IDEAS on how we can improve Harness Racing

[Messenger]

I agree Terry, when we have our next true Star we have to let the World know about it. The appropriately named Poster Boy may have filled those shoes but a mishap more or less straight after a MM win has not seen his return for nearly 12 months now

[Bonnie]

Poster Boy trialled at Ballarat this week. Led and won as he liked (only a field of 3). Last half: 55.9 last quarter 26.6 . Loved his day out and pulled up well. We went to the Stables the day prior to the trial, he looks magnificent and appreciated his sugar cubes. Unfortunately the timing of his race return is under a cloud because of Covid19.
There have been enquiries about a stud career : he is bred on the same cross as Captain Treacherous out of a mare who has twice been Victorian Broodmare of the a Year and last years Australian Broodmare if the Year.

[Halwes]

I agree Terry, when we have our next true Star we have to let the World know about it. The appropriately named Poster Boy may have filled those shoes but a mishap more or less straight after a MM win has not seen his return for nearly 12 months now

Thanks Kevin, I mentioned standing starts in my previous post, expressing why I liked them. Does harness still have standing starts?
They are exciting still to me.
Also maybe now the timimg is perfect for putting Harness on TV because channel 7 is playing old afl games .. channel 7 are better to play something live.. they played an old afl game last night. Harness needs a real energy driven CEO who mixes with tv executives. A special event could be organised with the best pacers Australia wide in a free for all one week, then a miracle mile the next week. Then it could also I show the public some of the best runs from the past as a lead up,. eg Halwes ( of course), Maoris Idol , Popular Alm etc , Satinover, An event could also have a 5 yr old event etc
It is tough but harness at night .. there is a window on free to air right now .. that window will close ... It is worth pushing hard now but the CEO and it’s board of H racing must work hard, full of passion .. A chat to Bruce Mcavaney is essential .. I could help

[Halwes]

Poster Boy trialled at Ballarat this week. Led and won as he liked (only a field of 3). Last half: 55.9 last quarter 26.6 . Loved his day out and pulled up well. We went to the Stables the day prior to the trial, he looks magnificent and appreciated his sugar cubes. Unfortunately the timing of his race return is under a cloud because of Covid19.
There have been enquiries about a stud career : he is bred on the same cross as Captain Treacherous out of a mare who has twice been Victorian Broodmare of the a Year and last years Australian Broodmare if the Year.

Pls read my post here earlier. free to air is showing old afl games at prime time at night. Let’s try to get Poster Boy when fitter on free to air with a free for all and a miracle mile at Melton. Timing is perfect .. yes no crowd but try anything at the moment ..the public love champions.. and when Corona disappears , people will go (;new people) to see him live. Yes I’m optimistic. You know what drove American people during the depression... Sea Biscuit lifted them beyond imagination, Harness execs need supreme passion to drive this with energy

[aussiebreno]

Pls read my post here earlier. free to air is showing old afl games at prime time at night. Let’s try to get Poster Boy when fitter on free to air with a free for all and a miracle mile at Melton. Timing is perfect .. yes no crowd but try anything at the moment ..the public love champions.. and when Corona disappears , people will go (;new people) to see him live. Yes I’m optimistic. You know what drove American people during the depression... Sea Biscuit lifted them beyond imagination, Harness execs need supreme passion to drive this with energy

Love the passion and ideas! Agree we need a better presence on TV.

At the current time though I think we are best off not being on TV. Hairdressers and baristas copped it during the week from the general public, I think the less people that know racing is continuing during this crisis the better.

[Halwes]

Love the passion and ideas! Agree we need a better presence on TV.

At the current time though I think we are best off not being on TV. Hairdressers and baristas copped it during the week from the general public, I think the less people that know racing is continuing during this crisis the better.

Yes the situation is complex, but it was complex and demoralising during the depression in the US, everywhere. The found a saviour, a saviour that took their mind away, it did, I’m certain that Sea Biscuit saved lives, totally captured people, you only had to look at the footage to see that. Poster Boy needs to be even better than Halwes ( ha ha) but if he is a brilliant sprinter, and can sustain it under great pressure ( that might be an issue as top flight pacers who could test him, might not be around. In other words he must be a super horse. You know something, Halwes was very very lightly raced, had dicky legs, but when he returned to racing he starred, he really starred, he was a big boy with superlative strength, superlative sprinting three wide etc etc and still winning. . wow. He loved winnng like Sea Biscuit. Of course , Poster B right now couldn’t have the fitness yet etc etc and the owners probably don’t want to push him .
Im talking about resurrecting Harness. You have to crash thru, forget the weeds and press on . The current situation definitely gives us a window of opportunity .
Cant Poster Boy connections get on the blower to Bruce Mc at channel 7 ?

