Pure Steel

A NZ lady trainer from years gone by Sheila Laxon won it just last year. Partnered with John Symons co-trainer they won with Knight's Choice to fly the local flag high. She trained out of NZ when winning the Cup with great mare Ethereal in 2001. The winner this year of the 2025 Melbourne Cup was the ONLY Australian bred horse in the field. Vow and Declare won a few years ago for the locals too Those Expensive European Imports have been dominating the race for years , so the only way to turn back the clock for Aus and NZ Stayers is to have races Specifically for them . Have a traditional 3200m Melbourne Cup that is for Aus and NZ bred stayers ONLY . that would solve the problem instantly . Run it the first Tuesday in November as per normal for say $3,000,000 and use the other $3,000,000 for an 'International Stayers Cup' run the same day ?? 2 great races instead of one and would be amazing for All countries and Horsepeople to get a chance at victory. and re-vitalise the Aus and NZ bred Stayer breeding industry.

Luke is such a gifted driver it's crazy. A bit like the Dunn family. Actually 2 of Lukes brothers Todd and Andrew are regular competitors against kiwi Superstar Dexter Dunn in the U.S.ofA. Showing the World how it's done. I'm still getting over Luke coming up 3 Wide down the Back straight outside LEAP TO FAME in both the Victoria , AND the NZ Cups and then BEATING Him. That horse Kingman has really amazing doing that . Sitting 'inside' Leap To Fame in the trail behind The Janitor the other night, with Don Hugo , must of been Waaay easier I would think. Although LTF and The Janitor made him work to get the win still by a nose and head. just checking the speed they had now. > and says they ran 26.9 seconds for both the last quarter and the 2nd last quarter. whizzing along flat out. 3 Fabulous horses for sure. no 'Kingman' needed on this occasion. I did see Pete McMullen and his dad last week at Albion, to give them congratulations on trotter GUS doing so well in the NZ trots Cup week Group 1's. They are bringing him back next year to defend his double crown, and along with 'The Janitor' to take on the prestigious NZ Cup. can't wait . only 11 months to go .

What have you got? well a little hope with the good 3 year olds who just completed the NZ Derby Quinella. Marketplace and Got The Chocolates beating the best Aussie Fate Awaits back into 3rd place. Rubira also beat Fate Awaits in Australia in a Derby so a nice effort. so they might go on and be Open class 4 year olds ? and win some of the features. Is a bit surprising the Best trotters are getting beat by the Aussies past couple of years though, with Just Believe and now GUS winning the feature Group 1's , and both the richest trots in NZ , the $1/2 million TAB trot at Cambridge has had 2 Aus trifecta's in it's 2 runnings to date . this year was Arcee Phoenix, Queen Elida and The Locomotive. so with the fine tradition of New Zealand trotters also being bested lately , it looks like tough times for NZ going forward. NZ won Every trotting Interdominion All through the 90's . about 12 in a row. then Mark had I Can dossit win a couple as well. but past 5 years the well has gone dry. And Sundee's Son retired winning All the big Trots in NZ , but critically , never travelled to Oz to scare the bejuzzus out of them. so they are bold now lol. and are flooding to NZ to mop yuz up. QLD never had trotters 30 years ago. now we have a GUS . good stuff . he'll be back next year too. Mark Purdon scaling his team right back and relying on Nathan has meant a lot less happening for Allstars these days. so NZ are beatable now accordingly. ALLstars Had a very quiet Cup week this year when they used to win 5 races Cup day and then again Show Day when Natalie was with them. Looks like that's all well and truly' over now. so the best way to beat them Oz raiders, is change the conditions of some of the races? . Exclude the Australian trained horses from some of the races . The Aussies richest race The Eureka at $2million excludes NZ trained horses each year , so might be time to pay them back that compliment lol

Carter's Mount had the exceptionally dangerous situation of the front leg bandage coming unravelled and dangling dangerously about. Only needed to step on it with a hind leg and disaster could ensue. Carter rightly, let the horse drop right out accordingly in the home straight, and would of been a Huge miscarriage of justice if he lost the NZ Champion Junior Title on that event. The bandage was nearly snagging the sulky wheel blowing in the wind by the time he got to the post and jogging speed. Someone should tell the trainer Bandages are a thing of the past in races ( for safety purposes of rivals ) and he should get some neoprene boots (wet suit material) that have been around for decades and are totally safe.

