Horsewatchers have a serious advantage in the early two-year-old races and so it proved with Kinetic Design, clearly the most relaxed horse in the Maribyrnong Trial Stakes. The horse was last at the 400 but powered home to grab second at $4.20 for the place on TAB fixed odds. It’s nice to get a good start to the carnival!

But then a loser in the mares with Madam Gangster although I got something back on Lord Aspen in the last. Three bets is quite a lot when I’m easing myself into the spring and just getting my eye in!

In the main race the Cup winner Protectionist was taped up on all fours and was unsettled and pawing in his stall. He ran an even race without ever threatening.

0 comments

As a tourist in Europe there is one thing you soon discover: you should have been here yesterday, mate! Either the gothic cathedral is covered in scaffolding, the museum is closed on Monday, or the best pictures in the gallery are away on loan to the National Gallery in Melbourne!

And the Spanish Riding School in Vienna is no different. The famous Lipizzaner stallions go away on vacation during July and August. This upsets the tourists enormously so they bring in some trainee stallions who are learning the art of aerial ballet.

Fortunately we were standing at the stable door when they were brought in! They are a very muscular, stocky breed with a big barrel which would put me off a bet, and they are more grey than white.

But like the Il Palio in Siena, at least I can say that I have seen them!

Auf wiedersehen!

0 comments

Buongiorno!

La bella moglie and I are in Italia for il matrimonia of our old neighbors. They Googled romantic villas in Toscana and chose a  village not far from Siena. So we booked our lodgings not realising it was the same weekend as the famous Il Palio, the bareback horse race around the huge square – il campo. No wonder the room was 1000 Euro a night! We hastily found lodgings elsewhere for 100 Euro. When we arrived in Siena on Monday, the day after the race, the place was still teeming with people. The race had been postponed because of rain!

We ended up watching it on TV. There were a couple of false starts and it was pretty clear that an inside draw at the dropped rope start was a huge advantage. The winner, a beautiful chestnut, looked outstanding in the pre-parade, and led from pillar to post. Three of the ten horses had nose rolls but didn’t run on.  One horse lost its rider. It was all over in about 60 seconds. 20000 people went crazy.

Il Palio

At least I can say that I have watched it.

Ciaio!

0 comments

An escape from the Melbourne winter for two weeks in Cairns. The shock of coming from a balmy 27 ºC and stepping back onto the Tulla tarmac at 7 ºC was quite considerable!

Spelling paddock highlights included the pleasant view from the balcony of our comfortable lodgings on The Esplanade; the black bat flower (Tacca chantrieri), a native to tropical SE Asia, at the botanical gardens; and the Tully gumboot. The height of the gumboot is equivalent to the highest annual rainfall of 7.83 metres in 1950. The most rainfall recorded in one 48-hour period was 1.32 metres in March 1967. A pretty wet place!

I got home to find 36 millimetres in my rain gauge. A deluge! Nearly need my gumboots!

1 comment

My last day for the season. I’m expecting cold and wet but it’s just cold and windy. More than fresh, but not quite chilled to the bone. Only one bet for the day on Sebring Warrior in the three-year-old fillies. The horse was tailed off last with no hope but flew home out wide to just snatch third at $4.30. I spent the rest of the day patting myself on the back. A couple of opportunities with Pilly’s Wish and Refulgent, but too short for me at $1.50 and $1.60 the place.

The portents were bad. Heaps of shaggy or clipped horses and my pen ran dry after the third. The lights were switched on for the seventh when the sky darkened ominously. Night racing! At 4 pm in the afternoon!

Home in the dark but happy to go out on a high. Hopefully I’ll post a few postcards from the spelling paddock.

0 comments

At last! The new book is here.

Lots of good stuff in it, including observations on over 50 new variables and behavioural handicaps calculated from a database of over 50,000 horses! And an exploration of the issues confronting an ageing and serious fun punter, including:

• Coping with the unlikely contingency of monetary loss
• Lessons learnt from laying losers on Betfair
• The ATO and the taxation of gambling winnings

I’ll post a full summary of the chapter contents soon but in the meantime you can order online now.

0 comments

Fine and warm but I can sense a chill in the air already. I saw a few horses starting to get their winter coat. May is my worst month of the year as we slide into winter. Only four more meetings before I pull the plug, and no mid-weekers, now that Sandown has been abandoned. It looks like a tricky day with restricted fields and the rail out a huge 14 metres and a decided advantage on the outside rail. And so it proved.

Only one bet for the day on a standout, the two-year-old Strindberg, who weakened badly and ran last. I spent the rest of the day sulking. The winner Black Vanquish is a good-looking horse and could be something.

0 comments

The autumn break is here. The track went from a Good 4 to a Soft 5 at 11.50 am, and then to a Soft 6 at 12.15 pm. What the hell is a Soft 6? Slow? Or Dead? All I know is that my umbrella is up and that I can’t write in my race book. It means no betting. But I like having a go at the two-year-olds, and so I risk a bet on the good-looking grey, Petracca, before the track gets chopped up. The horse thankfully manages third. Too wet to wander out the back. When I finally make it John the gateman asks how I’m doing. I report one bet for one collect. His advice? “Go home.” That’s good advice! I implement it straight away. The track is immediately downgraded to Heavy 8.

0 comments

I liked Primo Pintxo and Fleur Fatale in the 2YO but pulled the wrong rein and backed the Primo. The fatal flower paid well at $4.60 the place. And I thought Moody’s Runway Star looked a standout, but it was always back and never came on in the ninth. I was feeling a bit desperate before the tenth, but saved myself with Amorino. Ten races with big fields are way too many for regular horsewatchers! A long and difficult day. Home in the dark!

0 comments

I thought I was too old to find another way to lose, but I was wrong. The last race at Headquarters, the get-out stakes. A 2500 metre race for stayers. I’ve got a winning ticket in my pocket from a previous race for Hard Romp. The horse was very relaxed in the yard. The favourite, Ball Of Muscle, lived up to his looks, but was too short at $1.40 the place. Hard Romp was showing $2.90, so it was a no brainer, and no surprise when they filled the quinella. So I’m cashed up for the last. Bryce Stanaway’s old stayer Crafty Cruiser looks the goods, very relaxed, and the Hayes horse, Rawnaq, is not too bad. I’ll go the Cruiser. I’ve backed him successfully on a couple of previous occasions, so I have full confidence. A bet!

Suddenly, what the hell is that? “EVACUATE!, EVACUATE!, whoop, whoop, whoop, EVACUATE!, EVACUATE!” The noise of the siren is painful. I stick my fingers in my ears and leave the lawn to escape the noise and have a bet, but the crowd is coming the other way. Everyone spills out onto the lawn – punters, gate men, bar staff, tote operators! I’m not allowed into the stand! Maybe it’s a terrorist attack? A bomb scare? A fire in the kitchen? Even if I could get in the tote is deserted. There’s nobody there to bet with! The 2500 metre starting gate is directly opposite the wall of noise. The horses hate it. The start is delayed. Well, you wouldn’t be able to hear Greg Miles race call over the din. Eventually, after some five or ten minutes of infernal noise, the terrorists go home, peace is restored, and the horses jump.

You know the rest. The Cruiser cruises down the outside to grab Rawnaq on the line. I hang around for five minutes to cash my ticket, but the tote ladies have deserted the ship. I hate going home with less cash than I started with, but holding a hot ticket, burning a hole in my pocket. Is that a loss? Is failure to win a loss? Will the tote ladies bring back their tills next week? Will they still payout on Hard Romp?

0 comments