Im Themightyquinn Australian Record

Im Themightyquinn sounded an ominous warning to interstate Interdominion aspirants with a devastating return to racing at Gloucester park on 21 October, breaking the Australian 2100 record previously held by Blacks A Fake (1:54.9) rating a sensational 1:54.0.

[@jasonmanuel219]

He started two races in Auckland,had big raps on him them ,them come a. Champion.

[@coolsofo]

@bgardiner2000 The current Interdominion Series has 3 heats run over 1700m,2100m and 2500 m with a 2500m final within a 3 week period. The series displays the ANZ bred standardbreds adaptability to race within these distances and all on a 800m track and for 1 Million AUS $. Not bad for so called boring! Something you wont see on a mile track in the US.

[@coolsofo]

This debate calls for a world championship of pacing!

[@Frostfireglade]

What happened to Has The Answers? While he's not on Quinn's level, he's a good horse, and has been underperforming for a while now. I heard he's been spelled. Was he injured?

[@XxSodano]

@bgardiner2000 racebikes are half the reason we have such speed shows, the new ufo bike over here drops seconds off horses time. The only reason Mr Feelgood hasnt done 1:47 over there is because the drivers urge horses like there whipping them with feathers, and your racebikes are bigger than american jog carts.

[@emmelby]

@bgardiner2000 I've seen Has the Answers occasionally on racing coverage over here, but didn't realise he had that kind of record. Made him look ordinary alright.

[@XxSodano]

@bgardiner2000 Also, i understand that your horses can do distance amazingly, but to my knowledge down under you guys dont use "heats" racing, Which requires multiple races of the same horses to win 2 races out of altleast 3. That shows that we still do endurance. One of our biggest races over here, the Little Brown Jug, has been raced in heats for its entire existence. Plus, the race our country is most famed for, the "Hambletonian" is returning to heat racing in 2013.

[@bgardiner2000]

@XxSodano the likes of bute after races for older horses, but the thresholds and the resulting penalties associated with presenting a horse to race with it in their system is much more stringent here, as it should be. In the early 90's a horse I had went to the states & picked up some very nice races, breaking the 1:50 on 2 occasions. He wouldn't have been within 50m of ITMQ over any distance. A la.. my original statement.

[@coolsofo]

@bgardiner2000 I can only agree with your reasoning! Given that the current breeding in ANZ has in recent times imported American pacing Stallions such as Fake Left, Perfect Art, Mach Three, Art Major,Jeremy Lobell etc and they have had a huge impact on our breeding, adding the impact of high speed to our already fantastic breeding of endurance of our ANZ standardbred. Hence why we continue to see ultra competitive racing over a range of distances from sprint to distance races.

[@marka1142]

Interesting to see the U.S v OZ debate here 8 year later. Does the name Lazurus mean anything? lol

[@bgardiner2000]

@XxSodano racing. It's a shame because the few US horses that have made the transition to ANZ racing (eg. Mr Feelgood) have demonstrated that they are capable over cups distances. Maybe one day the US harness racing establishment will be so bored of itself there might be a frame shift.

[@bgardiner2000]

@Frostfireglade Has The Answers has a lot of speed & a heart the size of a pea. He's been up for a long time now. I can't think of him having more than a few weeks away from GP in the last 3 seasons. While he has too much speed for the Winter fast class horses there are many summer-class that would deal with him pretty easily. They might as well stick him away over the summer. There will not be any races for him.

[@bgardiner2000]

@XxSodano Yes, when it comes to ANZ racing YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING AT. I also live in the real world... I know that drugs in horse racing are going to be anywhere people are able to profit from their use. My statement however, referred to the rules associated with their control, not the propensity for their use. For example: the rules around the use of anti-inflammatory pain killers & lasix are extremely lax in the US... but very tightly controlled here. I've also used ...

[@bgardiner2000]

@XxSodano some prominent industry friends in the states who are lobbying for a move to incorporate distance racing in the US. You talk about tradition? The sport began as a means of testing speed and stamina over distance... not over the standard mile. The genesis of the sport in the US is around the development of the concept of the 'standard' time (of course measured over 1 mile). I believe that, in terms of the original tradition of the sport it is you who is out of touch, not us.

[@coolsofo]

@karloomick So tell me how do you justify your statement that the upcoming inters in Perth is a claytons inters? All including Smoken Up, Mr Feelgood, Washarkie, Auckland Reactor, Raglan etc to name a few are all in Perth for the inters. So Im interested in your response, as your statements really dont do the Karloomick name justice as he was a good grand circuit competitor respected by all! Unlike your statement????

