Vic Breeders Heats. How do you beat them.

[Gammalite]

Bendigo has the 2 year old Colts and Fillies VIC-bred heats tonight.

How do you beat the amazing Emma Stewart Barn of horses.??  (they won't) has Tremendous record in these sort of races year to year.

Nearly every horse a 'star in the making'. 15 runners.  most are unbeaten as yet. 9 are last start winners ,there's 3 first starters,

and the other 3 horses ran 2nd at their last race starts. One of them THE HIGHLIGHT REEL was beaten a nose in our BIg  $1/2 million 💰 2 yearold Slot race at Albion last month and picked up $100,000 for his trouble (nose behind Grant Dixon /Seymour flying horse)  and ran a 1.50.6 mile .!!!😳 

1.50 for a 2 yearold ?? they've gone stone mad 🤪. How can you possibly beat that ? might as well give up. 2 yearold running 1.50. Insanity .

Clayton Tonkin (Emma's partner) owns THE HIGHLIGHT REEL himself too. the next Superstar of OZ.

Emma will go close win 7 of the 8 heats tonight . (is Not in one of them lol 🤣)  the first starters will probably even Win.

What a SENSATIONAL training Outfit they are. so many 2 yearolds performing at the VERY TOP Level. Better than Allstars at peak I would guess ? 

[Gammalite]

Well the results are in . not quite the 7 wins I predicted.

Emma Stewart Barn only winning 5 of the 8 x 2 year old races. 3 Quinellas. Ran 2nd in the other 2 heats that Emma contested beaten 1/2 hd and 1/2 neck. (so very nearly 7 lol) 

Mick Stanley Winning 2 of the Vic bred heats .(The 'Rock N Roll Doo' trainer from NZ Cup and FFA 2 years ago) and a very handy trainer too obviously. 

moderate times of around 1.57-1.58 mainly run on the night.. 

but the 'Real good one' THE HIGHLIGHT REEL was the standout. Trapped 3 wide for first lap , then parked out the rest of it in 1.54. gunna be a u-beaut Big winner this bloke. 

Off to Kilmore now Tomorrow night (Thursday ) for the 8 x 3 year old heats. Emma has 20 runners so should near sweep the entire card ?? 

Even has Cam Hart and Greg Sugars engaged on some , so now using the 2 best drivers in Australia ..  they'll be winning heaps. world class stuff.🏆💰

 

[Gammalite]

Night 2 . This will blow your socks off😁.  well the opponents got their blown off anyway 😅

Kilmore Tonight : 8 x 3 year old Vic Sires Stakes races. 4 heats for colts and 4 for Fillies.

Emma Stewart trained runners in all 8 Races = 8 winners.  congrats for an amazing result !

winning drivers = Greg Sugars, James herbertson, Mark Pitt x 2, Jackie Barker, Kerryn Manning, 

                               Kate Gath and Cam Hart.  Fantastic use of some of the best drivers around 

winning barriers =  9, 12, 4, 4, 9, 6, 6 and 2. with quite a few placings from wide barriers too.

winning divvies = 6.90, 11.50, 1.20, 1.50, 1.60, 1.30 , 42.00, and 1.40 for KISS (the former kiwi ) in the last race. ( 5 shorties and 3 at better)

total runners = 20   with  1 single winner, 2 x Trifecta's, 5 Quinellas ,   2 x 1st/3rds,  3 unplaced and a happy punter or 2 about the place.💰🍻

An excellent effort by the Stable and all their workers !! 

On to Melton tomorrow night for the Vic bred 4 year olds heats. think they'll leave some of them to the opponents. Emma Stewart Barn sure to win some more though.  Not sure where Petracca (last season Vic Derby winner)  is?,  and they're only in 5 of the 6 heats lol. can't win em' all lol.🤣

 

[Gammalite]

you have to laugh as talk about unappreciative.

Aaron Bain and Summit Bloodstock who WON the $2,000,000 Eureka last year by getting an EMMA Stewart runner (Encipher beating the upcoming NZ Cup winner LEAP TO FAME )

have sacked former star youngster , the Emma Stewart trained The Lost Storm from their slot for not being good enough 🤣. now are fishing for a late replacement tomorrow night at Menangle.

hope the greedy buggers get last.

