Harness racing shame

[Old Frank]

Hi Harvey

I don't know were you get your information from.,but maybe you should get a new source .

The race Day security turned up at 7.00 am on M.M morning.
The ONLY other race to have this security was the Truere at Bankstown, which Washakie won so well. not the Cordina night as you thought

My info is straight from the person responsible for making these decisions so I think he might know

I personally have had enough of all this he said, she said stuff.
A similar thread on this has already run it's race and been closed .
It is starting to look as though I have a personal vendetta or something which I do not.
I have just been airing my own thoughts, and sometimes correcting some misinformation
I believe that Luke is a very good trainer, but on his own admission "quote I don't do much with them on the track" to me rules out these sudden improved performances by physical training
He may be a great reader of a horse and see's things that even the best haven't seen .
He may just be the best farrier to have ever put a shoe on a horse.
He is certainly one very special driver.
I've been told he has great staff.
There are probably a 100 reasons why his horses would go good.
But the thing that I have been saying is in my experience I have never seen these sort of performances at the scale that he is achieving.
I have said in previous threads if he is achieving it on training alone than IMO he is the best trainer we have ever seen ( and he just may be only time will tell)

I have been getting stacks of private messages from near and far from people who have the same questions ,but choose to stay out of the public domain.

So unless someone comes up with an outrages post on this subject , I will not be posting on this topic again.

For mine, I think Luke is the best trainer/driver in the last 20yrs throughout Australia.

He is literally hitting his straps now as a Trainer because when in Brisbane, most were in Dad John's name while Luke was developing as a Trainer / Driver in his own right.

Remember everyone, he did have horses like Slipnslide, Fluer De Lil, For A Reason when still in Brisbane, yet travelled them and won feature races in multiple states.

His success may seem 'overnight' but in my opinion is very far from that.

It's plain and simple to see that owners with any amount of common sense are ringing his number off the hook wanting him to take their horses so at the moment, he's probably knocking back initially or taking on and trialling, then culling the ones he doesn't want and is maintaining a high-performance team. Nothing wrong with this methodology as it get's results and is nothing different to what the likes of Waller and Waterhouse do at the gallops.

He is the best driver at Menangle by so far it's not funny. The majority of drivers at Menangle are quite literally pathetic and it has to be the worst crop of 'Metro' status drivers I've seen in 20-30yrs.

I'm of the understanding he has a good, strong staff underneath him and he runs his place sharp, getting the job done with which a happy team is a good team with any business. His workers I assume would all be getting rewarded, plus they are seeing their efforts supporting him achieve success on the track. A young man like Rue is getting mammoth enjoyment I would think just driving the calibre of horse in that barn, let alone the number of winners and the flow on extra $ that comes from his winning percentages.

The quote made above "I don't do much with them on the track" I think has been mis-represented a little and I've heard the same but it was in context that he doesn't burn them up at home and over work them which fundamentally is old school methods.

From my understanding, swimming and galloping are big part of his methodology and his focus appears to be on recuperation during the week, knowing full well that they will go to the races and have to spin off good times to win races consistently. Once your racing consistently with 51's and 52's next to your name, you don't have to keep burning them up at home during the week, they are already fit and it's about maintenance, much the same as NRL and AFL clubs do during the season, all their base fitness is done off-season or in a horses case, his 6-8 weeks pre-prep work before trialling/going to the races.

Luke took over a well established set-up at Cobbitty with his move down here and from what I hear has transformed it ten-fold again so good luck to him. He's investing in his and his families future so full bloody credit goes to him I say. Remember this is his business so it's no different to a businessman expanding and growing, employing good staff and becoming efficient with his methods and stock.

I think HRNSW should do more promotion on the back of McCarthy as he's easily the most marketable young man since Brian Hancock in the 80's and 90's and out of what's been a disgraceful 2011, 2012 and the future of harness racing in this state should run alongside this man's success. This young man should be featuring in the mainstream racing media weekly as his success is akin to a Chris Waller at the gallops, albeit the Harness Ind. does not have the 'sexy' projection of the gallops.

I wish their were more young men coming through the likes of him. As a horseman, he plays everyone in this state off a break he's that far better and I congratulate him and wish him every success in the future. He is a very well presented young man in the media when interviewed and his team is presneted first rate, why wouldn't owners be clamoring to have a horse in his barn? 90+% of Harness Trainers and Drivers present themselves like shit at the races so who can take them seriously and so-called 'professional'.

The bigots who lambast him simply aren't good enough to train or drive like him and it's just jealousy at it's finest.

Well done Luke, keep up the success.

P.S: Footnote, for the record, I am completely independent in my opinions and I do not have any involvement with the McCarthy stable, no horse ownership with anyone in the industry and can only lay claim to having a passing polite hello with Luke and his father John at the races previously.