STEWART AND TONKIN are going to be busy

[Adaptor]

I think I counted them all.
Over the next 4 days, at Bendigo tonight, Kilmore on Thursday night and Ballarat on Friday night, the stables of Emma Stewart and Clayton Tonkin have a Darren Weir-like entry of 29 horses.
That's a lot of harness to keep track of !!

And there's more..I missed the two at Menangle on Sunday afternoon!

[Showgrounds]

Big team but not the biggest efforts as they stretch it over 4 days.

The Allstars Stable (Mark Purdon / Natalie Rassmussen) harnessed up 20 starters at the Harness Jewels meeting at Ashburton on June 3.

But that is nothing by comparison to Ben Yole, at Launceston last Sunday (18 June), who was represented by 30 starters! My god, imagine the workload you faced on a Monday morning had it been a wet track and you had to wash all the gear! And, for other trainers at Launceston on Sunday, the question they would all dread would be "Hey mate, mind if I borrow your scraper?" :cool:

[Messenger]

Well she had runners (sometimes multiple) in all eight 2yo Vicbred heats - won 5, second in 2, one bomb

http://www.harness.org.au/meeting-results.cfm?mc=BN200617&ms=vic

[aussiebreno]

Devenport Friday night race 5. Who is the trainers pick?

[Messenger]

That is ridiculous Breno - more to the point, he should be telling 7 of them that he doesn't think they can win (but thanks for the training fees - he certainly cannot be working on a share of prizemoney only)
I noticed that 3 people have a share in more than one (6 different horses not just a syndicate with 2 horses)

https://www.harness.org.au/fields.cfm?mc=DV300617#5

[arlington]

Speed map please Mr Yole

[Fan of Jate]

My understanding is that trainers dont make any money out of training fees...as a matter of fact they swear by it !!!! so B.Yole will be going all out to get the bikkies in this one.

[Messenger]

It is an interesting one when you think about it.
Let's say these 8 horses raced against each other all the time.
We will say they are all tough types who race 40 times a year (makes the maths easier too)
The owners might break even if they win (& place) in turn so with 5 wins, 5 seconds, 5 thirds (5 fourths, 5 fifths, ...)
The trainer will have 40 wins, 40 seconds, 40 thirds. If he was even on 20% of prizemoney (!) that means dividing by 5 and he would get the equivalent of 8 wins, 8 seconds, 8 thirds .... He is definitley going to get this regardless of whether the horses take it in turns.
The races are worth $5300, probably only really $5k for 8 starters, if on 20% he takes $1k per race or $40k for the year under our scenario.
Consider his training fees are only covering expenses. If full time he is going to need to double this = 80 wins, 80 seconds, 80 thirds .... to make a living

Take it to the nth degree, could we one day have no private owners, just a pool of industry owned horses that go around most weeks and are trained by a small pool of industry employed trainers (and drivers) who put on the show for the punters to bet on (there wouldn't have to be any prizemoney as it would be the industry paying itself).... Yeah I know I am going crazy and it would be as boring as those - yep that is it - we will just end up betting on those cartoon races, no need for horses at all!

[Messenger]

When I started rambling above, I think I was influenced by recently reading Les Carlyon's book on Bart, The Master

"But racing is a pecluliar sport in which the hustle of the punt and a sense of the romantic sit in the same room and never reconcile themselves, one to the other. The punt is about the search for fast money, a game of wits that sometimes wears grubby clothes. If that was all racing was about, betting on numbers, the sport would be little different from those casino halls where players sit hypnotised by a machine that flashes bright lights and sometimes rewards with a clatter of coins. It wouldn't be a sport, just gambling. But as gifted American sports writer Joe Palmer once observed, betting is three-quarters, maybe seven-eighths, of the reason people go to the track."

The man can write

[Toohard]

When I started rambling above, I think I was influenced by recently reading Les Carlyon's book on Bart, The Master

"But racing is a pecluliar sport in which the hustle of the punt and a sense of the romantic sit in the same room and never reconcile themselves, one to the other. The punt is about the search for fast money, a game of wits that sometimes wears grubby clothes. If that was all racing was about, betting on numbers, the sport would be little different from those casino halls where players sit hypnotised by a machine that flashes bright lights and sometimes rewards with a clatter of coins. It wouldn't be a sport, just gambling. But as gifted American sports writer Joe Palmer once observed, betting is three-quarters, maybe seven-eighths, of the reason people go to the track."

The man can write

It's a great read Kev. Don't know exactly why front up to Melton week in week out. Have a horse running sometimes but as per earlier post, great to see people who put in get a result.. think Mr Hunts words from his book closest for me

". . . for no matter what other enticements,
what will lure you here, more than once. . . here . . . under the stars . . . is the intrigue, the charm, the tragedy, the triumph, and the bravery born of innocence, of this, the most unique of all animals, called the horse.”

John Hunt farewell speech excerpt;
Gloucester Park, December 12th, 2008.

[Messenger]

He certainly has a way with words, maybe we should 'hunt' out his books

http://www.johnhuntbooks.com/

Did you know about his recent return/visit/scratching an itch - not comeback

http://www.rwwa.com.au/home/media-centre/legendary-harness-race-caller-returns-to-the-commentary-box-5882.html

[KTQ]

I miss John hunt calling :(

[Messenger]

http://www.harnesslink.com/Australia/Yole-close-to-crackimg-the-ton

LOL they don't mention that Yole's win at Devenport was a given in that he trained the whole field

[Fan of Jate]

I have heard that on race days he has to call in 5/6 mates to help load horses and gear on especially when he racks up the big numbers around 30 or 40.

[Beltane]

Only Grant Dixon (1,404) has trained more starters than Ben Yole (1,338) this season.

By comparison, the 2nd place in the Tasmanian training tally is Todd Rattray on 229.

[Messenger]

Amazing - Does anyone remember a trainer having 7 horses in a Gp1 before?

https://www.harness.org.au/fields.cfm?mc=MX080717&fromstate=vic#4

[Messenger]

They trained the favourite in all three of the 2yoF Crown heats at Shep tonight but it was not really a good night for them
They started $1.10 $1.40 $1.70
and only the middle one won

http://www.harness.org.au/meeting-results.cfm?mc=SP080817&ms=vic

ps The undoing of $1.10 pop Nostra Beach was Hows The Memory - her dam won a bundle as a 2yo

[Messenger]

Chris Alford is certainly busy for the stable
He drove the winner of R8 at Charlton today which was a 4.42pm race so he is not going to get away much before 5pm
He is listed to drive in R5 at Melton at 7.30pm tonight

It is 220km from Charlton to Melton

I forgot to mention he drove 4 winners from 6 drives at Charlton so he probably 'floated' down the highway to Melton