Comments worth a post but not a thread of their own

Markovina · February 2023

Im a long way from Kalgoorlie

However you look at it - Gary Sayers allways poked around with a pacer or 2 - his late brother Ron - he was worth 200-400 million - alot of money - he had a big public company - something drilling - there are alot of very wealthy companies up their - with big players - big shots running them

When the trots were running up their - youd think surely with an energetic Sec/managaer - if you kept pestering those blokes - youd get nice stakemoney for a Cup and Derby their each year

Rocket_Reign · February 2023

Markovina said:

Rocket_Reign said:

Ivorytrunkey86 said:
Kalgoorlie was a great track to drive at aslong as rocket wasn’t there knocking you over.

I reckon I seen you fall 5 times and none of them were my fault haha
Serious question Rocket - and i dont crawl or suck to anyone

But i thought - when you drove in races - that you were a reasonable driver

You tick a few boxes - the most important one - back then you didnt have any excess weight by the look of things - and as ive mentioned many times Gordon Rothacker a legend sacked himself because he was 4-5 stone heavier than Gath and Demmler

Justin Prentice also i thought was a very good driver - yet he seems to have sacked himself - and puts old Crusty Lewis on - whos nearly twice his age

And you can go right back to Greg Harper - who i rated as a driver - but for some bizarre reason he obviosly didnt rate himself - because he was on an endless search for top drivers for his top horses

But like a say i thought you drove ok - you looked a natural lightweight - i mean how many runners do you have a week 10-15 - what is a driving fee $70 bucks or something - theres another grand in your pocket each week

And to be perfectly honest - i dont think GP is a hard track to drive at - in the sense - i think Deni Roberts ( nearly the best lady driver in Aust ) has worked it out - if she cant lead - and the horse isnt a breeze horse - then she drives them totally for luck - she is not remotely interested in being in the running line - she will sit 6 or 7 on the pegs - rather than being in the running line - 300-400 metres from home she gets fair dinkum and she has got a nice fresh horse

There’s a lot of skill in driving it’s like AFL etc you’re either good at it or you’re not and I wasn’t. I drove good horses in bad races, it’s much more profitable for me to use the better drivers, it’s also less stressful haha

freodockers · February 2023

If you were driving your own horses Rocket you would be in the top ten drivers.
Probably with second best strike rate.

Markovina · February 2023

freodockers said:
If you were driving your own horses Rocket you would be in the top ten drivers.
Probably with second best strike rate.

I agree entirely with your comment - simply because so many races at GP - its lead all the way

He has got Hall jnr on his - who is a champion diver - and one thing about JNR when he is on the leader - hes like Donny Dove back in the 60s at the Royal Melb Showgrounds - he stacks them up - he doesnt panic - and thus the dangers never get out

But if Rocket drove his horses - so many of them lead and win - i think he would win plenty of races - i mean you go to the last race on Tues - that is a classic GP race - and in my opinion a very ordinary drive by M Ferguson on the $1.95 fave drew the pole comfortably at the start holding out the horse to its outside but jnr persisted with a bit of vigour - and Fergusons response was basically to do nothing - and he got crossed and it cost him the race - i reckon Curmudgeeon could have won that race on the pole horse - because he would have booted up at the start and kept the lead

However i will mention - if a trainer elected to drive his horses at Albion Park - it would be a total different scenario - you would be badly found out - you have to be alert their - its not all about leading - theirs midrace moves - you have to know your form - and you have to sometimes have to make midrace moves yourself - i think if a trainer who drove his horses their would be left floundering

curmudgeon · February 2023

You have more faith than me Marko ....I have to think for two minutes before I pull my socks on these days.

With stables of any size it is almost impossible to train & drive nowadays.

Boutique owner trainer type stables ...no trouble because there is much less pressure to achieve in every race.

There are too many variables on race night that can interrupt the flow of the evening & serve as complete distractions as well I reckon. If you are training & racing regularly at the top level it makes sense to have the best specialist driver you can obtain & each concentrating on your separate roles.

