Anyone who follows trot form knows that the former Kiwi pacer Lochart Shard is no good. His record up until a month ago spoke for itself. 39 starts for 2 wins. It doesn’t say much for the horse does it? Or nothing that’s good anyway. The pacer had been through 2 countries, a duet of […]
Why Did a Healthy 5YO From the Robert Dunn Stable Die?
Repeat Pat was a 5YO in hitherto fine fettle until 3 weeks ago. And then it died. On the training track. The official story is that it drowned in the pool. Only the person telling that tale and the Wizard’s apprentice in Christchurch square believe it. Why is that so many seemingly healthy horses from […]
Racing and Wagering Western Australia Call in John Dumesny To Fix the Handicapping ess
Harness Handicapping Review Good afternoon, Over the next year, Racing and Wagering WA (RWWA) will be conducting a series of reviews into harness racing in line with our purpose to ensure a sustainable future for WA racing. RWWA is committed to seeking and listening to the views of industry throughout the process of each review. […]
A Tale of Two Codes, and a $45 Million Eight Year Loss
For the 8th consecutive year Queensland harness racing has returned a 7-figure loss, taking the total losses over these 8 years to over $45 million. The only good news is that the loss this has been reduced to ‘only’ a million dollars, but still it is unsustainable in the long term, and something has to […]
Ray Murrihy’s Observations About the National Harness Ratings System and its Problems are Well Worth Reading
Independent investigator Ray Murrihy early last month released his interim report into the allegations of animal cruelty are race fixing made against trainer Ben Yole, but to the disappointment of most the key questions were not answered, with those to be addressed in Murrihy’s final report due to be released at the end of the […]
Murrihy Continued
Ratings The ratings system is a national one, adopted by all but one state in Australia. However in my view, with Tasmania having full race fields and only racing usually two race dates per week, the ratings system is not conducive to the best outcome for competitive racing. Tasmanian handicap conditions need to effect changes […]
Whooee – What Did They Give This
Whoee Johnson is well tried 9YO pacer who has had 113 starts across 6 seasons at a variety of tracks. The fastest time he ever run and won in any of them was 1.58.6. Last night at Globe Derby the horse was backed off the map from $5.00 into even money ($2.00). It led out […]
A Tale of Two Cities and Identical Offences – But Will the Penalties Be the Same?
Last year New Zealand stewards caught a small time trainer in New Zealand named Sheryl Wigg treating 3 horses on race day, much the same as Victoria’s leading trainer Emma Stewart was caught treating two of her horses on race day a couple of weeks back prior to the Maryborough Cup . The substance that […]
Positive Swab?
There are rumours swirling Victoria that a leading harness racing trainer from the north of the state may soon be in the news for a positive swab that might cause him a few problems. The trainer, a multiple Group 1 winner, is said to have thrown the positive with one of his horses to Levamisole, […]
Is it Time to Change the Name of the Inter Dominion Pacers Championship to Just the D?
As predicted, Copy That won’t be coming to Brisbane after his connections yesterday scratched him from the ID23 series, leaving Simply Sam as the only Kiwi trained rep left in the once great trans-Tasman battle. Unless it can produce a miracle by winning a Group 1 at home over the next 8 weeks that horse […]