The Lost Storm was 4th tonight at Melton in his Vic-bred 4 year old Sires heat. Emma winning with 2 of her 8 runners across the 6 heats run tonight. with 3 seconds and a third. 1 missed.

A real highlight was some great driving from the 2nd row to quinella race 6 tonight for the Emma Stewart barn with High Above and the New Zealander  'Hes A Punk Rocker'. Kerryn Manning and Mark Pitt looking like Natalie Rasmussen and Mark Purdon with some brilliant driving in that one to run down the Mick Stanley favourite leading the race,  and pay a juicy $10 quinella . great stuff. 

3 amazing nights of EMMA Stewart Stable brilliance 🏆. The semi's will be interesting.  

[Gammalite]

The semi's are completed in the VicBred series. last Saturday at Melton

the 12 semi's were run and Won for the 2 , 3 and 4 year olds   with Fillies and colts divisions .

you had to run in the 'First SIX' in the 12 horse fields to qualify for the BIG Finals.

Emma Stewart Barn qualified 34 of their 39 Semi-Finalists . A staggering achievement really😳.

They won 9 of the 12 Semi's run . beaten a head and a neck in 2 other semi's. The last race of the evening they didn't have one in 😅.  (the mare that would of been in that one ran in the Eureka in Sydney instead.)      finishing with 6 quinella's and 3 trifecta's.🏆

will they (Stewart barn) win All SIX of the Rich Grand Finals ??   some of the best training feats ever seen on the planet. a lot of the rivals are No Slugs . this is Group Level racing . just amazing. 

[Nowornever]

29 minutes ago, Gammalite said:

The semi's are completed in the VicBred series. last Saturday at Melton

the 12 semi's were run and Won for the 2 , 3 and 4 year olds   with Fillies and colts divisions .

you had to run in the 'First SIX' in the 12 horse fields to qualify for the BIG Finals.

Emma Stewart Barn qualified 34 of their 39 Semi-Finalists . A staggering achievement really😳.

They won 9 of the 12 Semi's run . beaten a head and a neck in 2 other semi's. The last race of the evening they didn't have one in 😅.  (the mare that would of been in that one ran in the Eureka in Sydney instead.)      finishing with 6 quinella's and 3 trifecta's.🏆

will they (Stewart barn) win All SIX of the Rich Grand Finals ??   some of the best training feats ever seen on the planet. a lot of the rivals are No Slugs . this is Group Level racing . just amazing. 

Well terrible betting spectacle and about the only interesting thing will be if she can win all the races otherwise:

 

[Gammalite]

10 hours ago, Nowornever said:

Well terrible betting spectacle and about the only interesting thing will be if she can win all the races otherwise:

 

go watch some of the Olympics replays then. or soccer. Plenty of different sports with matches on all the time. some may extract a yawn though so take care.

Harness racing races some of the most Exciting sights as far as competition in any sport  goes on the planet,  

I watch harness racing because it is short bursts of action of some of the most Skilled horsemen (and women)  , that we can watch each week.  Plus I love animals as worked with them 30 years half my like exactly and it gives you real passion/compassion.

Is very sad the beautiful sport is going so backwards in NZ ,. Or not enjoying Cambridge racing  or mile racing, or slot racing or ..  or ....  no one seems to like anything anymore. sign of the times I spose , and the death of harness racing. 

I can't say how extremely highly,  I admire and exalt the accomplishments of Allstars  in recent years, and also Luke McCarthy and Emma Stewart , and Grant Dixon too after decades of hard 'Toil' . fantastic stuff.

I'm still sceptacle about the rise of trainer GRIMSON and him taking the NZ Cup last year. 😂 the Queenslander (who went to the GRIN race at Cambridge)  f..ked him up in the Group 1 Len Smith mile at Menangle last Sat when he had 4 runners in that , including the great NZ mare Aaardie's Express (who ended up out the back) nothing BORING in that race anyway  🤣 was action stations for top drivers Cam Hart and Callaghan lol.  great stuff !!!!  

WINX used to be a very poor 'Betting' spectacle for years. but galloping folk didn't start yawning so that helped keep that sports HIGH Profile anyway. 

 

 

 

A true Privilage to see these great races in Aus and NZ (USA is too far away to get support) 

[the galah]

6 hours ago, Gammalite said:

  

I watch harness racing because it is short bursts of action of some of the most Skilled horsemen (and women)  , that we can watch each week.  Plus I love animals as worked with them 30 years half my like exactly and it gives you real passion/compassion.

