Dominatin

[William]

Craig
Are you for real ?Trainer's like The Fitzpatricks , The Turnbull's,The Hancocks,The Day's, Jason Proctor , Denis Wilson, Anthony Bucca, Joe Rando Darrin Binskin, etc , Between them they have won every race worth winning, Now suddenly they can't compete ?

My partner have been holidaying at Port Stephens and decided to go to Maitland Trots on Sat Night , as Letusrocku turned for home a punter behind us started Booing ,after the race my partner said what's up mate did you back a loser ,He then produced a ticket out of his pocket and showed us that he had bet $200 on the winner ,he went on to say it was the first time he had felt disgust at backing a winner. Over the next half hour or so I have never seen so many well known and respected harness people looking at each other with raised eyebrows and shaking their heads. I wouldn't dare print what some weir saying.

I know some may be just shooting of at the mouth, and it is so easy to label them all as crying poor, but I think any one who isn't just a little suspicious are in the minority.

Cassie I can certainly relate to your last sentence. In the end the trots is a gambling game, even for participants who never bet, because they are still investing heavily in time and effort and we're all hoping for a winner. So you have to keep your guard up at all times to some degree. You know what they say about a fool and his money. I don't think you can blame anyone for having suspicions.
This is why it's so important for administrators to keep the game above board. It doesn't matter what sport or game is involved, if it's a gambling game and the people running it allow cheating to go on, the game is finished sooner or later.
For one thing you need straight stewards which we did not have for some time sadly. Secondly the stewards must have an extremely high level of scrutiny over participants, and straight participants should welcome that for their own good as well as the good of the sport.

[candykisses]

Hi Cassie

You mention all those trainers and right in doing so as they are great trainers in there own right, but to be honest with you how many of those trainers are being handed horses that have already proven themselve's. Let's be honest owners are sending horses Luke's way it's not Luke chasing them and for one minute don't think he take's every horse he is offered he picks and chooses the one's he want's and the one's that he thinks will suit his training style. Before Luke made the trip down to Sydney how many horses did he actually train as i'm not sure but i do remember Slipnslide, Fluer De Lil, For A Reason and Mr Feelgood and the first 3 he had from yearling sale's time. The other question for you would be how many of them trainers have owners with the $$$$$ behind them as Luke has at this present time as a guess i'd say not many and how many of them trainers jump on a plane every so often and head to N.Z for a couple of day's to drive horse's that are for sale. People might raise there eyebrows and shake there heads but i'm sure they wouldn't be if they were getting the racing stock he is.

Fair enough Mango

I agree with your sentiments , It's just when you read the list of previous winners of that race Bold Biami , Just Too Good etc and none of those horses ever took off a lap and a half from home and won by 32 1/2 meters without the stick ,Luke stated in the media that he thought the horse was a week away from being ready , Pity help the other horses in the race if it was next week.

Mango I don't think all those trainers only train horses they have bred, raired, and broke in, or purchased at the yearly sales , I'm sure the majority have come into their stable after they are proven performers

[mango]

Hi Cassie

I'm sure the trainers mentioned do recieve proven performers but not at the rate Luke is been given them and there are numerous reasons why, he is an up and comming trainer who is putting in the hard yards, people want to race horses on one of the best tracks in Aus and the prize money is going through the roof. Honestly though i thought he would win the race with Lettucerocku and so did the punter who wasn't happy even though he had $200 on him. I watched his first run back at Newcastle and he was getting tired towards the end but still went 2:01.5 over the 2550m trip so it was no suprise to see him go 2:01 over the 2422m trip a wk later, i knew the horse would handle the tighter track as alot of his racing before Luke recieved him was on half mile tracks such as Wagga, Albury, Bathurst, Canberra, Leeton, Bulli and Young. When going back through his form he raced over the 2300m at Menangle as a 3yr old and was beaten 18.2m and came 3rd to a great horse called Sushi Sushi and Excell Stride in 2nd in a winner's mile rate of 1:54.1 so as a guess he's gone 1:55.5 or quicker so to me he should be able to run the time he did at Maitland.

[aussiebreno]

Everyone knows my thoughts on LM.

The way I see it. The standardbred has been evolving into a faster but weaker horses similar to TB in a lot of ways. Harness trainers have not changed their training methods for the past 20 years and now they are behind the eight ball not to an obvious extent until now. LM is so far advanced on any nsw trainer it's not funny. All the big owners no that and have moved there horses. That's always going to happin it's an open market.

In regards to people leaving the sport. When Harold park was sold harness racing changed there business plan. One of the long term problems for harness racing has been its inability to attract the punters dollars. One of the reasons is because of inconsistent form. Inconsistant results in alagations of wrong doing. Weekend warrior trainers and drivers can't deliver consistent form.

One of the key objectives was to attract interstate horses and trainers. That is why there have been large prize money increases at the top end but lower end country races have seen prize money stay the same or in some cases reduce.

Large numbers of small stables are hard for stewards to regulate (see other thread on disqualified persons) another reason the putters dollar has fallen.

