viable race meeting a d how is it going to be turned around? How long is Entain going to be prepared to allow this to continue??

A lot of teams entered, by the look of it, a hard day at the office for most. Great to have these punters competitions to drum up business. Personally believe for them to operate more successfully and give the punter more opportunity and fairer, they need to be taking FIXED ODDS bets!

What we are not seeing is any spokes person for Entain or HRNz actually coming out and explaining what is going on?? It is all very well Entain chucking the promised money into stakes, but it is only slightly masking the fact that harness in many regions in NZ are struggling! We had all this media sideshow saying how great it was that Entain was boosting stakes for 5 years and then WHAT? Does anyone actually believe that Entain are going to continue to put large $ into racing when the 5 years is up? As The Galah has stated, the majority of the owners and trainers are past middle aged and this is the problem that money will not fix. Why are we not hearing from the CEO of Entain, I appreciate he lives in Australia but surely we do deserve to hear from him as to how he thinks things are going? Entain have total control over the NZ TAB and the way it is run and call all of the shots! Does anyone actually have confidence in how things are going currently and in 3 years time?

Winton still has enough horses to run a meeting but certainly the numbers have dropped quite significantly to what they were. Think there is a reduction in the number of participants involved in harness racing, horses, owners and trainers. As for Palmerston North, once Michael House stops sending horses up there, meetings are going to be reduced!

Not sure, wouldnt think he was ever in the North as he took over from Jack Mulcay.

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?