It takes a lot of drivers fees to make up for a mistake in a metro race that costs victory....because you are still deciding while doing your warmup whether it is a mile.2100 or 2500 m race you are on track for

:(

Markovina · February 2023

One of Rockets former pacers - The Tiger Army-broke a long run of outs by winning race 3 at Penrtith last night -paid upwards of $20

At the bell it looked to be in a hopeless position - 5 back the pegs and last - so much so - that its driver at that point - in total and utter desperation reached into his kit bag and pulled out the Legendary George Moore Whistle

And for the whole of the last lap -ke just kept blowing that Whistle - and the rest is history

Rocket_Reign · February 2023

Markovina said:
One of Rockets former pacers - The Tiger Army-broke a long run of outs by winning race 3 at Penrtith last night -paid upwards of $20

At the bell it looked to be in a hopeless position - 5 back the pegs and last - so much so - that its driver at that point - in total and utter desperation reached into his kit bag and pulled out the Legendary George Moore Whistle

And for the whole of the last lap -ke just kept blowing that Whistle - and the rest is history

Was a strange horse Tiger, used to work as good as anything we’ve ever had on the track was sharp as tack and could close off in 26 but then would go to the races and be sluggish and not overly competitive. After the race it would take him a lap to pull up even if he’d dropped out in the race, I always figured he had a health issue but plenty of vet trips and never found anything so was just a head scratcher that horse

loose_goose · February 2023

Saw what I thought was strange this morning, should have taken a picture of both, as changed now, but in the first & last races from Albany tonight the markets opened with two horses in the Red. :-O The opener does look a race in two, but still 9 runners so that indeed I was surprised to see two at odds on.

JayJay · February 2023

Shannon and Aldo sharing coffee and a toasted sanger at Byford this morning?

loose_goose · February 2023

JayJay said:
Shannon and Aldo sharing coffee and a toasted sanger at Byford this morning?

I have no idea what that means :-B

Chariotsonfire · February 2023

Drove the card all seven winners between them at Northam last night.

aussiebattler · February 2023

thanks for the free plug for our business PackedMetalPanda in the main race at Northam last night :)

freodockers · February 2023

Especially Golden Galaxy and Miracle Mary.

Chariotsonfire · February 2023

Chariotsonfire said:
Drove the card all seven winners between them at Northam last night.

Actually it was 8 winners, Shannon Five and Aldo three.

Markovina · February 2023

aussiebattler said:
thanks for the free plug for our business PackedMetalPanda in the main race at Northam last night :)

Just looked up to see what was the main race - i presume the Northam Carpet 19.6k- and well done to you if you are sponsoring harness races

I must admit that is the 1st time -looking up the result - - that i realised that race was actually The Village Kid Sprint - WA Harness - or RWWA -or whoever is in charge - ive got no idea - but they cant be proud of what they have done to that race - the prizemoney used to be 30k or 50k - it was a highly publicised and anticipated sprint - full of A Graders - Jess Moore top mare etc - but outside of the winner who is a nice mare - the rest of them are 2nd - 3rd-4th graders - thats why i didnt realize it was the VK Sprint

freodockers · February 2023

I’m sure they will be able to justify it Marko.

JayJay · February 2023

There are 2 "Village Kid" Sprint races. The first and original race started at Northam in 2004 and was a C5+ race worth $7k. It has undergone various incarnations in both class and stakemoney, up to group 3 and $30k at one stage (I'm Victorious in 2013), then back down to a C0+ worth 14,999 when El Machine won, and then back to a HWOE LT $40k and now to its current classification as a L7/8 Conditioned pace worth 20k ($19.6k because of only 10 starters).

The other Village Kid race had its origins as the Celebrity Mile (at GP for opening heat or prelude winners of the Pacing Cup 1998-2004) before morphing into the Celebrity Sprint (2004-2011) and then it had it's name changed to the Village Kid, in the process "pinching" the name from Northam. It is now a group 2 I think, worth $50k, and was won last year by Magnificent Storm. Bill Horn always gave the Northam Race his imprimatur and support taking old Willie up to parade and even after that, attending with Norma as guests of the club.

savethegame · February 2023

Was at Northam when Scan Air beat I'm rhe mightyQuinn. In V.K. sprint just checked it was worth 25k. but was run on a Tuesday 2009

PackedMetalPanda · February 2023

aussiebattler said:
thanks for the free plug for our business PackedMetalPanda in the main race at Northam last night :)

Invoice is in the mail

Markovina · February 2023

Hey Panda - re this forum - how about giving us some WA Harness Racing News

Surely Panda - you can throw a hand full of pellets to the chooks every now and again

PackedMetalPanda · February 2023

Sorry Marko, I’m not a journalist and don’t chase news. Closest thing I can offer is tuning into OneOutOneBack on Tuesday’s

aussiebattler · February 2023

Markovina said:

aussiebattler said:
thanks for the free plug for our business PackedMetalPanda in the main race at Northam last night :)

Just looked up to see what was the main race - i presume the Northam Carpet 19.6k- and well done to you if you are sponsoring harness races