[@bgardiner2000]

@XxSodano US racing is a sanitized version of the sport. It's about as interesting as American football & baseball. I love the 100m sprint at the olympics but would you watch it if that's all there was? With the introduction of the Menangle speed track the difference between US & ANZ racing will soon be very small. If the hand-up rule were changed here (& we would need our heads read if that were the case) the difference would soon be non-existent.

[@bgardiner2000]

@XxSodano On the bases that a Senator's wife heard that kangaroos are an endangered species. Both are in fact, incorrect. & they certainly aren't any slower. The 3 factors that determine the effectiveness of a sulky are: 1. The manner of attachment to the horse (potential of that means to waste energy as both strain & friction); 2. Degree of negative balance (reduction in weight of the sulky / driver due to lever force); & 3. Resistance to motion, or rolling friction, generated by the sulky...

[@bgardiner2000]

@XxSodano Im Themightyquinn doesn't race well over a mile. It's definitely not his best distance. The converse of your comment is also true though. There is no US horse that could live with ITMQ over a cups distance. This is due to the differences in evolution of harness racing in the US vs ANZ. US harness racing is so boring it makes me want to harm myself. If our racing ended up with predictable mile races I would stop following it. If the likes of Smoken Up were to have raced in the ...

[@XxSodano]

Decent horse down under, if he came to the states tho he wouldnt beat a 4 claimer

[@coolsofo]

@karloomick Gee you have no idea do you karloomick! Im Themightyquinn has won in the eastern states and NZ, not just WA. If you remember he won the Cranbourne cup beating Smoken up and others in a crack field. He then after winning all heats contested, was awarded the 2011 interdominion Final after it was found that Smoken Up had presented a positive swap or in laymans terms- cheated! It was found Im Themightyquinn has health issues during his eastern states campain!

[@emmelby]

0_0 WOW!

[@bgardiner2000]

Wow indeed emmelby. The Halls always have their horses looking ok but he looked sensational. Not sure if you know of him but Has The Answers is the state record holder over 1700 (1:53 flat) and 2100 is his pet distance. He's won 67 races and $1.13m in stakes and was made to look like a C1-2. What a time to have a horse like Im Themightyquuinn firing with the Interdominion in Perth this year.

[@bgardiner2000]

@XxSodano US from a young horse he'd have been as good as anything produced there. His ANZ 1m record 1:48.5 was set despite the lack of a hand-up rule & w'out the assistance of perform enhancing drugs. Imagine what he could achieve there? It has been great to see Mr Feelgood over here racing in cups racing. It should show the seppos what they are missing out on. Instead I end up talking to ppl like you who don't really know what they're looking at.

[@bgardiner2000]

@XxSodano I appreciate ur viewpoint. although I don't agree with it. I follow racing in the US very closely... but purely out of a business need. The $AUD1m ($USD65b) Interdominion Final in Perth, WA tomorrow night, my home town, is shaping to be one of the greatest harness racing showdowns of all time. Mr Feelgood v Smoken Up v Auckland Reactor v Im Themightyquinn. As a spectacle it will eclipse anything that US racing has thrown up since Hambletonian himself stood in front of a gig. I have ...

[@XxSodano]

@bgardiner2000 America has tried different distances and even grass racing before, but after years of tradition, one mile has stuck. Being as we invented the sport here in the USA we should stick to tradition. Changing our racing is like changing the very game of baseball babe ruth played, you guys can mess around with different distances because you guys are editing the sport we created. I'll admit, maby some different distances would be entertaining, but i prefer the way our sport is now.

[@XxSodano]

@bgardiner2000 Sure it might be a great show, but the greatest races in harness history have been raced on american soil. I will be watching the Interdominion, ill be rooting for Mr Feelgood, the former american, and auckland reactor. Another thing i have a problem with in aus racing is the lack of action, i know whipping is a sketchy topic for any horsemen, but i like seeing drivers drive hard trying to win, drivers in aus look like zombies in the bike. Plus, your bikes are to long, american

[@bgardiner2000]

@XxSodano races only, lax drug rules, hand-up rule) the gap in mile times would be quickly diminished. As it is, the measure of success is different. Ur 10 claimer (whatever that is) might run a 1:48 mile... but could he run a 26s quarter at the end of a 15F race as ITMQ did in the Fremantle Cup? I guess you wouldn't know, because you only have mile races. How 1 dimensional is that. Imagine if the t'bred industry did that? As an example it is as ridiculous as us only having mile harness...

[@XxSodano]

@bgardiner2000 And i don't know what im looking at? You don't strike me as a trainer owner or driver, i on the other hand have 25 head and drive every once in a while. And you act as if america is the only offender of performance enhancers, i heard there was just a HUGE scandal down under with illegal preraces. My horses still win at a great clip in the eastern US the harness racing capitol of the world. And i don't use any performance enhancers. Just a vitamin and mineral jug a few days before.

