Brodie

Haven’t weighed either of them Sorry, but Chris would be far heavier!!

So what is the weight of Chris??

Oldwhiteman, what have you got against M Gill. There are other trainers who don’t even train a winner in a season!!! Ivan Schwamm’s UDR for 2016 was 0133 having 25 starts for a 3rd which was probably Moy His UDR for 2017 was 0101 having 33 starts for a 3rd once again and probably Moy You can rest assured that there are plenty of others that have lower UDR’s than 0502! Dont know why you have pointed out M Gill’s training record ?

At the end of the day, it was an amateur race. They are amateurs and every amateur race is run differently and with some very poor drives in all,of them. We have debated amateur races before and I personally have sorted out horses that should get in but are beaten by poor drives or poor drives by other amateurs. Debateable whether there should be betting on these races but it is up to the punter to decide whether they want to be in or not. We have to take the good with the bad and the Amateurs are only doing it for the fun of it rather than requiring to make an income or future out of it!

So you are saying that Chris Thornley is lighter than Grant?.

No comment, what I say could be taken down as evidence!

The boat hasn’t sailed yet!

It certainly will not be at my peril at all Harewood. I won’t be investing on the NZ Cup.

Welcome Harewood, Chicago Bull is a very good horse we all know, but it is very hard for an Australian based horse to come over here and win The Cup. He is used to racing on the small tracks and 2 mile stand isn’t that easy for them. I would say that it will be a blue and silver again, not sure which one but they will line up a few I would think.

Of course I am on the money! Grant Ross from looking at him in the cart live, and from videos he is clearly lighter than the other mentioned driver!

Not necessarily, light weight is certainly a major contributing fact but you also have to have the ability to read a race and know your horses ability. Dexter, Blair, Ricky, Robbie Close, Mark Purdon, Natalie, John Dunn etc the top drivers are all lightweight and do their homework rather than just jumping in the sulky.

Would Clive have won yesterday with Chris in the cart, we won’t know will we, but I would’ve said no the way the race was run, too much weight Counter Punch,. How do you stop a horse from winning, load them with weight. Yes Clive has been disappointing and looked like he would’ve won a lot more, but I won’t offer more reasoning for why he didn’t. Far reaching? Just going by the current stats and don’t like pitting one driver against another as very pointless in that there are excellent drivers, average drivers and very mediocre drivers, and that is just part of the challenge in sorting out and making money on the punt! I just wish all new drivers and trainers into the industry, the best of luck in a very hard industry to succeed in. Great to have you on this site Counter Punch, but you need to contribute more often.

Counter Punch, not doubting that Chris is a decent horseman! As you are aware, I firmly believe that being heavy is not beneficial to being a successful driver. It has been debated many times before I realise. Everyone is different and that is good but I think you will agree that all the top drivers are lightweights as it is a distinct Advantage. The female drivers that go Good are very light and is an advantage. Personally not knocking Chris Thornley’s horsemanship whatsoever but knew yesterday that with Grant in the sulky and the way he was handling Clive, the horse had been thrown into that race with a great chance. Personally don’t know Grant Ross but we certainly need new people coming into the driving ranks. I think if you check the UDR’ currently Grant Ross’s UDR would be better than Chris’s and to drive a winner at your 3rd drive against open horse people is not a bad effort. He did get fined for excess whip but then again it is a blatantly stupid rule anyway and Clive is the type of horse that does need persuading. I note that the term excessive use of the whip has now been superseded and is now exceeded the permitted no. Which is clearly showing that they do not think that 10 hits is excessive but they were silly to put a no. On it. Drivers are getting done for just trying to win a race!!!!!!

Marcy, none whatsoever. Watched him in the birdcage last week at Rangiora and he seemed to have an easy care attitude and seemed in total control of Clive and was very relaxed, spoke to a stipe and didn’t seemed intimidated that it was only his second drive. Watched his drives on Clive at the trials and Raceday and seemed competent enough to put the horse in the race. Probably Don Ross’s son I would imagine, could be wrong but Always on the money.

Geez Richie! Chris Thornley has driven For Don Ross for as lo g as I can remember!!!!!!! My damn point was that if you have watched the trials and races that Grant Ross has driven Clive in, you could tell he can drive a bit. Chris Thornley, not Craig Thornley has driven Clive in the bulk, majority, helluva lot, most, amost all, races that Clive had been in. Chris is too heavy to be a good driver and his brother Craig is a helluva lot lighter. Why on the hell do people want to take Brodie on with BS. I sad that Grant was better than previous driver that had a mortgage on driving Clive. The fact that Bronson and Ricky May has driven Clive in the last few starts is pretty pedantic when anyone with knowledge of Clive would’ve been well aware of what I was damn well saying. Then you get the dickhead from the darkest side Rangatira coming on and saying I am telling lies!!! You are an absolute wanker Rangatira and the sooner you piss off back to the hasbeen site the better!! !

Yes, far better than Chris Thornley not Craig Thornley. I am not replying to that dickhead Rangatira from the darkside!

No one and the same but used to be driven every start by Chris Thornley, and Grant Ross is lighter and far better

Newmarket, I have a policy that I won’t post tips online for an obvious reason Newmarket! If you think that is hilarious then it doesn’t take much to amuse you. The thing is Newmarket, is that I never take notice of anyone else’s tips, however some on here do know their stuff!

Clive was thrown in and the new driver Grant Ross far lighter and better than previous driver Easy money today at Oamaru

Be worse though with 8 points for a win!, Far too harsh and some will not want to win, platings would be better for many

Well done Cross Codes To be fair though it was a very easy day to make money on. Do your homework!

Someone who is not an intelligent punter! Sorry, but the horse showed absolutely no gate speed from 1, when the pace went on it just galloped and galloped! Look it may show something somewhere maybe the training track, but as a racing proposition NO!

Richie, it is not April fools day is it? Beragio has got nothing! Where have these quick quarters been? It has shown absolutely nothing on race day and when it is on the unruly it will continue to be nil. Why they waste their time with an 8 year old pace with one place on the grass at Blenheim defies logic. Even if it did win one on the grass at the coast at Christmas which is highly unlikely, it would’ve cost them a helluva lot more in training costs over the next few months! Are they are after black print? seriously though, Beragio got warned by the Stipes, FFS it is a shocker at every start so how on earth is it not UNRULY? What does it have to do, bring down the whole field?

David Schofield

Matt Anderson will make a very good trainer and is already a very good driver. Normally puts his horse in the race Great to see young ones training as there are a helluva lot of old timers that can’t go on forever very difficukt to make a living unless you have the numbers and win races to get new owners