Chief Stipe Posted May 6, 2022 Share Posted May 6, 2022 Sundees Son smashes the NZ Record for 2700m going 3:16.3. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief Stipe Posted May 6, 2022 Author Share Posted May 6, 2022 The usual suspects are raising doubts about how the record could be smashed by 4 seconds. Let's face it Sundees Son is one of the best if not THE best trotter to grace our tracks. Incidentally the first 3 home knocked the record for 6. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gammalite Posted May 6, 2022 Share Posted May 6, 2022 16 minutes ago, Chief Stipe said: The usual suspects are raising doubts about how the record could be smashed by 4 seconds. Let's face it Sundees Son is one of the best if not THE best trotter to grace our tracks. Incidentally the first 3 home knocked the record for 6. Has to be the best ever Chief. Not that long ago Sundee trotted 3.56.6 for 2 miles in the Nov Dominion Handicap. Breaking his own record then by 4 seconds from the Dominion the year before (2020) when trotted 4.00.5 Very few pacers can go that fast . never drove one that could go anywhere near a 4.00 min 2 miles. Quite a stunning achievement to get one to 'trot' that fast . Well done Diamonds stable folk I say !!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief Stipe Posted May 6, 2022 Author Share Posted May 6, 2022 23 minutes ago, Gammalite said: Has to be the best ever Chief. Not that long ago Sundee trotted 3.56.6 for 2 miles in the Nov Dominion Handicap. Breaking his own record then by 4 seconds from the Dominion the year before (2020) when trotted 4.00.5 Very few pacers can go that fast . never drove one that could go anywhere near a 4.00 min 2 miles. Quite a stunning achievement to get one to 'trot' that fast . Well done Diamonds stable folk I say !!! The other two place getters are useful ponies as well!!!! Both smashed the record and worked hard to catch Sundees Son and only 0.2 seconds behind him! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rangatira Posted May 6, 2022 Share Posted May 6, 2022 4 minutes ago, Chief Stipe said: The other two place getters are useful ponies as well!!!! Both smashed the record and worked hard to catch Sundees Son and only 0.2 seconds behind him! Archibald conveniently ignores this. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief Stipe Posted May 6, 2022 Author Share Posted May 6, 2022 22 minutes ago, Rangatira said: Archibald conveniently ignores this. That would ruin the conspiracy narrative! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walt Posted May 16, 2022 Share Posted May 16, 2022 (edited) When I first got in the game, Easton Light was top of the tree. He won 36 races including his last win as a 13 year old in 1978. Nigel Craig was also a big deal. He won 26 races and broke 2 mins for the mile. Petite Evander was a great mare around the same time. She won 21 races and ran 1.58 in the States. Scotch Tar is still talked about despite his last race being in 1983. He won 29 races and had a mile time of 1.58. One of the lasting memories of this outstanding trotter was him racing against the pacers several times including in the Show Day FFA. http://www.hof.co.nz/Scotch-Tar.htm The Bonnie mare Tussle was all the rage for a couple of seasons. She won 36 races including 3 as a 12 year old in 1999. As good as she was, she wouldn't have been able to live with Sundees Son on the track. Sundon won 27 races races including 11 straight as a 2 year old. His outstanding deeds on the track have been eclipsed by his deeds as a sire. Call Me Now was superb in the 1990's winning 24. David Moss or Monster Moss as he was sometimes called won 31 races including 6 as an 11 year old in 1995. Pride of Petite was a wonderful mare winning 35 races, the last as an 11 year old in 1999. Idle Scott the so called iron horse for Dave Gibbons won 46 races often off long marks. His last victory was at his favourite hunting ground Alex Park as a 13 year old in 1997. Diamond Field was superb winning 33. What can you say about the great Lyell Creek? He won an incredible 56 races. His last two as an 11 year old in 2005. Who could forget his Rowe Cup victory in 2004? He won in Sweden, Canada and the US. He is clearly the benchmark of greatness. Take A Moment was superb winning 39 races. He also won a mile in 1.57. Stig was a top trotter winning 23. I Can Doosit was a magnificent mare winning 36 including a mile in 1.55. Speeding Spur was a beauty winning 28. Basil Dean, No Response and Sir Castleton were personal favs winning 92 races between them. Sir Castleton winning 44. In my rankings, I have Sundee Son now just ahead of Lyell Creek but