Harness Racing is the Safest Sport for Horses
Injuries per 1000 starters 14 Thoroughbred 3 Harness Medical conditions per 1000 starters 610 Thoroughbred 57 Harness Deaths per 1000 starters 33 Thoroughbred 1 Harness Source – Qld Racing Integrity Commission Click to access Equine-lifecyce-and-on-track-injury-report-2023-24.pdf
Where Do All the Racehorses Go When They Retire? – Down to the Lake of Fire and Fry
According to the QRIC published Equine lifecycle and on track injury report there were 3321 gallopers retired during the 2023/24 financial year. Racing QLD’s statistics show that in the much longer period between January 2022 and June 2024 only 274 retired horses were accepted into industry funded retraining schemes, and just 179 of these horses […]
Anatomy of a Fatal Fall – Part 2
Saturday’s fatal fall at Innisfail that resulted in the death of the horse Ancient Song and serious injury to apprentice jockey Mel Campbell might never have happened but for a series of systemic failures. For the purpose of preventing a repeat of Saturday’s tragedy these failures need to be identified and addressed. This is not […]
Anatomy of a Fatal Fall – Part 1
The Fall 6-year-old galloper Ancient Style faltered at the 600m mark of a Maiden race at Innisfail on Saturday and crashed to the turf, dislodging apprentice jockey Mel Campbell in the process. Campbell suffered serious injuries in the fall and is presently hospitalized. As bad a state as she is in, it could have been […]
Unreserved Apology to David Reynolds
In our Tips and Rumors column published last week we asked certain questions – based on information received from three different sources – that led to a direct inference that former leading country trainer David Reynolds had been arrested and jailed for offences relating to drugs. This was and is utterly untrue. David Reynolds has […]
The Mastery of Luke McCarthy
We declared during the week that Luke McCarthy was the greatest driver in Australia bar none, and last night in the ID24 final the man we call Cool Hand proved us to be absolutely right. McCarthy’s drive on Don Hugo to win the final was a work of majesty and absolute mastery, a demonstration of […]
I Didn’t Know Grubby Had a Granddaughter
A prominent Cairns racehorse owner sent this picture to me yesterday. Apparently Grubby Day put it up on social media. That was nice of him, because I’ve never seen his granddaughter before. She looks like a nice kid. Must throw to her Mum. Is Nathan Day’s companion old enough to drink? Doesn’t he have any […]
Greyhound Racing NSW Must Want the Sport to Be Shut Down – How Else Can You Explain This?
In the same week that the NZ government announced that it was closing greyhound racing down on welfare grounds, the peak body of the sport in NSW have gone and named a Group 1 race after a man who was once disqualified for 12 months for breaching animal welfare regulations by selling dogs for export […]
What the Hell Was Noddy Doing Here?
https://www-harness-org-au.akamaized.net/qld/APC14122408.mp4 I have seen some pretty questionable drives in my time, but Peter ‘Noddy’ McMullen’s steer on Miki Magic in the 6th race at Albion Park last night was right up there with the best (or worst) of them. Miki Magic opened up as the equal $3.10 favorite for the race, but despite being a […]