[Messenger]

We only have Standing Starts for the trotters not the pacers nowadays Terry.
I think the only reason the Trotters got to keep them is that people know trotters can break anyway

I think I am right in saying the death of the standing start came about due to one of the NZers who was favourite for the Hunter Cup (I think) breaking and the punters never really got a run for their money so everybody jumped on the 'all mobile' bandwagon

I don't actually follow the trotters to the extent that I follow the pacers but I love a trotting stand start where the backmarker (favourite?) is giving away a big start as I want to see if he/she can make up the handicap

It is also one of the points of excitement in pro running, where the backmarker might be giving up the best part of a lap in a 4 lap/mile race. I am a big athletics fan and the greatest run I ever saw from Cathy Freeman was not the Sydney Olympics but at Stawell where she overcame a huge handicap in a 400m (no Stawell this year )

There are plenty who would like to see the return of standing starts for the pacers to recreate the excitement of the old Showgrounds days Terry

[Halwes]

We only have Standing Starts for the trotters not the pacers nowadays Terry.
I think the only reason the Trotters got to keep them is that people know trotters can break anyway

I think I am right in saying the death of the standing start came about due to one of the NZers who was favourite for the Hunter Cup (I think) breaking and the punters never really got a run for their money so everybody jumped on the 'all mobile' bandwagon

I don't actually follow the trotters to the extent that I follow the pacers but I love a trotting stand start where the backmarker (favourite?) is giving away a big start as I want to see if he/she can make up the handicap

It is also one of the points of excitement in pro running, where the backmarker might be giving up the best part of a lap in a 4 lap/mile race. I am a big athletics fan and the greatest run I ever saw from Cathy Freeman was not the Sydney Olympics but at Stawell where she overcame a huge handicap in a 400m (no Stawell this year )

There are plenty who would like to see the return of standing starts for the pacers to recreate the excitement of the old Showgrounds days Terry

Yes standing starts look great and fewer pacers than trotters actually break in standing starts , yet they have retained standing starts for trotters. Makes no sense. Years ago when trotters did not have mobiles, they broke a helluva lot.
You know all I have said here appears to fall on deaf ears. I was hoping Bonnie would have said something. The footy, the AFL won’t return till end May at earliest, but more like end of June at earliest. So the window for free to air is now till end of June (probably later) for live harness racing on Saturday night on tv free to air.
If Poster Boy raced on Saturday night live in a ffa and 2 weeks later in a miracle mile, it would be great .. you might only have 5 races so you get quality.. We know THAT RACING HAS RESUMED

[aussiebreno]

Just do away with trotters. Majestuoso would have just got punters banned from the pub for smashing the TV and yelling profanities (if pubs were open). Odds on and hits the front with 20m to go and gallops. Not doing us any favour in battle for punting dollar.

Most of them would be drunk at the pub and not even realise until they scan their ticket. Cant blame everyday person for not wanting to spend another dollar on harness racing if that happens to them.

[Messenger]

Yes standing starts look great and fewer pacers than trotters actually break in standing starts , yet they have retained standing starts for trotters. Makes no sense. Years ago when trotters did not have mobiles, they broke a helluva lot .
You know all I have said here appears to fall on deaf ears. I was hoping Bonny would have said something. The footy, the AFL won’t return till end May at earliest, but more like end of June at earliest. So the window for free to air is now till end of June (probably later) for live harness racing on Saturday night on tv free to air.
If Poster Boy raced on Saturday night live in a ffa and 2weeks later miracle mile, it would be great .. you might only have 5 races so you get quality.. We know THAT RACING HAS RESUMED

It would be up to our authorities to hatch a plan to get harness on TV in the Coronavirus interim Terry. One of the biggest problems would be that the Racing/gallops code would object and expect to be given first consideration. They can race at night as much as us nowadays and they already have their own Ch78 channel which is not going to standby and let us use 7, 7Two or 7Mate before them. Both codes would have to convince programmers that they would out-rate an old footy game or an old movie