Brad Steele has been a banker in QLD for 6 years in recent times (RACQ insurance and Banking ) , as well as Chairman of the Board at the Albion Park harness racing Club after former stints as Chairman of QLD harness. He was bought into the spotlight in recent times by brother Scott. Scott Steele was the CEO at Albion Park harness racing club until very recently , kept in the position after a district Court case , that caused much controversy , as he committed, and was convicted of Sexual assault from a 2016 incident. (unzipped a ladies blouse from behind at a party function in front of witnesses. ) and had a rape charge dropped from the previous year 2015, so no details of that will emerge. Scott being promoted to CEO in 2020 and on full pay since the incident. He was ultimately fined a petty $1000 and $5000 ordered in restitution to the young female staff victim, after pleading guilty to the charge. So Brad and Scott worked the system ( their father was a bookmaker so they know all about gathering money) and made 'hay' from QLD harness. Not even getting dismissed by the Minister of racing with serious charges like that against the man . So am very glad we have new people in their positions now. your NZHR CEO Brad Steele will probably find a position for brother Scott in NZ harness now, to look out for him like he did QLD , so hope the female staff are aware of his court /charges history and give them a wide berth. Yes QLD has gone ahead in leaps and bounds thank goodness. And are running the next 2 Interdominions (after the great Leap To Fame victory this year) and seeing a Queensland TROTTER named GUS winning in NZ with his 2 Group 1's . Massive Progress for Queensland indeed on the track too. fantastic.

Poms Bombs. 2 words that go together . Bombed out badly again those poor pommies. Have the Barmy Army Ever Been so quiet ?? 4 hours of magic Ashes cricket after Lunch yesterday. whatta ripper that was. Poms have bombed out 5-0, 4-0 and 4-0 the last 3 Ashes series run in Australia and look set to add to that fine record . (The Baggies retained the Ashes playing in England twice in between those Series wins with Two x 2-2 draws , so retained Ashes both times) Bring back some magic BAZBall England ? . I could see Baz quietly smiling on the sidelines when Head took the game off them yesterday. . The kiwi in him supporting his good neighbours instead of those whinging Pom -Pom Bombs lol.

not really . A DERBY winner is miles more glorious than an Oaks winner as they beat the Top Colts , trot more distance, and are the Best in the Land . (for a moment in time in time anyway . The NZ Trotting Derby last night was run and won for $110,000 for the winner by a Filly . Habibti Pat . now a profound Quality animal , beating the best 3 year old trotter in NZ in the shape of the multiple Group 1 winner Meant To Be (who won the Northern Derby) . She (Habibti Pat) picked up 33k more than she would of winning the Oaks too. and was over the longer distance too , where more runners get a chance of victory. The 3rd placegetter in the Trotting Derby was the Aussie 'Gatesy's Gem' , who was the other Filly in the race. is very valuable now from a Derby Placing . Trotting Oaks had a few nice Fillies too . Especially the first 2 who distanced the field by 12 lengths . so how good . Filly's winning both races. great stuff.

great drive then on Habibti Pat to win the Trotting Derby. No wonder she didn't start in the trotting Oaks . was 60k more stakes in the Derby. Great call Forest . Very brave with the Choc's coming at him hard the last bit. The 25.4 last second quarter mile by Marketplace has melted Charlie's Chocolate Fish stash at last !!

