All Hail the Top Two – Exemplars of the Sport
Australia’s Top 10 trainers for 2023. Look at who the top 2 are. A picture tells 1000 words. This picture screams 10 000.
Nigel McGrath is the Darren Weir of NZ Harness Racing
Nigel McGrath is a repeat offending horse drug hitter and race cheat. He has never been done for using a jigger on his charges, but it doesn’t really matter in the context of this story. What matters is that McGrath, like Darren Weir, was a trainer who was willing to break any law in the […]
Belle From Burnie’s Analysis of the Darren Weir Situation
Weir would have to be DQed or warned off wouldn’t he? Who hasn’t been previously for using a jigger? Wallers description of Weir as “addicted to winning” is quite telling but not in the acceptable sense that Waller meant. Everyone enjoys a win, but win too frequently and celebrate too much and the dopamine reward […]
You Don’t See This Too Often – I Wonder Why?
How often is it that you see Emma Stewart take four horses to the track to run in four races and come away with no wins and just two thirds? Not very often is the answer. She should have won one – and would have if Mark Pitt hadn’t made the wrong decision to pull […]
Silent Night, Holey Night
This is the Stewards report from the Mackay meeting on Friday. There is not a word about the form turnaround of Nic Me Some from it’s last placing 6 days earlier when it was hooked. There is no supplementary report detailing anything about the ride of Dale Evans on that occasion either. Funny that. Silence […]
The Hooked Horse Backs Up 6 Days Later and Wins
Remember Nic Me Some, the horse we told you last week that we reckoned jockey Dale Evans pulled up at Mackay? Well the same horse stepped out at the same track over the same distance today, got backed for a stack and won. Evans didn’t ride it. Funny that. Things aren’t looking real good for […]
EXCLUSIVE: That Didn’t Take Long – Tasmanian Racing’s New Integrity Chief Resigns the Day After He Started in the Job
This sounds hard to believe, but we are told that it’s true. Ash Rushton, who was appointed to the dual (and conflicting) roles of Tasmanian director of racing and general manager of the Office of Racing Integrity (ORI) on Boxing Day, has resigned just a day later. This must be an all time record in […]
Unqualified Apology to Mr Matthew Isaacs, CEO Harness Racing Victoria
Over the course of the past two months this website published a number of stories alleging potential misconduct relation to conflicts of interest between the personal and professional activities of Mr Matthew Isaacs in his role as CEO of Harness Racing Victoria. These stories were based on information from multiple sources, and were written based […]
Investigation into allegations of conflict at interest at Harness Racing Victoria
Background In November 2023, Harness Racing Victoria referred a matter to the Racing Integrity Commissioner concerning serious allegations about its CEO, Mr Matthew Isaacs, and the operation of its integrity department. Specifically, that Mr Isaacs: • awarded a professional services contract to a company whose sole director was a close, personal friend and part-owner of […]
Ted From Taroom Blames the Chief Steward for the Evans Fiasco
Archie The Stewards spoke to rider Dale Evans and vetted the horse he hooked per the official report. The vet report came up clear, and that was it, despite what appeared to be the obvious they accepted the explanation that jockey Evans gave. These stipes in charge didn’t, and had no intention of, speaking to […]