 

exactly and that still exists, so harness racing isn't going backwards because the sport has lost access to that. The main ingredients are still there,its just how they use those 2 aspects.

Its the horses and people that should always be the focus.

Instead the priorites of leadership is about creating a facade of high returns which they do by pumping money into a  million dollar nz cup or trying to keep up with other codes slot races that  99.99% of participants view as unrealistic goals..

And over the last 2 decades theres been this yoyo pattern as far as the level of stakes. They increase them,then within a couple of years the stakes are reduced back to the previous level,then they make a big announcement about stake increases being great for the sport,then the yoyo thing starts again.Thats for the lower grade horses.

as to the elite horses.Case in point .The nz cup. 16 years ago was worth over a million$.Then there was this outcry of you dumb arses are putting all that money into the top end while the people at the bottom end are struggling to survive. So gradually they reduced the stake for the nz cup as they realised they have done something 99% of people involved in the industry believed was a poor decision. So here we are,2024 and guess what the industries leadership thinks is a good idea,the same thing that they tried 16 years ago.

6 hours ago, Gammalite said:

 

Is very sad the beautiful sport is going so backwards in NZ ,. Or not enjoying Cambridge racing  or mile racing, or slot racing or ..  or ....  no one seems to like anything anymore. sign of the times I spose , and the death of harness racing. 

 

The sign of the times is the lack of leadership and their inabilty to promote and sell a believable,relateable,sustaianable model for the industry.

Its not that people don't like anything anymore as you put it,its that less and less people are feeling the positive vibe anymore.

To me people in harness racing are often a bit too apathetic.

I think this is evident in areas like canterbury. In my opinion canterbury is being neglected.

Its the core base of the industry,yet leadership take it for granted and they are able to do that because most trainers and owners just focus on their own bubble and just lament how its declining but would rather voice their opinions at the local pub than take actions to demand a higher quality industry leadership.While rome burns type scenario.

And personally i do think its possible for the industry to have a sustainable,believable ,relateable future,but persoanlly think while thats achievable ,i don't see enough common sense decision making to convince me it will happen.

Edited September 10 by the galah

[Nowornever]

On 10/09/2024 at 3:01 PM, the galah said:

Instead the priorites of leadership is about creating a facade of high returns which they do by pumping money into a  million dollar nz cup or trying to keep up with other codes slot races that  99.99% of participants view as unrealistic goals..

Never mind it will all be fixed soon galah!

"I am keen to look at things from a different angle," says Peden

nek minnit

"We need to increase race starts per horse per year, we need to increase market share and turnover and we need to do something about foal numbers."

 

[Gammalite]

On 9/10/2024 at 1:01 PM, the galah said:

And over the last 2 decades theres been this yoyo pattern as far as the level of stakes. They increase them,then within a couple of years the stakes are reduced back to the previous level,then they make a big announcement about stake increases being great for the sport,then the yoyo thing starts again.Thats for the lower grade horses.

you need Sires Stakes racing.

Victoria has about the same population as New Zealand 6mill odd,  so probably about the same in People involved in harness racing too .

The Sires Stakes are a real crown for the breeders , owners and Trainers so need to be supported. Mark Purdon winning the 3 year-old Sires 10 times in a row in Cup week I think , so is matching the Vic Emma Stewart barn with massive results. simply outstanding training.

The Big Race used to be the NZ Cup and the Interdominion . They tried to throw money at the last Interdominion , with it being worth a million. But it was a flop . the format is too tough on the speed horses of today, and no Kiwi's turned up recent years.

The one thing SYNonymous with harness racing too, was the Interdominion Championships.

, Standing starts are a relic of the past too. Too many punters lose their money once these days on a bad start and are put off always thereafter. so The NZ CUP has even had a lot of criticism for this reason. 

Speaking of which the CUP- showday NZ FFA double also a thing of the past . Copy That and Swayzee not starting in the FFA after winning the Cup the past 3 years. 😳 . that's so poor.

And Likewise the Nz FFA winner Self Assured (for the past 2 years) , didn't start in the Cup !! the near best horse in NZ  ? who has won a NZ CUp years ago . not even bothering to start in it again ??😳  OMG   That is quite Un-believable that could happen.  It shows that a TOUGH 2 Mile race like that Cup race is not in the best interests of the horse either these days? .  and they don't even get a bloody handicap and can start off the front every year they compete too. 🙄. incredible. 

