Sarah O’reilly… WTF 😂

[Newmarket]

Her horse today in Race 2 at Motukarara…. i am puzzled. 
Bizza To’o, now i get drivers want to take it easy on first starters, especially trotters…. but she looked like she was in a workout. Looking at front legs and wheels, back legs , you name it. 

I would like to see stipes report, as i thought drivers had to give their horses the best chance of winning the race? Horse had no show, while driver was gawking at everything, one thing she should have been looking at was the gap in the field in front of her…. end result, horse finally tagged on around turn, ran on well for 4th, a more positive drive easily gets it 2nd. 
Not a good look….

[Newmarket]

Then next race…. Interview with Anj Mugford… said horse was going ok, but i dont really want it to win🤣🤣🤣🤣 FFS, how did the punters that backed it at $6 feel…. did gallop early, so no explaining to do.

[the galah]

5 hours ago, Newmarket said:

Her horse today in Race 2 at Motukarara…. i am puzzled. 
Bizza To’o, now i get drivers want to take it easy on first starters, especially trotters…. but she looked like she was in a workout. Looking at front legs and wheels, back legs , you name it. 

I would like to see stipes report, as i thought drivers had to give their horses the best chance of winning the race? Horse had no show, while driver was gawking at everything, one thing she should have been looking at was the gap in the field in front of her…. end result, horse finally tagged on around turn, ran on well for 4th, a more positive drive easily gets it 2nd. 
Not a good look….

it looked pretty inexperienced .Its gait wasn't the best early and it got a fair way back,but ran on ok.It looks like it would gallop next time if amongst horses early or get too far back again,so i wouldn't be backing it to win for a few starts until you've seen a bit more of it.She did have a few looks to see what was happening in front of her,but only she could answer why.But i think it just looked  like an  inexperienced horse not up to running in the money just yet.

[Newmarket]

2 hours ago, the galah said:

it looked pretty inexperienced .Its gait wasn't the best early and it got a fair way back,but ran on ok.It looks like it would gallop next time if amongst horses early or get too far back again,so i wouldn't be backing it to win for a few starts until you've seen a bit more of it.She did have a few looks to see what was happening in front of her,but only she could answer why.But i think it just looked  like an  inexperienced horse not up to running in the money just yet.

Yes, agree slightly. But surely didnt give the poor punter any chance of paying a div. Just to confirm, i did not have a bet in the race.

[the galah]

On 23/11/2025 at 1:10 PM, Newmarket said:

Then next race…. Interview with Anj Mugford… said horse was going ok, but i dont really want it to win🤣🤣🤣🤣 FFS, how did the punters that backed it at $6 feel…. did gallop early, so no explaining to do.

one of the other pre race interviews yesterday,with ben hope ,resulted in what i thought were odd comments.

he was commenting on his drive on muscle mountain in the dominion on cup day. He said he didn't give the horse the run it deserved and indicated he felt he had let the horse down.

Now i'm all for just saying what happened all the time,no sugar coating something when someone has made a bad tactical decision,especially if they aren't trying.

But if you watched the video,he really had no other options ,other than to cover more ground than he wanted in the first round. Its just the way it turned out.

Hopes won 39 races on that horse and well over a million $ ,but he was beating himself up because he strikes a race where hes dictated where he settled by his draw and how the other divers drove early.An unrealistic post race analysis by him, i thought.

oh well,i suppose it gives an insight into how theres pressure in race driving and that all drivers deal with it in their own way.

Edited Monday at 01:36 AM by the galah

[Chief Stipe]

3 hours ago, the galah said:

one of the other pre race interviews yesterday,with ben hope ,resulted in what i thought were odd comments.

he was commenting on his drive on muscle mountain in the dominion on cup day. He said he didn't give the horse the run it deserved and indicated he felt he had let the horse down.

Now i'm all for just saying what happened all the time,no sugar coating something when someone has made a bad tactical decision,especially if they aren't trying.

But if you watched the video,he really had no other options ,other than to cover more ground than he wanted in the first round. Its just the way it turned out.

Hopes won 39 races on that horse and well over a million $ ,but he was beating himself up because he strikes a race where hes dictated where he settled by his draw and how the other divers drove early.An unrealistic post race analysis by him, i thought.

oh well,i suppose it gives an insight into how theres pressure in race driving and that all drivers deal with it in their own way.

