Does history and tradition matter?

[Walt]

 

Easter was always an exciting and enlightening time @ Addington.

Easter 1977.

Royce Belcher had his good Juvenile Glide Time starting in the Welcome Stakes @ Addington. We knew all about him before he made it to the races. Despite going up against the very good Motu Prince and Main Star, there was a lot of confidence. We drove four and a half hours from Nelson to see him race.

Glide Time sat in the trail and then out and won on his ear. Paid $9 so a few crayfish were purchased on the way home.

Later on the card was the time honoured Easter Cup. It was a great field. Balgove and Bob Cameron was too good beating Stanley Rio and a host of other top horses. Sole Command and Trusty Scot were in that field and both went on to win the NZ Cup.

Stanley Rio won the 76 NZ Cup and Interdominion Final at Albion Park in .1977 

I have embraced this race since I first watched it in 1975 when Robalan won it. He beat Lunar Chance. Both Robalan and Lunar Chance won the NZ Cup.

Many Easter Cup winners went on to win our most important harness race. So much so I firmly believed it is the best guide to the NZ Cup.

Here's a few horses that have won the Easter Cup and NZ Cup.

Hands Down an incredible three times.

Luxury Liner

Inky Lord

Blossom Lady

Chokin

Homin Hosed

Gracious Knight

Monkey King ,x 2

Terror To Love

Adore Me

Self Assured 

 

In 2021 Self Assured won the Easter Cup and then someone decided we could discard this wonderful race with such a great history. The race and it's significance was effectively flushed down the shitter. Something special was consigned to the history books. I ask the question if history and tradition matter in harness racing. Stand down, I've just answered that question. 

ps. Happy Easter folks. Please ignore the total horse shit about "Gesture Eggs"....fark that! They are Easter Eggs and always will be. Enjoy them!

 

 

[Newmarket]

Yes Easter Saturday at Addington used to be great, I’m sure all us dudes over 50yrs have good memories. 
That battle between Basil Dean & Sir Castleton was fantastic, think a record time which was faster than open class pacers, amazing really. 
Sadly, was there when derby field came down, good and bad memories 

[Shad]

1 hour ago, Newmarket said:

Yes Easter Saturday at Addington used to be great, I’m sure all us dudes over 50yrs have good memories. 
That battle between Basil Dean & Sir Castleton was fantastic, think a record time which was faster than open class pacers, amazing really. 
Sadly, was there when derby field came down, good and bad memories 

Yes the derby incident was on of the worst one could remember, liquid lightning the culprit. 

[TAB For Ever]

The EasterCup back in it's day was a significant race on the calendar , hence it's Group 1 status.

But times change and NZ Harness has tried to adapt.

When Self Assured won in 2021 a very disappointing field of only 7 x horses lined up !

Other races were dropping off as well so decisions were made to try and herd the Cup horses into particular areas throughout the year.

April was clearly going to be concentrated on the North Island.... the Group 1 Taylor Mile and NZ Messenger were losing their attractiveness so the 4 yr old only tag was removed for All aged   older horses to enter and they were moved into a slot before the first Grins race . 4 year olds now don't have a lot for their separate age group.

That TrottingFree For All today was a Group 1 and attracted most of NZ's current top trotters. The winner Muscle Mountain has won 32 races from 50 starts and is amongst the very best ever in NZ.

Todays Pacing free-for-all catered for the the second tier of Open class pacers and tho stake a modest $40k it was run in 1.55 m/r and a worthy standar.d. It replaces the 2600m Allan Matson FFA which used to run on final night of Cup week. So a lot of history in that race...at least 14 of its past winners also won NZ Cup. But like many modern races today now it was a mobile sprint..1980mobile.......Harness doesn't seem to have the appetite for 3200m stand start with handicaps like the good old days.

You all probably all know the above YARN...change can be difficult. Tonight I watched a game of Rugby from my beloved , at one time Otago ,when the Otago team played in the day on a muddy Carisbrook. Tonights game was played indoors and the team called Highlanders..geez..and they allowed replacements when players not even injured. Earlier I watched Phoenix women football ..geez...prior to 1970 women weren't even allowed to play Soccer !

Then yesterday I watched  20/20 Cricket ..geez ..that ain't Cricket , but the crowds now enjoy it better than 'normal' cricket.

And on Good Friday...unthinkable back in the day !

At races today a group was chatting about the good old days of climbing on roof with tranny to hear commentaries with a special type of arial sold by journalist Lex Nicholls. One memory was when the wag with the big tranny listening to a race from another track with dozens if not hundreds of onlookers crowded around at the races would turn his big tranny off if his horse out of contention and walk away !

               

[Brodie]

2 hours ago, Shad said:

Yes the derby incident was on of the worst one could remember, liquid lightning the culprit. 

Just watched the 1984 Derby won by Naval,Officer.