So the scheduling needs a serious tweek? . ( a week between the Cup and FFA is my advice) 

 

[the galah]

13 hours ago, Gammalite said:

you need Sires Stakes racing.

Victoria has about the same population as New Zealand 6mill odd,  so probably about the same in People involved in harness racing too .

The Sires Stakes are a real crown for the breeders , owners and Trainers so need to be supported. Mark Purdon winning the 3 year-old Sires 10 times in a row in Cup week I think , so is matching the Vic Emma Stewart barn with massive results. simply outstanding training.

The Big Race used to be the NZ Cup and the Interdominion . They tried to throw money at the last Interdominion , with it being worth a million. But it was a flop . the format is too tough on the speed horses of today, and no Kiwi's turned up recent years.

The one thing SYNonymous with harness racing too, was the Interdominion Championships.

, Standing starts are a relic of the past too. Too many punters lose their money once these days on a bad start and are put off always thereafter. so The NZ CUP has even had a lot of criticism for this reason. 

Speaking of which the CUP- showday NZ FFA double also a thing of the past . Copy That and Swayzee not starting in the FFA after winning the Cup the past 3 years. 😳 . that's so poor.

And Likewise the Nz FFA winner Self Assured (for the past 2 years) , didn't start in the Cup !! the near best horse in NZ  ? who has won a NZ CUp years ago . not even bothering to start in it again ??😳  OMG   That is quite Un-believable that could happen.  It shows that a TOUGH 2 Mile race like that Cup race is not in the best interests of the horse either these days? .  and they don't even get a bloody handicap and can start off the front every year they compete too. 🙄. incredible. 

So the scheduling needs a serious tweek? . ( a week between the Cup and FFA is my advice) 

 

Interesting thoughts but personally i think sires stakes racing has its place,but if it was the answer,then why are hrnz and the sires stakes dipping into their cash reserves.

I read an article not that long ago by garreck knight which said the sires stakes board had built up nearly 1 million $ in cash reserves over the past 40 years.but the sires stakes board had commited to spend a significant portion of that over the next 3 years on those races.

in the same article it said HRNZ was using cash reserves built up over the last 4 years to fund stake increases for the high end races,including the sires stakes series..

So you've pointed out mark purdon won a particular final 10 years in a row. No doubt hes won the other many times ,just like his brother.And you pointed out the one stable,emma stewart gets all the victorian money.  

so the very obvious point is,look to the reasons why they aren't self funding anymore.

isn't it very obvious that if your going to pump the industries cash reserves into the elite races over the next 3 years,well who benefits and what happens after that.

Where does the money come from after that.

And using victoria as an example may well be similar to what nz is doing .

But given the outcry in victoria that a large % of their land they own,a bit like cash reserves in another form,was used to bankroll their industry when it wwasn't sustainable,then somehow i don't think replicating what they have done is a very clever strategy.

You iknow when you think about ,its looking more and more like the decision makers are looking to get what they can out of harness racing while they can,before the cruch comes which seems inevitable given their decision making.

Its all rather sad ,because ok,if the idea is to get what you canhow come they get to prioritise their own interests first.

To be honest,i don't really care much anymore as it won't effect me either way,i just think its like a slow train wreck coming that could be avoided,but isn't. And people who have tickets booked for travel on that train in the future are already thinking,why did i buy that ticket.

Edited September 11 by the galah

[Gammalite]

The Vic-bred Finals are ALL run and Emma Stewart stable wins all the Pacing Finals ok.  Quinellaed them all too.  with a couple of First Fours at good odds to boot.   

Jackie Barker won 2  Finals at 14-1  (2 yearold Fillies) and 16-1 (3 year old Colts) odds and beaten a nose only in the (3 year old Fillies at 16-1 odds as well . would of won in 2 more strides. What a treble that would of been for her. 

Aaron Bain syndicate horses were 3 of them . so there were bucketloads of owners successful on the night too. with a small piece of some pie each.

 

 

 

[the galah]

On 14/09/2024 at 11:45 PM, Gammalite said:

The Vic-bred Finals are ALL run and Emma Stewart stable wins all the Pacing Finals ok.  Quinellaed them all too.  with a couple of First Fours at good odds to boot.   

