Adam, the stats you mention in your post is the reason for my post. With such experience plus the fact she works this horse in trackwork, she must know its ability. Either she has a high opinion of Reservation Road or she is a poor judge of pace. That horse was not given every chance to win.
Adam as you probably know, from being a follower of this forum, I do not really follow NSW and do not know how good a judge of pace Lauren is but I think the Q's I asked in the 2nd post of this thread are relevant.Originally Posted by Sofoulis
If she thought she had gone sub 26 then she deserved a penalty. Only the track record holder, Smoken Up, has been able to do what she asked Reservation Road to do - in an M0
Greg Sugars was a Champion harness racing person
I will put this to you both: If the plan is for the horse to go forward because its only chance of winning is to lead (consistent with the change of tactics notified), and it is made to work extremely hard for that lead....... she would have had two choices:
1. Restrain the horse and therefore forgo any chance of winning within the first 200metres
2. Continue to work to the front, try back off and steal a couple of quarters so the horse still has something in the tank for the run home
Under option 2 the horse is still given the most chance of winning out of the two scenarios given the circumstances. She cannot be blamed / penalised for circumstances that are outside of her control.
In my view, the result of this drive should not be a generalised comment that she cannot judge pace.......because, like has been said many times on this site already, her preferred driving style is to lead, where she dictates the pace........ and she has extremely good results by doing this. If you don't like this one drive because of circumstances, so be it... but also, let's talk about her drive on SSL that enabled that horse to beat (whilst in front) Beautide (acknowledge this was mentioned in an earlier post) or the many drives she has had on my horses that only won because of her drive rather than the horse's raw ability...
In short, the stewards were satisfied, the trainer is satisfied, the connections will show their satisfaction (or otherwise) when they choose to put her on RR next or not........ and all of these people are closer to the horse and tactics than any of us on this site.
I'm not a really closer follower of NSW harness racing - but I probably still watch 10 Menangle races a week.
Horses do seem to run for Lauren, no doubt. She reminds me a bit of Kerryn Manning when Peter was dominating in Victoria some years back ... handlebars down and survival of the fittest. It doesn't seem there's often a Plan B for Lauren, though.
I still struggle to reconcile her drive in the ID grand final when she destroyed the career of Im Victorious, so I probably judge her tougher than most.
You make a massive assumption there Adam. That the horse's ONLY chance of winning is to lead.
You must also recognize that there is a limit to what you can do in the first Q of a race no matter how easy you run the 2nd and 3rd Q's.
As a fair athlete in my day a couple of times I experienced what can happen if you go too hard too early
With a preferred driving style of leading, I think she and you should be thanking the trainer first and foremost and be grateful for the all front and long straights of Menangle. There would not be many drivers who would not prefer to be in front but the Tritton horses seem to have the engine to lead more than most - I think there are several drivers in Vic that could keep Tritton's strike rate intact if Lauren was not available.
I did not intend it to sound like I do not think she can judge pace but I would like to know if the stewards determined that she knew on this occasion what an impossible task she set this M0 horse
In short the stewards were not entirely satisfied or else they would not question Lauren, the trainer is her partner and is not going to say anything different and as you said the connections we do not know but are unlikely to sack their trainers choice over one drive.
This thread was started by Bailey who was disappointed with the stewards lack of action. Are you saying that we should never question the stewards?
As for whether who is closest to the horse is the best judge - no doubt that is sometimes true.
On a forum where we enjoy tossing around opinions they are most definitely NOT the be all and end all.
Greg Sugars was a Champion harness racing person
.I still struggle to reconcile her drive in the ID grand final when she destroyed the career of Im Victorious, so I probably judge her tougher than most
I know that this wasn't Lauren's finest hour, but in all fairness she did her time (not trying to reduce the impact on the horse and connections at all, tragic). I am sure that if she could change things she would, but no one can. Ben I think I understand what you mean (it's the first thing you think of when name mentioned) but we have to be careful not to hold that against her forever.
I think the first quarter of Reservation Road race cost him any chance, maybe we need to consider the driving instructions given to the driver (were they reasonable) and at some stage in a race the driver has to be able to do what is in the best interests of the horse (was that done).
very well put kevin...
Definitely agree with the opinions piece Kevin and I agree with questioning the decisions of stewards and the drives where necessary.
Two opinions:
1. She can judge pace... demonstrated through results.
2. I don't believe this drive was worthy of any penalty... victim of tactics that weren't right for the way the race panned out... (just like the other drivers that lost the race!)
Hi Toni,
Yes, unfortunately that ID drive is something that has stuck with me. I have no connection to the Im Victorious camp but, to me, there's nothing worse than a horse being harmed by a drivers' lack of respect. I'd expect Lauren is full of remorse for the incident. Do I think she's a good driver? Not particularly. But there are many worse, in my opinion. Do horses run for her? Absolutely. Having said that, I'd never let her take the reins on a horse I owned (which wouldn't be a big deal for her as she's already driven many horses much more talented than any I've ever owned)
You're probably right Adam
Greg Sugars was a Champion harness racing person
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote