The boys in the band were there again, this time with their ponies. I didn’t have the heart to tell them that their chances of winning have gone downhill. A companion pony used to be the most positive of variables. But now that everyone brings a pony to the races it has turned negative. There must be a lot of poor quality horses that like to travel to the track with a mate, or maybe a lot of trainers have read my book.

I’ve been trying for some time to get a decent photo of a nasal strip. Fab Fevola had a good one, but I really need a brown or black horse with a white strip. White strips get lost in the blaze on chestnuts and grey or black ones are hard to pick out on bays. I’ve now just passed the magic threshold of 100 observations of nasal strips and at last can form an opinion on whether they are positive or negative. There were nine winners, for a behavioural handicap of zero. Neither positive or negative. Benign! Fab Fevola held on well for second at $8.50 the place.

I started out well in the first by laying Soosa Rama. The horse was rocketing around the yard at a fast gait, was shitty behind, sweating up, and tossing its head up in a frenetic manner. I laid it for the place at $1.70. It struggled home in tenth place. But I then fell in a heap and backed two losers, The Bowler and Hvasstan. My first losing day for some time. Is that the cold dark chill of winter I feel coming on?

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