Always back the horse named self-interest, son. It'll be the only one trying
There were ten races at Alexandra Park last night. Four of them were trots. Two were maidens. One was for 2YO’s that hadn’t won more than a single race. Three were started from the strands. Five were for horses rated no higher than 55, on a scale of 30-120. The highest class pace of the […]
As we predicted a year or so ago, all of the police charges laid against harness racing identities flowing from New Zealand’s Operation Inca have been dropped. That was as expected. Now the real fun begins. The RIB wants the police to hand over their evidence so that it can be considered in relation to […]
A Kiwi pacer named Victor Bravo had raced 14 times coming in to race 4 at Addington yesterday, and the best it could manage was one second and a third, both of them more than eight months ago in 2YO races against very ordinary opposition. About 4 weeks ago the horse was sold, and about […]
The horse coming up the fence in this race, Kyle Loch, was going to win the race for sure, and then it galloped. It lost momentum and ground and fell back to finish 4th instead of 1st. The RIB Adjudicator Geoff Hall disqualified it from the race after the Chief Steward Vinnie Munroe lodged an […]
A pacer named Bri Express – who we will call the cheese – made its debut for popular Manawatu (North Island) trainer Stephen Doody on the 28th of April this year. It ran a creditable 3rd in a maiden at the third tier meeting, and a fortnight later was sold. Guess who bought it? Our […]
We have been telling you for a month that Robert Dunn was going to be appointed to the board of Harness Racing New Zealand haven’t we? Well bingo is it. Yesterday Dunn’s appointment as a Director of the Kiwi control body was formally announced. In making the announcement HRNZ’s spin doctors did a lovely job […]
There is a 3-year-old filly in New Zealand who has always puzzled me. Mr Kaplan is her name. Why is a filly called Mr Kaplan? She is by Betterthancheddar out of Time and Tide, so there is nothing in the bloodlines to suggest a reason for it. The owners names aren’t Kaplan. This filly is […]
A disgraced harness racing trainer banned from the industry for life has admitted a series of deceptions including selling a non-existent horse and then charging its new owners for expenses. Christchurch trainer Mitchell Kerr pleaded guilty to two charges of obtaining by deception and one representative charge of forgery in the Christchurch District Court on April 6. […]
To my way of thinking Robert Dunn’s past history of rule breach offences is enough on its own to disqualify him from eligibility for appointment to the board of the national harness racing governing body HRNZ, but clearly my views are not shared by either the law makers or by the other directors of the […]
This is sort of hard to believe, but those in the know assure me that it is utterly true. Former trainer Nigel McGrath is the 2nd year of an 8-year disqualification from harness racing for doping and conduct offences. He is a repeat offender who was embroiled in the infamous blue magic saga that cost […]
