I love this day. The true start of spring. But it starts off badly. John Brumby should hang his head in shame. They are working on the Broady line so there is a replacement bus to North Melbourne. If you have had any experience with replacement buses you know to fear the worst. So with trepidation I proceed to the designated bus stop and wait 25 minutes for a bus to arrive. But it is the Craigieburn bus, going the other way. I eventually give up and decide to walk ten minutes to Macaulay Station. Another bus turns up so I run back to the designated bus stop to catch it. The driver says it’s a Craigieburn bus and that I need to wait on the other side of the road, where I’ve just come from, to get the North Melbourne bus. Back I go. Then again I give up waiting and head off for Macaulay. Half way there the North Melbourne replacement bus passes me. Then another. And then another. A trifecta of buses. And of course I miss the train at Macaulay.
So after much planning to be there nice and early I miss the first race. And what a disaster awaits. The Melbourne Racing Club has blocked off access to horse stalls 75 to 95 to allow Aquanita Racing a patch of green grass for a private function. The horse watchers are infuriated. I seldom get angry, but I stomp over to the raceday office to voice my complaint. What a disgrace! The reason I pay my membership is to look at the horses, and here, on one of the most important days of the racing year, I am unable to see all of them. The CEO, Alasdair Robertson, should hang his head in shame. I run around for a few races like a headless chook, urging people to complain. I even use some bad, bad words. My language has certainly gone downhill since I’ve been watching Deadwood on ABC2. I finally settle and promise myself to send off a fax when I get home.
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Scandal!
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Black Caviar
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What do you reckon?
I saw a few nice horses. I started out well by backing Amaethon in the second race which should have won at $2.90 the place. And I narrowed the WFA sprint down to the champ Black Caviar and the Sydney horse Winter King. I couldn’t believe the place odds about Winter King. I took $3.80 on the tote but I then noticed that Waterhouse had it at $4.20. I should have doubled up. So coming into the guineas I was cashed up and made my second mistake for the day. The first of course was the replacement bus. Ilovethiscity looked stunning in the yard, a picture of health and fitness, but compounded quickly in the straight. Boss thought the horse was lame, but the stewards found nothing amiss. In the last race I liked another Sydney horse, Dorf Command, but after you have had a loser you start umming and aahing a bit, and I was still umming with my wallet out and walking towards the tote when they jumped. Dorf Command flashed home for a miracle third at $3.30, but without me aboard. So my perfect strike rate has been diminished, but my eye is now officially on fire.
On the train home I wonder whether Brumby ever rides the replacement bus, or whether Robertson ever goes out back to look at the horses?