Idolmite

The draw, or rather "the reveal", was an amateurish attempt and an embarrassment to the sport. Greg O'Conner, who is a legend whenever talking about anything harness racing, looked decidedly uncomfortable in his role. I suspect because he knew it looked farcical, especially when some of the graphics were so delayed he was announcing the horse's name off one of his 27 pieces of rustling paper before the name was officially "revealed". Mind you, the first 2 or 3 "reveals" were even worse, as he was glancing off to one side and we didn't even know what he was looking at it. And that's not even mentioning the spelling errors in the names of at least two horses, Arcee Phoenix and Muscle Mountain. There may have been more. Considering they changed both the zoom on how they were filming it to include the TV screen, and the sudden graphic change to show a pacer as the trotter's names were revealed, made it look like they were making it up as they went along. They've had 12 months to think about it for goodness sake. And what on earth was BP doing there? He added absolutely nothing, as expected. And Whale fluffed his lines and by the end was standing there like a grinning blow up doll. Once Greg got to the interviews there was some sign of improvement, however nobody was guiding those after the interviews and without fail they ALL exited by walking directly in front of the camera. Trackside, if you're reading this; you took a race meeting I have been looking forward to, for weeks, with bated breath, and turned it into a regular ho-hum Friday night run-of-the-mill, take-it-or-leave-it style event. The footage should be used for training producers, directors and presenters on how NOT engage with the public and build excitement. The word 'appalling' isn't strong enough, and I hope ALL involved take a good look at themselves, give themselves an uppercut, and work out a better plan before Friday night. As for the two races, the Pace lost some interest (for mine) with the early withdrawal of Leap To Fame and late withdrawal of Rock N Roll Doo. It's going to take a Herculean effort to beat Don't Stop Dreaming now, but underestimate Merlin at your peril. Would love to see Old Town Road do one of his last-to-first bursts he was capable of 18 months - 2 years ago. Difficult to do that at this level though. Or can Sooner The Bettor get a lucky break at the start and spring a surprise? Kango has to be a great Top 4 chance from the 1 draw unless early fireworks from the Aussies see him pushed further back than the trail position. The Trot now holds more interest for me. Not that long ago you'd have said that Just Believe only had to turn up to win. But he's been beaten twice recently and both of those victors are here too, AND both drawn well. Muscle Mountain and Oscar Bonavena will both have to go huge to play a part in the finish, but we know they are both capable of such aa run. Oscar's devastating sprint could be used to great effect if 100% right. Just a shame Natalie isn't driving him. For those that missed it;

So the draw is tomorrow (Monday) I believe. Anyone know if it's going to be screened or streamed Iive? And at what time the draw happens?

That's the second race in a row that Manhattan has won in Oz I think, with the Bubbly one in its wake?

I had a Mk.1 Ford Cortina with a hotted up V6 out of a Mk.IV Ford Zodiac installed in my early 20's. That was a decent car to drive once it was sorted out [the power of the V6 kept finding Cortina parts that weren't up to the task] Would love to still own it today, even though I'm no lover of Fords. And just to keep on track, the engine produced heaps of horses!!!

The Mark IV Cortina deserved a good kicking. If Ford had any class they'd have stopped at the Mark II, or at a stretch the Mk III In saying that, the Mark V was even worse than the Mark IV

100%

Go stand by the finish line and wave to the Trackside cameraman at the end of a race.

Very poor choice. If she had any credibility she'd have resigned after the World Cup debacle and not reapplied for the job. Mediocrity is obviously acceptable these days.

What was good last night at the Cambridge trots was how quickly the photo finish pics appeared on the screen. And they were often needed. And the placings and divvies updated accordingly, instantly.

Well tonight's pacing mile certainly whet the appetite for next Friday. Huge win by Merlin after sitting parked, but massive runs by a couple of others too (especially Don't Stop Dreaming), plus Self Assured and Old Town Road had no room to work in whatsoever. Bring it on !!!.

Veandercross vs Horlicks 4-1 Melody Belle vs Avantage 3-2 Rough Habit vs Mr Tiz 3-2 Imperatriz vs Showgate 1-4

It's a long story, but an extremely well known electrical chain totally stuffed up the price on this Samsung curved screen model about 7 years ago, not long after they first came out I think. I noticed while out having coffee, took a photo of it with the price tag, checked their website (the wonders of the modern smartphone) and then checked their smaller models inside the shop. The website said it should have been several thousand dollars more. In-store the smaller versions were more expensive. I knew it was wrong, but what is a man to do? I thought I'd plead ignorance and see what they'd do. They realised pretty quick it was the wrong price, they withdrew a bit of free stuff they were originally going to give me for a cash sale, but the salesman had a chat with the manager and they let me have it for the low price. By the time I'd completed the paperwork the price on the model in the shop window had increased by $4 or $5k [I can't quite remember now]. Another irony was that when they delivered it a few days later, upon unpacking it they discovered a fault in the frame around the screen and had to fly another one up from ChCh. I'm in a smaller house now that I was at the time, so yes, it is almost like being in a theatre.

I'm watching on a 78" and some of the graphics still look quite small !!! I'm sure it'll seem normal after a few watches though. Tonight is my first look at the new layout, and I've only had a quick glance.

We're all different, but at first glance l don't like the new graphics at all, although in saying that had nobody else commented l wouldn't have bothered as they might grow on me. Not to mention the fact they might still be fine-tuning them too. Watching a race at Cambridge trots earlier tonight with the split screen as the field headed down the back straight and into the home turn, there was a big box [with very little information in it that couldn't have been placed elsewhere] in the top left hand corner blocking the vision of the lead horses, but giving a clear view of the tail-end charlies. It's almost like they need to plonk that box in a different place depending on whether it's a left-handed or right-handed track. They have said the new graphics were to show more of the horses [and doggies] on screen, but at first glance tonight - during the actual race at least - it is showing less.

Please excuse my ignorance Mikenz and Leggy, but why, if Trackside is returning to Freeview, wouldn't it be able to be watched with an identical setup to all of the other Freeview channels?

Didn't his real estate business go tits up?

You can almost hear the gurgling as it goes down the plug hole

And it'll be an easier ride for the jockey if they can teach the horse that Flemington is a left handed track. He seemed to think he was still at Ellerslie until the last couple of hundred metres

Yes, I was there for the rally cars too. They blew the track surface into the neighbouring suburbs i seem to recall they ran them one night as a special stage of the rally without the harness horses there? But that might be my fading memory. I also seem to recall Ivan Mauger promoting a long track meeting there for the speedway solo bikes?

I'm so glad we've earned a week in the spelling paddock. My first week was my best week I think, so obviously I go better fresh. I was definitely fading lately, so hopefully a freshen up will do the trick!!

A very even day, marked by lower than average collects more due to the amount of hot-pots winning than poor selections. Every matchup was 3-2 after 12 races except one, which was at 4-1. Rosehill was my saviour with 7 collects from 7 races, only one placing at Flemington saving me from a big fat "0" from the other three meetings.

Yes, Bonecrusher bled 2 points in that last race, from 5-0 down to 3-2 in the H2H.

Yeah, 3200 metres is well short of your best. You're only just warming up. You need the 6400 metres of the old Great Northern Steeplechase and three times over the hill

Normally I don't do well at Rosehill, but today I've collected at all 5 Rosehill races and haven't scraped in a cent from the other venues. Mind you, I'm still in the negative from the spend in the comp vs the collect If it was only Rosehill I'd be up