RaceCafe..#1...Tipsters Thread.... Share Your Fancies For Fun...Lets See Who The Best Tipsters Here Are.
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Alan Matson FFA

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Reading Mike Guerins article in the HHW he makes a good point about there being a

gap after cup week next year for the open class horses as the Miracle Mile is beingshifted.

That brings to mind the 1980's and the Allan Matson FFA which was a

great race for the open class pacers on the last night of the cup carnival.

Lord Modules win still rates as one of the most exciting races I have ever seen.

I don't know how much money the NZMTC has left in the kitty after the stake

increases they have already announced but if they put up a decent stake they make

get great fields for that race once again. It really suffered from the Miracle

Mile attracting the best horses away after the NZFFA.

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Ol Cardy won the Matson,running his last mile and a half in 2.59 I think.Unheard of then.

Yeah, Lord Modules was great,one of the best ever. I still think he would have been (maybe) our greatest to race at home but for 1/4 cracks in his hooves.

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Ol Cardy won the Matson,running his last mile and a half in 2.59 I think.Unheard of then.

Yeah, Lord Modules was great,one of the best ever. I still think he would have been (maybe) our greatest to race at home but for 1/4 cracks in his hooves.

Lord Module.....brilliant horse but shocking manners.....mostly terrible from a standing start.

A majestic pacer.

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Lord Module - unbelievable animal - true Superstar

Great to watch the old clips where the 3 wide line was created as "they passed the Tank" (Davy Clarkson term) - which told us radio listeners the "race was on" - business end coming

Great field and he just bombed them - the Tassy knew how to get his team right - I always admired another one of his horses Bellajilly - and she also made some incredible runs at Addington, but as often happens to the good ones, injury entered.

Thanks for loading the clips - brilliant

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if my memory is serving me correctly (and it is getting fuzzy) just as the mobile started to move off  for that Allan Matson Lord Module started to bobble looking to break.  "JW" in the sulky gave him one enormous crack with the whip over his backside Lord Module  sunk on his haunches and came up pacing, game on! B)

 

 

 

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Yes it was a good win.

Just as good in that race was Armalight and Gammalite. At each other the whole way and still looked likely half way down. Made Lord Modules run look far better than it was. Most of the good horses in that race did far too much.

 

Looking at No Response winning that race.....what speed. Just as well, cause the driver had many chances to get off the rails....lucky the horse had that great finish,,,,,otherwise the drive would be a shocker

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Hey Portfolio - no blasphemy. Lord Module was the best horse in the race by a margin

 

The trotters final win of No Response was brilliant. Happens to be one of my favourite race calls ever as well. All these years later I can remember what Reon said over the last 200m and afterwards.

 

"....Diogenes just going past the post... you had to see it to believe it......"

 

Magic.

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Hey Portfolio - no blasphemy. Lord Module was the best horse in the race by a margin

 

The trotters final win of No Response was brilliant. Happens to be one of my favourite race calls ever as well. All these years later I can remember what Reon said over the last 200m and afterwards.

 

"....Diogenes just going past the post... you had to see it to believe it......"

 

Magic.

 

The record book will never say that Lord Module was the best horse in the race.

 

Gammalite was a far superior horse. He raced against top horses all of his racing career....his battles with Poppy were amazing.

 

Lord Module was more of a sit sprint type horse, erratic but a good horse, who had to have things go his way to win. I know he had his hoof problems.....but if you look at what horses he raced, they were mostly an average lot. Take out Locarno and Royden Scott, and maybe a couple of others, the open class races were pretty weak about that time.  Then along came Armalight, Bonnies Chance, Hands Down, Poppy and Gammalite.....and he was always going to battle to win all the time. The Matson race a prime example.....all the other top horses in that race had a harder run....allowed him to finish over the top of them.

 

Not bagging the horse, he went some great races....but he will never be remembered as the best horse in that race. In fact, I would rate Armalight better as well.....her record speaks for itself.

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The record book will never say that Lord Module was the best horse in the race.

 

Gammalite was a far superior horse. He raced against top horses all of his racing career....his battles with Poppy were amazing.

 

Lord Module was more of a sit sprint type horse, erratic but a good horse, who had to have things go his way to win. I know he had his hoof problems.....but if you look at what horses he raced, they were mostly an average lot. Take out Locarno and Royden Scott, and maybe a couple of others, the open class races were pretty weak about that time.  Then along came Armalight, Bonnies Chance, Hands Down, Poppy and Gammalite.....and he was always going to battle to win all the time. The Matson race a prime example.....all the other top horses in that race had a harder run....allowed him to finish over the top of them.

 

Not bagging the horse, he went some great races....but he will never be remembered as the best horse in that race. In fact, I would rate Armalight better as well.....her record speaks for itself.

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Can't agree Portfolio, Although they were all brilliant horses Lord Module was as good as any of them.

I don't think you can say he was a sit and sprint horse when he lost all that ground in the NZ Cup and

then went around the field and still won by 4 lengths.

True, the way the Allan Matson FFA was run it was set up for him but he still had to make up an amazing

amount of ground in the last 250m and I don't know if any other horse could have done that. But looking

back now I think it was one of the strongest fields I have seen in a race in New Zealand.

Wouldn't it be great to see all the top cup contenders line up again on the last night of the cup carnival.

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No way Porty.

Lord Module was a an animal that battled injury for most of his career and whilst not always consistent his record book is very good. You can only but win, though to win as he did with the ongoing hoof problems he had shows you how tough the horse was. I guess, the real question is - had he been sound would he have done more - who knows. Just count myself lucky to have been a harness follower when he was going around - one very tough mean animal and on "his day" - well I put him in the unbeatable class.

