Sam Thornley

[Forbury]

I've seen enough to support my opinion that Sam Thornley is race fixing by the way he is driving to support the well backed horses he is running the races for.there is more than ten drives in the last month that suggests he's race fixing as the way the horses are driven are affecting the race results.today at Westport he's on fire.red hot fire.he even ran flow motion dead.he just ran the race for Beeps and made sure he gave it a fabulous run through.so if my opinion is wrong that means Sam Thornley is a very poor aggressive driver who is very overrated.there has been way to many drives to suggest he is race fixing.

[Newmarket]

4 minutes ago, Forbury said:

I've seen enough to support my opinion that Sam Thornley is race fixing by the way he is driving to support the well backed horses he is running the races for.there is more than ten drives in the last month that suggests he's race fixing as the way the horses are driven are affecting the race results.today at Westport he's on fire.red hot fire.he even ran flow motion dead.he just ran the race for Beeps and made sure he gave it a fabulous run through.so if my opinion is wrong that means Sam Thornley is a very poor aggressive driver who is very overrated.there has been way to many drives to suggest he is race fixing.

Beeps had trail…. Used the lane and bolted in??? What am I missing

[Blossom lady]

26 minutes ago, Forbury said:

I've seen enough to support my opinion that Sam Thornley is race fixing by the way he is driving to support the well backed horses he is running the races for.there is more than ten drives in the last month that suggests he's race fixing as the way the horses are driven are affecting the race results.today at Westport he's on fire.red hot fire.he even ran flow motion dead.he just ran the race for Beeps and made sure he gave it a fabulous run through.so if my opinion is wrong that means Sam Thornley is a very poor aggressive driver who is very overrated.there has been way to many drives to suggest he is race fixing.

Gee you are a dead set fucken idiot. You should give up those $1EW’s . Flo motion was fucked as soon as the other one crossed him at the start. Being stuck 3 fence not her go. I thought that was quite common knowledge. 
As for beeps someone has to lead. Which means someone else has the trail. Sam’s horse was always going to run out . Jimmy would have seen that very early on. It’s something a lot of horses do. 
like I said before give up. You are so fucken dumb that it’s not even funny!

[the galah]

2 hours ago, Newmarket said:

Beeps had trail…. Used the lane and bolted in??? What am I missing

Also,Sam thornleys drive,lets get tropical, shied away from 8 seagulls standing next to the markers,directly in his path the first time around,then turning for home the same seagulls were there again . Had the horse not shied out,it probably would have run over a couple of the seagulls as they were slow to get out of his way the first time around.Obviously they wanted to get a birds eye view of the action.

Edited December 26, 2023 by the galah

[Chief Stipe]

14 minutes ago, the galah said:

Also,Sam thornleys drive,lets get tropical, shied away from 8 seagulls standing next to the markers,directly in his path the first time around,then turning for home the same seagulls were there again . Had the horse not shied out,it probably would have run over a couple of the seagulls as they were slow to get out of his way the first time around.Obviously they wanted to get a birds eye view of the action.

They laid the favourite.

[Walt]

On 12/26/2023 at 4:01 PM, Forbury said:

I've seen enough to support my opinion that Sam Thornley is race fixing by the way he is driving to support the well backed horses he is running the races for.there is more than ten drives in the last month that suggests he's race fixing as the way the horses are driven are affecting the race results.today at Westport he's on fire.red hot fire.he even ran flow motion dead.he just ran the race for Beeps and made sure he gave it a fabulous run through.so if my opinion is wrong that means Sam Thornley is a very poor aggressive driver who is very overrated.there has been way to many drives to suggest he is race fixing.

I think Sam is a fairly decent driver.

I've followed the Westport form for years and have an understanding of which stables go well there. The results on the tote can point to some being surprised by the result but one size doesn't fit all. 

I have a radar out for stable driving and horses driven quietly etc. It's only annoying when you weren't onto the racehorse career management situation yourself ..that is light years away from race fixing.

