Media Watch: Chris Barsby

[aussiebreno]

I think Buster highlighted an article about For A Reason while last week this gem was produced http://www.harness.org.au/news-article.cfm?news_id=15427 . Why dont they just race the Chariots at Albion Park this year to save the 8 runners some fuel costs? lol.

Here is the latest pearler http://www.harness.org.au/news-article.cfm?news_id=15479
"sensationally overlooked" yeah what a surprise a 4yo who bypassed the lead up races to race in C1/2s didnt get an invite ahead of the established mares who went in the lead races or have good form in open mares company...absolutely ridiculous. :rolleyes: Another thing; "QLD pacers have dominated in Sydney in recent weeks." Dominated what? They won a few Tuesday races and the Sapling while Lanercost has won 2 races. The Sydney horses are all shaking with fear at this QLD domination :cool:

[mango]

Hey Aussiebreno
Looked that mare up Torque In Motion she has good form but you are correct she is only running against c1/2 horses nothing special at the present time. Now if they thought this mare was something special they should of had her down in Sydney butting heads with the other mare's who are vying for a spot and not sitting at home waiting for the mail.

[buster]

millwood meg wasn't invited on last seasons form either - shock horror chris

as much as the media guys need to write more stories to promote horses, just not as hype machines

[scottbarnard]

Chris is trying to talk up the Queensland industry and boy does it need it. It has been all downhill since the formation of Racing Queensland. The future of Albion Park is in doubt. The Gold Coast track is to close. The industry is in a parless state. Chris does try to promote the industry and generally does an excellent job. A bit of parochialism does no harm.

[Love Of Courage]

Well said scottbarnard ! Agree 100 % with what you have said. How far behind NSW & Victoria do we need to fall before something is done. !

[aussiebreno]

Isnt the planned sale of Albion Park so they can build a new track similar to what NSW and Vic have done with Menangle and Melton, while the joint venture with Racing Queenland gave them a cash windfall?
The closing of the Restricted tracks is more worrying imo. I can understand Gold Coast; its the same faces as Albion Park pretty much competing week in week out.
I have no problem with the subjects of the article and giving QLDers and the rest of Aust an insight into what horses plans are etc but he doesnt have to sensationalise everything; this is harness racing not some womens magazine.

[buster]

correct me here anyone more informed, but they expect 100 mil for AP but are only going to spend 65 mil on the new place.. where does the rest of money go..if its prizemoney then get the bulldozers running

[Love Of Courage]

Hello Buster,

I would also like to know what the plans are for QLD harness racing. If you believe the story in this link it does not sound like harness racing is the winner.

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/albion-park-to-be-sold-for-100m-under-secret-racing-queensland-plan/story-e6freoof-1225937378493

How much money from the sale of Harold Park is going to be used on thoroughbred racecourses ?

[mango]

Hi Love Of Courage

I hope Albion Park is not sold and Harness Racing stays where it belongs but if it has to sold and relocated the proceeds should be kept for building 2 new Harness tracks with greyhound tracks inside of them. At know time should a spectator going to todays tracks should have to look over a filthy Gallop track to watch races. Why should Bob and his merry men be able to spend the proceeds in doing up Gallop tracks, what he is saying to the Harness and Greyhound industry is bend over and take it up the ........ not on Bob. If Bob gets his way they get 100m for A.P and spend around 15-20m on Harness and Greyhounds and the rest goes into the Gallops. My question to Bob would be íf you want to do all these other tracks up you will have to sell Eagle Farm or Doomben i bet that won't go down well. It all so sounds like Bob has broken alot of promises i hope it comes back to bite him hard. Also i heard that there are court proceedings in the future to try and stop this Wanker if anyone knows more about this feel free to keep us posted. All the best to Harness/Greyhound racing up in the sunshine state.

[scottbarnard]

aussiebreno not a cash windfall for harness racing. That's the point. Racing Queensland is throwing a few crumbs to the poor. The amalgamation of the codes perpetrated by Qld State Labour is to the detriment of harness and greyhound racing and represents a takeover by the thoroughbred code. If the plan proceeds this will result in the slow death of harness racing in Queensland. There will be no new track like Menangle or Melton, just a proposal for a joint facility at Deagon not owned by the harness industry which will lose ownership of a valuable resource, Albion Park in exchange for effectively becoming a tenant. Moonee Valley is an example of the failure of this type of arrangement.

