All these falls and fractures spoilt my day. I started out well with Eximius in the first but ended up giving it back on Perturbo in the fifth and Glaneuse in the seventh. I was crooked on Ben Melham for taking Perturbo down the wrong side of the dodgy track and Glaneuse got held up by Katelyn’s fall.

And the horses are getting their winter coats - which reminds me that it’s nearly time to head for a spell. But why do some trainers shear their horses in early winter? Both Streaky Fella and Azcar had been to the barbers. I reckon a shaggy coat is an excellent adaptation for a Melbourne winter. I’m going to hang onto my hair for some time yet!

Little action to report. Some horrid winkers on Alrouz, which match the blue and gold spots on the jockey silks. The horse managed to get third despite them. And a double-handed ring bit hold on Inablitz. The mare was crashing into the vegetation and went out onto the track early with the clerk. She still managed fifth.

Two bets for the day, on two very relaxed horses. The Night’s Hot in the third and Utah Saints in the last. Both finished second. In fact, I was so enamoured of Utah Saints that I went and backed it again. Two out of two for the day. I finish the day with the free drink. Here’s cheers, Dad!

Flemington

In retrospect my selections weren’t too bad:

1 Epic Choice 9/10
2 Rose In The Glen 2/11 @ $2.60
3 Almodovar 2/9 @ $1.20
4 Dr Nipandtuck 8/10
5 Toned 8/12
6 Playright 2/12 @ $2.50
7 Chieftain Jack 3/13 @ $1.90
8 Charlie’s Queen 4/10

I wouldn’t have bet on Almodovar so I would have had an outlay of $7.00 for a return of $7.00 if I bet every race. So again, just exercising my money. Maybe I should reconsider betting on a Slow 6. Better to go home having exercised your money than simply going home cold and wet with green mould in the wallet.

I took one photo, just to prove I was there.

It turned out to be one of those days. A winner, Lucky Penny, at $2.00 the place, but then I gave it back with a fourth by Queen’s Fashion. All good exercise for the wallet.

In the second the $3.80 favourite So Pristine is all over the shop, with the strapper struggling to contain it. I scored ten possible faults, including: tongue tie, exposed teeth, tugging on the strap, bucking, flared nostrils, clacking (striking itself), head up with the jockey up, and sweating behind. I like my mares to be calm so I fired up iBetMate and laid it on Betfair at $1.60 the place. Sam Hyland, the mounting yard reporter on TVN, couldn’t fault it. We are obviously reading different books. So Pristine struggled into fifth place.

In the next, brimming with confidence, I backed a relaxed City Of Song, despite the green winkers. The horse wore them for the first time at her previous start at Moonee Valley and they didn’t impede her barnstorming run home for second. The horse repeats the dose and comes from near last to win going away at $5.20 the place. Three out of three! I put the cue in the rack and spent the rest of the day patting myself on the back. I didn’t even indulge in photography, apart from an art shot of the sun streaming through a horse’s whiskers on a beautiful autumn day in Melbourne. Isn’t racing wonderful?

Melbourne autumn

And another pet hate is the ring bit hold, where the strapper slides his/her hand into the ring bit and then tugs down. I immediately imagine that grand trainer George Hanlon going beserk. But today I saw a double-handed ring bit hold on Second Effort. The strapper was really struggling with the effort to contain the horse. But to make matters worse the horse went out onto the track with the assistance of the clerk and then won! A good day for bad behaviour! A bad day for horse watchers.

Two bets for two losers.  And to make matters even worserer Follonica backed up for the place at $2.90 without me aboard. Now that we have passed the autumn equinox I can feel the chill of winter coming on. Two losing weeks in a row.  I’ll hang in there for six more weeks. Maybe more photography, less punting.

Only two bets for the day. Follonica because of those fabulous ear muffs and there was a gale force northerly wind blowing. Horses hate the wind whistling in their ears, and I do too. It creates havoc with my tinnitus. So I suppose it was some sort of sympathy bet. But the muffs didn’t help and Follonica finished fourth of six. And I backed a beautiful Amah Rock, for another fourth. Next start it. But a wretched losing day. My first for some time. I put it down to the wind.

An Irish martingale is simply a short strap with a ring on either end. The reins are run through the ring on each side. According to Wikipedia “the Irish martingale’s purpose is not to control the head, but to prevent the reins from coming over the horse’s head, risking entanglement, should a rider fall”. This seemed like a bit of nonsense so after the race I hurried back to the stall to check with Danny O’Brien. Danny said that the rings just put a bit of weight on the reins and get the horse’s head down a bit. He also said they are often used in track gallops. I could see why Fabulist could benefit because the mare was very much a head-up, unsettled type of horse. But to no avail though, when the horse finished fourth of seven runners.

Not much else caught my eye. Stanzout, who used to be a beautiful dappled grey is now almost completely white, but retaining the dapples on his legs, front and back. If you do a search for Stanzout in the Search box you can see how he looked on Cox Plate day in 2010. Age gets to us all. I’ve even found a few white hairs in unmentionable places as well.

And God Has Spoken was sporting very spiffy yellow winkers. I can’t recall seeing this colour on a horse before, but it is probably appropriate. Horses have what is known as dichromatic colour vision, in contrast to humans who have trichromatic vision. Horses can see blue and yellow, but not red and green. They probably perceive the world in much the same way as a red-green colour blind human. God Has Spoken finished eleventh of fourteen. He was obviously too distracted by a colour that he could actually see out of the corner of his eye.

I’m all set to back Hay List until he fronts up in the mounting yard with winkers. Now, I’ve developed a slight aversion to winkers, not as bad as the nose roll, but enough to put me off backing horses sporting them. What a shame, when I was all set to fall in love with compression suits. Anyway, it must have been the 11, Grand Nirvana. But hey. What’s that? Buffering. Lobbing along, head down, relaxed, stunning. A standout. And who’s that? Another standout. A Francesca sighting. It is an omen. All the planets are aligning. I back Buffering for the place. They’re off and Buffering has the race shot to bits, until who is that digging deep on the line? Of course, it is that grand warrior, Hay List. Have the budgie smugglers done the job? But I’m not fussed, because the $5.90 place divvy for Buffering is the same regardless of first or second.

No bet on the Australian Cup. But I did glimpse the fine head on Americain. The horse looked magnificent. You can only describe him as imposing. I also caught a brief glimpse of Better Loosen Up who won the race in 1991. Can you believe this horse is 26 going on 27 years old. I wish I could see him without the rug. And in the last Yosie had an interesting gear combo of Kineton nose band, nose roll and tongue tie. There was meant to be a bit lifter in there somewhere but with all those straps and buckles I’m blowed if I could see it. Yosei finished a respectable fifth.