So the future.
The clubs in Sydney need to be reduced to 2 now and 1 with in five years.
Country Clubs need to be reduced to 3 bathurst wagga and newcastle.
The number of nsw based drivers needs to be reduced to about 20 ( there is only 3 that cut it and 2 of those may or may not be back.
Sydney based trainers need to be reduced to about 10 and the interstate satellite stables at menangle.
The breeding industry needs to be killed off all our horses can be sourced from interstate and NZ as already racing stock.

So some may call it dominatatin but I tend to think of it as evolution. This will be the future and there is no room for hobby trainers and weekend warrior drivers so don't be worried about people leaving harness racing instead tell them to take a mate with them.

Hey Tiny,

I know others have already shot you down but I will still add my 2c.
Australian Rules and Rugby League may have the major leagues AFL and NRL but they are nothing without country leagues. Both are fighting to expand the game, Melbourne Storm, Adelaide Rams, Gold Coast Suns and Greater Western Sydney have nothing to do with those areas needing a team but rather trying to entice more youngsters to the game. The more in the game the better.
20 drivers? How does this get decided. After 10 years the driving pool will be gone. Who would want to try and make it as a driver. How could a young driver make it when they are up against 9 of the best.
10 trainers? How does one become one of the elite? The eldest born son of each trainer perhaps..

[triplev123]

It's just when you read the list of previous winners of that race Bold Biami , Just Too Good etc and none of those horses ever took off a lap and a half from home and won by 32 1/2 meters without the stick

[VVV] Hahahahahahaha. That's PRICELESS! Bold Biami & Just Too Good. We should suspect Luke of something because a couple of foals of the late 1960's didn't take off a lap and a half out and win by open lengths????? Hahahahahahahaha. Stop it...Cassie, please, you're killing me. Hahahahahahahahah.

[Old Frank]

I'll bet Luke sit's back and laugh's his head off at the rubbish on these forums, all the while he keeps counting his winners!

Go 'Team McCarthy', keep drilling the opposition!

P.S: Had a sneaky peek at the fields for this Saturday and me's not seeing another fiver though like last week though! I may speak to soon and the 'King' reign supreme again though! Hahaha...

[aussiebreno]

[VVV] Hahahahahahaha. That's PRICELESS! Bold Biami & Just Too Good. We should suspect Luke of something because a couple of foals of the late 1960's didn't take off a lap and a half out and win by open lengths????? Hahahahahahahaha. Stop it...Cassie, please, you're killing me. Hahahahahahahahah.

Look tripleV, Smoken Up only just won his Miracles Miles. For Christian Cullen to annhilate his rivals like he did, not good for the sport and was obviously on the rocket fuel that night, if you watch the replay closely you can see a small cylinder sprouting rocketfire from his rear end.

[Old Frank]

Look tripleV, Smoken Up only just won his Miracles Miles. For Christian Cullen to annhilate his rivals like he did, not good for the sport and was obviously on the rocket fuel that night, if you watch the replay closely you can see a small cylinder sprouting rocketfire from his rear end.

So CC wasn't just an out and out champion winning on ability, he could only do it on rocket fuel and by winning in such a dominant fashion it was bad for racing????

Where was the positive swab then of this so-called rocket fuel and I've never heard one, not one person say it was bad for the sport.

They laud a horse called Black Caviar over at the gallops for winning with such dominance. In actual fact, they promote their industry off the back of it! What silly people they could be for doing such a foolish thing?

Dominance winning - bad for the sport = what a load of bloody tosh!

[murray green]

Hey Tiny . You really should think before you put finger to keyboard . One of the main obstacles facing harness racing is the dropping number of foals being born each year . They are going to throw resorces at it to try and reverse the trend and you want to stop all breeding in NSW ? You must think that there are thousands of spare horses waiting at Bunnings to be picked up . At least they guarantee to beat everyones advertised price by 10% . Declining participation is also a main concern and you want to sack nearly all of the trainers and drivers . Every participant , including everyone of you , brings punters to harness racing . Most punters have a direct link to the industry and you want to kick most of them out . The win pool on a Saturday night might reach $50 or $60 . Harness racing is a peoples sport . Always has been . We can't afford to loose anyone including you Tiny . In 10 years I would say that 33% to 50% of participants will be dead or near enough to it . Look around at the races . There are not enough comming on to replace them .

[aussiebreno]

So CC wasn't just an out and out champion winning on ability, he could only do it on rocket fuel and by winning in such a dominant fashion it was bad for racing????

Where was the positive swab then of this so-called rocket fuel and I've never heard one, not one person say it was bad for the sport.

They laud a horse called Black Caviar over at the gallops for winning with such dominance. In actual fact, they promote their industry off the back of it! What silly people they could be for doing such a foolish thing?

Dominance winning - bad for the sport = what a load of bloody tosh!

Frank,
I apologise for getting you worked up. Sarcasm isn't potrayed the best through the internet. But rest assured I was being sarcastic!