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Flemington National Jockeys Trust Race Day

May 21st, 2022 0 comments

And also election day! Thank goodness it will soon be over! Six weeks is a long time to have to put up with constant images of our PM, Scott Morrison, mopping floors, crash tackling children, welding without eye protection, or inspecting engineering works in a hard hat and high-vis jacket. So I’m off to vote early and since I’m an inner urban Melbourne boy, it will be a vote for the Greens!

To Flemington, where it is cold and quiet. The grey Brosnan looked good in the two-year olds and then not much action until the sixth, where I took a set against the second favourite, Worthily. The horse had the red ear muffs (which are discarded at the barrier), but the strapper needed two hands and a shoulder to control the fast gait, with occasional tail swishing. The head was very unsettled, up, down, in and out, gaping and showing me teeth.

I was obviously looking at a different horse from the mounting yard expert Warren Huntly, whose comments were broad cast over the PA: “He wears the red ear muffs, but just seems to save all his energy. He doesn’t look like he gets worked up to the point that he needs the pre-race ear muffs. He’s just relaxed, saving all his energy, stepping out nicely. Looks in good order!” I would have said: Looks in bad order! I laid the horse for a place and was very satisfied to see it run second last. Too bad if you were betting from the TV at home!

I’m off to the spelling paddock now. Hopefully, if the body holds up I’ll be back in the spring for the Caulfield Guineas.

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