High Sparrow

Trump doesn't give a shit about the veterans. He called the war hero John McCain a coward for being captured while Trump got his rich Daddy to get a medical dispensation for him for allegedly having flat feet, so he could avoid the draft. He called dead serviceman "losers". Surely you're not holding this guy up as a model citizen? I am guessing you pay tax. Every American President has declared their tax returns but Trump objects because he thinks he's special and an exception. Open your eyes. The reason he's objected for so long is becoming patently clear - because he's been a tax evader/dodger while all the mugs that support him continue paying theirs. He's a joke and the trouble with political jokes is that they sometimes get elected. Anyway I'm off to find a racing topic rather than engaging with this nonsense.

Yep you're right Breeder. The world is full of misinformation and its big business for people with agendas - many of them political. The majority of the fake news doesn't come from legitimate media outlets - it comes from people like Trump who peddle it and skew it amongst his gullible and adoring supporters (of which you are probably one along with Chevy86 and Berri) and then accuses any reporter who challenges him with the facts of spreading "fake news". He is an abusive narcissistic, would-be dictator who wouldn't know the meaning of democracy if it jumped up and bit him on the face. But there are none so blind as those who cannot see the truth and believe every word that comes out of his mouth. And I can see you'd be a Trump acolyte because you are fond of abusing anyone who dares to challenge your "off-guardian" world of fake news and conspiracy theories. Give me the real Guardian newspaper any day. I admitted I had misunderstood the information from a video posted laughingly as "must watch" but all you do is resort to form with more abuse instead of doing the decent thing and accepting my post and then apologising for being so foul-mouthed and disrespectful. You're nothing but an ignorant bully. Trolls like you and Berri should stick to social media and stay off the racing sites with this bullshit. Who appointed you the thought Police? Clearly you were behind the door when they said "Manners" and you thought they said "spanners".

No he doesn't. According to news coverage and White House news releases, Trump has written checks equal to a quarter of his $400,000 annual salary every quarter to various government agencies: He's still a would-be dictator and the biggest liar on the planet.

Breeder. Thanks for the data. I see where I went wrong and I apologise. I misunderstood the data set presented around the rolling seven day average. You have to be careful about comparing apples with apples and coming up with oranges. I note the original video author had a note on the right side of the chart saying that the methodology had changed mid-graph, which makes me wonder whether he was doing the same. There is so much misinformation out there that you need a stats degree to disseminate the wheat from the chaff. I'm all for asking questions of the relevant authorities. Covid-19 seems to be posing the question of nations - which do you value more - human life or money? Striking the balance between the two is fundamental to the decisions being made and those decisions vary greatly between countries. History will judge who got it right no doubt. At the end of the day you don't have an economy if the death rate rises to such an extent that people are scared to go out and workers are dying in their millions, as could happen if it keeps morphing, as the epidemiologists are saying. Therein lies the problem with finding a vaccine too if the virus is ever-changing. It's not the Spanish Flu yet or The Great Depression but many governments are trying to find that balance between keeping their populations safe and economies from tanking and it;s a very fine line indeed. You can't put a price on life. But all that aside we share a common love of racing obviously and personally, call me old-fashioned if you like - but when I come to the Race Cafe I like to discuss racing. It's not called Politics Cafe, Conspiracy Cafe or Covid-19 Cafe. Maybe you and Berri could get your heads together and invent some of those if you feel so strongly about this stuff and good luck to you with that. When I saw The "must watch" video I thought it might be a triple dead-heat or something related to racing, not leading down this rabbit hole. That was my first mistake. But no one "needs to be abused" on this site as you contend even if they get something wrong. That's schoolyard bully stuff - find some manners the pair of you. The fact that the administrators no longer censure this sort of abuse just goes to show why people are switching off this site. Maybe they've given up too. If you have something to say then present the facts and the source for them and let people make up their own minds rather than trying to ram off-subject topics down people's throats. And talk about a contradiction - if you value facts so much how could you post that nonsense peddled by the off-guardian website? I see they are trying to shoot the messenger (The New York Times) for outing Trump for tax evasion. That gives you a line on their credibility. So perhaps we can admit that we both made mistakes and move on - back to racing perhaps?

I am guessing you do realise that the people behind this site are a bunch of people who were banned from The Guardian’s comment section because of their lack of fact checking and spreading of disinformation? The site regularly publishes false information on topics including COVID-19, vaccinations, and 9/11. So conspiracy theorists etc then. Yes flu is a big killer and some Covid-19 deaths may be reported as flu and even vice versa - bit it's still deadly. Nearly 1 million dead people attest to that. As for Scandinavian countries and Covid - well have a look at Sweden and compare it to NZ for its Covid death toll. Twice the population but 231 times the deaths. I know where I'd rather be. But all that aside, this is a racing site and I think should be kept as such - and I feel the administrators of Race Cafe would do well to keep the politics out of it to be honest, it just turns real racing people off and that's becoming evident by the lack of use of the forums since people started going off on these tangents.

