High Flying Harry

[Trotslover]

Obviously the owners never backed it 

[Happy Sunrise]

5 minutes ago, Trotslover said:

Obviously the owners never backed it 

They must have missed the memo.

[karrotsishere]

Just reading Lincoln Farms page, in an effort to catchup on things. Check this latest article out @Happy Sunrise @Rusty @Lightning Blue - thoughts?

Just watched the race in question & thought yes go in, take the short cut, too wide otherwise, on what looks like a wet track. Didnt pay off as unfortunately.  Link to race below.

Makes a good point tho comparing to High Flying Harry case where no charges were laid.

 

https://www.lincolnfarms.co.nz/stories/stewards-got-it-wrong-charging-mckendry-he-simply-made-the-wrong-call-on-sam/

https://harness.hrnz.co.nz/gws/ws/r/infohorsews/wsd06x?Arg=hrnzg-Ptype&Arg=RaceVideo&Arg=hrnzg-RacehdrID&Arg=CEB9263D-827D-43BC-9C4C-D34037095154&Arg=hrnzg-rSite&Arg=TRUE

 

[Happy Sunrise]

7 hours ago, karrotsishere said:

Just reading Lincoln Farms page, in an effort to catchup on things. Check this latest article out @Happy Sunrise @Rusty @Lightning Blue - thoughts?

Just watched the race in question & thought yes go in, take the short cut, too wide otherwise, on what looks like a wet track. Didnt pay off as unfortunately.  Link to race below.

Makes a good point tho comparing to High Flying Harry case where no charges were laid.

 

https://www.lincolnfarms.co.nz/stories/stewards-got-it-wrong-charging-mckendry-he-simply-made-the-wrong-call-on-sam/

https://harness.hrnz.co.nz/gws/ws/r/infohorsews/wsd06x?Arg=hrnzg-Ptype&Arg=RaceVideo&Arg=hrnzg-RacehdrID&Arg=CEB9263D-827D-43BC-9C4C-D34037095154&Arg=hrnzg-rSite&Arg=TRUE

 

In my opinion, 

1. It was a very sound tactical decision by Mckendry to go back to the rails. Not many drivers have enough sense to do that. Most want to go via carpark and get 9th. Mckendry made a choice between 2 viable options.

2. Robbie Close goes up the middle without sanctions all the time. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

3. Lincoln Farms, if you want another reference in your defence, check out Sarah O'Reilly's drive on Tasman Tempest (what is now 2 starts ago) Has anything come of this yet? Not sure, but it was a terrible look. She chose not to take the clear and most beneficial option. How can she just get a speaking to in comparison to McKendry.

TASMAN TEMPEST - over-raced early and middle stages. Had difficulty obtaining clear racing room in the run home. Driver S O'Reilly advised that the removable deafeners had failed to activate due to the cord becoming entangled. Miss O'Reilly will be spoken to regarding the manner she drove on the final bend when electing not to shift wider on the track when an opportunity existed before being covered by an outside runner.

4. Stipes have next to no farking idea about driving.

 

 

[Happy Sunrise]

And good to see Lincoln Farms using the High Flying Harry case as a template.

Olivia Jarvis (and co) justified Newman's drive to the hilt and provided an argument to get him off and now it is very pleasing to see if chucked back in the stipe's faces.

[craigos1]

Hi Karrots,

Great to see you posting again.

I may not agree with everything you post or support , but this forum is better off for you being part of it.

Cheers,

Craig.

[karrotsishere]

Whilst on the subject of Lincoln Farms - whom I like, just skim reading thru some recent articles & a word has popped up. "lot". Re "that lot". Its being used by journo & Green. Feel like another word/s should be used publically to refer to fellow competitors. Because without "that lot"  in North ya horses wont get to race esp at Auckland! Every horse lining up these days in North, regardless of form or rating, should be respected, based on principal that its lining up, owners are paying money to compete & horse/trainer has got horse fit to race.

Imagine if I used the term "lot" when referring to you guys here. Eg oh I dont post on RP with that Lot. Its a put down & rude. Dont think Im woke or whatever. But surely more respectful & grateful terms could be used publically, eg fellow competitors, against this field, our boy/girl is stronger than who he/she meets etc.

Edited June 17, 2022 by karrotsishere

[karrotsishere]

More on the drive in question. 

https://www.lincolnfarms.co.nz/stories/how-our-own-living-legend-anthony-butt-sees-it-do-stewards-want-us-to-drive-like-robots/

Top harness driver Anthony Butt, last month named a Caduceus Club of Victoria Living Legend, shares his perspective on the Maurice McKendry case and how ultra strict policing by stewards is affecting drivers’ decisions.

Stewards seem to want us to drive like pre-programmed robots and not take any risks, says leading reinsman Anthony Butt.

Butt, who has reached champion status in the cart on both sides of the Tasman, says the kind of charge laid against Maurice McKendry for his losing drive on Simply Sam is a common occurence in Australia.

“It’s all about perception for the punters. Drivers are under so much scrutiny with social media and race replays and sometimes you have to drive badly to please the stewards.”

Butt has watched replays of the Alexandra Park race on June 10 and says he can absolutely understand why McKendry chose to shift down the track instead of going very wide.

“You can see Maurice lost the back of the horse in front of him, obviously he wasn’t travelling as well as he’d have liked. And it’s especially tricky on that last bend at Alexandra Park.

“I’ve been in that situation hundreds of times where you save ground on the turn and hope for a run. A lot of the time it’s the difference between winning and losing.”

But the way trigger-happy stewards operate nowadays Butt says it sometimes does cross his mind on whether to take the risk of being suspended and you have to play the percentages.

