Brodie

Well done to “ The Box Seat” today that debated about the 2000m stands at Addington! Michael Guerin brought it up and good discussion. Brittany Graham stated that the stands that they actually have in Ozzie, the horses have to STAND!! they discussed that if you draw the few inside spots over 2000m is a major disadvsntage and hard to win from. They discussed the horses on the charge getting a huge advantage. Could Brodie suggest to HRNZ and their starter, that if they card it as a standing starts, then make the horses STAND!! Current situation of how they are being allowed to happen is extremely poor, and if HRNZ thinks it is acceptable then it shows that we are not in good hands!!

Galah, so what you are saying is that the trainers nowadays are not as good at disciplining their horses compared to decades ago? The reality is that the drivers know that they can get away with having their horses on the move, when the tapes are released by the starter! Lets watch over the next few weeks as to how these so called standing starts are performed! The starter has no respect from the drivers, it clearly can be seen. Will not worry the TAB but I am going to boycott the sprint so called stands as it is just pure gambling and you can not predict who gets the advantage. Would you not think that someone from HRNZ would come out and say something, but highly doubt they will because they are aware that they are not stands, and poorly executed.

Galah, not sure about this racing on time thing? It is more about the starter having the control and not the drivers!!! Just watched a race on Trackside 1, a standing start for trotters, with several lines of horses. We need this starter over here as he ensured that every horse was standing totally still before he let them go! Was a great standing start, he wouldnt be putting up with the crap that we have here, with nothing like standing starts at all! Most of the execs at Entain and the CEO Brad Steele are all Ozzies, and they need to get an Ozzie over to get these stands being properly executed. Reality is Galah,that not all horses do get the same treatment in every standing start in the South Island! Just pathetic the way they think horses getting a flier cos it is in a run up is a fair standing start! Watch the replay of race 2 at Albion Park today and you will see that the starters here and Australia are chalk and cheese with the stands

They were not standing starts! They were rolling starts at best, with horses well and truly jogging up to the tape there were horses that are often not great beginners get into full gait very early on, and it is just a lucky dip. Westview commented it was a timing issue with having to get the races run on exact time by the sound of of it! Surely it is not that hard to get them organised earlier by a few seconds prior to releasing the tapes Why is it really only the South Island clubs that have standing starts, as Ozzie and the North Island do not really? At the end of the day if HRNZ think they are fine and punters think they are good to punt into, then so be it I suppose. Just shows really where harness racing is currently at, that running to time is far more important than producing a fair product to punt on! Anything goes with non mobile starts apparently! The industry will continue to be in trouble if mediocrity is accepted as being fine!

Gamma, lol This Sam O’Reilly did he marry Sarah and took her name instead of remaining a Thornley? Hate to say it but officialdom from HRNZ is very amateurish and very poor. Punters should not be putting up with these pathetic so called standing starts, snd blhcott wagering on them until such time as they get someone who knows what standing still means . Otherwise call them something else, like anything GOES! Where on earth is Brad Steele advising us what HRNZ policy is in regards to the stands? Seriously anyone could do what the starters are currently getting away with! Watch, nothing will come out from HRNZ!

Lol lol lol lol You just have to shake your head and just wonder. Very questionable today once again. Major Hipster got no advantage from galloping lol Are they SERIOUS?????? Delusion!

Yes they love Casinos because if the speed of betting I would suggest. ChCh Casino now inundated with Indian young makes now but you never see them On course or TAB’s. Just not their thing for some reason, or are we not doing enough to attract their $?

As I keep saying if this is what we are be treated to with standing starts, then they need to be got rid of and just have mobiles. Does HRNZ have confidence in its starters, if so they have very low standards indeed! Why on earth the starter let the tapes go when he did, is very hard to understand? Think they need to have major training sessions, as seriously it is NOT GREAT!! Ben Hope may have been found st fault and fined but I do not see it that way! He was not the one that ,et the tape go and said that it was a fair start by doing so? Yet the starter gets nothing, and the blame goes on Ben and the punters that win get LESS!!