The 5 outsiders were the only ones left in the race.

The size of the crowd was amazing, grandstand and asphalt  area was just chocker, so just shows how much the industry has declined unfortunately.

That was back in 1984, and they left the race continue even though there were horses sprawled at the winning post and a loose horse in the field!

If this happened again, there is no way on earth they would allow the race to have continued, it wouldve been pulled up!

How things have changed!!

Edited March 30 by Brodie

[Gammalite]

11 minutes ago, Brodie said:

Just watched the 1984 Derby won by Naval,Officer.

Incredible Brodster. 

seems like the other day and yet almost 40 years to the day that big crash . 

The last horse to get up off the deck after spending over 10 minutes plus, all tangled up at the bottom of the pile of bent sulkies and fallen runners...  was future champ ROYDON GLEN.

after a spell after that mishap he came back later in the year in the new season as a four year old and was undefeated the whole season scoring 12 wins from 12 starts including the Messenger and Auckland Cup. A real star of the track and luckily not taking any harm from that Derby pile-up.  

yeah they will stop a race with any driverless horse involved these days . no risks are taken at all as horses do crazy things without their drivers on occasion. (and sometimes crazy things while they still have them lol 😁)

[Walt]

12 hours ago, Newmarket said:

Yes Easter Saturday at Addington used to be great, I’m sure all us dudes over 50yrs have good memories. 
That battle between Basil Dean & Sir Castleton was fantastic, think a record time which was faster than open class pacers, amazing really. 
Sadly, was there when derby field came down, good and bad memories 

Basil Dean and Sir Castleton were wonderful trotters. Basil Dean would usually lead and Sir Castleton would come late. Both horses always put in

[Walt]

8 hours ago, Brodie said:

Just watched the 1984 Derby won by Naval,Officer.

The 5 outsiders were the only ones left in the race.

The size of the crowd was amazing, grandstand and asphalt  area was just chocker, so just shows how much the industry has declined unfortunately.

That was back in 1984, and they left the race continue even though there were horses sprawled at the winning post and a loose horse in the field!

If this happened again, there is no way on earth they would allow the race to have continued, it wouldve been pulled up!

How things have changed!!

Have watched that replay a few times over the years. 

There is no way the race would be allowed to continue now and rightly so. There was even a dog loose in the area to say nothing about the drivers and horses still in harms way

[Walt]

10 hours ago, TAB For Ever said:

The EasterCup back in it's day was a significant race on the calendar , hence it's Group 1 status.

But times change and NZ Harness has tried to adapt.

When Self Assured won in 2021 a very disappointing field of only 7 x horses lined up !

Other races were dropping off as well so decisions were made to try and herd the Cup horses into particular areas throughout the year.

April was clearly going to be concentrated on the North Island.... the Group 1 Taylor Mile and NZ Messenger were losing their attractiveness so the 4 yr old only tag was removed for All aged   older horses to enter and they were moved into a slot before the first Grins race . 4 year olds now don't have a lot for their separate age group.

That TrottingFree For All today was a Group 1 and attracted most of NZ's current top trotters. The winner Muscle Mountain has won 32 races from 50 starts and is amongst the very best ever in NZ.

Todays Pacing free-for-all catered for the the second tier of Open class pacers and tho stake a modest $40k it was run in 1.55 m/r and a worthy standar.d. It replaces the 2600m Allan Matson FFA which used to run on final night of Cup week. So a lot of history in that race...at least 14 of its past winners also won NZ Cup. But like many modern races today now it was a mobile sprint..1980mobile.......Harness doesn't seem to have the appetite for 3200m stand start with handicaps like the good old days.

You all probably all know the above YARN...change can be difficult. Tonight I watched a game of Rugby from my beloved , at one time Otago ,when the Otago team played in the day on a muddy Carisbrook. Tonights game was played indoors and the team called Highlanders..geez..and they allowed replacements when players not even injured. Earlier I watched Phoenix women football ..geez...prior to 1970 women weren't even allowed to play Soccer !

Then yesterday I watched  20/20 Cricket ..geez ..that ain't Cricket , but the crowds now enjoy it better than 'normal' cricket.

And on Good Friday...unthinkable back in the day !

At races today a group was chatting about the good old days of climbing on roof with tranny to hear commentaries with a special type of arial sold by journalist Lex Nicholls. One memory was when the wag with the big tranny listening to a race from another track with dozens if not hundreds of onlookers crowded around at the races would turn his big tranny off if his horse out of contention and walk away !

               

When Self Assured won in 2021 there was only 7 runners but that should never be a reason to shitcan such a time honoured race. There were 13 runners the year before.

Back in the day the biggest money and glory races were the NZ Cup, Auckland Cup, Interdominion Final and the Derby. Not so these days. The industry has been steered toward the young horses to the betterment of a small group of owners and breeders. Completely different set up getting a 2 and 3 year old ready than a 6 and 7 year old with eyes on the G1 classics etc

Another aspect to be considered was the absolute dominance one stable was having in all the big money races. When All Assured won his Easter Cup look who ran second and third. Spankem and Amazing Dream. 