The moment you speak about "Race Fixing", you need to be certain of your facts or you make yourself look like a bell end and give the impression this awesome site is full of eggplant punters that are bitter their $1 "gamble" didn't pay off. 

Perhaps a better and fairer way of raising your concerns is to put up a race replay which is easy enough and ask others for their thoughts. 

 

 

[Rangatira]

4 hours ago, Walt said:

I think Sam is a fairly decent driver.

That he is.

More race fixing in INCA and that amounted to a whole number less than One.

[the galah]

I see he pleaded guilty to failing to take all reasonable measures to finish in the best possible placing today. Suspended for 6 days.

Did seem to over drive flo motion and it got rather tired.Its been driven hard before and stuck on,but not that hard.

An interesting race with both b orange and  s thornley trying hard,but not helping their chances with the over aggressive tactics. Still i suppose when they drive like that others watch and tend to conceed the lead to them because they know they drive aggressively when trying for the lead.Wouldn't have helped their horses mentally though.

Paul nairn suspended for 7 days for the same thing on tu tangata. Looked like he thought he had the rest covered and was being extra careful to make sure he trotted all the way up straight,after breaking the first day. He probably was thinking,how did you get there, when ben hope shot past him late.

Both drivers were trying,just misjudgments.

But it does show that south island stipes notice things,unlike the north island stipes.

Edited December 28, 2023 by the galah

[Gammalite]

28 minutes ago, the galah said:

Paul nairn suspended for 7 days for the same thing on tu tangata. Looked like he thought he had the rest covered and was being extra careful to make sure he trotted all the way up straight,after breaking the first day. He probably was thinking,how did you get there, when ben hope shot past him late.

Both drivers were trying,just misjudgments

well Ben Hope drove his horse well , and chased hard up the straight. Full marks to him.... He is developing into a confident driver now.

If Paul Nairn wins he doesn't get suspended. How can they charge him with not trying to Win ?? It was a Cup race and 11k to the winner . only 3k for second and he was only beaten a neck after missing away slightly and being 50m from the leader settling.

 pretty harsh stewards decision against an experienced horseman. probably already spitting chips from the narrow loss. some kiwis are 'mean' buggers lol.😎  

[Forbury]

On 12/26/2023 at 2:33 PM, Blossom lady said:

Gee you are a dead set fucken idiot. You should give up those $1EW’s . Flo motion was fucked as soon as the other one crossed him at the start. Being stuck 3 fence not her go. I thought that was quite common knowledge. 
As for beeps someone has to lead. Which means someone else has the trail. Sam’s horse was always going to run out . Jimmy would have seen that very early on. It’s something a lot of horses do. 
like I said before give up. You are so fucken dumb that it’s not even funny!

Excuse me!well at least we have a great person in the chief here to allow someone to absolutely destroy there reputation with such vulgar.FLO MOTION - compounded from the 600m. Stewards questioned junior driver S Thornley, who declined the assistance of a senior driver, regarding the tactics he adopted during the race, in particular when electing to shift away from the trailing position near the 1100m before applying significant pressure to the mare in an attempt to regain the lead resulting in the horse compounding from the 600m. After hearing Mr Thornley's explanation Stewards issued a charge under Rule 868(2), which Mr Thornley admitted, in that he failed to take all reasonable and permissible measures to ensure FLO MOTION finished in the best possible position. After viewing replays and hearing submissions on penalty, the Adjudicative Committee suspended Mr Thornley's driver's licence from the conclusion of racing on 29 December up to and including 7 January 2024 (6 days).

[Forbury]

9 minutes ago, Gammalite said:

well Ben Hope drove his horse well , and chased hard up the straight. Full marks to him.... He is developing into a confident driver now.

