Agree
All that money put up for the four inside horses from the front row to sprint the last half a lap for. THE RESULT 3,2,1,4.
Driver initiative? Not evident !
The Cup was a fantastic advertisement for Quarter horse racing!
There was absolutely no action for the first 2100m
It will go down as one of the most boring Cups/races EVER
Thankfully it was too hot to go
http://www.harness.org.au/meeting-re...ic#HSC10011601
Tell me I am wrong
Greg Sugars was a Champion harness racing person
Agree
All that money put up for the four inside horses from the front row to sprint the last half a lap for. THE RESULT 3,2,1,4.
Driver initiative? Not evident !
Agree Kev, bloody boring race to watch! I enjoyed watching the S.A Cup more..
The horses at the back were 100/1 with the best horse in the race controlling the race like he has done numerous times from the death. Corzin Terror pretty tough but he is better for a late sprint eg beat Terror To Love 12 months ago. Tell me which horse would have been better off making a move earlier being plastered 3 wide and getting a stitch besten 50m+?
Greg Sugars was a Champion harness racing person
I was just talking in terms of driver initiative.
It depends on how the race is run but I don't think you are to far off with the 1 mile or 2 mile racing. 1 mile the leaders only get a 400m breather so are still a bit gassed for the sprint home and brings backmarkers into it. 2 mile racing bread and butter horses would be running 34 quarters. Lot easier for backmarkers to gradually make a move in 34 quarters than 30 quarters. If the leader was to run to quick over 2 mile they would run out of petrol tickets. Bit harder for a driver to judge just how quick to go maybe?
Mile and 3/8 racing that dominates in most of Aust the leaders get best of both worlds 1000m breather and 31 quarters that means backmarkers are near on sprinting to make ground and gas themselves.
But it is a double edged sword...make things easier for the backmarkers then what is the point of PBD or Handicap? (In general terms, Horsham was RBD).
Industry complains about too many leaders winning, which means back line horses aren't winning...but then industry complains the back line horses aren't being handicapped 20m stand start????
But there is good news for the track with Horsham to benefit from $470,000 track upgrade:
http://www.harness.org.au/news-artic...?news_id=28583
This track upgrade should result in a better spectacle of racing.
Half a million dollars - unreal. I wonder whether the 500k will bring 1 additional punter to the track or any increase in revenue? I suppose some will argue that the sprint lane might but I cannot remember seeing many hard luck stories at Horsham anyway. I would put the money towards Lights and dining facilities before any of the above (or leave Horsham as is and put the money towards improving our Big Picture exposure). I reckon racing under lights and potentially bigger crowds might be a better spectacle still Steve but a track inside a gallops track is always going to be limited from a viewing perspective. Just my opinion.
ps Looking at that Cup field again Brenno, you were right - the biggest problem was probably that there were only 5 contenders
Greg Sugars was a Champion harness racing person
Another track to be ruined by a sprint lane!
Apparently not many at the meeting from what I was told.
The upgrade will improve the camber like it has at Ballarat and therefore a smoother run for horses.