Race 4 @ Menangle- Jarrod, Dazza...fair dinkum.

[Triple V]

Way to take off your heads and put on Pumpkins fellas.
Hard ball on the front end is one thing...suicide missions are something else entirely.

[David Summers]

I strongly doubt that this drive will be on their CV if they are looking for new clients. What on earth were they thinking? It's amazing that they both finished as close as they did , although anyone backing either had done their money cold on the home turn.

I hope the stewards at least will pose the question to both drivers , something like , WTF???

[Danno]

Way to take off your heads and put on Pumpkins fellas.
Hard ball on the front end is one thing...suicide missions are something else entirely.

Everyone's entitled to their opinion Jamie, I didn't see anything too alarming, sure they scooted the first quarter, but their entitled to pursue their tactics, it's not as if they busted the field wide open and then finished way behind the field. I don't think its fair to expect people to drive like robots who somehow know what the punters want to see, "the great" Vin Knight certainly didn't drive to win the punters hearts, but you couldn't say he was bad for the game either!

Cheers,
Dan

[Triple V]

G'day Dan,
I'm not expecting drivers to drive like robots, geeze...no way. Quite the contrary. Youa dn everyone else knows that I've pounded the Stewards relentlessly when they ask that sort of approach of drivers...via the absolutely absurd change of tactics rules.
Rather, I am pointing out the fact that the vast majority of horses racing out @ Menangle simply cannot leave the gate stamped urgent like that, make the 1/4 in 26 and live to tell the tale. The same general scenario played out just the other day, also @ Menangle, when the Falcon Seelster horse from Brisbane left the gate like his life depended on in it, posted Deadsetlucky to the quarter in the high 25's and the half in 52's or 53's or whatever. They duly withered & died on the vine as well. Today's race, in that grade, there's no way they can be put on the pointy end and survive a 26 second opener. Crazy stuff.

[broncobrad]

I'm with Dan on this one, even though the lead time was quick, both drivers signalled their intentions and tested each other thoroughly before sanity quickly prevailed and the attacking horse took the trail. The leader got a cheap 2nd qtr but it wasn't enough and the conditions were perfect for something from the back to drop on them.

Its a lose lose situation for drivers that are hamstrung by "acceptable driving criteria" who want to show iniative, but ain't got the horsepower on the big track to back them up. Menangle is conducive to robotic drives, because if there is a flaw in the animals staying ability it will be found out if they use up too much early juice. Isn't this what people were whinging about a few months ago when they were launching (verbal) attacks on Lukes horses being unbeatable, so other drivers were being seen to be driving for minor prizemoney only as they handed up the lead meekly to any McCarthy horse that challenged.

I feel a bit sorry for these drivers that chance their hand and get pummelled when it doesn't come off for them. Administrators want quick lead times and will penalise drivers who go slow early (with ridiculously paltry fines) just because they are protecting their own horses chances. Talk about a contradiction in expectations. So robotic drives become the norm at HQ, iniative is stifled by regulations and the punters are bored to tears.

The stewards on this occassion will only note the performances, I doubt there are any grounds for further action and if there is then they may as well invest in some real robots to replace our drivers.

[Triple V]

G'day Brad,
To put it in perspective, the fastest opener ever recorded at Menangle is 25.3 by multiple Metro winner graded horses. Those were 3C0's/3C1's ? that went out to the 1/4 in 26 even. That's what I'm getting at. For horses in that grade 2nd quarter breathers & moderate middle halves will still not put their legs back under them.
As an aside, Peter Plummer must have been smiling like the Cheshire Cat when Fred called that 1st quarter. That colt of his just ate it up, it looks to me like he just loves to close into fast early fractions. He's much better than I had initially thought he was. His dam was a fruitcake at times, I think she's largely responsible for Paul's hair turning white, but geeze she was very, very good when she was on her game.

[broncobrad]

Hey Triple, I knew what you were saying about the class v time. Of course they were going way too quick. My point was that the 2 drivers stamped a bit of authority into the race and when it was apparent who had the advantage, they both immediately adopted more conservative racing strategies, even though the damage had already been done. I didn't want to allude to the Bathurst race a few weeks ago where neither driver backed off after an excessive period of challenging v repelling. My point is they atleast had the sense to back it off.

Just by the by, eminent form analyser, retired wizard, coffee maker...your c.v is becoming more impressive everyday.

[aussiebreno]

Just by the by, eminent form analyser, retired wizard, coffee maker...your c.v is becoming more impressive everyday.

He was plying his hand at many things in an effort to become qualified enough to take over RQLD. Where to now Triple? Back to that youtube correspondent job perhaps!

[Triple V]

I was also at one time a Ferris-Wheel Attendant but in the end they let me go because I kept forgetting to close the doors and the kids would get up to the top and sometimes they'd fall out. http://occupations.careers.org/16799...heel-attendant. I have been replaced by some bloke by the name of Bob who comes from QLD. He has a pretty impressive CV plus he comes with an off-sider by the name of Bill.

I've got a really good article somewhere on Class verus Speed. It was written by US Handicapper, Bob Pandolfo. I'll see if I can find it and post it here. There's another one of a similar bent which talks about horses showing big final quarter speed versus the overall race times, fractions etc. I'll post it too if I can find it. I think I might have posted that one once before actually?

[Danno]

http://www.harness.org.au/stewards-r...fm?mc=ME170412

Talk about WTF???