“But it’s wrong when you think you should be going in, and you don’t, because you know if you don’t get a run you’re in trouble. There might be an 80% chance it comes off and you win the race but there’s a 20% chance it doesn’t and the stewards will sideline you.

“They don’t want you to take risks, they want you to make sure you get a clear run even if it means you run only fourth.

“But I’m always prepared to take a risk and win rather than play it safe and know you can’t win.”

The most celebrated risk Butt took was when he elected to go for an inside run on Mr Feelgood in the 2009 Interdominion Final on the Gold Coast worth A$1.2 million.

“I went from three wide to the passing lane for a run but if he’d come to the outside he wouldn’t have won.

“That’s what we do. We make split-second decisions and nine times out of ten we get it right. But it’s a fine line between being a genius and a mug. What can be a genius move at the time can be the wrong call 100 metres later because other things happen.

“You don’t have time to think, it’s just bang, you do it. That’s where experience comes into it and you do drive on instinct.”

If you think stewards were harsh in charging McKendry, consider the recent case where Butt was outed for four weeks after his horse was badly held up, was beaten a nose, and would have won in another stride.

“I went into the trail 200 metres after the start. I was in the one-one but two were coming and I would have ended up four back. I ended up never getting a run and they said I should have stayed off the fence. We’re all geniuses after the race.”

Butt says with betting so big in Australia, the more favoured the horse, the closer they are watched by the stewards.

“You might get away with it on a longer shot but not a favourite.

“A lot of times going to the inside is your only chance of winning. If you go four and five wide you get a clear run but can’t win. Do the stewards want us to drive them like robots and play safe or win?”

Butt says it would be a travesty if the threat of being penalised made drivers too scared to take risky decisions.

“You shouldn’t have in the back of your mind that you might be in trouble taking an inside run. It’s tough when the stewards take that option away from you. Is that right or wrong? To my mind it’s wrong.

“In every race drivers make decisions and they’re not all right. How do you know what will happen next in a race?

“Maurice would have made correct calls a thousand times. People forget that.”

[karrotsishere]

The saga rages on. Todays Lincoln Farms article. My thoughts - (If it wasnt for the High Flying Harry case. Then Id be like nah, hes guna get pinged. BUT this Harry Flying Harry case has set others up now to protest in comparison & protest they will. Good they are making a point of this. There was like no looking, looking, looking 👀 around either. He spotted a gap & ping took straight away it). 

https://www.lincolnfarms.co.nz/stories/simply-sams-trainer-and-owners-rally-behind-their-driver-where-will-it-all-end-they-warn/

Simply Sam’s trainer and owners rally behind their driver - where will it all end, they warn?

Where is it going to end? Are they going to start charging jockeys for putting their mounts into tight spaces and not getting a run?

Trainer Ray Green paints a dystopian picture of racing under excessive policing but he says it’s not too far-fetched with the precedent the Simply Sam case sets.

“Are we going to be racing in lanes next?” questions Green, super critical of the stewards’ decison to charge driver Maurice McKendry for his handling of the stable’s horse nine days ago.

Green says McKendry put his hands up as soon as he returned to the stable at Alexandra Park, knowing his home turn decision to switch to the inner resulted in the horse going to the line blocked and untested.

“He knew he’d made the wrong call and so did I. It happens. Nobody’s infallible but the good drivers make fewer mistakes.”

Green doesn’t blame the stewards for asking the question of McKendry - on behalf of the punters who made him favourite - but says it’s there that the process should have stopped.

“In just about every race drivers make bad calls - do they go in or out? - but they have only a split second to make decisions, and they are instinctive.

“But there was nothing incompetent or careless about what Maurice did, it was a legitimate option. When it comes to incompetence the stewards need to be looking at themselves.

“You can’t be doing that to drivers. What sort of a precedent are they setting?”

As the owner of Simply Sam, along with their partners, Lincoln Farms business manager Ian Middleton said if anyone had reason to be upset it was them.

“But we fully support Maurice, or any other driver in the same position. Maybe he’d have had a better chance if he’d stayed wide but that’s life.

“Maurice wanted to win the race and so did we but sometimes things don’t work out.”

Priscilla Edmunds, one of Lincoln Farms’ partners in Simply Sam, noted the three-year-old was having only his eighth start.

“Maurice was already three wide around the showgrounds bend, on a slushy track, when he chose to go to the inside with his small horse who is still learning his craft.”

He was taking on vastly more experienced horses - eventual winner Harder Than Diamonds was rated 12 points higher than Simpy Sam and Mimi E Coco had raced 48 times for nine wins.

“Maurice knows the horse best. I wonder what experience the stewards have? I probably have as much as them, but none of us has Maurice’s experience.”

Edited June 18, 2022 by karrotsishere

[karrotsishere]

Just took a further look into this. There are for & against. 

Those 4 him being charged - argument is that he was the favourite 1/2. His recent history in races is he comes wide with 1 run. It was the wrong decision & he was held up the entire way home. Driver has in past driven him to come wide with 1 run. His last start Alex he wins coming wide. Driver pleaded guilty.

Those not 4 Mckendry being charged - argument is that in his race just prior this race in question was R52-R58 he placed 2nd, didn’t win. This next race in question was up in grade R54-R70. McKendry spotted a gap - effectively short cut to go 3 back rail & hoped for another gap in straight (sound tactic decision). Nothing dodgy about this. His next start on Thurs he wins coming wide BUT note it was down in grade R41-R55. The place getters in race in question Mimi E Coco 2nd & 3rd Melanion - went on to win Melanion & place 2nd Mimi E Coco Thurs in the higher rated race Alex. The High Flying Harry case, the driver was not charged, so can be used as a comparison.

Lets see what happens ...