RaceCafe..#1...Tipsters Thread.... Share Your Fancies For Fun...Lets See Who The Best Tipsters Here Are.
Hashtag

Timing of the Jewels

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Not sure they have it right. The Oaks and Sires run at Addington on Saturday push the Jewels back and I feel the Jewels loses badly as a result. I don't think The Oaks it's self is helped by the timing either. Was wet on Saturday and it was slush when Fight For Glory won the year before. How does a slushy track enhance that age group classic for the fillies?

Early June is often wet and or cold. A wet track often brings the really good horses back to the field. Cold weather often keeps people at home. Neither of those elements are good for The Jewels.

Hope it's not pouring down at Cambridge but current weather and forecast not looking good for such an elite day.

I feel the Jewels should be in the first week of May,a week after the Auckland Rowe Cup meeting. That would enhance the Rowe Cup meeting and be helpful for connections. At present the date is five weeks after the Rowe Cup meeting which seems to be somewhere between the devil and the deep blue sea.  What have Field Marshal and My Kiwi Mate been doing since The Messenger a month ago? Monbet etc have gone all the way back to the South Island just to hurry up and wait for five weeks.

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Apart from the owners of jewels horses able to possibly win a good stake, does anyone really give a toss about the Flippen Jewls?.

Personally believe it is very overrated.

Tired horses racing over a mile, normally won by the Allstars is a real yawn.

Months of going on about who is going to get into the Jewls etc. is tedious.

Can hardly wait.

 

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Brodie. Jewels day and NZ cup day are our best two days of the year. Yes I'd rather see the big prize money split among more stables but our top horses racing for good money is very appealing. Having said that,not everyone believes the Jewels are heading in the right direction.

What would you do to improve the format? I'd like to see a few changes. Top of the list is location. Why race at the same venues? Harness racing is popular everywhere yet we are stuck at Cambridge or Ashburton. I'd love to see venues like Nelson and Winton etc used. Get more of NZ into it and excited about it. If you had the Olympic games at the same venue each time it would soon become the same old same old.

I'd also like to see a race for the older cup type horses at the Jewels. Why exclude the very horses we once rated above all others? The Golden Slipper is a beaut race but we'd never dream of dumping the Melbourne Cup.

As for race distance. I always enjoy mile and a half racing. The barrier draws are not so critical at that distance either. Having mile races at a track were draws are so important detracts from the concept in my opinion.

As stated previously I also believe the day should be a month earlier.

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1 hour ago, Hashtag said:

Brodie. Jewels day and NZ cup day are our best two days of the year. Yes I'd rather see the big prize money split among more stables but our top horses racing for good money is very appealing. Having said that,not everyone believes the Jewels are heading in the right direction.

What would you do to improve the format? I'd like to see a few changes. Top of the list is location. Why race at the same venues? Harness racing is popular everywhere yet we are stuck at Cambridge or Ashburton. I'd love to see venues like Nelson and Winton etc used. Get more of NZ into it and excited about it. If you had the Olympic games at the same venue each time it would soon become the same old same old.

I'd also like to see a race for the older cup type horses at the Jewels. Why exclude the very horses we once rated above all others? The Golden Slipper is a beaut race but we'd never dream of dumping the Melbourne Cup.

As for race distance. I always enjoy mile and a half racing. The barrier draws are not so critical at that distance either. Having mile races at a track were draws are so important detracts from the concept in my opinion.

As stated previously I also believe the day should be a month earlier.

Hashtag,  This was a great post until you bought up the distance issue.  Mile racing is not overly common in New Zealand but is the standard world wide. Having the races over 1 mile adds glamour to the event in my opinion.  I think one of the best things about harness racing in NZ is we have a great variety of distances we race over. The Jewels adds to that mix.

You make some great suggestions in the top 3 paragraphs but please leave the distance as it is.  Let's have change for the good, not for the sake of change.