https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus/country/united-kingdom?country=~GBR Gee you really got out the wrong side of the bed didn't you Berri? Here have a look at this before you go off on some abusive rant Berri. I get you're feeling anxious about the virus - plenty of people are but getting angry and abusive at everyone who disagree with your "Covid is a scam" conspiracy theories and allowing yourself to be convinced of their worth by the "alternative facts" brigade and then trying to spread them on a racing forum does you no credit at a time when people are dying from a worldwide pandemic. I know someone that died from this deadly disease and people spreading conspiracy theories and distorting the facts to fit their own agendas and seeking to undermine the people trying to protect us endangers everyone. There are a minority of people in the dangerous "don't wear masks" brigade too and they endanger others with their selfish attitude. We could argue stats until we are blue in the face but ask yourself this. Why is the UK looking at a six month lock down if things aren't as bad as your Irish You Tube mate says? At the end of the day you can believe what you like but please don't believe everything you read on social media and then come spreading it on a racing forum. It's called Race Cafe - not "Conspiracy Theory Cafe" and maybe you could remember that in future before you post this "Must watch" rubbish. And just to clarify this Irish guy whose video you posted was talking about the "rolling seven day average" per million for the UK and I was referencing that as its gone up 53% in the last week. He is suggesting there isn't a second wave - tell that to the relatives of the 41,000 Brits that are dead. Mostly be thankful we live in NZ. Sweden has a population that is twice that of NZ and we have 25 deaths and they have 5,876 as of yesterday. And given that I come to this site to discuss racing and you've hijacked it for your own agendas perhaps it's you who should be looking to go elsewhere.

Hey PFP. I completely agree with you on the weight that jockeys have to ride at. It's unhealthy for an adult to be effectively starving themselves in order to earn a living (think the abusive world of fashion) by comparison. The average weight of an adult New Zealander would have increased substantially in the last few decades and yet racing is still back in the Dark Ages as far as weights. The minimum weight should be raised to reflect statistical variances over that time for my money. Horses are big strong animals they can easily carry a couple of kilograms more than the current minimum and hardly break a sweat. I remember Roger Lang and other very talented jockeys down through the last 50 years who had to waste hard to even ride the topweight sometimes and we've all seen top flight jockeys lost to the game through losing weight battles. As for CWJ I think, with respect, you might miss the point. We're dealing with an alcoholic here not someone having a few beers on a Friday night. It may be that for him now but what about next week and the week after that? If you throw impairment (no matter the source) into a race day where 54 kgs of jockey is trying to control several hundred kilograms of speeding, and sometimes unpredictable horseflesh where split second decision can be the difference between a terrible accident or not, the chances of having an accident rise exponentially. So let's not make excuses for behaviour which by its very nature has a habit of escalating and that could on a racecourse cost someone else their life because of someone's addiction. We're all human. We all make mistakes and hopefully Chris will hop back on the wagon, get things under control and kick on to that record. Happy punting people if you're still throwing a few bucks at them.

So much for this guy's "facts" - more like "alternative facts". The UK is now up to a rolling seven-day average of 20 deaths per million and rising. He says there hasn't been a second wave. Yeah right. There is just so much unsubstantiated stuff in this video where the author says things and then doesn't give any source at all for his spurious claims. Take the virus seriously, don't listen to the conspiracy theorists and anti-science brigade or those protesting in virus-spreading numbers (2,000 at an anti-mask protest in Auckland recently) and saying their "civil liberties" are being infringed. You don't have any civil liberties if you are dead. I know someone who died from this virus and it annoys the hell out of me that there are people trying to undermine the work of health officials and scientists who are doing their best to protect us by spreading such nonsense.

That strikes me as a fair penalty. Let's not sugar coat it. Chris is an alcoholic and it's really sad to hear he was back on the turps again. He's an adult and he made his own decision to drink and he knows the rules - so he will have to take it on the chin. More importantly, hopefullyly he's getting the help he needs to stay sober. He's let himself and his family down in this instance but a lot of people have helped him battle his demons in the past and they'll be there again for him with this fall of the wagon. I think he has the most gifted pair of hands I've ever seen on a horse and the thing I really like about him as a rider is that he is kind to horses - and they do their best for him as a result. He never knocks them about like some jockeys who continue to flog a 'dead' horse that's going back through the field. They don't call him the "Magic Man" for nothing and I really hope he returns to beat that all-time record - because he deserves it.

Wow. I didn't know that. That sounds like theft to me, as surely it's your money to decide what you want to do with it and so I can't see how that would be legal for them to lock the rest in after say a $10 loss out of $100 deposited. But thanks for letting me know.

Brilliant thanks Mike. That's what I was looking for in my confusion. It just went through, so I am much obliged. I hear what you're saying about the one-way traffic too - that's been the case for me as a rule but I managed to find one yesterday in my only bet of the day and my first in a wee while and made a wee bit of profit, which was nice. I thought I'd get it out while I can to avoid the temptation of having another go. Good punting and kind regards, HS.

Hi people. Just hoping someone can help me with this. I went to try and withdraw some money from my TAB account yesterday (by direct bank transfer) and got to the password entry bit and assumed this was the four digit pin associated with my TAB account but I kept getting this message: "Withdraw Error: Cannot proceed with this action at the moment." I tried again today but to no avail. Any ideas? Maybe a technical error? Maybe they do deposits on the weekend and not withdrawals? Anyway, it's a bit of a mystery to me given the bank details and pin are correct. Anyone else had this problem? It's a while since I withdrew funds but the deposit went through easy enough yesterday, so I'm basically just looking for some reassurance about that password being that four digit code for my account. Thanks for any advice you can provide.

Nice to see you back Cubes. I like the observations above - right on the money. Kind regards, HS.

Puts me in mind of the words of an old trainer who told me when I was a young fella and knee high to a grasshopper: "Son, don't let anyone tell you racehorses eat hay - they eat money!" Many a true word spoken in jest.