[scottbarnard]

It goes to the thoroughbred industry. That's the point.

[aussiebreno]

aussiebreno not a cash windfall for harness racing. That's the point. Racing Queensland is throwing a few crumbs to the poor. The amalgamation of the codes perpetrated by Qld State Labour is to the detriment of harness and greyhound racing and represents a takeover by the thoroughbred code. If the plan proceeds this will result in the slow death of harness racing in Queensland. There will be no new track like Menangle or Melton, just a proposal for a joint facility at Deagon not owned by the harness industry which will lose ownership of a valuable resource, Albion Park in exchange for effectively becoming a tenant. Moonee Valley is an example of the failure of this type of arrangement.
Ok, didnt realise the thoroughbreds wanted to have it with us inside it. If they get their OWN track out of it all is good otherwise its a worry.

[aussiebreno]

This weeks nomination comes through the form of Andrew Georgiou.

http://www.gazetteonline.com.au/inbrief.html

When he gets to talking about Bathurst and the 3yo colts...In the Chalice, there could be one or two interstaters come back for a crack following unsuccessful raids at two, including the talented Modern Slippa. Excuse me Andrew since when was Wagga not apart of NSW? Or is it Bathurst that isnt in NSW?

[triplev123]

Hahahahahaha. Love a good Media Watch post. Nice work breno.
He may well have a point though, some of you Riverina blokes would form your own State if you could. Roger Strong for Premier! :D:D:D:D

[aussiebreno]

Hahahahahaha. Love a good Media Watch post. Nice work breno.
He may well have a point though, some of you Riverina blokes would form your own State if you could. Roger Strong for Premier! :D:D:D:D
Sad thing is the local paper (if you could call it that) has ran front page stories with people saying we should become our own state.

[mango]

Aussiebreno

That must be one sad paper ?

[Village Kid]

Notice Chris had another crack Friday night at Torque in Motion being left out of the Ladyship Mile after her win at the Gold Coast.

Gotta admire his parochialism if nothing else

[aussiebreno]

When Sushi Sushi went to Wagga last week there was a story in the local rag.
http://www.dailyadvertiser.com.au/news/local/sport/harness-racing/unbackable-favourite-at-odds-with-rivals/2191463.aspx

Matthew Harris; trainer of good horses such as Quick Approval and Wreck Tangles, had a horse in the race; Wry Tangles.

Harris had this to say, remembering this was probably done on the spot over the phone and Harris is a horse trainer; not a politician or an expert media man.

"I'd prefer not to race against him," Harris said yesterday. Perfectly honest and fair assessment


"There is no real gain for anyone other than his trainer and maybe the Wagga club. Well yeah thats true; Harris probably hasn't seen things from the point of view of Sushi Sushi though where he needs the run and a run in a heat to go to the semis.


"I was disappointed when I knew he was in it. We've got to feather our own nest and try and make ends meet. He says he is disapointed; so I believe the inference about visitors coming and stealing prizemoney is of disapoint and not of anger. He is only saying what every other trainer thinks when a situation like this happens. Also, HRNSW knows this happens as well and hence Carnival of Cups have introduced 'local only' races.

"You can't deny him a start in the race, we've just got to accept it and get on with it." Here Harris acknowledges Sushi Sushi is perfectly entitled to start.

Harris also goes on to say he is racing for 2nd.

Harris, untrained in the media and in an on the spot interview attracted two articles criticising him. Well the articles referred to 'rival trainers' but its clear its Harris (if it was about rival trainers in general well you'd have an article every meeting on it). One was in the local rag from the CEO of the Wagga Club Graeme White. It basically said criticism of Sushi Sushi was unfounded as he was eligible for the race. Harris all but said this when he said you cant deny him a start. I dont have proof of the article on the internet for you all to see but it was grossly unfair on Harris as it shows his words and disapointment were misconstrued (I most likely have spelt that wrong) and makes him look like a bad guy from people who had carefully thought about and written articles. Remember he said "you can't deny him a start".

