Overcheck

In the "old" days the best drivers used to hit the wooden shafts of the sulky with good effect, and only hit the horse a few times in the run home. Now with the metal shafts I don't know if that would work. Mark Purdon uses a rapid tattoo on the edge of the cart quite often, but then he has the quality horse power. While I don't like giving in to the do gooders I don't think the rule if it comes into effect is all that bad. I would think most drivers will work out at what stage the use of the whip is most productive and work within the ten times rule. Drivers like DD don't use the whip much anyway.

A huge thank you to Greg, Mick, Craig, Matt and Mark McNamara for their information, interviews and their humour to lighten the serious side of punting. Once again great calls from Mark Mac. We are so lucky to have this team during the biggest week in NZ harness racing. Thank you one and all, and thank you to Trackside for the great coverage time given.

Thanks Phar Lap Fan. Yes McKenzie I think you may be right, but I would rather hear it straight from the commentators box in a clear manner. I can get excited about a race without the roars of the crowd. If I couldn't I would give racing away.

Did you notice an echo in the commentary Phar Lap Fan?

Thanks for that MrBigStuff, but I am told there wasn't anything noticeable on Prime. I wonder why that is. Perhaps someone may have watched the race on Prime who would like to comment.

Does anyone get annoyed with the horrible echo in the call which distorts the clarity and makes it difficult to catch the names? I understand the Prime TV channel was ok so it must be Trackside playing around with it. It has been like this the last three or four years. Notice it happens at the Christchurch dogs too.

Only God knows, and he is looking a bit puzzled.

That is the first time I have heard the young man say anything a bit inane. Give him a break, we all say silly things at times and don't have the pressure of a NZ wide audience, some of whom are listening for any faux par so they can complain. In my opinion Matt Cross is a very good commentator.

You only had to look at the horses and drivers right up to the last race to see the mud on them.

Thanks Nslram. Just seemed in the early races anyway that the highest rated horses were not even placing, even with the recent form. Barrier draws can play a major part so it would seem backing the higher rated horses may be a risk. We will have to see what happens over time.

There looked to be some odd ratings in relation to earnings won, and even though they had the worst of the draws one or two horses going on form should have been too good for the others. However this was not the case so going by ratings may not be much help.

If Bob Butt did not go to the races and drive then surely there is no justifiable reason for testing him. If there is then that means all harness drivers and jockeys cannot have a drink at any time whatsoever. Obviously the RIU "drunk with power". The word INTEGRITY is a misnomer.

Spikecity the horse that broke did not cause the skirmish so rather than call a false start with all the delays incurred and seeing it was at the beginning of the run up the starter decided to wait briefly until all in line. That in my humble opinion is using your head and being fair to everyone.

At the beginning of the score up there was a wee bit of a skirmish and one horse broke and lost ground. Normally this horse would have been left behind and out of the contest, but the starter slowed down and let it catch up, and a perfect start was the result. Well done to him, and a great example of being sensible and fair that a certain starter further north could well take note of.

Thanks kakama.

Thanks Sickopunter.

Sickopunter, is it correct that if I Lay $5 on Max Phactor at 10.5 and he does not win then I get double my money ie $10? If he wins then I pay out another $47.50 This is what I understood from reading Betfair.com but not sure if this is correct.

If 3 or 4 were not up to the gate then the starter should have called a false start or alternatively the drivers should have been given a hefty fine. It is not only the amateur races where this occurs but nothing is done about it. Horses on the second line or wide out that are 2 or 3 lengths behind are giving away a considerable start to those on the front line. That in my humble opinion is not a fair start.

Davey Todd drove him for his first win in the Winton 3 year old stakes. He also finished a close second to a horse called Flag Four in a saddle trot in Southland.

In this case harewood I think you are probably right. It has been discussed on here the changing of dividends two or three times after the race has started and I am wondering if the TAB is investing funds into the pools to increase turnover. Each year they come up with figures showing an increase over the year before, yet we know they are losing customers left right and centre. I am only going by the harness dividend changes which seem to happen an awful lot and it usually applies most drastically to the favourite. I maybe completely off beam here but something is going on as in my opinion there should only be one change to divs shortly after the race starts, and none thereafter.

And Alphonse-Gabriel they used to get a much greater crowd when it was a day meeting. Could do so today as the rugby is at night so no competition from them.

I think they wanted to talk about why Arden Rooney kept the NZ Cup win when the driver had used the whip to excess, thereby breaking the rules. They showed a replay of the finish of the Cup but Rennell neatly sidestepped that and rambled on about what he thought about whip use. Very clever on his part and unfortunately the panel didn't bring him back to the subject of penalty.

The "TAB BEST BETS" in the Press lift out this morning is a complete waste of time. Absolutely no relevant information and even the form line being printed with such a sparse amount of ink is so faded you are hard put to read it. Meeting names are so hidden and difficult to find you have to have the patience of Job to stick to the task in hand. You all know what else is missing so how would someone new to racing get any help in selecting a bet? Obviously they want people to stop reading it, and then they can say it is not wanted and can cease issuing it thereby having more money for the hierarchy. What annoys me is that just a few days before the new format came out I answered a questionnaire which was a complete waste of time, as they had obviously already decided on the new format before that. It seems they were trying to make out they were consulting account holders for their input.

Because with the TAB the dogs come first, brought on by too many races too close together.

As the breathalyser machine broke down and testing was stopped was it reading correctly in the first place? Bob Butt does seem genuinely surprised.