Could be right too. Marketplace super impressive in the Great Northern Derby leaving GTC, Bettor's Anvil and Greased Lightning amid others far far behind. Mark Purdon has given up even taking them on with Rubira in tonight's Derby (Rubira had won very well the QLD Derby against the Aussies too) so that shows how good GTC and Marketplace really are. The 2 next best horses of NZ by the look of it.

don't worry over that one. was always gunna be hard to beat Tracy The Jet. Although someone did though. because Herbertson let her pull too hard and waited to long to get going with her Jets lol . ( Aussies are letting them rip down the back straight usually these days ) John will be back to WIN the Derby later tonight , and I like him in the Pacing Oaks coming up soon. 8-1 looks good for Celestial Sea too ?

Put all those house chores on hold for one of the great racing days of the year Idol-mate. I've got the washing done, and shoved the Mrs on the bus and hour early for work, and cleared the Path for Addington Glory and it's still just 7am . 7 Feature races chock Full of some of the best horses of Australasia , and Addington will be dishing out the Superstars today. lets Roll with a 5 spot feature of Kyvalley Ray-Tracey The Jet-Gus-Fate Awaits into mighty 'Larry' Grand Slam for 200-1 . bring it on .

LTF and Republican Party look sure to go forward again . Good to see Carter 'having a go at beating the champ'. The Hunter Cup ( Aus version of NZ Cup) earlier in year they were both up close behind Swayzee 2nd and 3rd. fine racehorses that give it everything. Maybe the Winner from last year is a good chance to over-run them ? Merlin beat the 2 Aussies last year while sitting parked out, after he had 4th in the Cup a few days prior. and Merlin was a good 3rd the other day in this years one , so seems in good fettle for a shot at retaining the FFA title?.

yeah , aren't they incredibly tough?. going 3 wide around those horses like KINGMAN did is hard to believe , that he could still win after that. great old horse Pure Steel himself was racing in Oz (WA mainly) around the same time as Idolmite was in NZ around 1980 and often had to sit wide for laps trying to get around the fields from Handicaps. showed plenty of toughness to win a few. Not going as fast as LTF and Kingman though. they are crazy good.

Not guilty VB. case got overturned after lengthy battle. here's a snippet and a photo of Darrel with his lovely family. Darrel is a fantastic bloke and still trains for prominent owner Dean Shannon ( who owns Merlin and a few others at Barry Purdons to support NZ harness) Top harness trainer Darrel Graham’s six-year battle with the Queensland Racing Integrity Commission (QRIC) is finally over after the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) found him not guilty of a cobalt charge. The popular trainer was originally charged after his horse Mafuta Vautin returned an elevated cobalt reading in May 2015 after winning a race. In what was Queensland racing’s longest-running saga however, Graham finally beat the charges last week in a draining legal battle both mentally and financially – costing his family almost $500,000 on top of the reputational damages caused. “It has been six-and-a-half years so it has been a fair while but at least we got the result which we knew was right,” Graham said. Graham was originally disqualified by QRIC stewards for 15 months over the cobalt reading. A drawn-out series of hearings and negotiations on the penalty were heard before QCAT eventually handed down its verdict on July 30 2019, changing the 15-month disqualification to a 12-month suspension, which started on August 15, 2019. “It took a fair while and it is probably a hollow victory to be honest because I have already done my suspension which is for nothing, I have been found not guilty,” Graham said. Harness racing trainer Darrel Graham with (from left) wife Linda and daughters Brittany and Stephanie.

that's the midweek slow horses mate. (going 1.54-1.56 ) Saturday night Metro horses go sub 1.50 up to 1.54 . Pete McMullen broke the 1.50 barrier last Saturday night with ex-pat NZer Fernco Nel. only a 3 year old too , and was only in a Metro qualifying race. To qualify for Metro racing for better prizemoney . ''1.49.3 should do it'' says Pete. what a gun he is. Pete also has a beautiful horse called 'The JANITOR' . he's won 4 of his last 5 and this week will probably crack the 1.50 mile in the Group 3. Watch for him next year in the NZ Cup. he is the quintessential ready made LEAP TO FAME Queensland replacement , (when Larry needs replacing ) .