Brett Shipway ain't a ballerina. The great Gordon Rothacker was no midget and, from that era, Bruce Barron was a VFA ruckman.
Size of brain will always win, no matter your stature.
I made a poor joke/post about Brett Shipway's silks looking big in the sulky the other day
I don't actually know if Brett is even a big bloke
I apologise to Brett if I offended him
He has not asked me to delete the post.
I don't want just little blokes/ladies to be drivers
It would be good if we had a system whereby bigger/average size people are not at a disadvantage
We do not want to be like basketball (where the reverse is true) and if you are under 6' (or even 7') you are lucky to get a go in the higher grades
Last edited by Messenger; 05-14-2019 at 10:32 AM.
per un PUGNO di DOLLARI
Brett Shipway ain't a ballerina. The great Gordon Rothacker was no midget and, from that era, Bruce Barron was a VFA ruckman.
Size of brain will always win, no matter your stature.
From memory Jack Carter..Panhandle, (Red and white stripes??) was a huge Showgrounds driver.
Showgrounds, December 1979. No lightweights here. Check out the fall on the turn out of the home straight!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7shl8SjHxQ
Last edited by Adaptor; 05-14-2019 at 11:49 PM.
I had an interesting pm which made a couple of good points on this topic
For a start a difference of many kgs being pulled would only equate to a fraction of a kg on the back (eg gallopers) and would be most pronounced on a soft track - something we do not often have
And don't we want our sport to be inclusive - having to declare one's weight might deter some who are not considered to have the supposed perfect body shape according to whatever the current day's fashion is
per un PUGNO di DOLLARI
Good thing that John Phyland drove rather than rode at Richmond !
1924: The Argus reported:
John Phyland, owner of two recent Richmond winners is a retired farmer from the
Balranald district of Victoria, (actually NSW) whence one of the winners Balranald Maid takes her name.
At present Mr J. Phyland is a resident at "Soultline," Flemington, the former home of the late Mr S. P. Mackay. He has a fair number of trotters in work at Ascot.
He is a well known identity at Richmond, where although he is close on 18 stone, he is occasionally seen behind some of his horses.
At present, however, his son, F. Phyland, is doing the majority of the riding and driving for the stable.
Interesting note: John Phyland was the father in-law- of sometimes controversial trainer and punter Cedric (Sid) McLean (Ced married Rose Phyland) , and grandfather of driver John McLean.
I love the historical reports Noel
per un PUGNO di DOLLARI
New Jack well from the Showgrounds days. Jack was not a tall man but appeared as wide as he was tall - in all directions. Always had a smart horse at his Sandown Rd stables - Brahvolo, Jokers Pride were consistent Showgrounds winners.
Great videos of the Showies trots, Noel. A small crowd there is a huge crowd anywhere today. Don't know the date of this December 1979 meeting but the last ever meeting there was in that month. After that, the MVRC allowed double-header meetings rendering the Showgrounds redundant.
Incredulous to believe this was nearly 40 years ago I am truly feeling my age. I might have to go and grab a strawberry milk and a bag of jam donuts in honour of the Showgrounds an watch all of these races.
Thanks for the youtube Noel and thanks for the election over, nearly damaged the keyboard trying to SKIP AD Clive!
Most trainers in harness racing like to race drive their own charges but if experience demonstrates that light weight drivers have an advantage then trainers would have employed lightweights to drive pacers unless deterred historically by inaccurate theory. Many true blue concepts of racing sometimes are not accurate. One example in horse racing is that horses who run on a soft surface and who have won in the mud have an advantage over those who have no mud form. Not so. But the TV and media experts go on about that myth.
Anyway back to harness topic, self interest should see prudent practice carried out in the long term.
Last edited by Nicolaus Silver; 05-19-2019 at 11:22 PM. Reason: clarify
But Nic, there are some gallopers that only have success on soft going while there are some that only have success on good to fast
per un PUGNO di DOLLARI