The second article was from 'The Hayes File'. He must have spilt his Hamburgler all over the article because this man is trained in the media so making mistaken inferences and offering carefully constructed and thought about criticism isn't something he should take lightly. But he still did it. He made a snide remark in his opening sentence http://www.hrnsw.com.au/hrnsw-media-release188.html. I would have thought a man of many weight divisions above Harris wouldn't have had to have done such a thing so publicly behind a pen. Snide remarks like that are what made the Harnesslink articles censored (yes there were other more serious comments).

Harris's comments were, for want of a better term, openly cliche. My definition of this term is where sport players may give cliche answers such as Yes we are trying to win (which I define as closed cliche) Harris said what most thought in a way many would have put it. For this his punishment was two articles that criticised him. Local media is a friend of harness racing. The CEO of Wagga knows this as he has a media background and he does a great, I repeat, great job of advertising the club through the local rag. I also hope Mr Hayes knows this. So when a trainer takes time out to talk to a reporter, something I know many don't like do doing as it is - even when they win, don't criticise him. He may not do it again if he is going to cop flak. Because next time the reporter rings Harris up Harris may decline to comment. If Harris declines to comment we not only lose that article and the positive benefits of that; but as a whole we lose the support of reporters who don't want to get flunked around and harness racing loses even more. Giving comment should be appluaded not criticised.


//////Rant//////

[aussiebreno]

http://www.harness.org.au/news-article.cfm?news_id=17004

World record...yeah right. Was this an official Guineas World Record? This isn't a journo saying this; its the bankstown club director. The article is exclusively quotes from that man, Andrew Ho, and was published by another director of the Bankstown club.
I can remember a race at Wagga; Happy Birthday to a (5yo?) girl. Also a welcome to the world pace with the names of the twins who were born.

https://ebet.tab.co.nz/results/NSWT-reslt07310900.html Race 3 race name Happy Birthday Erin
https://ebet.tab.co.nz/results/NSWT-reslt09290700.html Race 6 race name Oscar and Archie Perrot

[David Summers]

Right , brenno , that article is laughable. Good luck to the kid involved , but "world record"???? , give me a break! With respect to Mr. Ho , I think he needs to do a LOT more research before coming up with such a ridiculous statement.

[aussiebreno]

http://www.harness.org.au/news-article.cfm?news_id=17048

When you flog an old article (hope it's his own old article; not someone else's because that is even worse) it's best to at least edit parts. Quantum Lobell still holds the Australian Mile Record of 1.53.1 set in the 1997 Newcastle Mile. According to Ross Giggs the "record still stands today".
C'mon; Smoken Up was stripped of the Inter not his Mile record (not to mention the numerous other horses to have broken 1.53.1)! Even Pay Me Christian's 1.52.8 in 2006 Newcastle Mile!

[aussiebreno]

http://www.harness.org.au/news-article.cfm?news_id=17004

World record...yeah right. Was this an official Guineas World Record? This isn't a journo saying this; its the bankstown club director. The article is exclusively quotes from that man, Andrew Ho, and was published by another director of the Bankstown club.
I can remember a race at Wagga; Happy Birthday to a (5yo?) girl. Also a welcome to the world pace with the names of the twins who were born.

https://ebet.tab.co.nz/results/NSWT-reslt07310900.html Race 3 race name Happy Birthday Erin
https://ebet.tab.co.nz/results/NSWT-reslt09290700.html Race 6 race name Oscar and Archie Perrot
And they are at it again.
http://www.harnesslink.com/www/Article.cgi?ID=95183

Makes me bad such a blatantly wrong statement is allowed to go to print.

[aussiebreno]

A good night at Menangle, I will excuse the penman or woman for this one. I'd imagine a few ales under the belt.

http://www.hrnsw.com.au/tab.com.au-inter-dominion-media-release31.html

No way Allblack Stride the favourite

[brent_L]

Correct.
Bling $1.90
Isaiah $3.20
A Stride 6 bucks!

[aussiebreno]

Resurrecting this on the back of a few articles I've read lately.

http://www.harness.org.au/media-room/news-article/?news_id=35847

David Aitken. Mark Stanley.

[aussiebreno]

http://www.harness.org.au/media-room/news-article/?news_id=36388

Michael Court needs some fact checking. Have Faith in Me ran 1.48.8 in his Chariots win. The track record Have Faith In Me later achieved in the Miracle Mile is 1.47.5.