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Bit Of A Yarn

Brad...what were you thinking?


Joe Kidd

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I've been punting for about 40 years so have learned to take my losses with my wins over the years.

That aside, when I see a driver doing all he can do get rolled, you are left a tad frustrated. (understatement of 2019 so far :) )

I rate Vintage Cheddar as a horse on it's way to better things. When I saw him lining up in the Gore Cup, I felt confident it was times and margins. Unhappy to own the fact I have punted this horse in NZ and offshore for the last 24 hours and it's the most I've punted on a single horse for the last five years. 

Horse is going beautifully but some distance from the leader. Brad Williamson sits as quiet as a church mouse and does not move. When he finally decided to move, he can go wide and have a certain clear path as runner up Sagwitch did who came from behind Vintage Cheddar.   

Brad's got the width of the Gore track to steer the horse but remarkably decides to look for gaps and unnecessarily, totally rely on luck. He steered the horse with a full tank of gas right in to a wall which was most likely outcome given his decision making process. Biggest certainty beaten of the day. Very painful to watch and the perfect recipe if you enjoy experiencing a headache. Will be years before I put a single $ on a Brad Williamson drive again.

We all make mistakes but to my eye, that drive deserves a mention in the book called "How to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory".

 

 

https://harness.hrnz.co.nz/gws/ws/r/infohorsews/wsd06x?Arg=hrnzg-Ptype&Arg=RaceVideo&Arg=hrnzg-RacehdrID&Arg=261184

 

 

  Image result for blind walking stick

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You would have to ask the question whether he was trying to pull this horse up or not, he did everything possible to get the horse beaten.

It really was an absolute shocker.

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Glad we are all on the same page. Helps my headache to know my fellow observers agree.

I try to put myself inside the drivers head during a race and understand their actions or lack there of.

The horse was obviously going well enough to be put into the race, do a bit of work and still be a strong contender in the finish. Was he trying to drive the horse too pretty? brother Matty was driving the race favourite who was parked out. Brad can see that. Did that influence his decision not to move ?

When he did move, he seemed to be stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea. You know what they say about he who hesitates...is forked. He got beaten to the punch by a far more aggressive and on to it driver Mark Hurrell with Sagwitch. Mark took the initiative to go wide and make his own luck and in doing so, shut the door on a hesitant Brad Williamson. If I owned Vintage Cheddar, I would be looking for a different Williamson to drive my house in future or perhaps promising Junior driver, Mark Hurrell who gave Brad a lesson on what to do and what not to do.   

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5 minutes ago, Joe Kidd said:

The horse was obviously going well enough to be put into the race,

Shocking decision making not to be the first horse to make a move forward and get even a touch handier. 

I try to be polite about drivers and their tactics because there are so many variables but that drive was, for want of a better word, lame.

Incredibly lame. 

He should get a talking to at the very least.

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I see chase Auckland has the visitors draw in the big 4yo race at menangle tonight (2) they must be the luckiest stable when it comes to draws in big races ...if I had a bet in that race, it would be on rackemuptigerpie but I have vowed never to bet at menangle as it is the most boring track with the worst atmosphere in the southern hemisphere.

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You would have to feel sorry for the punters who were on.    Maybe its a gore cup thing. as it was a replica of his drive on kilowatt kidd in the other gore cup 6 weeks ago.      That's punting though,even good drivers like he is make some poor decisions sometimes.

It is surprising how many times you see a driver angling into a non gap,behind tiring horses when they only have to pull outside the horse they are following to get a clear run, or waiting 50m too long to go, then getting boxed in.   Sometimes waiting pays off for them  and they look clever,and maybe they are. They are judged on the final result. However when they don't get a gap they look a bit silly as happened today.

 As punters we all have our bad luck stories.

I remember about 25 years ago missing out on being the only winning ticket holder on a decent pick 6 when the  horse I had in the final leg was the biggest certainty beaten you could see, beaten simply because of an incompetent drive by a high profile driver at the time ,who actually  got suspended for breaking his own horse up early in the race. It settled  15 lengths last in a 13 horse field,weaving all over the track looking for a run down the home straight after coming wide then angling in again for no apparent reason, when it only had to pull out to win,being beaten by 3 noses in a blanket finish.    It happens. 

I may be frustrating joe kidd ,hopefully having a moan on here has helped you, Lets hope you bounce back, tomorrow may just be the day.

Edited by the galah
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VINTAGE CHEDDAR - held up for clear racing room for the majority of the home straight. Stewards questioned driver B Williamson regarding his decision not to improve his position during the running. Mr Williamson explained that the gelding had raced lethargically throughout, especially between the 800 metres and the 400 metres, which was uncharacteristic and he attributed this to the horse having its first start on a grass track. Mr Williamson added that the horse had performed best when driven with a sit so was reluctant to race wide at an earlier stage, especially without cover. He added that he had intended improving outwards on the final bend however SON OF LANA had shifted outwards ahead of him and he felt that horse was under pressure so elected to persevere with an inside run as he would have been forced to improve extremely wide on the track. After considering Mr Williamson's explanation, Stewards were satisfied his tactics were not unreasonable in the circumstances and took the matter no further.

