The boys in the band were there again, this time with their ponies. I didn’t have the heart to tell them that their chances of winning have gone downhill. A companion pony used to be the most positive of variables. But now that everyone brings a pony to the races it has turned negative. There must be a lot of poor quality horses that like to travel to the track with a mate, or maybe a lot of trainers have read my book.

I’ve been trying for some time to get a decent photo of a nasal strip. Fab Fevola had a good one, but I really need a brown or black horse with a white strip. White strips get lost in the blaze on chestnuts and grey or black ones are hard to pick out on bays. I’ve now just passed the magic threshold of 100 observations of nasal strips and at last can form an opinion on whether they are positive or negative. There were nine winners, for a behavioural handicap of zero. Neither positive or negative. Benign! Fab Fevola held on well for second at $8.50 the place.

I started out well in the first by laying Soosa Rama. The horse was rocketing around the yard at a fast gait, was shitty behind, sweating up, and tossing its head up in a frenetic manner. I laid it for the place at $1.70. It struggled home in tenth place. But I then fell in a heap and backed two losers, The Bowler and Hvasstan. My first losing day for some time. Is that the cold dark chill of winter I feel coming on?

0 comments

Scored a good video of the rarely seen trembling or quivering by Arch Fire. Not a good sign! The horse also sweated up badly before the race so it could have been feeling either hot or anxious. Despite all this the horse battled on well for a good second to the odds on favourite Signoff.

I’ve added the video to my Youtube library which is starting to look quite respectable! Only one standout for the day, Le Roi, which won as it liked.

0 comments

I managed the long trek out to Sandown twice this week! Wednesday at Sandown, as has been previously noted, is racing at its most basic. Free entry, racebooks at the bar, no dress code, no cloak room. The compensation for members who pay their way used to be a cup of tea and a piece of cake. But that’s been scrapped now too. I miss my cup of tea. In fact the Members area has been scrapped altogether and it’s now just one big bun fight. But I got a nice photo of a bubble cheeker or “pricker” for the book courtesy of Simon and Susie Morrish.

The Members area was reinstated for Saturday, but I was a fish out of water in jacket and tie. At least someone is maintaining the standards! The most interesting thing I saw was a combination of winkers and earmuffs on Jacinta. The horse looked like it had the mumps.

Not much action with a late 1.45 pm start and an early finish for home duties. A close fourth – Spending, and then saved by an even closer third – Rich River.

0 comments

There was a time when the public holiday on Labour Day was a big deal and the Australian Cup at Flemington was the race of the autumn. Remember Dandy Andy? These days the races at the valley are low class mid-weekers with maidens and restricted 0-64 handicaps. But I went along because I’m grateful that it’s still daylight.

There was one minute’s silence for Roy The Boy, suddenly dead at seventy-five. He was a top jock. I never really understood why he was called the Professor. But I used to love his mounting yard comments about horses looking “hard and fit”, “tightened up”, and “carrying not an ounce of surplus”, with not a word about behaviour or gear. Roy used to have a little old man who’d dash out at the last minute with the word from the ring. I suspect his comments were heavily influenced by that information.

I managed a couple of photographs. Nearly got a good yawn photo. And a fair shot of a rare brow band and an even rarer tail chain. Three bets over the weekend for three collects. I’m doing OK.

0 comments

I crossed out the three most fancied horses. Shamus Award looked fit, but was very unsettled, tossing his head about and resisting with the jockey up. Eurozone had the cross-over noseband, head up, and the strapper was struggling to contain the horse with two hands, and Hucklebuck looked a bit sour with his ears laid back. I settled on The Quarterback, Alpha Beat and Criterion as the best, and ended up backing Criterion for the place. The Cox Plate winner led all the way, but Criterion charged home to grab second at $2.90. I was a bit spewy as I backed it in the last few seconds when it was showing $3.30 on the tote, so there must have been a bit of late money to shift it that much in a decent-sized tote pool.

Since I have been paying more attention to the horse’s feet I’ve also started to keep track of horses that cast a plate during the running. It looks like a fairly negative variable, but I’m not sure what use it is to the punter when the race has been run and won. An excuse I suppose. It might explain Hucklebuck’s poor run. And in Mrs Mac’s Beef Pie Sprint Spartini rocked up with a bar plate on his near fore that had not been notified to the stewards. The trainer, DK Weir, was slapped over the wrist with a feather and only copped a reprimand rather than a fine. It pays to be Victoria’s leading trainer.

0 comments

The stars were out in force. Fiorente, Green Moon, Mourayan. All Cup winners. Mourayan! One of my favourite horses, and I missed the $17.60 the place! I’m still in awe of Fiorente, who looked outstanding, but was too short at $1.20, so I passed on the race. Damn! I’m still spitting chips.

