Happy Birthday Nathan Jack
Everyone deserves a cheerio on their birthday. Even Nathan Jack. Happy Birthday Nathan. Many happy returns.
The NSW Breeders Challenge Final is Shaping as the 2YO Race of the Century
The 2YO Colts and Geldings NSW Breeders Challenge semi-final fields are starting to taking shape, and so far all the best horses have won their heats. The Queenslander Leap For Fame is out. Had he finished 3rd in his heat yesterday at Menangle behind Smaltese he might have made it on a countback due to […]
Hope Springs Eternal in the Human Breast – But it Springs a Lot Larger and Longer in a Trot Man’s Tit
Queensland harness racing trainer Wayne ‘the Ningi Butcher’ Waltisbuhl is a man who believes in hope. The Ningi Butcher believes in the power of sons of Somebeachsomewhere as sires too. Who can knock him on either count? Somebeachwhere is the greatest or (if you are a Bettors Delight man) the second greatest pacing sire of […]
The Race of the Year is On Today – State v State – 2YO Great v Great – Bring It On
I have been raving about Kevin Seymour AM’s 2-year-old colt Leap To Fame for about six months now, and talking up his chances against the big guns of the south. Well today the moment has come. In race 6 at Menangle today, the second colts and geldings heat of the Breeders Challenge, Leap To Fame […]
Can You Lip Read?
Dani Hill had just kicked up in the death inside David Smith’s horse, and looked like going to the lead. Smith eased. When he did, Hill did too. David Smith couldn’t get in, so when Hill eased he came around again. Hill kicked up once more and held him out. D. Smith was not happy […]
Why the Prizemoney Increases in Victorian Harness Racing Are an Illusion
In the year 2010 Harness Racing Victoria paid $33.7 million in prizemoney to participants. By 2020 the total stakes had increased to $41.6 million. You little ripper. An additional $7.9 million has been injected into harness racing. Well yes, but no, and not quite. Nine million more is being paid out in prizemoney compared to […]
Gilbert Myles, and Why the Concerned Auckland Trotting Club Reformers Should Replace Him
Gilbert Myles was a Robert Muldoon loving rank and file member of the NZ National Party (their equivalent of the LNP or the Liberal Party) who in 1990 stood as a stooge in the seemingly unwinnable seat of Roskill in Auckland – which had been held by Labour since 1957, and was considered the safest […]
What is Wrong With This Picture? Everything – Heads in the Sand, and Death by Cuts – Welcome to the Trots in 2021
What is wrong with this picture? The simple answer? Everything. Harness Racing Victoria is failing on every key indicator and metric that matters to the industry and to those in it, except prizemoney. We will come to that later. The number of meetings has dropped by over ten percent in ten years, and there […]
WA Reinswoman Gets All Lathered Up
It was truly wonderful to see Bailey McDonough and his Dad with whom he has recently physically reconnected after years living on other sides of the continent win their way through to the final of the Victorian Derby in the heats on Saturday night with Blitzern. Bailey’s was a heady, patient, mature and all round […]
The Captain Crunch NZ Pacing Not Trotting Cup – Proudly Brought to You By a Horse
Wasn’t it nice of Captain Crunch to sponsor the NZ Harness Racing Awards this year? I am not quite sure how he actually did it, given that the Captain is a horse and thus can’t read, write, operate a bank account or hold any assets, but it was lovely of the shuttle sire to think […]