Jackie Barker won 2  Finals at 14-1  (2 yearold Fillies) and 16-1 (3 year old Colts) odds and beaten a nose only in the (3 year old Fillies at 16-1 odds as well . would of won in 2 more strides. What a treble that would of been for her. 

Aaron Bain syndicate horses were 3 of them . so there were bucketloads of owners successful on the night too. with a small piece of some pie each.

 

 

 

so very dominant. Theres 2 ways to look at the results i think.

E stewart is really really good,but also the other victorian trainers just aren't much chop.

Stewart dominated all the pacing races.

Why are the other victorian trainers so poor when it comes to training 2,3 and 4 year old horses in those breeder crown races.

Also i see E Stewart had a well bred ,former clark barron trained horse, Showsomejoy, win the $150,000 3 year old filly final.

She is well bred with her dam being Somejoy,who barron trained to win 8 races. He sold an older sister to australia previously who has won 2 from 11 for j quinlan,Boots property being the owners.

Showsomejoy was trained by clark barron as a 2 year old and was unable to win a workout in 10 attempts,generally going ok but mostly beating just 1 home. Her best effort was a 2nd in a balfour trial on the grass. One race day start saw her run 7th of 9.Shes a breeders crown winner now.

[Gammalite]

1 hour ago, the galah said:

so very dominant. Theres 2 ways to look at the results i think.

E stewart is really really good,but also the other victorian trainers just aren't much chop.

Stewart dominated all the pacing races.

Why are the other victorian trainers so poor when it comes to training 2,3 and 4 year old horses in those breeder crown races.

Also i see E Stewart had a well bred ,former clark barron trained horse, Showsomejoy, win the $150,000 3 year old filly final.

She is well bred with her dam being Somejoy,who barron trained to win 8 races. He sold an older sister to australia previously who has won 2 from 11 for j quinlan,Boots property being the owners.

Showsomejoy was trained by clark barron as a 2 year old and was unable to win a workout in 10 attempts,generally going ok but mostly beating just 1 home. Her best effort was a 2nd in a balfour trial on the grass. One race day start saw her run 7th of 9.Shes a breeders crown winner now.

some interesting points . Another of the 6 Stewart Grand final winners was NZ prepared as well HEZA PUNK ROCKER  who won the first race last Sat impressively (for 4 yearold colts/geldings)  had 5 starts in NZ last year for 2 wins,  and has only run 3 starts in Australia. picked up $75k the other night. so nothing wrong with Nz conditioners either. 

Victorian trainers are as good as any other state?. they are plenty good chop lol 😁😅There's plenty of them including the Gaths, who won Interdominions with old Nz trotters like Tornado Valley and the Miracle Mile and Nullibor million recently with Catch A Wave. Jess Tubbs has Just Believe trotting brilliantly and in the Pacing division Bettor Eclipse was 2nd in the Interdominion then won your Auckland Cup .  Excellent 10/10 trainers IMO. Emma Stewart of course using the talent of Tubbs partner Greg Sugars and Kate Gath to steer many of their runners when they can. Of course you can expect First class results. 

Just as ALLSTARS have achieved the amazing 2, 3 and 4 year old success in NZ over more than a decade, these Victorian results are achieved almost annually now by the Emma Stewart stable because they Directly Set a large number of horses for it (and the Breeder's Crown ) over the years , and is their prime focus. McMullen and Dixon dominate our annual TRIAD here Qld doing the same thing . and Win nearly all the 2, 3 and 4 yearold finals each year by Concentrating quite a few horses on it.

Telfer is attempting to Group place many young horses there now , in both Islands , in these sort of races , and with Numbers, and Experience , they will get better at it as years go by. They're doing fairly reasonable already. good luck to em'. 🏆 

 they have some 'Normal People' owners as does the Emma Stewart Lot of horses, (and Dunns) instead of  Multi millionaires like Mark Purdon, Barry Purdon, and Grimson and Grant Dixon that own most (nearly all) of their stables equine number.

so always cheer on Emma Stewarts (and Telfers and Dunns)  for sure !!!  a lot of regular folk supporters/owners/staff they do look after and try and win for....... which is fantastiiic , and great to see them so competitive in Group racing.