And by the way, if that was an average field, by god I missed the top fields back there then - the field was as good as it got in that era

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No way Porty.

Lord Module was a an animal that battled injury for most of his career and whilst not always consistent his record book is very good. You can only but win, though to win as he did with the ongoing hoof problems he had shows you how tough the horse was. I guess, the real question is - had he been sound would he have done more - who knows. Just count myself lucky to have been a harness follower when he was going around - one very tough mean animal and on "his day" - well I put him in the unbeatable class.

And by the way, if that was an average field, by god I missed the top fields back there then - the field was as good as it got in that era

 

Turny...I didn't say the Matson was an average field. It was the best we had, some great horses in that race.

 

I stated some of those fields he raced in were pretty average. Look back over his starts, you couldn't say they were top class fields. And one thing we can all agree on.....he was the biggest flop stallion ever in the world!!

 

I remember him winning that Matson....it was great...but I can also remember him laying on the track....or refusing to go away.

 

Just my view....we have a few loyal LM supporters on here by the looks of it.

 

Off the subject a bit.....What a superstar Christian Cullen was. Not only on the track, but at stud as well. Dominating the harness scene for a long time.

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For sheer brilliance, Lord Module was the only horse that I've ever seen to be mentioned in the same breath as Christian Cullen and Popular Alm.

 

I was at Addington the night he time trialed. The night was so wet, cold, foggy and miserable that the club wanted to cancel the trial because conditions were so bad that he couldn't possibly run a fast time, let alone break any records.

 

They put the timetrial back a couple of times in the hope the weather would improve, but instead it got worse. Only at Cecil Devine's insistence did they go ahead with the timetrial, and  eventually ran it after the last race when the track was at it's worst.

 

On a night where anything better than 2.00 would have been a good effort, history shows that he went out and obliterated the NZ mile record with a 1.54 run, despite the impossible weather and track conditions.

 

An erratic and temperamental stallion yes, but unbeatable when he was in the mood.

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True Porty - LM never got a start in the breeding barn - all the poorer for that I guess

Agree entirely CC, complete in every respect - and not surprisingly in my view ahead of LM, just

Back then, Cup Class fields drew what was around, can't do better than beat them when the brain electrics fused, which Lm did - but every now and then the meltdown took over, such are animals I guess

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Kakama...

 

How are you judging the horses in relation to placing them on your list?

If you are considering the horses as punting possibilities, Lord Module would not make the "top twenty" or the "top one hundred" for that matter, in my opinion.

If you are considering the horses in relation to their utmost potential, then, unless you are stark, raving, barking mad (which you are not), Lord Module would fall well within the "top twenty" and very near the top, in my opinion.

 

All the best.

Ashoka

 

PS Portfolio's opinion on Lord Module as a racehorse indentify him, to my mind, as someone who can, at times, be described as stark, raving, barking mad...all in the best, possible taste, of course.     :lol:  :lol:  :angry:  :lol:

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Guest 2Admin2

Well it takes one of Portfolio's BS posts to get me to post on the Harness Cafe.

 

I was there that night when Lord Module gave the field a start and won the Alan Matson FFA.  Gruff's video link doesn't show the true story of how incredible that win was against a field of celebrities.  The previous week the crowd were throwing cans at Lord Module as he failed to perform......

 

I was lucky to be a very young strapper for a horse in a supporting race the night of the FFA - it is one of my Forest Gump moments!  I happened to see Lord Module in his stall well before the race - he wasn't the happiest of chaps and yes the stories are true Cecil Devine had him well and truly chained up.

 

When the race started Lord Module refused to start pacing - the previous week he had refused to even move - the crowd was booing the field had started and he was giving them a 100 yard start - Jack Smolenski gave him a crack across the rump and he started pacing albeit reluctantly - meanwhile one of the best fields of pacers ever was going for it.  Lord Module got going and managed to tack onto the back of the field. 

 

Where was I watching this race?  In the Trainers/Owners stand at the Met sitting right next to the owners of Armalight.  

 

Anyway to cut a good story short Lord Module kills them with a finish that left everyone speechless.  The owners of Armalight were stunned, the other trainers (we are talking the best of the time) are stunned.  What I found fascinating was they all had stop watches and were looking at them..........Lord Module had just given the field a start and killed them running a world record.

 

As for the crowd - the previous week they had been throwing cans at him now they were running out of the stands (I do not exaggerate) to surround the birdcage cheering and screaming.  One of my precious sporting moment memories.

 

We walked down through the internal part of the stand and into the Drivers room - I never forget seeing an exhausted stunned Jack Smolenski sitting there with blood on the front of his silks.  Lord Modules quarter cracks were that bad.

 

A fantastic race and I am glad I was there.

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Good wind up mate. I do understand that you were drinking heavily in high school so you don't really remember him that well. :D

 

I guess by setting the years 1980 to now you are cutting out his best years - but anyway for me he has to be in the top 20. (!!!!)

 

For a horse plagued by terrible feet and with resulting rogue manners his runs were amazing. Some of his most stunning efforts were when he got beat, but I appreciate some people may not appreciate that (or rate those runs).

 

I think his outright speed, ability to run time, and the excitement and passion he generated makes him a superstar.

 

For me still my favourite horse.

 

This is a good read

 

www.harnesslink/news/Lord-Module-Fantastic-but-fallible-65535

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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