The forecast was not good and so it turned out with heavy showers sweeping across the valley and then the occasional burst of sunshine. There was no one there to get wet. Only eight rails bookies betting on the locals and two doing interstate. I suppose they were all out Christmas shopping. I couldn’t work out if it was hot or cold, until finally deciding that it was humid. And so I was confined indoors for the first few races, with no chance to get out the back and look at the horses. Probably a day for photography. I reached for my camera to photograph Thubiaan with Chris Waller’s distinctive combination of ear muffs, tongue tie and white noseband. Uh, oh! A warning message. Replace the battery pack. Oh no, a flat battery. So much for photography. Maybe it was a day to throw out all horsewatching principles! Then I remembered Thubiaan’s win in similar conditions out at a Sandown mid-weeker last year. He was showing $2.10 for the place on the tote and $2.30 with the books with 0 minutes to go. So for the first time in a long time I went for the books. The horse was just beaten by Anudjawan, an 8-year-old that has only won one other race! And to my dismay the tote ended up paying $2.40! It was certainly that sort of day. A day for extreme care! So only one other bet on a fit looking Vatican parading with its head down and a positive strapper. And the tote price was a reasonable $2.40.