Brodie

Geez $400k plus costs takes a lot of winning, although there have been some success stories in Perth from NZ horses. Some people have no issues paying big money for very promising horses although Regazza Mach won most of his races away from Addington so it was a bit of a risk for the purchaser. Many horses that race at Addington would have no problem running around in the tighter class races in the major cities in Oz. Think there are going to continue to be a big number of sales to Oz in the next year if things do not get more viable for owners!

No idea what a horse like Cranboune would sell for to the States nowadays but bear in mind the exchange rate is not too bad for them! Personally think that Nathan Williamson is a consistently a better driver than Matthew but Just my opinion and UDR shows this! No point debating but Nathan us a very very good horseman!

All good! Personally do not believe that $1k will make any difference to whether broodmare owners breed or not!

Auckland race on Friday night again and once again it will be another loss making venture for harness in NZ! 6 races carded, 2 have only 7 starters and 3 have only the 6 starters!!!! Surely this can not continue and needs addressing as it wont get any better with the way things are being run! Turnover will be poor, oncourse attendance will be low and the racing will be boring you would think? It will be OK though because we can talk about “THE RACE”!! HRNZ need to address the elephant in the room that is the cost of racing horses to what you can earn with stakes. We know that the stakes are going to be reduced and training costs will continue to escalate! What is HRNZ suits doing about it???

Are you sure about that? I have been led to believe it comes by way of a credit on the studs invoice to the owner??

always on the money!! lizzie Richter has barely paced a full race in its career, although it has improved recently with ANOTHER TRAINER! Havent seen the race yet as the miles arent really worth watching, anything can win and clearly they can with the galloper Lizzie Richter today!

Lol that lunatic won again? havent seen it yet, mustve not galloped and a weak field? Mark Jones now training it would help!

Lol you are right, he did say “ you know me” Got $2?

Brucie, he was the bloke that always asked for $1 lol. Harness needs those characters back!

Galah, were you one of the regulars that went around picking up the discarded tickets and taking them home to check to see if they were winners?

Carters UDR is .4889 Sarah’s .1792 currently Says it all really? Carter Dalgety would have the best UDR ever I would say and he is only going to improve Certainly as good as Dexter at the same age !

Sorry Gamma, Sarah is very good, however Carter is the better driver the UDR clearly shows this now and he hasn’t needed to go to Palmy for easy kill! Sarah has more drives than Carter at the mo but young Carter is going to be picking the drives left right and centre soon. You will admit in the future that Brodie is on the money lol Anyway it is good for the industry and we need more of them. Dunn benefit day at Nelson.

News to me lol

Far from old! Fit as a buck rat as they say, so wont be getting rid if me that easy! Just coming into my prime!

It was a false market Mikie. From The TAB they took 2 bets of $100 and 1 of $500. The horse had shown very little and should never have shortened into $4. Reality is that unfortunately the TAB are so restrictive and conservative it is affecting the bottom line.

Yes I know, been discussed before! Mile racing from the mobile is bad enough, but why on earth do they plan mile races from a STAND??? Absolutely crazy, your horse misses away slightly and it is game over, when they are going so fast over the shortest distance!!!!! There will be some that wager on such events, but as a betting option , forget it, absolute lottery,

Carter going just as well. I have never put Sarah O’Reilly’s driving down, but I will still maintain that Carter Dalgety is the best Junior since Dexter if not better at the same stage. Look at his last 2 drives today. Beaten by the bad draw of of 9 and then a $15 winner! I will guarantee that Carter will be far more successful whether it be NZ or overseas. You can just tell by the way he drives, cool as ice and nothing phases him for one of his experience. Are you up for a wager Gamma, on whose UDR is better at the end of the year? Lol

Lol according to Craig Thompson from the TAB lol $100 at 14 another hundred at $10 i think and $500 @$6 ffs.Absolutely criminal shortening on that pitiful amount. Bookies are very poor! That horse went shocking!

Was told it went well in a trial at Addington in early November! Started in a qualifier and was 3 back and got bowled. Started many races later against qualified non winners to try and aualify which it did running fourth! Thought it went only fair, so it mustve grown another leg in training to warrant such support you would think?

Someone knows something alright but you couldnt have it on its run in November! Seems it might have gate speed but leave me off that one, but where there is smoke there is fire! Harnesslink tipster tipped it out, so you wouldnt know how much went on? Do like one in that race that I thought was overs!

The whip rule is so WRONG and needs changing! Tim Williams did not deserve a 3 day suspension, there are far worse drives that never get mentioned!! Racing Integrity?

Race 4 at Nelson Forte Lustre having its first start for Ivan Court has been hammered by the Bookies, Anyone know why it has been so heavily backed in? Seems puzzling to be reduced so much on what it has shown in public!

Not too sure why some people often pick on Tim Williams. To my mind Tim Williams has been one of most improved harness drivers that NZ has had! When he started out he had plenty of ability, probably too much, as he probably wanted to be as good as his mate, Dexter! When he was down south he used to be very aggressive but once he came back up to Chch and worked at the AllStars stables he improved dramatically. You only have to look at his UDR to see just how good he really is! I rank him very highly, and yes he doesnt always drive as consistently as say Blair Orange does! He is one of the very best we have and a credit to the industry and his family!

Harness racing registered foals in NZ has been declining in numbers drastically over the past decades. There was only 1367 foals registered in the 2022 year a decline of 59% in the last 2 decades which is alarming! HRNZ have acknowledged this now and are going to give a subsidy Of $1k off the service fee to all breeders for the 2023 season on a 42 day positive test. This $1k is paid to the stud and is a credit off the invoice for the service! Totally agree that things have to be done to stop the decline in breeding numbers or without people breeding their mares, the industry is doomed! Breeding horses to make money from selling and racing is a difficult business nowadays, that is the reason that people have got the stitch and arent bothering with the horse breeding like they did last century!! it is going to be interesting to see if this $1k subsidy makes any difference in promoting breeding their mares this season? Hopefully it helps a bit but probably will not make one iota of difference as $1k is not a lot when you consider the stallion’s service fees and the many other associated costs, is it much of an incentive do you think? Not sure what Bettors Delight service fee is but probably around $30k? There is also a $3k subsidy for breeders that breed from a mare that was not bred from in 2022 if it is an additional mare owned by the same owner! This is estimated to cost around $1 million to HRNZ so hopefully it works to improve numbers being bred! What do you reckon, will it make any difference????

I say the more Junior Drivers we have available the better for the good of the industry. There has to be something for the young ones who are working in stables, as there are far easier ways of making a living. I certainly would not want to be getting up when it is dark and driving to the stables anytime of the year and work as hard as young ones do. Andrew Fitzgerald is a total harness enthusiast and is an asset to harness and promotes the industry more that what HRNZ does, so not great to knock him as he is a top bloke and we need him to keep up his great work.