If Paul Nairn wins he doesn't get suspended. How can they charge him with not trying to Win ?? It was a Cup race and 11k to the winner . only 3k for second and he was only beaten a neck after missing away slightly and being 50m from the leader settling.

 pretty harsh stewards decision against an experienced horseman. probably already spitting chips from the narrow loss. some kiwis are 'mean' buggers lol.😎  

I agree there is hope for Ben yet.he drove that Trotter Mr love very well in the death and his driving has now improved and I hope it continues

[Forbury]

47 minutes ago, the galah said:

I see he pleaded guilty to failing to take all reasonable measures to finish in the best possible placing today. Suspended for 6 days.

Did seem to over drive flo motion and it got rather tired.Its been driven hard before and stuck on,but not that hard.

An interesting race with both b orange and  s thornley trying hard,but not helping their chances with the over aggressive tactics. Still i suppose when they drive like that others watch and tend to conceed the lead to them because they know they drive aggressively when trying for the lead.Wouldn't have helped their horses mentally though.

Paul nairn suspended for 7 days for the same thing on tu tangata. Looked like he thought he had the rest covered and was being extra careful to make sure he trotted all the way up straight,after breaking the first day. He probably was thinking,how did you get there, when ben hope shot past him late.

Both drivers were trying,just misjudgments.

But it does show that south island stipes notice things,unlike the north island stipes.

That was what I was trying to point out all along that there were many drives like this on flow motion that really affected the outcome of the race.And no I'm not a fortune teller I just know!!!and love the bookies are still getting it wrong constantly!

[Forbury]

11 hours ago, Walt said:

I think Sam is a fairly decent driver.

I've followed the Westport form for years and have an understanding of which stables go well there. The results on the tote can point to some being surprised by the result but one size doesn't fit all. 

I have a radar out for stable driving and horses driven quietly etc. It's only annoying when you weren't onto the racehorse career management situation yourself ..that is light years away from race fixing.

The moment you speak about "Race Fixing", you need to be certain of your facts or you make yourself look like a bell end and give the impression this awesome site is full of eggplant punters that are bitter their $1 "gamble" didn't pay off. 

Perhaps a better and fairer way of raising your concerns is to put up a race replay which is easy enough and ask others for their thoughts. 

 

 

I've always liked Sam and rated him as one of the leading jnrs.it just stuck right out that he was really affecting the outcome of races by driving poorly like flow motion and it looked like he may be doing badly as he never drove like that before 

[Gammalite]

2 minutes ago, Forbury said:

I agree there is hope for Ben yet.he drove that Trotter Mr love very well in the death and his driving has now improved and I hope it continues

good decision making too Forb's .

The horse Tremendous Lover was being irritated by the lugging pole in the warm-up today and so Ben Took it off before they ran .... and then won the race. good thinking by him to keep horse more tractible.

Hey that Sam Thornley you started this thread with . what can you say about the last race with Flo rider ? easily in the top 10 worst drives I've seen in 45 years watching horses go round. 

That bloke has a lot to learn for sure . his sisters are probably doing better at the moment 😂😁

[Forbury]

6 minutes ago, Gammalite said:

good decision making too Forb's .

The horse Tremendous Lover was being irritated by the lugging pole in the warm-up today and so Ben Took it off before they ran .... and then won the race. good thinking by him to keep horse more tractible.

Hey that Sam Thornley you started this thread with . what can you say about the last race with Flo rider ? easily in the top 10 worst drives I've seen in 45 years watching horses go round. 

