Brodie

To be fair it was a weak trotters race, but that is what some of the punters like! The harness racing over the past few days has presented some great opportunities to make good money. Not hard to make $ this time of year on harness.

Yes Winx would have scared off some opponents but there were always enough racing her and the races she ran in always had a massive stake, so running second or third was always well worth lining up. The difference is that harness racing can not afford to be running races with good stakes when betting is low, and therefore a loss making race! Things are looking very dire for racing in the North Island in the future. I note it is so bad that Cheree Wigg has brought a team down from Auckland to race in the Central!

I don’t see Michaels’s posts but to be fair I do believe he knows that Brodie is always on the money, and tries to disagree for the hell of it !

Right plan if they had done their homework!

Yes would be great if they did get the harness odds out earlier, as the gallops meetings are often out days before a meeting! Gallops does get preferential treatment! They probably worry that if they have them out 2 days before, then they may miss out on punters not betting on the meeting the day before? But they need to be encouraging punters to get on!

Gamma, you are generally very positive towards harness racing and that is always 👍. However the point we are making is that harness racing in NZ is struggling on many fronts. The reality is that it is just about impossible to attract new punters and owners to get involved which is problematic big time for the future of racing! Yes we need group racing and good stakes to try and retain our tighter class horses. However there is no logic or financial reason as I see it to deliberately lose money from the coffers. 4 horses, 50k and basically a certainty unless it gallops is not a positive for a group race unfortunately. Unless we can have positive change occurring due to decisions being made then harness will continue to decline from a once great industry. Oz racing will continue as you have the population and enough horses partly due to the horses being imported from NZ.

I agree the odds should be out early but to be fair we get them earlier than what the Ozzies get! There are so many things that can be better than what is currently happening. It is a gambling business and being such, they should take the losses with the wins, and the law of averages they are going to be the major winners! The fact that they do not want to having punters that win is a recipe for disaster for the industry in the future.

Lol. Na dont qualify on age or ethnicity basis!

$50,000 and 4 starters? Racing in the North has to be in a dire situation when Auckland can only provide the Franklin Cup 4 starters and race for $50k! Copy That surely will win it and doubt too many would be betting against it sinning! It will without doubt not engender enough money on it to make it profitable and you would wonder who decided that they had to run it? Happy New Year to everyone, and if you are out and about tonight, be careful as there will be CHECKPOINTS out there!

Na that 2k is for win bets only, nothing else!! Just dont bother on account anymore, Power Plays net $30, so just pointless. One day the NZ TAB will wake up and realise that what they are doing has done major harm to their client base. I do not know a single person who has started wagering on harness racing in the kast decade do you?

Never been offered a “Bonus Bet” lol. The Stipes probably left the course heading for home straight after the races. Hard to write a report on the winding roads!

They need to be giving the Power Plays and Head to heads and Option No.! Punters want to have a crack but do not want to be restricted to netting $30 on a power play on account, just pointless!! When they announce bets of $200 as a bet worthy of mentioning on Trackside you know they are not allowing punters on for much. One bet last week announced snd obviously worth mentioning by the Bookies was $1k @2.30 ffs!

You are correct Davis, if harness racing died in NZ the NZ TAB would be happy but the participants would not be. Yes they love the Sports betting!

Reality is that the NZ TAB has a betting monopoly in NZ but they are very poorly run! Instead of restricting punters they should be encouraging them, which will make the industry far mire sustainable! By giving away free bets to certain punters obviously increases turnover but makes them less profit. Yes I know they want to retain the losing punters by giving them back some money but at the same time not allowing others on for what they want. There business plan as such is totally flawed and is hurting them majorly. By favouring the losing punters over the more astute punters is driving punters out of punting on harness and ownership. They need to forget about the yield and get turnover growing and ultimately they will be better off.

They do not want to increase turnover Shad! It seems to be all about yield and that is why the NZ TAB is faltering. If they let me on, I could increase their turnover significantly but they dont want my $ and they treat me as a money launderer. Unless they change their policies the NZ TAB is going to decline.

Hoses from the back are making ground in the straight not like Westport! One good collect from the only investment over Xmas period so far, so more than happy with The Mot!

Na she and her other useless muppets are gone burger bigtime. Anyone that is prepared to vote for her and her commies do not deserve a vote! Was unbelievable that they voted for her and her useless cohorts last time after a very poor performance in their first term. She kept us safe people say, what she did was stuffed NÉW ZEALAND and we are going to continue to pay for this for the next decade unfortunately. It will be a landslide victory for National next year without doubt

No, what was his other claim to fame? Yes will be a far better day at Mot, where horses can come from the back. Even had a bit of a go today on one!

Durbin Chief.

Like all the Labour lightweights, living off the taxpayers generosity! They are all total incompetents, I have absolutely no idea what Labour showed in their first term to warrant people to want them back in power? Beggars belief really!!!!

Didnt have a wager on Westport over the 2 days and watched many on my phone! This track is such a front runners track it gives you basically no chance from the back. But more so you have to stick to the fence as you save so much ground that anything on the fence has got so much of an advantage over those 2 out. Even if you are in the one one and come out on the bend you lose plenty of ground on the ones on the inside. Good punting to everyone at Mot tomorrow and will be a big crowd and meant to be over 30 degrees.

Embarrassing that they allow it to occur 4 horses $50k the industry in the North is stuffed. copy That in the race so who is going to bet against it? Just another drain on the harness coffers is Auckland and not going to improve when trainers and owners drop out this coming year with the Labour Party wish to have a recession!

Some drivers just have natural ability and some do not! Just because you are born into a racing family does not mean you are going to be a great driver despite having an obvious advantage! Not going to name names, but as we know not all the Butt’s driving ability is equal for an example! There are many examples of this! However young Carter has been around top drivers all of his life but has natural ability and will become one of our very best in the years ahead, if he stays in NZ! Ne dead heated for first with his very first drive, says it all really!

Probably wouldnt be in the good books nowadays with the RIU lol. Many true stories of Mr Ryan’s training techniques. MERRY XMAS and an interesting 2023 to everyone. Great punting if you are indulging and enjoy your family and friends!!

Dont agree but good to have different opinions. Personally believe Carter is better now even though he is far more inexperienced and will be more successful in the future. Sarah has done a great job though as well as a few other Juniors like the 3 Thornley’s!