Brodie

Maybe time to look at whether it is still appropriate? I see they are playing women cricket in Wellington at the moment!

I have wondered in previous years why on Good Friday, Australia has race meetings, when NZ doesnt? There are 3 night meetings plus one day harness meeting on today, Good Friday! Now I am not necessarily suggesting that we need a harness meeting, just questioning why we dont? Most things are closed in NZ today so it would be good to have a local meeting but I doubt it will happen in the future! Just appears that maybe the Ozzies have more of a culture of making things happen than what NZ does? Not convinced that most nowadays think that Easter is anything other than a couple of days of Public Holidays !

The mass immigration is happening all around the world, and not just NZ! Immigration is fine if it is with the right qualified people that are going to financially contribute to NZ and not bring their cultural problems here!! Yes I will be called racist, but it is a fact that people with different religious beliefs are causing major problems! To be bringing in people who dont mix into society and end up driving Uber taxis or running Dairies is just problematical for NZ! It does need to stop! it puts an unnecessary strain on everything, housing, health system, schooling etc. when we have an already existing problem! Brodie on the money, and telling it the way it is, whether you want to believe it or not!

Wasnt that!

Got no idea how much is bet on Fixed Odds on harness nowadays? However the tote pools that show up on Trackside when the races close is absolutely pathetic to what they used to be! There is clearly not a lot of ew money being wagered by punters, bearing in mind a lot of the turnover in the tote pools will be reinvestments. Last week I saw win pools at Addington that were not much larger if at all, than Brodie would want to wager on Fixed himself! TAB needs to let go of the shackles and let the punters on to keep the industry going or it is history!

You would only need to start fining them and they would soon realise that it is not worth it to be less than average! What it would do is to make the harness industry have more level of professionalism and credibility If there were less drivers then the better drivers would pick up the drives that the poor drivers were currently getting! Would be a major win for the sport as it is frustrating to invest on a horse that continually has a poor driver up! I am sure in the major tracks in the United States, it is only the top drivers getting all the drives without the mug ones!

It isnt meant to be a name and shame post Newmarket!

There was an owner that had a few horses with Graham and Paul Court, that had the prefix Mongolian 2 or 3 seasons ago! They seemed to have disappeared? Short life of racing in NZ for that owner!

You would have to agree that young Junior driver Carter Dalgety must be our best Junior driver ever? He achieved it in only 550 drives, much quicker than Dexter Dunn and nearly 400 drives less than Sarah O’Reilly! Yes he has driven some very good horses, but surely the fact that he has achieved it so much quicker than anyone else is proof enough? Very professional and an asset to the industry. He for one, is not one that goes out on the track and waits for something to happen! He wants to put his horse in the race and that is all we can ask for. Well done Carter!

Galah, have read about this awful behaviour bt the Chinese snd Mongolians previously! I am sure you are probably correct about what is hsppening! what would the owners be getting for their mares, it cant be too much or the buyers would just need to buy hacks wouldn't they? Think people should be more concerned with this practice than the use of the whip on harness horse?

I believe that the 2 drivers in question just lack the ability to be a successful driver. You can see why the top drivers like Blair Orange, John and Dexter Dunn, Herlihy, Carter etc. just have more nous than the poor drivers. They have more up top and the desire to actually do well rather than just jumping in the cart and seeing what happens. It is very frustrating when you offload and you nave no control over what the driver does out on the track!!!! As I say there needs to be change so that the punters have some confidence or they will drop out. Absolutely pointless owning a horse and putting on drivers if they are going to sit at the back and run home! Put them in the race or let someone professional drive them!!!!

Before offloading on them, I knew they were both below average in driving ability! However in small fields it was hard to see either of them out of the first 3 placing unless they drove poorly! Yep they both drove poorly. Punters invest with the TAB on good faith and should be able to expect that drivers have a modicum of respect for this. the owners pay the large training bills and also should expect the driver to do best to win $ for them! It doesn’t actually do a lot for the harness racing industry when these poorer drivers are out on the track being so timid that they give their horse absolutely no chance of winning for the punter and owner. Start fining these ones who are just passengers in the cart and they will change their way of driving! Harming the industry

I am not going to name them, but if I was the owners of the 2 horses that I off loaded on, both drivers should not be on them again! That isnt going go happen with these horses, however I believe that both should be fined more-so than Colin de fillippi who has been fined many times for trying too hard to win. If they started handling out fines for these poor drives, it might damn well make them try harder! The TAB would be happy if Brodie stopped investing with them, but if these drivers are going to continue to drive poorly and not put their horse into the race till too late, then he may do!

Had a couple of goes on what I considered to be certainties to run in the money!!! Only problem is that they both were extremely poorly driven! Yes I know that you take your chances when you back anyone but the good drivers! However in small fields and stakes of $15k you would think the drivers would have enough intellect to put the horse in the race, and not flash home too late?? Yes talking through my wallet however it is pathetic that the Stipes will accept this as acceptable! You can see why some drivers get outside drives snd others dont!

