So, here we go. I need nine.

First the internationals.The favourite Vauban looks calm and relaxed, and his mate Absurde is nuzzling the strapper. Gosh, is she actually kissing him on the lips? Surely not. That’s two.The Japanese Warp Speed is pawing. This is not a serious crime with a behavioural handicap of -10 or so, which has remained remarkably constant over the years. I can usually ignore it if there are no other faults, as it indicates the horse is keen to go. Onesmoothoperator is pawing and kicking. The kicking won’t be helping his heel injury, so I put a line through him and of course forgot to lay it later on. Sea King is hand-held and pulling on the strapper who restrains it with force. Circle of Fire is totally relaxed, that’s three and number four Interpretation looks terrific. But I can’t have Saint George with the bar plates. Okita Sushi walks past looking alert, fit and ribby. Wow. I like it. Five. Walller’s Buckaroo is as quiet as a church mouse with his splayed stance. Six. I’m not sure about Land Legend though, in the black earmuffs, a Norton bit, and a reputation. I finally find Zardozi who is automatically in as seven, and then The Map makes it eight. I need one more and have another look at Land Legend who is standing quietly in his stall and so I somewhat reluctantly put him in as number nine. My standout pick for the place bet is Okita Sushi.

Nine in a box is 504 combinations, so for $200 I will get 39.7 percent of the dividend. And of course I didn’t even come close with the 100/1 winner Knight’s Choice and a healthy $22,576.80 trifecta. I marked the horse as head up, kicking, pawing, and occasionally hand-held in the stall. There was no way I could have him. But it was still a good day with the Sushi paying $4.85 for third. 

I’m thinking next year I might take ten.

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I’ve pretty much decided that I will be backing the Japanese horse Prognosis. I was fortunate enough to get a lift out to Werribee earlier in the week with my apprentice to have a look at the international horses. I marked Prognosis as being fit and keen. He’s not in the tie-ups when I go looking but I find him walking alone around the top small ring. He’s a relaxed walker, in a rug, and is doing numerous laps. He’s still there when I check back an hour or so later. In the tie-ups Pride of Jenni is cribbing, or biting on the woodwork of the stall. I don’t like this behaviour as I prefer my horses to have no vices. Via Sistina is nibbling on the chain of the tie-up. Nibbling has a behavioural handicap of -1 per cent in the book but I guess since this isn’t football it is quite OK to ignore the one percenters. In the parade ring Via Sistina looks good with her head down while the favourite is bandaged on all four in the Japanese custom. I don’t get to see them in the yard.

Via Sistina streets them and obviously benefited from her three lap gallop a few days ago. Prognosis is no match but runs on well for second. I was quite happy with $1.70 for the place on the tote with a 1.15 multiplier which gave me $1.95. However I’m afraid I sustained a small loss for the day with two unsuccessful bets earlier on the card.

But I’m ready now. Primed for The Cup!

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I like having a go at the trifecta in the big cups. And this year I’ve decided to add one more selection, which makes eight horses. That’s 336 combinations, so I’ll do a flexi and box them for $200 which will give me 59.5% of the dividend. The first horse to check out is Duke De Sessa, a horse I have previously observed with a perfect attitude, and my selection for a place bet. The horse looks fine in the subterranean stalls, keeping an eye on the strapper. Then the favourite Buckaroo, who has an unusual splayed stance in the stall, and his chestnut stable mate Land Legend. Circle Of Fire is lonely tucked up in his corner stall and I can’t leave out my favourite trainer Peter Snowdon’s Huetor. Gai’s Eliyass is not in the stalls but doing laps of the parade ring as you would expcct and Godolphin’s Zardozi seems OK. I toss in Savedaty Sadaty to make up the eight. Two obvious lays are Warp Speed, with this head up and pawing, and a restless, head up and shivering Warmonger. It was no surprise to see Warmonger break though the barrier.

The Duke puts his foot down at the 600 and Buckaroo can’t catch him. As the trainer Ciaron Maher said post-race, it was an easy watch. The trifecta paid $346.10 which flexed down to $205. The Parkinson’s is slowing me down and I find that just checking out the stalls is lot of walking for a measly $5. So I’ve pretty much decided to give up the blog after The Cup but I’ll leave the site up for a bit longer since the archives go back some 14 years!

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I’m keen to check out the new subterranean day stalls and parade ring. It’s all very swish, Hollywood even, with four ginormous date palms in the middle of the ring. The stalls themselves are most excellent with an LED screen showing the name of the horse. And a lift to the lower ground level means I can avoid the stairs. I’m only interested in the three fancied horses, Brightside, Cascadian and Pride of Jenni. Mr Brightside looks as good as usual, Jenni is almost asleep which is most unusual and Cascadian looks dominant. And of course they filled the first three placings with the cream rising to the top. I took the ridiculous place odds of $1.32 on Brightside.

I thought the new mounting yard was a disaster. A long way from the winning post, and both members and public had no access to the mounting yard rail at ground level. There was a huge expanse of concrete reserved for owners and which I am told can accommodate 900 owners! And the yard itself is on a slope which is a worry when assessing the gait of horses going down hill. Not happy Jan.