[@bgardiner2000]

@XxSodano None of these factors are any different.. in fact it is believed that the distance of the ANZ sulky behind the horse is more efficient in decreasing drag wrt fluid dynamics than the US sulky (although the difference is minimal). There are two reasons that Mr Feelgood has not run a 1:47 mile in ANZ, & neither are related to sulky design. Firstly, he's not a 1:47 horse, plain & simple. Secondly, the lack of the hand-up rule in ANZ racing has a huge impact on mile times.

[@XxSodano]

@bgardiner2000 I find your down under racing boring as well, there is no flash to it, i see a bunch of old men in jog carts poking farm horses with black sticks. Here in the US half mile racing is un matched when it comes to excitement, fast pace, whips flashing, young fit drivers in modern sulkys breaking records. And just to prove my point, i have a horse in my barn whos record is 1:48, hes a 10 claimer now, "Themightyquinn" wouldn't even get to see the hairs on his ass end in a mile dash.

[@bgardiner2000]

@XxSodano used to be. You used to struggle to hear the cheering over the noise of the whips. I think it is a move in the right direction. As for the spiders, do you even know why ours are different from yours? The spiders used in ANZ & the US, up until 1968, were exactly the same. The construction of the US sulky changed because there was a misbelief that the driving position was safer in a race-fall. The same applies to a law in the US that prohibits the sale of kangaroo meat...

[@bgardiner2000]

@XxSodano ANZ racing & the mile time gap between the codes would be quickly disposed of.

[@bgardiner2000]

@XxSodano But tonight he faces 3 horses who are amongst the best to ever come out of ANZ. I think the bookmakers have it right with MrF starting at ~$6 behind Im Themightyquinn & Smoken Up. I don't think MrF can lead all the way in a race that has as much pressure coming from the wide gates. I can't see where he will get the let up that will allow him to withstand the closing half mile from ImThemightyquinn. In fact, I doubt there has ever been a horse anywhere who could, off flat

[@bgardiner2000]

@XxSodano So you're admitting that US racing is boring? Mile racing has no tactics & very little substance. Compare Im Themightyquinn winning the 2012 Fremantle Cup with Up the Credit's win in the NA Cup last year. If you say that the latter is more interesting you woulud have to be brain dead. The design of ANZ sulkies is as advanced as anywhere, just the style is different. Again, you don't know what you are looking at. If ANZ harness racing went the same as the US yawnsville (i.e. mile....

[@bgardiner2000]

@XxSodano 29-30s quarters for a mile and a half. The race has been drawn to suit him, & MrFdrawing the pole sets the race up perfectly for him. Whip rules in ANZ have been drastically revised, in accordance with the Australian Vetinary Association. I guess a racing association that allows the accumulative poisoning of horses would not care if horses were abused or not. As you know... the rules are made for the minority, not the majority. Standing at the 100m mark is far different than it...

[@bgardiner2000]

@XxSodano I won't debate with you the relative merits of the spectator value associated with each code. I think you know my stance. The 2012 Interdominion Final will be one of the great races... period. A race where tactics (just about devoid in US harness racing) will play a major part in the outcome. Mr Feelgood has returned to his career best form, breaking the 2506m track record at Gloucester Park in a rate of 1:55.4 (if you need me to explain how this works then let me know).

[@bgardiner2000]

@XxSodano There is a perfect case in point. Have a look at the 2011 Miracle Mile won by Smoken Up in a mile rate of 1:50.5. They slow down considerably in the second stanza (27.0, 29.2, 27.2, 27.0). Compare this to the Len Smith Mile (25.7, 27.4, 27.6, 27.9), where Mr Feelgood demonstrated perfectly the impact of the rule. By pressing in the 2nd qtr, & Smoken Up not having to hand-up like he would in the states, Smoken up runs a 1:48.5 & MrF is beaten 20m. Take this rule out of ...

[@bgardiner2000]

@coolsofo He can't justify his statement. He's an idiot and a troll. Please don't give him any energy by replying to his nonsense.

[@ron44968]

Trainers in the U S should bring there horses here to race here against our best. Then we see who's the best.

[@bgardiner3354]

Given that US harness racing is predominantly over a mile the only race worth coming here for would be the Miracle Mile. It's not a big enough carrot given the purses they race for in the US. But you could draw a line through Mr Feelgood, a LBJ winner in the US who should have been unbeatable here. While he was exceptional he was far from unbeatable. The lax drug rules in the US also makes such an enterprise less enticing. When the exchange rate was in our favour the time seemed right for more NA horses to come here... At present it doesn't really make sense. For cups racing NZ produces the best Standardbreds in the world. The US influence though is unmistakeable.

[@bgardiner2000]

@karloomick Ur an idiot

[@bgardiner2000]

@coolsofo Don't encourage them ;)