Trainers and Drivers

[Diablo]

And your point is Diablo? We all know Chris Alford and the Emma Stewart stables record, it includes many short priced, first up going hard early, holding the lead, or in the middle stages to get the lead, running fast time and winning often by open lengths. Yet when one gets beaten by likely a better horse on the day and perhaps a better drive you come out with a thread titled Chris Alford and "does Chris Alford think he's God". Maybe you should have titled your post Matty Craven "gee looks like he had the fitter horse and got the better of Alford in the last at Hamilton today" or do you expect Alford to have a 100% strike rate!

You didn't ask if a junior driver would be grilled you said they would be. You said strike rate doesn't matter but that Alfords strike rate might be a little higher if he showed better judgement. One race where maybe he could have done things differently and his strike rate isn't good enough for you? No doubt he expected a challenge for the lead, does anyone expect that he should have known that challenge would result in a 25.9 quarter before it was run? If Alford and Craven had persisted at that speed, or one and a junior, or two juniors beyond the quarter then they would have been called in, but they wernt juniors and they weren't called in. Maybe the result would be different if he handed up, maybe it wouldn't but how do you know better then the driver and the stable that a horse that has won 5 times leading will be better if it takes a sit? Time will tell if he has a case to answer, I'd say it already has, the stewards haven't queried the drive, and I don't expect the Stewart stable will be sacking him any time soon.

Are you talking through your pocket Diablo, I haven't seen you wrap a winning Alford drive, just this one where he hasn't won, didn't you get the memo "be kind to your driver" ?

I don't punt so no chance I'm talking through my pocket, but my last word on this: good on you Matty Craven, you've got your team flying!

Previous record is totally irrelevant. That doesn't excuse bad judgement or a brain explosion. There is no need for me to rap any C Alford drive. If you want to give the guy a rap then start your own thread The point is about his drive in this particular race. Punters make this sport go around and when they see very short priced favourites continuously get rolled and see ill judged tactics etc, they tend to think there is something untoward going on and they stay away. I don't talk through my pocket. I see enough bad drives and bewildering results to know that's part of this sport and I also read about the poor excuses offered up to Stewards which they swallow and expect punters to accept.

[Messenger]

I think the drives that most discourage punters are the ones where the driver never puts the fav into the race

[Danno]

Horses are not motor cars, they have a brain and communicate with drivers, Drivers are not robots they have brain and communicate horses, the wind does not always blow in the same direction and the sun and the moon are constantly moving in relation to earth which is constantly turning around it's own axis.

There are not many people who drive as a well as Chris Alford, I would say in Australia probably about 15 maybe 20 drivers are at that level fairly consistently.

BUT all drivers make mistakes, the difference is how often and how big a blunder and that is where the best of our drivers make their mark.

I understand punters get upset when their cash changes homes, but hey it's racing AND punting, when one punter loses another wins and there can only be one winner in each race.

Chris Alford in a great driver, is he perfect?? of course not. Its always easy to criticise others, quite a different task to be better than them yourself.

[Messenger]

Spot on

[Messenger]

I was nearly going to title this topic as "Does Chris Alford Think He is God?". Last race at Hamilton trots today he has a horse back from a spell and although it has trialled extremely well, he gets involved in a speed duel having to go 25.9 for the first quarter to hold the lead. I'm not sure if his ego has got so big that he expects everyone to lay down in order for him to dictate to them but surely he knows the form of the other runners and traits of the other drivers that he should have know he was going to be pressured for the lead and therefore had a plan 'B'. If it were a Junior driver, he/she would be still sitting in the Stewards Room being grilled harder than a T Bone steak. Time will tell if he had a case to answer but bad decisions for a driver of his calibre are a bad look to most onlookers.

A bit surprised that a 25.9 Q1 did not result in any questions or a mention in the Stewards Report

http://www.harness.org.au/racing/ste...&fromstate=vic

(Race 8)

[Messenger]

What were the majority of the drivers in the 2nd Derby heat thinking?
Giving Natalie that sit behind the leader AND a whole lap before she had to come out on Im Another Masterpiece

http://www.harness.org.au/racing/fie...s/?mc=BA190119

[Showgrounds]

What were the majority of the drivers in the 2nd Derby heat thinking?
Giving Natalie that sit behind the leader AND a whole lap before she had to come out on Im Another Masterpiece

http://www.harness.org.au/racing/fie...s/?mc=BA190119

They were probably thinking they couldn't win. And they were right.

I think, in hindsight, Muscle Factory's 1:49.6 win at Menangle may ave been the cause of their reluctance to go forward. In the end, Natalie's horse looked effortless in winning.

[Dot]

I guess you could argue Puppet should have made an earlier move, certainly would have been more consistent with his and the Stewart stables usual driving patten except they didn’t have the leader. But yes Muscle Factory’s Menangle run may have put some doubts in other drivers minds about occupying the death, and had he gone earlier Centanario would have been giving cover to Lochinvar Art who certainly didn’t want the death and argueably went even better then Muscle Factory at Menangle, or Im Another Masterpiece if Nat opted for the one one instead of posting him if he’s come around earlier.

Nat likely gets the last laugh either way, and probably was having a bit of a chuckle to herself well before them, though going earlier may have given Centenario a better option for making top four but we’ll never know.

[Messenger]

Would it simply be the Kima factor (she has ousted Salted Caramel as the flavour of the Summer) for why Michael Bellman did not retain the drive on Idle Times in R1 last night
(Of course he simply may not have been available)

[Dot]

Kima and concession claim I’m thinking Kev. Horse is a C2 and it was a C1 race