I remember many years ago watching Michael Parkinson interview his boyhood hero, that great Australian cricketer, Keith Miller. But Miller was more than a cricketer. He was a World War 2 fighter pilot, an Aussie rules footballer with St Kilda, a carouser and womaniser, a journalist and a punter. In other words, a true blue Australian! Everybody loved Keith Miller! Parky asked him how he dealt with pressure on the cricket field. Replied Miller: “Pressure is a Messerschmitt up your arse!”
And so here’s the first two-year-old race of the day and I’m looking at Messerschmitt in the yard with Miller’s words ringing in my ears. Coat a gleaming dark red, as fit as a fighter, relaxed, head down. The only danger is the boom horse Kinky Boom, who also looks very striking, but has two of my pet negatives, a nose roll and a stallion chain. So it’s an easy decision. In the run Messerschmitt is the first horse to fold, as soon as the pressure is applied, and Kinky Boom runs over the top of them for an impressive win. I must say, that was very disappointing! When I got home I checked out the usual comments in the stewards report: “Rider James Winks could offer no explanation for the disappointing performance. A post race veterinary examination failed to reveal any abnormalities”. I think that the horse should be immediately renamed.
It took me a while to recover from such an inglorious start but I eventually managed to see a couple of nice relaxed horses with O’Lonera running on well for second in the seventh at $3.30 and Cliff’s Edge simply too good in the eighth at $2.25 fixed for the place. So in the end it was quite a good day, despite crashing and burning in the first!