Nowornever Posted November 1, 2023 Share Posted November 1, 2023 Was that a dangerous move by Ben Hope barging out like that in Race 9? He just went straight sideways even though there was no gap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the galah Posted November 1, 2023 Share Posted November 1, 2023 (edited) probably get a couple of days. It was a bit risky but a winning move and no harm done.If it was a southland or auckland stipes report they would say the horses outside him were hanging in and that was a contributing factor.It may still say that as maybe it was. That race was a r35-49. Just how unfairly 1 win horses are rated can be seen by comparing the records of horses in that race. For example the horse kirkman who won its first start will now be rated ahead of every runner except the winner blue rock dancer. So you have r52 blue rock dancer 4 wins 6 placings from 18 starts. then r50 kirkman 1 win 1 start, r48 topaz 3 wins 18 starts, r47 goodasgold 1 win 4 starts,kalasa 2 w 5 p 18 starts, then it dtrops to r44 american sniper 2 w 13 p 40 s,rapid response 3 w 5p 24 s r 43 takemybreath away 9w 11p 99s, r39,kennedy 4 w 6 p 79s,hes a jackalack 3w 5p 19s, r38 on report 2 w,8 p 35s, r36 lets go ringo 2w 9p 43 s r35megarock 3w,19p 71 s. So you can see by that the rating system is set up so horses who win early in their careers are forced to run against horses with superior records and it would take them to run there horse unplaced at least once a week for 3 months just to get down to a level where they could take on 9 win horses or a horse with 3 wins and 5 placings hes a jackalak. about 6 months ago i started a thread acout adesanya,a 2 win horse from the dunn stable who appeared to be slaughtered in the rating system after just his 2nd win. Well 6 months later where is he. Well hes dropped to a r45 after having been raced for virtually 6 months non stop for 1 3rd placing and a few 4ths. Now,to me he is a horse with his share of abilty who doesn't try that hard sometimes because he realised ,whats the point, due to having run in races he was so unfairly forced to run in.Obviously its up to his owners,but i wpuld imagine they must have known they would have had to pay 6 months training and racinf fees just to get back into a grade where he may have a chance.Personally i would have thought most owners would have sold him long ago to australia . but the point is the rating system is encouraging some to keep racing,but also forcing others to be realistic and make decisions to sell after only a couple of starts.,unless they have deep pockets. To me there should be a syatem which caters for both. It should have a $won factor. They do everywhere else so why doesn't nz. Edited November 1, 2023 by the galah 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the galah Posted November 1, 2023 Share Posted November 1, 2023 1 hour ago, Nowornever said: Was that a dangerous move by Ben Hope barging out like that in Race 9? He just went straight sideways even though there was no gap. Driver officially warned to exercise greater care. I guess the fact that the horse outside didn't break helped his cause. Hes got a fast sprint on him that winner on grass. May be a chance in something like the westport cup. it will be interesting to see where they place him in the future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brodie Posted November 1, 2023 Share Posted November 1, 2023 The rating system currently being used is totally inefficient. When you have such a wide variance in grades, it just is not a fair system. When you have horses that have won in excess of 10 races handicapped the same as one win horses, it is lunacy! They would be far better to go back to the c1, c2, c3 etc. and then maybe a c4 to c6 etc. Yes it keeps some horses racing week in and week out but seriously you can see why so many horses are sold overseas. Not sure why the Brain Storming they had a couple of years ago didn’t change things then? Has much really been achieved with that meeting to the betterment of harness racing? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief Stipe Posted November 6, 2023 Share Posted November 6, 2023 Just thinking.....it would have been great to have seen overhead drone footage of Ben pushing out. I'm picking it wouldn't have looked as bad from overhead as it did head on. I wonder if the RIB bunker have added this footage to their arsenal of retrospectively checking races. Imagine the better view you'll get of whip wrist action! 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brodie Posted November 7, 2023 Share Posted November 7, 2023 7 hours ago, Chief Stipe said: Just thinking.....it would have been great to have seen overhead drone footage of Ben pushing out. I'm picking it wouldn't have looked as bad from overhead as it did head on. I wonder if the RIB bunker have added this footage to their arsenal of retrospectively checking races. Imagine the better view you'll get of whip wrist action! We all know that Ben is quite an aggressive driver compared to most drivers. The thing is that he has that desire to win every race he drives in, whereas many other drivers go out and generally go through the motions, as there is another day. In the race in question, there is no doubt he did push out in the straight to get a run, and did take the ground of the horse outside him. Most punters if they were on Ben’s drive would be more than happy with what occurred, not so much the ones on the checked horse, although dont think it wouldve run a place as it was battling a bit! To be fair, have seen a lot worse and most of us know the interference rule and whip rules are very poorly thought out and implemented,! Harness NZ should be looking at these stupid rules, but doubt they will bother? 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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