Winter has arrived early at Money Valley. A cold south-westerly has dispersed all the punters except for a hardy bucks party team. They go to a lot of trouble – fifteen shirts all embroidered with World Series Bucks Day 2011 logos – but it’s not really a day for short sleeves. They must be members of that obscure Scottish cricket club the Mackenzies.
A quiet day with not much action. I amuse myself trying to get a good photo on my phone of Moshe, but fail pretty miserably. The horse certainly doesn’t have the backside of his sister Black Caviar, and looks wasted in comparison . Moshe kicks out in the barrier and gets his off hind leg caught over the back gate. The stewards pull him out and I cop a bit of heckling for upsetting the horse with my persistent photography. Like A Guest didn’t look in the mood for racing either, with ears well and truly back.
-
- Mackenzies
-
- Moshe
-
- Like A Guest
-
- Trouble at mill
The highlight of the day was My Emotion in Race 6. The horse propped on the track and absolutely refused to go forward, despite the insistence of the strapper, two and then three clerks, and the jockey vigorously using the persuader. Eventually the jockey dismounted and the horse trotted forward. The jockey hopped on and the horse halted! After several more attempts the horse finally got going riderless and J Maskiell managed to get aboard. The Mackenzies loved it and broke out in cheers. I was too busy watching all this to worry about laying it! The horse finished tailed off ten lengths last. Do you think this horse resented the nose roll?
Betting wise, I backed one loser Pontiana and two placed horses, Johnny Fiasco and Akzar, for an OK average day. I tried to lay Big Spirit for the place at $1.70 but wasn’t matched. The horse tossed off the jockey (Airborne Jockey!) on the way to the barrier. TVN didn’t pick it up so I thought I might have some inside running. These sorts of horses are likely to miss the jump. As it turned out Big Spirit fell out of the barrier but ended up in front and led all the way for a strong win.