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3 hours ago, Brodie said:

Apart from the owners of jewels horses able to possibly win a good stake, does anyone really give a toss about the Flippen Jewls?.

Personally believe it is very overrated.

Tired horses racing over a mile, normally won by the Allstars is a real yawn.

Months of going on about who is going to get into the Jewls etc. is tedious.

Can hardly wait.

 

Obviously Brodie you have never experienced the thrill of halving a starter in the jewels.  To see so many good horses racing on the same day makes it a great spectacle.

The jewels are not later this year  - it's still the first weekend in June as usual.

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44 minutes ago, lamour said:

Hashtag,  This was a great post until you bought up the distance issue.  Mile racing is not overly common in New Zealand but is the standard world wide. Having the races over 1 mile adds glamour to the event in my opinion.  I think one of the best things about harness racing in NZ is we have a great variety of distances we race over. The Jewels adds to that mix.

You make some great suggestions in the top 3 paragraphs but please leave the distance as it is.  Let's have change for the good, not for the sake of change.

I enjoy mile racing Lamour but the results are so often dependent on the draw. Many starters are already virtually out of their sought after Jewel the moment the draws come out. That is especially so at certain tracks. Running over a mile and a half at least negates the luck of the draw to some degree. Happy to concede I'm wrong.

Holly. Yes the Jewels are being held the same time this year as last year. I've been to Ashburton at this time of the year and felt like I was in an igloo. Cambridge in June can also be no picnic. Fingers crossed for a nice day but chances are at this time of year the weather will likely detract from the day. Why risk having wet and cold Jewels?

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Quote Hashtag: What have Field Marshal and My Kiwi Mate been doing since The Messenger a month ago? Monbet etc have gone all the way back to the South Island just to hurry up and wait for five weeks.

 

Can't line up week after week. Kiwi Mate zipped round at the workouts at Puke on Saturday. Leisurely 2.02 MR but home in 56.2 and lines up on Friday night over 1700 so I think he'll be somewhere in the zone by Jewels day.

 

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2 hours ago, Holly said:

Obviously Brodie you have never experienced the thrill of halving a starter in the jewels.  To see so many good horses racing on the same day makes it a great spectacle.

The jewels are not later this year  - it's still the first weekend in June as usual.

Holly, you are correct I haven't had a horse in any Jewls race.

I appreciate for an owner it is an opportunity to win good money and get a fast time.

As a genuine punter it is a waste of time as a punting vehicle.

I know there will be some come on and say it is great, but most of the people I know think it is a bore and very overrated.

You have to be a superstar to win if you draw poor, and the race is over so quick obviously.

Everyone will have an opinion on it but I am sure racing would be far more interesting 1950 metres at Addington where horses will all have more chance.

Most of the best horses and winners will come from Canterbury so why have them travelling to Cambridge for mile racing?

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Most of the best horses and winners will come from Canterbury so why have them travelling to Cambridge for mile racing

 

Typical snooty nosed comment all you could expect I suppose.    Just remember woolly Mutton, many of the so called winners from Canterbury come out of the Karaka Sales Ring.          

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1 hour ago, Brodie said:

Holly, you are correct I haven't had a horse in any Jewls race.

I appreciate for an owner it is an opportunity to win good money and get a fast time.

As a genuine punter it is a waste of time as a punting vehicle.

I know there will be some come on and say it is great, but most of the people I know think it is a bore and very overrated.

You have to be a superstar to win if you draw poor, and the race is over so quick obviously.

Everyone will have an opinion on it but I am sure racing would be far more interesting 1950 metres at Addington where horses will all have more chance.

Most of the best horses and winners will come from Canterbury so why have them travelling to Cambridge for mile racing?

If that applies we may as well move whole NZ Cup galloping meeting ( 1000 and 2000 Guineas etc )  northward as number of decent gallopers in SI could be counted on one hand.

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54 minutes ago, Mr Spyro said:

If that applies we may as well move whole NZ Cup galloping meeting ( 1000 and 2000 Guineas etc )  northward as number of decent gallopers in SI could be counted on one hand.