I can show you posts on BOAY that slammed Ben when he was a Junior Driver.  He has grown and full credit he is better than most.

[Brodie]

19 minutes ago, Chief Stipe said:

I can show you posts on BOAY that slammed Ben when he was a Junior Driver.  He has grown and full credit he is better than most.

Ben has always been very good with the media from a young age.

He is a very nice, hardworking and realistic bloke that is doing a great job training with his parents!

Personally believe we need plenty more Ben Hope’s  coming through into harness racing, otherwise we are in big trouble.

 

[Rangatira]

On 24/11/2025 at 6:57 PM, Brodie said:

Ben has always been very good with the media from a young age.

He is a very nice, hardworking and realistic bloke that is doing a great job training with his parents!

Personally believe we need plenty more Ben Hope’s  coming through into harness racing, otherwise we are in big trouble.

 

Pretty decent but the godson kitty litters him

[the galah]

On 23/11/2025 at 12:50 PM, Newmarket said:

Her horse today in Race 2 at Motukarara…. i am puzzled. 
Bizza To’o, now i get drivers want to take it easy on first starters, especially trotters…. but she looked like she was in a workout. Looking at front legs and wheels, back legs , you name it. 

I would like to see stipes report, as i thought drivers had to give their horses the best chance of winning the race? Horse had no show, while driver was gawking at everything, one thing she should have been looking at was the gap in the field in front of her…. end result, horse finally tagged on around turn, ran on well for 4th, a more positive drive easily gets it 2nd. 
Not a good look….

i see its in tomorrow and is paying $1.85 on the ff.  

Its only got 6 other rivals and only 1 of those has placed previously.

gee,its not a strong field.Morrie afton paying $2.25 the other favorite.

bizza too only paying $1.18 to run in top 2.

personally i think the prices are ridiculous,but then again,what else is in there that could win.Maybe canlmbeforethestorm paying $10 could win,but it breaks all the time  and that stable used to prefer to place and not win.But it does have a driver on who likes to win.

who knows,something will win though.

[the galah]

1 minute ago, the galah said:

i see its in tomorrow and is paying $1.85 on the ff.  

Its only got 6 other rivals and only 1 of those has placed previously.

gee,its not a strong field.Morrie afton paying $2.25 the other favorite.

bizza too only paying $1.18 to run in top 2.

personally i think the prices are ridiculous,but then again,what else is in there that could win.Maybe canlmbeforethestorm paying $10 could win,but it breaks all the time  and that stable used to prefer to place and not win.But it does have a driver on who likes to win.

who knows,something will win though.

just watched the first race at invercargill.

the non win trot .

the fields are small down there,but they have the same serial gallopers each week.

majestic challen one of them.I just watch it and have a chuckle each week..

I did back it a few times in the past,but gave up a while ago.

Here we are a year later and it still does the same thing.

Gets grumpy pre start,always runs like its got something going on in its mouth that really annoys the hack out of it.if it does go away,which is a big if these days,as soon as it spots a galloper in front of it, its stuffed because when its asked to go a bit wider its sore mouth gets the better of it and it gallops.

it has to be one of the grumpiest horses racing in nz.Yet its been able to win $23,000 in stakes.I wonder if it will ever win a race?

[the galah]

sad to see montage pulled up today

Always runs an honest race and was doing that again until he faltered.i hope hes ok.sad when you see that happen.

Seems to have run every southand meeting for the last 2 years. 

[Newmarket]

4 hours ago, the galah said:

i see its in tomorrow and is paying $1.85 on the ff.  

Its only got 6 other rivals and only 1 of those has placed previously.

gee,its not a strong field.Morrie afton paying $2.25 the other favorite.

bizza too only paying $1.18 to run in top 2.

personally i think the prices are ridiculous,but then again,what else is in there that could win.Maybe canlmbeforethestorm paying $10 could win,but it breaks all the time  and that stable used to prefer to place and not win.But it does have a driver on who likes to win.

who knows,something will win though.

Yes, i did see that…

I see in stewards report from last start… She stated horse trotted roughly at various stages throughout race??? Very strange, was one of the few to trot the trip. 
Yeah, i certainly wouldnt back it at that price

[Nowornever]

4 hours ago, the galah said:

sad to see montage pulled up today

Always runs an honest race and was doing that again until he faltered.i hope hes ok.sad when you see that happen.

