High Sparrow

True what you say Jape and that lifeblood you speak of comes from the every day punter and the big wigs seem to have forgotten that along the way somewhere with their inferior offerings in terms of information a punter might use to increase the turnover part of that revenue equation. Punters don't like being taken for granted and treated like they are just mugs (hence the old saying "mug punter" I guess). If they don't offer a good service alongside the product then they can't expect support from us no matter how much we love the sport itself. You're dead right about the comments being time-consuming too. I am sad to see racing dying a death by a thousands cuts due to mismanagement by the bean counters and so-called CEOs.

Don't bother with the jockeys' and drivers' challenges is my advice. They get way too many deadheats, triple deadheats and quadruple deadheats because the 3-2-1 points system heavily favours the TAB. So your $1.80 divvy at the start of the day suddenly becomes way less than money back in some of these instances.

And the gravy train of mass participation rolled on again today. 47.91% of the runners at Palmy were from the Cole kennels and I think they won 11, had 5 seconds and 6 thirds. So I think that's 61.11% of the entire prize money on offer. The stats are impressive in and of themselves but one has to ask (along with J McInerney's big numbers down south) does it encourage people to get into the sport or encourage punters to keep betting on them? I don't think so.

It seems the greyhounds here have caught up with (or should that be descended to?) overseas fields as far as lack of comment and in some cases even form goes. Tokyo's big race the other day had the horse's number, a jockey and trainer but nothing else. No previous runs - Nada. Hopeless. How can you expect people to bet blind like this and profess to be a betting agency? Pure and simple - they don't care about the bettors, who are in fact the lifeblood of the racing industry and have been treated like mugs for decades. We're being served up rubbish and expected to eat it and say "Thanks" and this contempt for the punter has been even more starkly revealed since the $50 million John Allen wasted on the real racing "dog" (the new website). I love having a bet on the dogs and the horses and supporting the industry but I'm not wasting my hard-earned betting blind when they can't even be bothered to do the basics.

Couldn't agree more about Ponderosa's champion effort and thanks again to Scooby too for sterling work. So my only question is are the good gallopers paigezim and mrzim related?

Great effort by paigezim to win in a hand canter (like Masked Crusader's run at Randwick today then) with top efforts from arjay (what a good horse he was in his day) and Swoopa home third. I struggled second-up and was never in the hunt at any stage but I'll take improvement from the run I reckon. Thanks again to all concerned as it added interest to the afternoon and gave a good bit variety to the competition in that format. Kind regards to all, HS.

Thanks to Chelseacol, Mr Cubes and Seddon for the prizes and to Ponderosa8 for keeping score in this 'bonanza' (excuse the weak pun). If by some miracle I win second-up (never done that in my life) then you can donate half of the pool back into another comp. Either way, it will brighten my Saturday - so thanks to all involved. Kind regards and good luck to all taking part. HS. R1: 3, 6, 13, 15. R2: 3, 5, 7, 11. R3: 5, 8, 9, 10 R4: 2, 3, 4, 10. R5: 1, 8, 12, 14. R6: 3, 7, 11, 12. R7: 3, 4, 5, 8. R8: 1, 3, 5, 8 R9: 2, 3, 6, 11. 

I like the way you think rdytdy and you're dead right, leave it to the trainers to prepare their horses. Like horses, runners have to be trained as individuals. I've had runners win first-up off those sorts of preps you refer to but the more mature runners in my 'stable' seem to need a couple of races under their belt nowadays before you'd be putting the money on with any confidence. Without any harrier races around, time trials (run solo thanks to Covid-19) have to suffice but they're never as beneficial as good hard racing to bring that top level of fitness on. Still waiting for the TAB to allow betting on harrier racing - hell given some of the options they're offering surely it can't be far away now. Then we'll make a killing cobber.

Wow if that is right about them laying down the rule about one jump out or trial before racing that really is the tail wagging the dog in terms of telling trainers how they can train their horses - a real dumbing of things down if you ask me (so no surprises there then given what went before). I've been coaching elite runners for 42 years and if Athletics NZ told me I could only my runners one time trial in 10 weeks before the cross-country or road racing season resumed I'd be telling them to take a running jump. If the Trainers' Association agreed to that then they need their heads read.

Top effort by the placegetters on a difficult day's picking. Congrats to Chelseacol on an impressive win. Glad you made up for getting pipped at the post Seddon with some good collects. Well done. Thanks so much to the generous sponsors and the great scorer. Always a great interest on a Saturday. Kind regards to all. HS.

Thanks so much to the generous sponsors and the scorer(s) for the opportunity. Kind regards, HS. Rosehill R4: 6 and 8. R5: 2 and 10. R6: 8 and 12. R7: 1 and 11. R8: 6 and 13. Flemington R4: 1 and 6. R5: 3 and 8. R6: 1 and 4. R7: 2 and 11. R8: 1 and 13.

Yes you're right cobber. He might play for time and try and delay it as the virus spreads perhaps? Or maybe he might change from calling it a "Chinese virus" to a "Democratic virus".

Trump handing out the cure as we speak. Yeah right. You aren't by any chance a member of the Flat Earth Society are you? Yes someone will discover a vaccine at some stage but we're not there yet and anyone who tells you otherwise is pulling your chain and most probably, along with Trump, trying to bolster a tanking sharemarket by pushing up their vested interests in big pharma stocks. Wake up brother. The only one being hoodwinked is you. Even Trump's own health officials are calling his lies out. If it's a choice between the scientists and medical experts and the biggest ego on two legs in America I know who I'm betting on and it ain't Donald. How long before the would-be Great American Dictator says it's too unsafe to hold an election? What odds people?

Couldn't agree with you more Stables and Ohokaman about the conspiracy and fake news stuff being peddled here especially by those with vested interests masquerading as moral principles. Take the Novartis CEO comments above and the drugs being peddled as possible cures for Covid-19 and playing on people's fears to push stock prices in the pharmaceutical companies up. There are vested interests afoot all over social media - don't give them any air. They are the peddlers of fake news and false hope. The Director of Health in the USA (brave man) stood alongside his boss Donald Trump the other day and castigated him for basically giving air to unsubstantiated rumours about various drugs being so-called "game changers". He basically said Trump was spreading false information about supposed magic bullet cures and that it wasn't helpful. He added that there was "no scientific evidence" to suggest any of these drugs being touted were cure-alls for Covid-19 and not to listen to those touting them as such. Probably won't have a job next week that bloke but good on him for standing up to the liars. Here's how trustworthy these companies like Novartis are: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-02/novartis-sandoz-settles-u-s-generic-drug-price-fixing-charges-k7azdwck It would be nice to have some racing to talk about... Keep safe and well people and to you and yours all the best.