The problem is though that it is currently far too expensive to have a horse trained compared to stake money that you can win, unless you are one of the few in the top echelon! Yes owners get a great thrill when they win a race, but then again most of the owners nowadays are past mid age without a doubt. It is very difficult to attract people to ownership when it is costing probably in excess of $3k per month have a horse in full work, with a top trainer! Syndication by several people is greatly appreciated but seriously it is only a drop in the bucket really! There is no one answer as to how to stop the decline, but to have new participants into harness racing, we need to get them to attend oncourse! Highly doubt training fees will ever come down, and can not see how stake money is going to increase as turnover needs to be increased! Entain are trying to improve things which is great obviously but there needs to be change to TAB policies.

Yes the Stallion fees are ludicrously high to make breeding financially viable unless you have the top mares to breed from! All the other costs as you say associated and then you are very lucky if you break even racing them! The number if people breeding horses in the future is only going go drop unfortunately. People dont breed from our colonial stallions as they are not commercially attractive if you want to sell them overseas.

That Girl, you are obviously associated with Bloke? This is a forum to enable people to post their thoughts! There is a problem at the moment with many New Zealand citizens in that they believed every word and action that Labour Losers enforced on them! I have realised just how easily led so many people are and need to be controlled unfortunately. The other thing is that the country has never been so divided and this has been caused by the looney left ideas, and these actions by Ardern and Robertson have set the country back decades. There is this element of discontent from the people who are not as well off financially as others and they do not think this is fair!!! So they want the people who are more financially better off to give them their wealth! Well there is a reason that most people who are financially well off, and that is that they deserve to be, they work harder, make better choices and dont continually moan about how unfair everything is!!! To be fair Ardern and her cohort Labour loonies policies and actions actually made the wealthy better off and the ones who are not so wealthy, poorer by their actions!!!

Very alarming running a two horse race a Addington for any reason! Think there is something very fishy with the scratchings today in that first race? why wouldnt you line up a horse to run 3rd for the stake money??? Surely the horses were ready to race or they would nkt nave been nominated and left in the field? Looks like they were nominated so that a race had to take place and scoop the stake money?

Bloke, going by your name you obviously are a bit unsure of your sexuality!! If you think I am racist then that is an opinion you can hold! What I do know is that the TPM party is the biggest bunch of racists that is possible! They stated that they are superior to the NZ europeans and if that is not racist, the what is? They want preferential treatment for everything at the expense of every other citizen in NZ. Maori have had mega billions gifted to them over the years and still have their hands out, and it needs to stop! If speaking the truth hurts you BLOKE, then so be it!

The reverse rascism in NZ is repugnant. Firstly to have a Maori Party and its BS is appalling and should be outlawed! It is a true racist party and what the members including the tattooed face says is abhorrent! But we are not allowed to say anything against them or we are racist white honkies!!! The problem is that for 6 horrible years in NZ history while the Lefty Losers were in power and controlling NEW ZEALAND there was this continued MAORIDOM promoted in so many way which was totally wrong! With respect most do not want to learn the Maori language as it is just an absolute waste of time as it is not a used language around the world. If you want to learn it then do so, but do not ram it down our throats. The issue is now that the Coalition in power at the moment are righting the wrongs that Labour pushed on to us, and the Maori do not like it. We are a small country and just can not afford the privileges that Maori are afforded currently in NZ! Do not consider myself racist at all, but just totally over the crap that NZ citizens have been pushed on to them giving preferential treated to Maori. We are one country but Liebour’s actions for the last 6 hears set us back decades!

Wasnt necessarily questioning Geddes’s ability to be out on the track driving! He is not a nil driver, he obviously enjoys being out there and we still need the owner/ trainers in the industry big time! Had Sods Law been driven by a pro during its career it possibly may have been retired earlier? The current system allows horses to win a lot if races if it has a lot of starts, and many are doing this. Not putting Mr Geddes down, but he would be getting outside drives if owners thought he could do the job! Anyway, great to see stalwarts get good results.

Back on, work to be done!

Still offline, the important parts of HRNZ ! Apparently they are not available for maintenance? Not what they said yesterday lol

Sods Law originally was a grass tracker and couldnt win on the all weather tracks! The horse always had ability but was more often than not driven less than averagely, as I supported it on many occasions. Had some good collects but also had some good losses due to the way it was driven. Sods Law is clearly in a great vein of form and this has been due to the sudden change of driver and the way it is being driven! The Geddes’s are apparently nice down to earth people and have been in the harness racing game for many decades, and great to see them with success. We do actually need the part time trainers in the industry to keep it going, and most do it for the fun of it rather than the money! What I do know is if the trainer jumps back in the cart, the winning will stop!

There is a reason for the winning form! Wonder if the change of driver has something to do with it? There are many horses that would turn their form around if they had a change of driver!