That bloke has a lot to learn for sure . his sisters are probably doing better at the moment 😂😁

You took the words out of my mouth regarding the sisters.sam I've always liked and I hope he learns from this and returns a better driver.we can always have a brain fart and Sam had one today on flow motion.luke Whitaker is back from Australia and has a few good drives tomorrow.love leap to fame winning the inter for grant.i was on Gazza beet today 40/1.what a great days of racing from Westport🤑all the best champion 🏆😍

[Shad]

4 hours ago, Forbury said:

You took the words out of my mouth regarding the sisters.sam I've always liked and I hope he learns from this and returns a better driver.we can always have a brain fart and Sam had one today on flow motion.luke Whitaker is back from Australia and has a few good drives tomorrow.love leap to fame winning the inter for grant.i was on Gazza beet today 40/1.what a great days of racing from Westport🤑all the best champion 🏆😍

Was good racing with some tight finishes, track played fairly I thought, usually follow my first day picks, but a buggar when two in same race, eg superfast gorsy and turakenga, both average runs first day, would have been an easy trifecta for me, but find it hard picking one let alone three, ended up taking superfast, the 9s a place, odds better on the other horse.Great to see the Durban Chief trot, with his 93yr old owner on course at the presentation. A legend of a trotter he was.

[Brodie]

Sam Thornley is a very good young Junior driver.

Probably not Sam’s best drive but to be fair, I reckon that Flo Motion is more a 2000 metre horse than 2600m on grass!!

First day on the fence and you could see that it was flat at the finish!

Yesterday wanted to lead as driven out if the gate with the whip snd in front till Blair took over.

yes shouldve trailed for the rest of the race instead of hooking out but the length of the race was crucial in why the horse stopped despite it previously having tough runs and sticking on, but over shorter distance!

Sam will be back!

Yes all 3  youngThornley’s drive very well, but not necessarily the other ones lol

[Shad]

He got a 6 holiday for that drive was a very poor one to be, that's probably an understatement 

[Walt]

13 hours ago, Shad said:

Was good racing with some tight finishes, track played fairly I thought, usually follow my first day picks, but a buggar when two in same race, eg superfast gorsy and turakenga, both average runs first day, would have been an easy trifecta for me, but find it hard picking one let alone three, ended up taking superfast, the 9s a place, odds better on the other horse.Great to see the Durban Chief trot, with his 93yr old owner on course at the presentation. A legend of a trotter he was.

Ex harness trainer Don Dwyer raced Dillon Dale who won the NZ FFA along with his very classy youngster Dillon Dean. Don now dominates the picnic galloping meetings in Australia but still wins them on the metropolitan tracks. I spoke with him several months ago about Durban Chief. Don's mum was a Walsh and he grew up in Westport. His great Uncle Claude trained Durban Chief and was driven by his Uncle Bill Walsh. Westport locals were understandably very proud of the horse. Great tribute to a great horse. 

Fairly confident the 93 year old "owner" on course for the presentation yesterday would have been the owners son? 

[Counter Punch]

19 hours ago, Gammalite said:

good decision making too Forb's .

The horse Tremendous Lover was being irritated by the lugging pole in the warm-up today and so Ben Took it off before they ran .... and then won the race. good thinking by him to keep horse more tractible.

Hey that Sam Thornley you started this thread with . what can you say about the last race with Flo rider ? easily in the top 10 worst drives I've seen in 45 years watching horses go round. 

That bloke has a lot to learn for sure . his sisters are probably doing better at the moment 😂😁

Sisters? 

Olivia is his sister.

Gemma is his aunty.

[Gammalite]

12 minutes ago, Counter Punch said:

Sisters? 

Olivia is his sister.

Gemma is his aunty.

thanks for that .

And since he's been in the news (well this forum for all the wrong reasons anyway 😂) , Sam has decided to respond with>>>>>>

a Great Drive to WIN the Junior Drivers race today at Motukarara driving ''Jaccka OPa '  fantastic drive from bad draw and way back in field to trail up 3 wide and pounce at the right moment.

a 10/10 winning drive response to all the criticism 😁 well done Sam !

little sis Olivia coming in 3rd.

[Shad]

1 hour ago, Walt said:

Ex harness trainer Don Dwyer raced Dillon Dale who won the NZ FFA along with his very classy youngster Dillon Dean. Don now dominates the picnic galloping meetings in Australia but still wins them on the metropolitan tracks. I spoke with him several months ago about Durban Chief. Don's mum was a Walsh and he grew up in Westport. His great Uncle Claude trained Durban Chief and was driven by his Uncle Bill Walsh. Westport locals were understandably very proud of the horse. Great tribute to a great horse. 

