jess

Chief- I'm not usually one for censorship as you know but I think that last post should go. I think a little more respect is called for.

Long-O - steady on. You are tarring a helluva lot of ppl with a very broad black brush with yr statement...

The "statement" I read was on the Allstars website - so you would expect it to be directed at their own "fans" or customers. As such you would also expect it to be, essentially, self-serving. It took a certain position - mostly dwelling on the treatment of the accused - rather than the accusations. As Brando alluded to - painting the accused & wider industry as victims. Whatever the merit of that argument, I think that is a side-show. It distracts from the principal issues here. And to claim it the industry is clean at this point is probably more an "aspirational goal" than a reality. The past & the present suggest otherwise - as well the this man should know. I'm not saying it's rotten to the core & acknowledge his right to promulgate whatever messages he wants from his own platform. But denial & rose-tinted glasses won't save the industry & its reputation. We might as well embrace the scrutiny now & try to turn this into an opportunity to sort out whatever (and whoever) is determined to have gone wrong. There is more chance of re-building confidence in the industry that way than walking round like a kid with chocolate all over its face crying foul because it's been accused of stealing the choccy biscuits ...

Read Mark Purdon's statement. This is the part that I was slightly bemused by: I have been in harness racing a long time and consider it clean.

There are probably worse websites the missus cld catch you drunk on ...

The argument they've been denied a fair trial? Wouldn't think it's reached that level ....

Gone a bit quiet on this topic ... ?

Interesting comments. Is the criticism of the media because they reported on the raids? (natural enough) - or because they named people prematurely? May be some grounds for unease there if they have pre-empted the possible suppression of names in court ... Re Police - what is the wrong-doing alleged there? - it is not uncommon for them to have press conferences prior to court hearings from what I observe - have often seen raids for drugs or on gangs & it's in the media teh same day with talk about the number of arrests & numerous court appearances which are to follow ... Did the Police somehow exceed this common practice with Inca? As for the media company being interested in financial gain - as distasteful & immoral as that's made to sound - in fact that's most of us. Most of you here on BOAY, the journalists, the ppl charged & I - even judges - all work for financial gain. And the media companies have shareholders to satisfy. It's how we go about that work that counts. Deep breath everyone!

To those who have bagged the Police & the standard of the investigation & the fact that there's too much fuss about too $mall an issue ....etc etc I have no idea the quality of the evidence - what charges will stick - what people will go down. But one thing I do take some comfort in, is that this time, the artbiter of matters will be a District Court Judge. And I doubt a District Court Judge would buy a defence of the quality such as a derby horse grazing with the dairy cows and thereby ingesting a prohibited substance from their troughs .. So at this stage I am prepared to sit back & let justice take its course. Innocent until proven guilty. But there is no place for cheats in the game IMO - so if cheating is established - I think those people should have to look for another occupation.

Brodie my respectful suggestion is you stop referring to yourself in the third person. It's creepy.

Ha! Close-knit you say.- bordering incestuous i reckon! ? ... So NM - what about the link with the galloping ppl? Or has the TB man in tbe CD just got involved as a result of his hospitality for the trotting guys when they venture north for the circuit up there? Any more gallops ppl in the mix you think?

.... Sam? Samuel? Samantha? ?

Congratulations Weasel if this is your baby! I like the idea of that pedigree match-up ... makes me think a little of Melody Belle ... could be a sensible match re type as well methinks So then - should we be blowing up pink or blue balloons to celebrate the arriveal of this good looker? (not that gender is binary in society these days, I remind myself ...) You are leading the way for posting photos / video re breeding. I salute you Mustelidus Maximus!! ?‍♀️

Mmmm. "First thing in the morning" might have a different meaning in the Knight household to my place ... ? Fair go however - I think he did have a "maybe" in there when he alluded to the news to be broken today in his earlier post ... What I am interested in is the lack of commentary in relative terms about the Manawatu racing admnistrator's role ... seems to have been relatively quiet about his involvement.... and I would have expected considerable interest in a person in such a role being implicated/accused ...

Not only this quote but more particularly some others I read which were attributed to this man made me think if that was the quality / tenor of his utterances, that he might have been wiser to have kept his counsel and said nothing.

How my horse is going is information for my trainer and me. IMO it's not for the trainer to provide the skinny on my horse to other owners or punters - unless those other owners/punters want to pay my bills. Even betting / cheating considerations aside - it just isn't right to me. He who pays the piper calls the tune ....

Oh yeah .. that pacemaker stuff .. and openly referred to as such .... pretty awful stuff and I have no idea what the betting public or industry judiciary made of it ...

Oh and just a quick post script ... it piqued my interest so I looked up the stewards' report later on ...... not a problem apparently. Must've imagined it ....

I am very much an amateur observer when it comes to this code. But I have watched harness races on TV and at the track where the tactics have beggared my belief. One time on-course there were 2 drivers who were clearly "connected". I watched as one would go to the front - a good horse would come up outside him and the front runner would go like hell in a speed duel to keep him out- ruining his own chances. Subsequently the leader's connected driver would come up outside him and the leader would obediently hand up at the perfect time and his "mate" would go on to win. If it happened once I might have been able to talk myself out of any conspiracy theory. But when I saw a similar pattern in several races, involving the same 2 drivers, I was struggling to put it down to coincidence or a series of honest explanations. When I expressed my observations my more learned mate shrugged and said "oh team driving - yeah - that lot do it quite a bit"

Don't know and don't care about the source - disgruntled, fully gruntled or otherwise. I'm not looking to bag whoever informed if it turns out they informed about a load of cheats. The source may be saint or sinner. But if cheating has been exposed - I say that needed to happen.

Hard to sort out truth from rumor at this stage ...but the wording might also be important ... Perhaps Police have not arrested anyone ... could still however have laid charges and proceed to court.by way of serving a summons on the defendant ... (without arresting him...) J.

Ah ok . A bit like a criminal whose stock in trade is aggravated robberies - then he rapes someone - so he should be treated as a first-time offender? I certainly hope you are wrong ....

Yeah you're probably right. There'll be a headline tomorrow & a joint press statement from RIU and NZ Police saying something along the lines of .....Just kidding - nothing to see here - just a bit of fun - as you were folks.... ?

Lots of water to go under the bridge before anything is proven. I do see some names familiar from past dishonesty featuring on the early press however. And I will be watching with interest, the sentences given to anyone who has previously been found to have cheated. I certainly hope it would be more life-ban than wet bus ticket .....

In a written statement, New Zealand Racing Board chair Glenda Hughes said the investigation "while disappointing, shows the racing integrity system is working". Something for a Tui billboard? ......