Always back the horse named self-interest, son. It'll be the only one trying
Champion New Zealand driver Blair Orange is smiling like a man who has just won lotto, and who could blame him? His son Harry has just won on Ilsas Girl at Alexandra in his first ever race drive. It was a pearler of a steer by the young man who is bred to be a […]
If you think the massive reduction to prizemoney for the Breeders Crown series announced yesterday is the only crack on the chin that Victorian harness racing participants are going to cop this year, then I’d suggest you think again, for the pain has only just begun. There is no alternative, for as we’ve been trying […]
Just a couple of weeks ago the Victorian Racing Tribunal upheld a 3-week suspension the Stewards gave small-time driver Michelle Wight for persisting to race three-wide on a $26 outsider, when there was no chance of her getting in. https://content.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2024-07/VRT-Decision-Michelle-Wight-11-July-2024.docx If that decision is the baseline, then Steve Turnbull should be given 3 months for […]
Archie After reading with interest your recent articles about horses crossing the marker pegs, I would like to suggest that we should adopt the US rules about the issue. These American rules take the subjectivity out of it in nearly all instances. While we’re at it we should use their relegation rule for interference as […]
Harness Racing Victoria’s announcement yesterday that it is immediately slashing prizemoney for the Breeders Crown Series has rocked harness racing participants, with the series being decimated by direct cut in stakes for the 2 and 3-year-old finals of $705 000 or 64.35%, down from $1.15 million to $410 00. These prizemoney reductions imperil the Group […]
PACING 1. 2yo Colts & Geldings Final Was $250 000 Now $80 000 Reduction= $170 000 2. 2yo Fillies Final WAS – $250 000 NOW – $80 000 Reduction = $170 000 3. 3yo Colts & Geldings Final Was $150 000 Now $60 000 Reduction = $90 000 4. 3yo Fillies Final WAS $150 000 […]
It is a strange protest decision this one. Kaleb Williams, the driver of the horse in the yellow and brown, definitely shifts inside two marker pegs in the home straight and runs over a third. That much is confirmed by the driver being fined $100 for breaching the rule. 163. (1) A driver shall not […]
How does a horse that gets beaten by margins of 82.3m, 72.2m and 151.9m at three starts in a row and didn’t gallop in any of them not get stood down from racing? Or one that gets thrashed in five races in a row by margins of 79.3m, 48.3m, 45.6m. 41.6m and 44.3m? What about […]
Ben Yole’s dad’s weekend at the races by numbers. 2 meetings 41 runners 13 races 3 wins 10 last placings 80 average losing margin (metres) 6 horses stood down 4 placed on last chance to race truly What a cracker of a couple of nights out hey? I bet you wish that you could train […]
The Alex Freeman trained Jay Bee Jay Bee threw a positive swab 4-hydroxytestosterone after it raced on the 5th of May Both 2023. 4-hydroxytestosterone is an anabolic androgenic steroid. Under rule AHR 90AA(4) a horse who throws a positive swab to an anabolic androgenic steroid must be banned from racing for a minimum of 12 […]