Amazing Dream went around to the front no problem at all. Nathan Williamson would have needed to be a mug to try and hold out any one of the three stable runners. Amazing Dream played musical chairs with All Assured as was often the case. All Assured got a soft lead and then walked them. No rival would dare commit race suicide by going for a look. Spankem walked around them to sit parked but put absolutely zero pressure on All Assured. The result was a formality as per usual. The race was destroyed as a spectacle. I'd go as far as saying the biggest mockery was calling it a "race". 

If I owned a decent aged horse, I'd be selling it offshore quick smart.  It was safe to assume the cream on the cake has already been allocated before the feature races have even started. These are the races owners and trainers dream about but in reality the crumbs was mostly all they could hope for.  Heartbreaking when owning a top horse is such a rare treat and so much time, effort and patience is needed to win races like the NZ Cup.

I stand by my comments that consigning the time honoured Easter Cup to the history book is compelling evidence harness racing is being steered in the wrong direction. 

I was on track often at Alexandra Park watching great horses like Franco Ice and The Bru Czar get bullied by one stable that usually had at least 50% of the field and were comfortable to sacrifice stable runner(s) to ensure victory. I love a good fight but it needs to be a fair fight. 

 

 

Edited March 30 by Walt

[TAB For Ever]

1 hour ago, Walt said:

When Self Assured won in 2021 there was only 7 runners but that should never be a reason to shitcan such a time honoured race. There were 13 runners the year before.

Back in the day the biggest money and glory races were the NZ Cup, Auckland Cup, Interdominion Final and the Derby. Not so these days. The industry has been steered toward the young horses to the betterment of a small group of owners and breeders. Completely different set up getting a 2 and 3 year old ready than a 6 and 7 year old with eyes on the G1 classics etc

Another aspect to be considered was the absolute dominance one stable was having in all the big money races. When All Assured won his Easter Cup look who ran second and third. Spankem and Amazing Dream. 

Amazing Dream went around to the front no problem at all. Nathan Williamson would have needed to be a mug to try and hold out any one of the three stable runners. Amazing Dream played musical chairs with All Assured as was often the case. All Assured got a soft lead and then walked them. No rival would dare commit race suicide by going for a look. Spankem walked around them to sit parked but put absolutely zero pressure on All Assured. The result was a formality as per usual. The race was destroyed as a spectacle. I'd go as far as saying the biggest mockery was calling it a "race". 

If I owned a decent aged horse, I'd be selling it offshore quick smart.  It was safe to assume the cream on the cake has already been allocated before the feature races have even started. These are the races owners and trainers dream about but in reality the crumbs was mostly all they could hope for.  Heartbreaking when owning a top horse is such a rare treat and so much time, effort and patience is needed to win races like the NZ Cup.

I stand by my comments that consigning the time honoured Easter Cup to the history book is compelling evidence harness racing is being steered in the wrong direction. 

I was on track often at Alexandra Park watching great horses like Franco Ice and The Bru Czar get bullied by one stable that usually had at least 50% of the field and were comfortable to sacrifice stable runner(s) to ensure victory. I love a good fight but it needs to be a fair fight. 

 

 

Be All Assured , back in the day those aged horses hung around racing in NZ for longer.

We all long for the good old days !

Interesting that Self Assured and Amazing Dream owned by overseas interests but have done bulk of racing in NZ.Ditto Copy That .

I notice the owners of Spankem ,are bringing back South Coast Arden to race in Grins etc .

Unsure what that last YARN all about but I read it.

And when a trainer has more than one horse in the race he must be hoping to run one and two and maybe three [if got three] so he has knowledge about how they gonna race , which doesn't happen when only a lone hope.

If Owners feel let down ,they will and do move their horses on .

[Shad]

19 hours ago, Brodie said:

Just watched the 1984 Derby won by Naval,Officer.

The 5 outsiders were the only ones left in the race.

The size of the crowd was amazing, grandstand and asphalt  area was just chocker, so just shows how much the industry has declined unfortunately.

That was back in 1984, and they left the race continue even though there were horses sprawled at the winning post and a loose horse in the field!

If this happened again, there is no way on earth they would allow the race to have continued, it wouldve been pulled up!

How things have changed!!

Yes those were the days, every man and his dog, as we witnessed,certainly was a pile up, they say he tried to jump the shadow from the post, think I've got the race on VHS, and of Basil Dean, may have been the trotting championship, apparently he went overseas, but I never heard much about him after that, must be hard to let a champ like him go, never to return, bit like ole Durban chief, but did see a photo of him day before he was put down, and a letter to his owners, great book is unhoppled heroes.