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In the olden days I would take up a position on the mounting yard rail at least an hour before the race and then pick my best six to box up in a trifecta. I had occasional success. These days I’m struggling to walk too far and eight to ten thousand steps is the most I can manage. So now I confine myself to the horse stalls and parade ring with occasional forays up to the yard. And I’m taking seven in the trifecta. The best is of course Gold Trip who I find I have previously backed five times for the place at odds ranging from $2.10 to $6.00. That horse owes me nothing! The fittest horse is Without A Fight without a doubt, with magnificent poverty lines and once again asleep in the stall with a positive strapper. The Irish horses look good with the favourite Vauban looking interested with ears pricked and Absurde with a loving French strapper showering it with kisses. Soulcombe rounds out the top five, so I’m on the lookout for two roughies. I take Ashrun and Future History. An hour or so later I check the Maher/Eustace horses again and Future History is nodding. I put the pen through him straight away since I dislike stereotyped behaviour in the tie-ups. So there is room for one more roughie. I can’t have Sheraz as I have a negative attitude towards the horse after backing him when he let me down in the Bart Cummings a month or so ago. So I settle on Kalapour.

Without A Fight streets them with Soulcombe and Sheraz running on for the trifecta and Ashrun in fourth place. The trifecta paid $10,688 and the first four $332,291. I’m thinking next year I might take eight.

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I was three out of three going into the plate with Bold Bastille, Thalassophile and Skybird all stand outs. The best of them was Thalassophile showing $1.75 for the place on the world pool in a seven-horse field. But can you believe that I backed it at $2.90 fixed on the tote! It reminded me of one those old Monopoly Chance cards – “Bank Error in Your Favour”.

Romantic Warrior, the short-priced favourite from Hong Kong, is all the rage but not my sort of horse at $1.35 for the place on the world pool. In the stalls he is beautiful, with his affable trainer Danny Shum all over him like a rash, hanging on his neck, cuddling him, kissing him. Quite clearly there is a romance going on here! But in the yard the horse’s head is very unsettled. Maybe he’s trying to shake off all those kisses. The best paraders are Gold Trip and Fangirl. But Gold Trip will drop out to last which is a difficult position to be in on the tight track so I go for Fangirl. You can imagine how disappointed I was in the running to see the mare back at the rear  with Gold Trip. Like everyone else I thought Mr Brightside had won, but the Hong Kong star had prevailed by a nostril.

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So I need seven for a tilt at the trifecta. First cab off the rank, as usual, is Gold Trip, looking as good as ever, and my place bet. The favourite West Wind Blows is out of his stall walking and when I finally catch up with him he looks big, strong, outstanding. Without A Fight is half asleep in the tie-ups, always nice to see. If you add in Soulcombe, which I did, you probably only needed to box four for the trifecta. But I also liked Hoo Ya Mal who was much bigger and stronger than last year and the lightweights Spirit Ridge and Valiant King, to round it out. The fancied horses filled the placings, apart from Soulcombe, who missed the jump. At least the dividend of $297.10 covered my expenses.

And how good is Gold Trip? Paying a generous $2.70 for the place on the world tote pool.

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I’ve been in training for a couple of months now. Averaging 7000 steps a day and even betting on mounting yard behaviour on the TV. And at last the time has come, the first day of the Spring Carnival. I’m here early for the first race, but I’m feeling very unstable and wobbly. There is a big crowd in the medallion bar and as I push through and bump into people I feel as if I’m about to fall over. Time to sit down and take stock. I reach into my pocket for my emergency supply of levodopa. This drug is converted into dopamine, the neurotransmitter which is missing from my brain, and by the fifth race I’m ready to enter the fray.

It’s an interesting race with eight runners and two short-priced favourites, Uncommon James and Asfoora, both showing about $1.10 the place. But I like the grey Chain Of Lightning, despite the Moody nose roll, and there are only six horses vying for the third spot. The horse is head-in to the strapper and accepting of the bit. It is a race in two, as the market predicted, with the two favourites streaking away, and a gap to the grey in third place. I was quite happy with $1.80 for the place with a 1.1 multiplier.

In the Guineas the Sydney horse Militarize is out early into the parade ring and has the place all to himself for a good five minutes or so. Wow! Fit! Look at those poverty lines! And relaxed too. No need to look at any more. I try to photograph the lines but fail miserably.

The horse misses the jump and runs on for fifth when it is all over. So much for overseas jockeys! I stay for the last, despite hitting 8000 steps, to check out a couple of my favourites, Pounding, Corner Pocket and Amelia’s Jewel, but it is a large field in a wide open race. And just too hard. So one out of two for the day, just exercising my money. At least it’s a start. Come on spring!

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Another golden ticket into The Cup up for grabs. Gai already has one with Goldman’s win in the Roy Higgins, and now she is after a second with the hot favourite White Marlin. I scored the horse as head in, chewing on the bit, and slightly salivating. I know it had two strappers, but I thought the second strapper was just decorative and not really required. The winner Lunar Flare looked great, with the red muffs and bubble cheeker, but had the cross-over noseband and was twisting its neck. I crossed out Hasta La War in the parade ring as it was a head up horse with a fast gait and was calling out. I took the $1.50 for the place on the favourite, well below my normal limit!

White Marlin set a hot pace, which was too hot, and paid the price when Lunar Flare charged home to win the ticket. Bring on spring!

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I’m only here to check out the Cup winner Gold Trip. And wow! Look at that! The horse is doing the flehmen response, or flehmening, if you like. Flehmen is a German word meaning to bare the upper teeth. The behaviour involves curling back the upper lip exposing the teeth and inhaling with the nostrils closed. This facilitates the transfer of scents, via ducts behind the teeth, to the vomeronasal organ located above the roof of the mouth. The behaviour is slightly positive (+4 in Watching More Racehorses) which has always surprised me since it is involved in the detection of horses in heat and you would think that the horse is clearly distracted.

Gold Trip flehmen

Gold Trip ran a slasher of a race first up and powered home from second last for second at $2.10 the place. I was more than happy with that – it made the long trek out to Sandown well worthwhile!

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