I must admit that is the 1st time -looking up the result - - that i realised that race was actually The Village Kid Sprint - WA Harness - or RWWA -or whoever is in charge - ive got no idea - but they cant be proud of what they have done to that race - the prizemoney used to be 30k or 50k - it was a highly publicised and anticipated sprint - full of A Graders - Jess Moore top mare etc - but outside of the winner who is a nice mare - the rest of them are 2nd - 3rd-4th graders - thats why i didnt realize it was the VK Sprint

Northam Carpet Court sponsored the race but race caller slipped up and called it as narrogin carpet court , we do sponsor races at the narrogin club but hey can’t knock back the free plug lol

Markovina · February 2023

aussiebattler said:

Markovina said:

aussiebattler said:
thanks for the free plug for our business PackedMetalPanda in the main race at Northam last night :)

Just looked up to see what was the main race - i presume the Northam Carpet 19.6k- and well done to you if you are sponsoring harness races

I must admit that is the 1st time -looking up the result - - that i realised that race was actually The Village Kid Sprint - WA Harness - or RWWA -or whoever is in charge - ive got no idea - but they cant be proud of what they have done to that race - the prizemoney used to be 30k or 50k - it was a highly publicised and anticipated sprint - full of A Graders - Jess Moore top mare etc - but outside of the winner who is a nice mare - the rest of them are 2nd - 3rd-4th graders - thats why i didnt realize it was the VK Sprint
Northam Carpet Court sponsored the race but race caller slipped up and called it as narrogin carpet court , we do sponsor races at the narrogin club but hey can’t knock back the free plug lol

Ha- good Onya mate - and like they say - any publicity - is good publicity

I didnt hear any of the pre race ramble - but let me assure mate - whatever amount Panda invoices you for the free plug - The Northam Carpet Company will be invoicing Panda - 10 times that amount - ha - ha - ha

But quite seriously - its probably apt that Cortopassi drove the winner of the Village Kid Sprint - yeah sure ACL was the regular driver of VK - but Aldo and Bill Horn go way back - they combined 5-6 years back with that top notch injury prone sit sprinter whose name escapes me

But Aldo and Bill prior to that -had a nice little partnership - way back - this is an educated guess because time does get away from you - but say 20 years ago - and quite regurlarly - now and again Bill put Aldo on some of his horses ( when not that many were )- and a guess again - they probably combined to win 6-7 Friday night races together . I can remember vividly after one of their wins - Wes ( sadly missed might i say ) interviewed Bill - and he certainly gave Aldo the thumbs up for the winning drive . And of course - Bill had that same look where ever he went - i can remember one night at Northam ( late 70s - well before the VK glory days ) and there was 6 or 7 of us lined up at the tote window to get our bets on - and Bill had that big cheesy smile - yapping away to some punter he probably didnt even know - hah

JayJay · February 2023

Heez On Fire.

freodockers · February 2023

Pinjarra today some good interesting notes
2 trotters races

Horse that ran second in 2yo race out of Kamendable family being discussed last week. Also both mother and father won at GP can’t remember last time that happened.

Scott Gaebler first runner since 04/05. He and his brother had a good mare prior to that open class raced over east aswell I think.

Billy Hayes makes it two in a row on Lucca.
Great to see.

Chariotsonfire · February 2023

Does anyone know whey Tracy Reay's three runners were scratched from Race 5?

Markovina · February 2023

I was going to post this last week

You read all these bizarre things in todays society - about 4-5 weeks back read in the general news- in Edge - 5 young teenagers - oldest one was 18 or 19 Car left road in Tassie - at some weird time 1am - 4 horses killed at the scene - i just thought what the hell is going on here

Then last week on the AHR site i read about it - it was trotting related - i dont think it was that sensible - that someone so young was driving - with a 4 horse float - going backto B Yoles Launc stable at that hour

Cody Cossland ( Laura Crooslands son i think ) he was a talented young driver round Shepparton - hes down in Tassie driving for Yole - well he was asleep at the time - and nearly never woke up

"We could have been off the cliff and the float could have been on top of us - A tree stump spun the car around back towards the road and pulled us back "

savethegame · February 2023

Pinjarra today some good interesting notes
2 trotters races

Scott Gaebler first runner since 04/05. He and his brother had a good mare prior to that open class raced over east aswell I think.

Billy Hayes makes it two in a row on Lucca.
Great to see.

Billabong Girl very good mate started racing at Kalgoorlie beat Sokyola at Moonee Valley one night G Lang trained it for Shane & Scott

freodockers · February 2023

Chariotsonfire said:
Does anyone know whey Tracy Reay's three runners were scratched from Race 5?

She wanted to stay home and back Toni Street in the 7th.

Rocket_Reign · February 2023

Chariotsonfire said:
Does anyone know whey Tracy Reay's three runners were scratched from Race 5?

Heat policy

G'day Punter!

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