haven't we been blessed with some super trotters over the years. Apologies to any topliners I've overlooked on my list. Edited May 16, 2022 by Walt 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gammalite Posted May 16, 2022 Share Posted May 16, 2022 1 hour ago, Walt said: In my rankings, I have Sundee Son now just ahead of Lyell Creek Fantastic NZ TROTTER summary there Walt !!!!!!!! loved it, remembering some Greats. I came in to harness, just after Easton Light so missed seeing him. YES indeed, ..... "Sundees Son" has lifted the bar into the Stratosphere ! nobody is beating him at all, trotting 2 miles in 3.56. whatta superstar. AND to give the Aussies a plug , Maori's Idol raced against Pacers many times like Scotch Tar did in NZ, and had a 2nd to Rip Van Winkle In a Group 1 in Brisbane. quite an astonishing achievement . Also won 24 odd races on the 'trot' (great Pun fully intended lol ) The late great Graeme Lang swept the floor with "Scotch Notch" for a few seasons , winning the Interdominion in Auckland along the way against Jenner and Sir Castleton. and to add to your list we saw a few great mares always straining everything in chasing some of your list of greats and getting the money too on occasion, "Framalda," "Thriller Dee", "Special Pride" "About Now" and more............. 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walt Posted May 17, 2022 Share Posted May 17, 2022 2 hours ago, Gammalite said: Fantastic NZ TROTTER summary there Walt !!!!!!!! loved it, remembering some Greats. I came in to harness, just after Easton Light so missed seeing him. YES indeed, ..... "Sundees Son" has lifted the bar into the Stratosphere ! nobody is beating him at all, trotting 2 miles in 3.56. whatta superstar. AND to give the Aussies a plug , Maori's Idol raced against Pacers many times like Scotch Tar did in NZ, and had a 2nd to Rip Van Winkle In a Group 1 in Brisbane. quite an astonishing achievement . Also won 24 odd races on the 'trot' (great Pun fully intended lol ) The late great Graeme Lang swept the floor with "Scotch Notch" for a few seasons , winning the Interdominion in Auckland along the way against Jenner and Sir Castleton. and to add to your list we saw a few great mares always straining everything in chasing some of your list of greats and getting the money too on occasion, "Framalda," "Thriller Dee", "Special Pride" "About Now" and more............. Maori's Idol was a super trotter as was Knight Pistol. I was at Addington when Scotch Notch won the Dominion in 83. I had Sir Castleton who beat her, Basil Dean and About Now (25 wins) a week earlier and just started to smile when I noticed the great Australian mare coming. You don't mind getting beat so much when the winner is from the top drawer as she was. Normally when you saw Basil Dean leading clearly turning in it was all over. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brodie Posted May 17, 2022 Share Posted May 17, 2022 Appears to be a few more people at the races back then, by the look of it? What has changed things so much? Trackside? NZ TAB? More places to spend your $? Commentary was not too bad either! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walt Posted May 17, 2022 Share Posted May 17, 2022 38 minutes ago, Brodie said: Appears to be a few more people at the races back then, by the look of it? What has changed things so much? Trackside? NZ TAB? More places to spend your $? Commentary was not too bad either! Probably all of the above Brodie. I remember comparing going to the casino with the track. Then imagine someone saying you can only wager for 6 mins an hour at the casino and then spend the other 54 minutes waiting around. I think the casino would pretty quickly lose most of it's customers. Beer was considered a working mans drink by many yet the price you were charged on course didn't reflect that. Also usually overcharged for food. The old chips or hot dogs don't have the same appeal they did in the 1970's. There is still an atmosphere on track at decent meetings but not so much for the lesser meetings. People will still go on track to see a hyped up top liner going around. Racing is good but not good enough in my opinion to charge people to go on course unless it's Cup Day. If you started charging customers to go into the local TAB to bet, the places would be empty. There is so much competition around for your entertainment $$ these days the game needs to be lifted. That is even more so with the next generations of punters. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeynz Posted May 17, 2022 Share Posted May 17, 2022 10 minutes ago, Walt said: Probably all of the above Brodie. I remember comparing going to the casino with the track. Then imagine someone saying you can only wager for 6 mins an hour at the casino and then spend the other 54 minutes waiting around. I think the casino would pretty quickly lose most of it's customers. Beer was considered a working mans drink by many yet the price you were charged on course didn't reflect that. Also usually overcharged for food. The old chips or hot dogs don't have the same appeal they did in the 1970's. There is still an atmosphere on track at decent meetings but not so much for the lesser meetings. People will still go on track to see a hyped up top liner going around. Racing is good but not good enough in my opinion to charge people to go on course unless it's Cup Day. If you started charging customers to go into the local TAB to bet, the places would be empty. There is so much competition around for your entertainment $$ these days the game needs to be lifted. That is even more so with the next generations of punters. Even though it's free in ter course television has saturated our appetite to make the effort, it's not just racing, how often do you see a big crowd at a one dayer or 20 20 in cricket or in any rugby game except maybe a ABs match. The depth of good horses racing in past years was better, sure Self Assured and Sundees Son would hold their own against the best, remember the days when they started to break the 2 minute mile, now on some of these tracks a 1 52 or 1 53 time in not uncommon, are they better than yesterday's stars, hard to know sure the times they are running beats the past horses, its evolution, probably better tracks, better training methods, dont think many horses of today could outdo a horse like Lord Module when he was on his game and Scotch Tar, was exceptional as a trotter, that mile race when he got run down by Locarno who had a exceptional finish says it all As for racing as a whole, what does it have to excite or stimulate interest as in winning money like lotto offers, I tell you , nothing, no one can deny that the lure of a million or more will get even people who may not gamble much to spend their 20 bucks or whatever on the off chance they can win big, harness racing or the TAB as a whole need to get pro active in getting interest back, a weekly big prize maybe on Saturdays only I reckon is a start I note that the normal lotto division one pool seems bigger every saturday, the weekend is the time for people to engage with sport, lotto and racing, interesting how the turnover on Melbourne Cup day, noted that it is tuesday is massive,why not something at the weekend ,every weekend to create same level of interest,cant be that hard or is it ? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brodie Posted May 17, 2022 Share Posted May 17, 2022 The biggest problem without doubt as I see it, is the fact that the industry is not doing anything to attract new punters! The fact is the TAB and harness NZ are actually doing the total opposite in that they are losing punters! I know several punters who just do not bother anymore, that going oncourse and to an outlet to wager! The actions being employed currently will also ensure that therr wont be enough owners coming thru to ensure the success of harness racing! The economy and cost of living going forward for the coming generations is going to ensure that most will not be able to afford the training costs which are substantial nowadays! Things need to change and no amount of brainstorming will do anything without correct actions! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeynz Posted May 17, 2022 Share Posted May 17, 2022 7 hours ago, Walt said: Maori's Idol was a super trotter as was Knight Pistol. I was at Addington when Scotch Notch won the Dominion in 83. I had Sir Castleton who beat her, Basil Dean and About Now (25 wins) a week earlier and just started to smile when I noticed the great Australian mare coming. You don't mind getting beat so much when the winner is from the top drawer as she was. Normally when you saw Basil Dean leading clearly turning in it was all over. I watched that clip, and the name Regal Flyer was mentioned, now there was a horse who did the hard yards, often starting from handicaps of over 100 metres, sadly when he won he just went back further, the old guy racing him had a few good ones , he just liked racing his horses I guess, certainly today would have enjoyed the new ratings, that was one of the negatives of the old system, lots of southern horses just got sold after they ran out of the classes, still a lot stuck around too, some jus got trained further north. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.