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16 hours ago, Flagship uberalles said:

I see chase Auckland has the visitors draw in the big 4yo race at menangle tonight (2) they must be the luckiest stable when it comes to draws in big races ...if I had a bet in that race, it would be on rackemuptigerpie but I have vowed never to bet at menangle as it is the most boring track with the worst atmosphere in the southern hemisphere.

Beaten by an enormous run from the winner in quick time. The Chariots winner right there for me. Didn't like Auckland Reactor and wouldn't buy his progeny with counterfeit money.

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15 hours ago, the galah said:

You would have to feel sorry for the punters who were on.    Maybe its a gore cup thing. as it was a replica of his drive on kilowatt kidd in the other gore cup 6 weeks ago.      That's punting though,even good drivers like he is make some poor decisions sometimes.

It is surprising how many times you see a driver angling into a non gap,behind tiring horses when they only have to pull outside the horse they are following to get a clear run, or waiting 50m too long to go, then getting boxed in.   Sometimes waiting pays off for them  and they look clever,and maybe they are. They are judged on the final result. However when they don't get a gap they look a bit silly as happened today.

 As punters we all have our bad luck stories.

I remember about 25 years ago missing out on being the only winning ticket holder on a decent pick 6 when the  horse I had in the final leg was the biggest certainty beaten you could see, beaten simply because of an incompetent drive by a high profile driver at the time ,who actually  got suspended for breaking his own horse up early in the race. It settled  15 lengths last in a 13 horse field,weaving all over the track looking for a run down the home straight after coming wide then angling in again for no apparent reason, when it only had to pull out to win,being beaten by 3 noses in a blanket finish.    It happens. 

I may be frustrating joe kidd ,hopefully having a moan on here has helped you, Lets hope you bounce back, tomorrow may just be the day.

Hey Galah,

Cheers for that.

We all have our good and hard luck yarns. My good luck happened at the Mairangi Bay TAB / Video shop some years ago. I stopped in on the way home and took a 50c boxed trifecta with four horses in six consecutive races at Flemington. I got home and started looking at my tickets just prior to the first bet starting. I was having a woeful run at the time. I noticed an error in the first ticket. It should have read race 3 but read race 4. Then I realized I'd put all my bets on the race after the one I had intended. If any one of the 24 horse numbers I'd put in had been scratched, I would have been alerted to my error when putting the bets on. None were scratched.I couldn't be arsed going back to the TAB to change my bets when I noticed the error.  All of my intended trifectas bombed but three of the bets I took in error, won. The first paid $300. The second paid $700 and the fourth paid $10,100. Ironically, the fourth horse I had in the 10k trifecta ran fourth.

I collected 5550. My best picks in years. How ironic. The guy at the TAB I picked up my winnings from thought I was a genius. I didn't tell him what had occurred :) 

My worst luck was in a $100 sports multi I took to win 60k. All bets were in the 2006 Football World Cup. The last match in my multi was a draw between Australia and Italy. The bet included some fantastic results and some good luck. The final 15 minutes of the match was painfully slow as my excitement and tension increased. Then in the last moments, nek minute. Was grumpy for several days. It took me till last year to smile again at football world cup. I had a small fortune on France.

 

 

 

 

Getting back to Brad Williamson's drive. I concede I'm bias and the amount I wagered had me driving the horse from my chair. I don't believe it was all about one split second call. Winning races is about dozens of split second calls. I'm convinced the right course for the horse to take was out wide. No luck required. Horse has a lot of ability and looked ready to get involved. Driver hesitated when it mattered several times and we saw the end result. Left needing a shit load of luck with little hope of getting it. I've seen a million explanations for drives given to the Stewards over the years. They are almost all accepted as correct. How can you prove them wrong when the driver says the horse "felt" this or that? 

What I saw was a certainty beaten. A horse that was bolting in the home straight but the poor and slow decisions made earlier by the driver turned a victory into a loss.

Today's another day so I move on. It's called gambling for a reason.

We all make mistakes but I feel it's important to own them. The last guy who lived his life without making an error ended up being nailed to a cross. Happy to acknowledge Brad is very good with the trotters. 

Cheers.

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1 hour ago, Taku Umanga said:

But unfortunately they don't offer to give the owners the driving fee back ......

 

1 hour ago, Taku Umanga said:

But unfortunately they don't offer to give the owners the driving fee back ......

The bad drive take the fee and run as no balls to admit it .

I guess they are so useless they think they drove your horse perfect!

And the good drivers do give you feed back hence they are at the top and get more drives than the one who has more average drives .

I cannot where you are coming from but another bit of hate .

 

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