Seems to have run every southand meeting for the last 2 years. 

I do not rate Kirk Larsen as a good driver at all and never have.  The drive on his two year old today was tactically atrocious. It had a good sit three deep the fence in a small field and he comes to out to attack the favourite with a full lap to go. Christ his horses must sleep well at night.

 

[Brodie]

31 minutes ago, Nowornever said:

I do not rate Kirk Larsen as a good driver at all and never have.  The drive on his two year old today was tactically atrocious. It had a good sit three deep the fence in a small field and he comes to out to attack the favourite with a full lap to go. Christ his horses must sleep well at night.

 

Was well over a lap that he sat parked for more like 1600metres.

He clearly wanted to lead but lead not there for him,  as favourite was in front.

Kirk many years ago was a pretty good driver with UDR over .2000!
Recent years he has not driven very well and UDR now not too flash.

Has had some very good horses over the years but driving has gone backwards from what it was decades ago.

 

[Nowornever]

Imagine what Howard Bromac would have done if Mark Purdon had been driving it.  The night it sat three wide outside the leaders in a strong inter dom heat to win was massive. Got murdered in many of its races. I was at Forbury when it sat outside London Legend and got beat a short margin at one of its last runs.

[the galah]

i'm on the same page as well about larsens driving.

I've always thought larsens got a reasonable  tactical brain,but horses don't quite run for him like they do for some others.

yesterday he had to be on a downer anyway.

He would have been upset about what happened with montage,a horse he had driven many times.Wasn't everyone in that race lucky to avoid montage when he faltered so badly. It just happened that the horse trailing montage, driven by b orange, had dropped off a couple of lengths off his back and the fella 3 back the inside was happy sitting there and not following montage.B orange reacted very quickly and other drivers behind followed suit Quite fortunate indeed.

so larsen,with montage in the back of his mind, he drove his trotter xerion,gave it the perfect run,but it seemed to struggle from a lap out and was disappointing.

Xerions a horse that i've pointed out previously was kept going over winter when its form was getting worse and it appeared the horse was getting more run down.He did finally give it a freshen up and after that,it won last week,bit it wasn't as good yesterday. So he would have hopped on his 2 year old on a bit of a downer,and he produced a dumb drive. 

actually i started a thread on him a year or so ago and expressed the opinion,horses seemed to run much better for his son when he came back for a holiday and drove his fathers horses,but then his son went back to victoria.

Larsen is a trainer that buyers should pay a bit more for his horses.As hosn horses seem to always go on and do a good job when sold. Theres been some in queensland like that.So hes a good honest trainer. 

Edited 2 hours ago by the galah

[the galah]

21 hours ago, the galah said:

i see its in tomorrow and is paying $1.85 on the ff.  

Its only got 6 other rivals and only 1 of those has placed previously.

gee,its not a strong field.Morrie afton paying $2.25 the other favorite.

bizza too only paying $1.18 to run in top 2.

personally i think the prices are ridiculous,but then again,what else is in there that could win.Maybe canlmbeforethestorm paying $10 could win,but it breaks all the time  and that stable used to prefer to place and not win.But it does have a driver on who likes to win.

who knows,something will win though.

 

Calmbeforethestorm now only paying $4.60.

it was still paying $9 when i looked last night.

actually thats about what it should have opened at,but still it hasn't trotted all the way on race day yet,so who knows with it.

if i was looking at that field,i would say everyone in it would be hoping they run second,not win,as the way the handicapping system works the winner will then have to run in their  next start,against horses like prince teka,brianna,holly highlander,etc.

really whoever wins today,thats the end of their racing earning potential for 12  months,possibly a lifetime.

its a real indictment on the current way races are programmed.The programmers don'tseem to care whether they retain 1 win horses for racing.

so in race 1 today,everyone will be driving to run 2nd at best.Probably morrie aftom may be trying the hardest,so maybe it wins.Who knows.10 minutes time we will find out

[the galah]

trackside just showed a shot of oamaru right now,4 minutes before race 1 starts.. 

1 car in the public car park,1 person in the grandstand above birdcage and about half a dozen floating around the main grandstand.

a beautiful day in oamaru.