I spent a couple of hours looking at the Cup horses in the stalls. There was a lot of interest and media focus on the internationals and especially on the blind part-owner of Trip To Paris, Andy Gemmel, stoically doing interviews. The horse looked supremely relaxed, even when cuddled by the foreman Robin Trevor-Jones! Mongolian Khan looked OK, hand-held, but I always get a bit nervous when I see a stallion chain. It was hard photgraphing horses into the sun in the western stalls. Our Ivanhoe also was hard to see, but was plastered up, which cracks a mention as a rare variable in the new book. The horse was listed as having glue-on shoes, but I couldn’t confirm it in the stall because of the sticking plaster. In the parade ring I think I missed Our Ivanhoe altogether. The first two looked good though. My final six for the cup trifecta were Snow Sky, Mongolian Khan, Trip To Paris, Royal Descent, Rising Romance and Set Square. The Japanese horses were still a bit over-aroused. My outright selection was Rising Romance, simply because she was asleep in her stall!

I lost on the cup, so you might think I had a losing day. But you would be wrong. I was still cheering on The Pumper, booting home Dawnie Perfect at $5.10 for the place!

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I don’t always get things right. And there seems to be an exception to every rule. My rule of thumb is that a horse must keep four feet on the ground. So any horse that is bucking, kicking, rearing or pigrooting is automatically ruled out. I make a big deal of this in the new book. And there is even a good picture on the cover! But now I’m starting to have a rethink. There have been several cases recently of horses bucking their brands off and then going out and winning the race. Politeness in the last race was another example. Kicking out and bucking in the parade ring, mounting yard and on the track. An obvious lay. Put your money where your mouth is. I offered $1.65 the place, with the books showing $1.55 and the tote $1.60. Excuse me, but Politeness won like a good thing. Thank goodness my bet wasn’t matched. It looks like I might have to do some more research on this conundrum.

I’m still a member of the Bart Cummings school of horsewatching (vale Bart!) and like my horses to be relaxed. So only two bets for the day. Harlem River in the three-year-old fillies, that flopped into third, and Criterion, simply too good in the Caulfield Stakes.

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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.

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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!

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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!

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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!

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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