Don't really care about gallops, so if they want to that's fine.

All I'm saying is if they want to show off the Jewlels as a spectacle then Addington over 1950 would be better than Cambridge over a mile!

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Gee, you must have literally started frothing at the mouth when you saw this subject, Brodie.....

Let's tick a few of your pet hates off the list that are pertinent to the Jewels. 

1. All Stars. 

2. Short priced favourites. 

3. Short distance racing. 

4. Horse movements. The amount of horses that are domiciled at places that are not their correct lodging leading up to the Jewels must be just too much for you to handle. 

5. "Boring" racing. 

No wonder you think they are over-rated, they epitomize everything that you hate about harness racing. 

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48 minutes ago, Counter Punch said:

Gee, you must have literally started frothing at the mouth when you saw this subject, Brodie.....

Let's tick a few of your pet hates off the list that are pertinent to the Jewels. 

1. All Stars. 

2. Short priced favourites. 

3. Short distance racing. 

4. Horse movements. The amount of horses that are domiciled at places that are not their correct lodging leading up to the Jewels must be just too much for you to handle. 

5. "Boring" racing. 

No wonder you think they are over-rated, they epitomize everything that you hate about harness racing. 

Counter Punch, didn't really froth from the mouth but saw an opportunity.

1. Nothing personal against the All Stars, of course they are the best trainers in Australiasia by far! Just not great for future of the sport with such domination in the big stake races.

2. Short priced favourites. Doesn't encourage punters who know what they are doing to offload.

3. Mile racing isn't that exciting is it. All Addington mile racing is ridiculous. Draw bad in the jewels and unless you are tops you might as well stay at home.

4. Haven't got a problem with horse movements at Jewels time as I won't punt on them. Most people I know agree with me that it is misrepresentation if horses correct domicile is not noted before a race. Too late afterwards when a commentator mentions it.

5. I enjoy all harness racing, but mile racing is pretty average you would have to agree. 

 

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6 hours ago, eljay said:

Most of the best horses and winners will come from Canterbury so why have them travelling to Cambridge for mile racing

 

Typical snooty nosed comment all you could expect I suppose.    Just remember woolly Mutton, many of the so called winners from Canterbury come out of the Karaka Sales Ring.          

Eljay, don't be like that, I was just stating a fact!

Nothing snooty whatsoever.

Just that the South Island horses are generally far better than the North Island as far as harness goes, just like the North Island gallopers are better than the south!

 

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Personally find it a bit of a bore these days.

 

Thoughts on 6 horse fields, don't split the sexes, 1 mile racing at Ashburton only. 

2yo, 3yo, 4yo, 3yot, 4yot.

Double the stakes, invite only. 

1 race per division has auto entry to the big dance.

6 mini miracle miles......

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The 2yo fillies race must've been short on numbers to get a full feild. As the conditions for stake earn to get in jewels are stakes in the five places but there's two horses in the race one start each both ran 6th . Have hrnz just ask anybody else who was keen if the wanted to start.  I had herd they had rung a few trainers trying to get a full feild. Fair enough to the owners having a horse in the jewels But these two horses werent even in the top 50 stake earners of the 2yo fillies. They should've just gone with a smaller feild as It's still a group one race which is really for the elite horses  just asking anyone if they want to line up isnt good for the profile surely. We don't want to see horses  starting to drop of at the 800m mark ,I could be wrong and they could go a blinding race but earning $150 and $86 dollars shouldn't get you into a group one race 

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I know this is outside the square but I am always surprised the fields aren't smaller and run in heats like the Little Brown Jug.

I have been to Ashburton and love it as a mile racing track, but see no sense in having a race loaded with horses with no chance at all and only getting in the way. Small fields and heats or  the cream de la cream only. And yes I have had a horse running in a jewels but personally if I didn't think it was up to it I would say so. 

Mile racing is exciting presented in the correct way

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