But it was a good day. The omens were good. I was handed a free pen on striding into the course. How good is that! How many times do you see a desperate punter buy a pen for $3 when they get their book. How hopeless is that? Who goes to the races without being appropriately armed? I carry three pens. One as a reserve for the inevitable, and then a back-up for the reserve. Today I ended up with four pens.

Only two bets for the day. Thermal Current at $1.90 and Pinwheel at $3.50. I was stuck in an agonisingly slow queue to back Pinwheel and in front of me was a little old lady, seventy plus, with a huge handbag and one minute to go. Here we go, I thought. A flexi quaddy. A lock out. But blow me down, she starts counting out the fifties and puts down $1000 on the nose of Moment Of Change. I’ll be damned! I got on with ten seconds left. Moment Of Change led from pillar to post, but Pinwheel held on for third. Polanski, who was over-aroused out the back, pulled up injured and was carted off to hospital in the horse ambulance.

The best horse I saw all day was Earthquake. You will never see a better filly or a more relaxed horse. But I just watched it go around at $1.50. My strike rate of two out of three means that I’ll never get ahead if I back them at that price. And I saw a nice pony. You never see a horse lying down on the job, but it’s a hard life being a stable pony, up at 4 am every morning!

0 comments

It’s a pity I’m not a kid any more. There was some great stuff to do today. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles emerged from their New York sewer to save us all from the 40 degree heat. And there were tea cup rides for the littlies. And a volcano just waiting to be climbed. How cool is that?

11 am is a wee bit early to get to the track but I was keen to back Chase The Rainbow again. However the horse rocked up to the mounting yard with winkers and a tongue tie which are not part of the horse’s declared gear. The stewards ripped off the orange winkers, which was a relief to us all really. The colour is an assault on the senses. Rick Hore-Lacy argued with them and enquired as to whether they read the Herald Sun. Maybe the horse was listed in the paper as wearing the winkers? Whatever, I’m sure the horse is better off without them. The tongue tie was whipped off at the barrier and the horse was replated after pulling a shoe. With all this drama I decided it best to leave it alone. Chase The Rainbow fought on magnificently to win by a nostril. Rick was fined $200. It all just shows that you don’t need orange winkers!

Maldivian led them out for the main race, the Orr Stakes. Somone asked if I recognised the horse. I confessed that I thought it was a pregnant mare! Maldivian is obviously enjoying life in the top paddock!

Three bets for two placed horses with clean sheets, Marianne and Lumosty, and one loser, Francesco. I was a bit disappointed with Francesco as he looked so relaxed for a two-year-old colt, lobbing along with his head down, but he just ran out of puff over the last 100 metres. But two out of three is not too bad.

0 comments

It’s starting to get too hot. Even too hot for photography. But a good start to the hottest month, and my best time of year, with two placers from two bets – Mambo Lady for a nice $4.30 and Text’N Hurley for a measly $1.70. Roll on summer!

0 comments

The 2.25 pm start is ridiculous. Apparently it is an experiment, something to do with increasing turnover, but it must be all off-course money as there is hardly anyone here. They’re all at the beach having a long weekend. I’m not overly fussed as I am concentrating on photography and not too worried about the betting. I managed a decent shot of “elbow”, which is a new variable. This is when the strapper employs her right-hand elbow to apply some pressure to the horse’s neck or shoulder, usually holding on to the leading strap with the same hand. It is often just a precursor to more effort being used to control the horse and the strapper is forced to use two hands. Two hands is already one of my favourite negative variables.

A bit of a panic went around the course when the green screen went up around a hobbling Romancingthestone, just after the finishing post. Fortunately the horse ambulance turned up and the horse managed to be loaded. Here’s hoping the filly can survive.

A bet on the striking grey Chase The Rainbow in the sixth. I hardly ever back Rick Hore-Lacy’s horses as they are often over-aroused. At his first start on Boxing Day Chase The Rainbow was all over the shop, fractious, rearing up, and sporting bar plates. He finished tailed off last. Today he has the concussion plates, much more forgiving, and is prancing. I’m forgiving too and he grabs third at $1.70 in a blanket finish.

5.30 pm. Time to go home. I miss the last two races. What is the club thinking?

0 comments

One of my rules of betting is that horses must keep four feet on the ground, but clearly they don’t always listen. Obviously strong willed horses that are bucking their brands off will go out and win races, but they are risky betting propositions, and you can be assured that I will not bet on them. Today Pat Carey’s Durnford put on a fabulous rodeo show all the way around the parade ring and mounting yard. I managed a fairly decent picture! It is no surprise to find that he is another son of that hot-headed horse Helenus.

Durnford jumped out of the blocks and led them up at a good pace and only faded over the last two or three hundred metres for an honourable fifth at 30/1.

0 comments