Fairly confident the 93 year old "owner" on course for the presentation yesterday would have been the owners son? 

The 93 year old is a very close relative, and I can tell you he owned the horse along with  Bert Woodcock and Moyna Handsby, his great uncle claude didn't train the horse but possibly had input along the way being related in all , yes was driven by Bill Walsh most of the time, but had a change of driver when traveled to Auckland, great story after winning the two dominions and being handicapped out of nz racing, boated to Australia boarded a flight with other gallopers, one being very good horse called up n coming, also two kangaroos, was the first nz horse to win in USA at his very first start, hardly any  preliminaries there at the time hardly time to warm up, he recorded 47 win to add to his 14 nz wins 68 placing, continued to preform at trotting exhibitions at the ripe age of 21, was finally put down in 1981 at 29 years of age great chapter on him in book unhoppled heroes, and you are correct Don is related to the Walshs  on the coast, and a very good trainer in both codes. Great story on a champ, was often quoted as the horse with a thousand owners, that's how popular he was in his home town.

[Walt]

24 minutes ago, Shad said:

The 93 year old is a very close relative, and I can tell you he owned the horse along with  Bert Woodcock and Moyna Handsby, his great uncle claude didn't train the horse but possibly had input along the way being related in all , yes was driven by Bill Walsh most of the time, but had a change of driver when traveled to Auckland, great story after winning the two dominions and being handicapped out of nz racing, boated to Australia boarded a flight with other gallopers, one being very good horse called up n coming, also two kangaroos, was the first nz horse to win in USA at his very first start, hardly any  preliminaries there at the time hardly time to warm up, he recorded 47 win to add to his 14 nz wins 68 placing, continued to preform at trotting exhibitions at the ripe age of 21, was finally put down in 1981 at 29 years of age great chapter on him in book unhoppled heroes, and you are correct Don is related to the Walshs  on the coast, and a very good trainer in both codes. Great story on a champ, was often quoted as the horse with a thousand owners, that's how popular he was in his home town.

Happy to be proven wrong Shard. That has happened previously. Last occurred on May 9th, 1978  

I assumed the 93 year old owner was the son via the numbers alone. Durban Chief was foaled in 1952 some 72 years ago so that owner would have been 21 had he owned it from day 1....early 20's seems very young to be owning him but I stand corrected. Is he Mr E Walsh?

Enjoyed reading your input. Will see if I can get a copy of Unhoppled Heroes. My sort of book. The horse of a thousand owners is a term I've heard several times associated with Durban Chief.

These horses do great things for the small communities they race out of. Can think of many that fall into that category. 

[Shad]

14 minutes ago, Walt said:

Happy to be proven wrong Shard. That has happened previously. Last occurred on May 9th, 1978  

I assumed the 93 year old owner was the son via the numbers alone. Durban Chief was foaled in 1952 some 72 years ago so that owner would have been 21 had he owned it from day 1....early 20's seems very young to be owning him but I stand corrected. Is he Mr E Walsh?

Enjoyed reading your input. Will see if I can get a copy of Unhoppled Heroes. My sort of book. The horse of a thousand owners is a term I've heard several times associated with Durban Chief.

These horses do great things for the small communities they race out of. Can think of many that fall into that category. 

All good, I get things wrong quite often, E Walsh traveled with him on the plane to America as a young man, he even recalled the story to me on the day he was gelded, they had got him of Mrs Marie Craddock, after the first horse being called envy, who qualified but injured and never raced, that's when she said there's one left on the island and take him as a replacement, the rest is history sorrys to all as I've bleated on and detracted for the original thread heading.

[Newmarket]

I am surprised they started Flow Motion at Reefton? Poor nag was obviously knackered with previous run, was tailed off most of race?