Forbury Posted February 10, 2022 Share Posted February 10, 2022 11 hours ago, Joe Bloggs said: You missed even better days in the 70's when Hondo, Paleface, Koala King and co plied their trade on those tracks, more so H Park.......the crowds were in the tens of thousands, the atmosphere unreal, the night Young Quinn won at H Park I shall never forget, white head gear, white hopples, and afterburners to die for. My friends father was one of the biggest owners in Sydney in 70s 80s.he said he helped win Fran Donahue the premiership.he owned alot of horses and had alot of connections.dick(Richard) van milder was his name.he won some big races owned alot of horses but he said it still cost him alot of money.i saw photos of some of his big wins.i went to the tracks with him when I was a teenager.bankstown Fairfield Harold park.fond memories.saw a champion two year old called stroma miss it more than a hundred at Bankstown and still win!.Wayne Honan trained I think. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief Stipe Posted February 10, 2022 Share Posted February 10, 2022 8 hours ago, Gammalite said: Joe knows the good ones Chief !! tis is my verdict lol....... It's like a reverse form of ageism snobbery! I'm surprised you haven't rolled out the real freak Highland Fling. It seems you have fixation on the 70's and 80's. Great decades but were they really any better than the last two? Very very few of the horses of old would be competitive today. @Gammalite a few days (weeks?) ago you were promoting the wonder horses of the last decade or so. The fact is in terms of quality harness stars nothing has changed except that they a damn sight faster. Self Assured, Lazarus, Smokin Up, Terror To Love, Monkey King, Changeover, Flashing Red, Just an Excuse, Spankem, King of Swing, Christen Me, Holmes DG, Sokyola. Blacks a Fake, Elsu. Spankem would have beaten the 70's and 80's horse by 100m in the Miracle Mile! Trotters - Sundee's Son, Marcoola, Monbet, Stig, Lyell Creek, Take a Moment, One Over Kenny, Sundon's Gift. The difference is that the Harness administrators have lost their way - their marketers went down the same rabbit hole as the Thoroughbreds did (well in NZ anyway) where the started focusing on the party instead of the horses. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Bloggs Posted February 10, 2022 Share Posted February 10, 2022 3 hours ago, Forbury said: My friends father was one of the biggest owners in Sydney in 70s 80s.he said he helped win Fran Donahue the premiership.he owned alot of horses and had alot of connections.dick(Richard) van milder was his name.he won some big races owned alot of horses but he said it still cost him alot of money.i saw photos of some of his big wins.i went to the tracks with him when I was a teenager.bankstown Fairfield Harold park.fond memories.saw a champion two year old called stroma miss it more than a hundred at Bankstown and still win!.Wayne Honan trained I think. Sadly we will never see those halcyon days again Forbury, I couldn't drive to save myself, but as I can dine out on the fact I drove Paleface home from the Croydon Oval track one morn.....Colin [Pike] used to stay at Bill Wilkins stable [Bangaroo Flex] and as I used to work a mad puller around there I got to see him most mornings, one day I plucked up the courage to ask for a ''sit'', Colin threw me the reins and in I hopped.........he then became of course my fav of all time, it was his looks being a chestnut with the blaze that won people, but to me he was a champion. You mention Wayne Honan, he is/was my landlords bro in law, that family own Manildra, AUS largest flour mill, those battling trot drivers from the 60's/70's are now billionaires........ FWIW, when Cardigan Bay returned to NZ Charlie Hunter was entrusted with his national farewell tour, he came to Hawera to say goodbye to the huge crowd at their 2 day meeting, he stayed at our place and I got to strap him for the few days he was with us.......I kept a swathe of mane from the brush, I had it for years but it's been lost, only a small photo from a box brownie remains, except of course for the memories, ahh the memories.......nostalgia can bore the shit out of the disinterested, I apologise to those thus effected. 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief Stipe Posted February 10, 2022 Share Posted February 10, 2022 1 hour ago, Joe Bloggs said: nostalgia can bore the shit out of the disinterested, I apologise to those thus effected. Nostalgia is fine but when it is used to take the shine off today by the unfounded belief that "The horses were better in my day" well isn't that self-defeating for an industry that you support? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gammalite Posted February 10, 2022 Share Posted February 10, 2022 4 hours ago, Chief Stipe said: Spankem would have beaten the 70's and 80's horse by 100m in the Miracle Mile! Trotters - Sundee's Son, Marcoola, Monbet, Stig, Lyell Creek, Take a Moment, One Over Kenny, Sundon's Gift. Well that is possibly true , Sundees Son trotting unbelievable times and Spankem 1.48 is miles faster than the greats of last century. But that's not worth that much in rating best horses. Verry Elleegant would smash Winx for example, at most distances IMO ,doesn't mean both aren't great horses. 4 hours ago, Chief Stipe said: It's like a reverse form of ageism snobbery! I'm surprised you haven't rolled out the real freak Highland Fling. It seems you have fixation on the 70's and 80's CARDIGAN BAY from the 60's still won by vote Chief in the list of all time greats. and I wasn't even born when he started racing. . just pulled out a jigsaw for fun to honour the great horse lol..... Why he is the top is so many reasons they wrote books on him, And Joes story was great there . Imagine a farwell tour !!! stuff of legends. Nostalgia is great ! and as Ludwig was saying with some posts in this thread , theres a lot of stuff (horses/racing, etc) we all miss. But we still support todays runners as well for sure !! (the few that are left) 3 hours ago, Joe Bloggs said: when Cardigan Bay returned to NZ Charlie Hunter was entrusted with his national farewell tour, he came to Hawera to say goodbye to the huge crowd at their 2 day meeting, he stayed at our place and I got to strap him for the few days he was with us. How good is that !!!! . Hope you got some photos or something as well . fantastic 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief Stipe Posted February 11, 2022 Share Posted February 11, 2022 The point I was trying to make @Gammalite is that over the last two decades the quality of the horses racing has only got better and better. I just don't think that they have garnered the same support or captured the imagination of fans as they have in yesteryear. That isn't a horse issue but an issue with how the sport has been marketed. As for VE - she must be up amongst the all time greats as she has won Grp 1's over so many distances and often not given herself any favours and overcoming bad runs. Her Melbourne Cup win was unbelievable. Anyway we shouldn't be discussing a Thoroughbred in a Standardbred Topic. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Bloggs Posted February 11, 2022 Share Posted February 11, 2022 34 minutes ago, Gammalite said: Well that is possibly true , Sundees Son trotting unbelievable times and Spankem 1.48 is miles faster than the greats of last century. But that's not worth that much in rating best horses. Verry Elleegant would smash Winx for example, at most distances IMO ,doesn't mean both aren't great horses. CARDIGAN BAY from the 60's still won by vote Chief in the list of all time greats. and I wasn't even born when he started racing. . just pulled out a jigsaw for fun to honour the great horse lol..... Why he is the top is so many reasons they wrote books on him, And Joes story was great there . Imagine a farwell tour !!! stuff of legends. Nostalgia is great ! and as Ludwig was saying with some posts in this thread , theres a lot of stuff (horses/racing, etc) we all miss. But we still support todays runners as well for sure !! (the few that are left) How good is that !!!! . Hope you got some photos or something as well . fantastic Cardy came off 108 yards behind at Wayville, his record will stand the test of time. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gammalite Posted February 11, 2022 Share Posted February 11, 2022 25 minutes ago, Joe Bloggs said: Cardy came off 108 yards behind at Wayville, his record will stand the test of time. What a horse . I would be here all day telling great stories about him . How about this photo !!! what a ripper, Jeff King at the head holding on to the 'plain jane' old marvel about to go out on the town at a spritely 23 years of age !!!! at the late Roy Purdons property at Clevedon , and Roy's 3 sons have all Rushed Up to do a bit of grooming on the old Boy ! talk about Respect !!!!! they didn't even train him , before he returned from America. (that was of course Mr Peter Wolfenden) Barry on the back brush there, looks like cheeky Owen grinning between back legs , Mark at the front hoof. No horse would be getting this treatment from these boys like this unless you are CARDIGAN BAY. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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