To be fair it wasnt just Colleen Negus who didnt move. It was a very poor example of Amateur races, but that is what we often get ! They are normally unpredictable and you can never guess how they are going to be run.

Unfortunately it is going to take a lot more than that to make it worth the while, throwing money at it! There is just very little interest in harness racing in the North and we are going to continue to see this. There were several races in the age group races on Saturday night with 5 or 6 horses in them racing for good stake money. If it wasnt for South Island horses flying up then those races would not have been run. Harness in Auckland is in far bigger trouble than they are willing to admit. I will be very happy to be proven wrong!

In Auckland/ Waikato apart from Luk, has there been any other Asian harness trainers or drivers? i can not think of any others! In the whole of NZ has there ever been an Indian/Pakistani harness trainer or driver? Can not think if a single one, so there is one of harness racing problem, that this sizeable amount of people who have immigrated to NZ and increased our population, do not participate at any level in the sport!

The thing about Auckland is that the population has spiralled out of control due to immigration from countries that do not generally have racing! Countries such as India and China, and from what I see, these immigrants just are not interested in harness racing. They are known to be very active gamblers at Casino’s but they just do not bother with harness racing for some reason? Plenty around but not at racetracks or the TAB!

Thats the normal for Addington track. They are running with the front line as if it was being run at the Mot. Rest assured it is only 8 across the front for the stands.

The 8 across the front is only for this one meeting. Been done due to Mot only having 8 across the front for stands.

For those punting at Addington on Easter Monday - The standing starts have a frontline of only 8, rather than the normal 10!

The tote pools are always very poor at Auckland, however we are not advised as to how much is being taken on the fixed? Personally do not bother investing on the Auckland meetings as just no value or worth the effort, and I believe many other punters are the same! Entain continues to subsidise the stakes in Auckland at the moment, but when they stop this they are going to be in s far more dire situation unfortunately. Biggest population in NZ and yet they can not get enough interest in the sport to enable sustainability?

Exactly Ranga. Bruce didnt have a radio his ear, that was Radio Ron! He wanted $2 for a punt! Have seen him still in ChCh, not that I associated with him!

That was Radio Ron with the radio to his ear! passed away a year or so ago. Yeah Bruce wanted the money lol.

Was far better when they raced on the Saturday night. People would go out in big numbers but doubt there will be too many out there, apart from the owners and participants on a Saturday arvo? fields are very even and csn nit see anything worth having a crack at with what the current odds are.

The interesting thing is that certain punters are restricted to pathetically low amounts by the TAB! These punters would be increasing turnover dramatically if they were not so restricted and also having betting options withdrawn from them! And yet, the NZ TAB is prepared to lose significant amounts on many of their meetings that they run, knowingly? This can not continue, and they will one day realise that they are very poor decision makers, and will not end well!

But there are not that many punters that would be wanting to punt on harness on a Tuesday let alone Cambridge?

If the stored value instrument is a voucher issued byTAB NZ or Entain New Zealand Limited, $10,000?

So the lady was trying to deposit money into her TAB account from her Bank Account?. The thing is very few outlets that actually have much cash to pay out! Lol, money launderer when they have the AML limit at $1k when the LAW says it is $10k!! High time the NZ TAB actually abided by the law and made the AML limit $10k or are they a law unto thrmselves? It is costing them a lot of turnover without doubt!

Do the machines allow you to withdraw cash?

There were 7 drivers in the Amateur race yesterday. In Ozzie there would’ve been charges on C Wigg for going so slow in front, however there were other drivers that allowed it to happen. Of those 7 drivers at least 4 had previously had a professional safety and license prior to becoming an Amateur decade driver. Just hard to understand how it was possible that C Wigg was able to get away with such a slow mile rate?