It looks like I’ll be a no show. The weather has been violent with 30 mm of rain so the track is sure to be a Heavy 9 or 10. Such a shame since it’s my last day for the season. But the Racing Victoria website lists the track as Slow 6 and the sun is peeping through with no sign of a shower. So I head off with low anticipation and high trepidation. But the times for the first three races aren’t too bad, and so I rate the track on the better side of slow, probably a Dead 5.5. Almost bettable. The drainage for the Caulfield track must be amazing.

In the fourth I cross nearly all of them out. Philda and Johnny Fiasco for cannon bandages, Queen Delight for some other bandage, Johannapine for the cross-over noseband, Beyond Pardon for the pacifiers. Galbraith for madly dumping with the jockey up, Forty Two Below for weaving in the stall. Eight horses and only one left, Alpha Proxima, gently munching on the bit. I back it with zero seconds to go on the tote at my limit of $1.80. The horse falls in by half a nostril, but my bet is savaged and returns only $1.50 for the place. Mr Zelko must still be betting from his tax exile in London.

Reconcentrate

In the next Reconcentrate’s shaggy coat reminded me that it was all over. No more bets. But nice to go out on a winner. I’m off to the spelling paddock now. See you in the spring.

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Not a good day at Flemington. Two jockeys down and two horses put down. Mark Zahra on Sparks Burn in the third and Katelyn Mallyon on Deliver The Dream in the seventh. I feared the worse for Katelyn when they brought out the dreaded green screen and didn’t move her for half an hour, but Greg Miles eventually reported that she had regained consciousness and could speak and move her limbs, which I suppose was encouraging. Here’s hoping for a full recovery from reported facial fractures and a fractured T6 vertebra (the middle of the spine). The two-year-old gelding Absolute Spirit fractured a sesamoid bone and was put down after the first race and the three-year-old gelding Sparks Burn fractured a fetlock and was put down after the third. The Flemington trainer Danny O’Brien was hauled before the stewards for his comments on Twitter about the state of the track – “this is not a good surface” and that “tracks shouldn’t be cored and sliced before meetings”. Katelyn’s fall was probably the result of interference.

All these falls and fractures spoilt my day. I started out well with Eximius in the first but ended up giving it back on Perturbo in the fifth and Glaneuse in the seventh. I was crooked on Ben Melham for taking Perturbo down the wrong side of the dodgy track and Glaneuse got held up by Katelyn’s fall.

And the horses are getting their winter coats – which reminds me that it’s nearly time to head for a spell. But why do some trainers shear their horses in early winter? Both Streaky Fella and Azcar had been to the barbers. I reckon a shaggy coat is an excellent adaptation for a Melbourne winter. I’m going to hang onto my hair for some time yet!

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It’s fine and dry but with a cold westerly strafing the horse watchers. The few of us that are left that is, with stalwarts falling by the wayside. I’m armed with my booklet of free guest passes, race book, biro and drink. I give the guest passes to a deserving looking couple, who shake my hand and are eternally grateful –“we’re seniors from Perth”. My brother rings on the mobile to remind me that it is my Father’s 100th birthday. Born in the year the Titanic went down. He’s been gone some 28 years now, but it still brings me up short. I wish he could have seen what I’ve done with my life.

Little action to report. Some horrid winkers on Alrouz, which match the blue and gold spots on the jockey silks. The horse managed to get third despite them. And a double-handed ring bit hold on Inablitz. The mare was crashing into the vegetation and went out onto the track early with the clerk. She still managed fifth.

Two bets for the day, on two very relaxed horses. The Night’s Hot in the third and Utah Saints in the last. Both finished second. In fact, I was so enamoured of Utah Saints that I went and backed it again. Two out of two for the day. I finish the day with the free drink. Here’s cheers, Dad!

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I’m feeling quite optimistic as a Dead 5 is still quite bettable and the forecast is for fine with showers over the eastern suburbs and Flemington is clearly in the west. So no raincoat or umbrella. But I’m soon regretting it as the cloud descends in a thick fug and starts drizzling so much that Greg Miles can’t even see the two-year-olds in the first until they’ve run 300 meters. It doesn’t let up for the second and by the third, with the track downgraded to a Slow 6, I’m ready to go home. I don’t have permission to go home so I have to stick it out, not betting, being miserable and cold and wet.

Flemington

In retrospect my selections weren’t too bad:

1 Epic Choice 9/10
2 Rose In The Glen 2/11 @ $2.60
3 Almodovar 2/9 @ $1.20
4 Dr Nipandtuck 8/10
5 Toned 8/12
6 Playright 2/12 @ $2.50
7 Chieftain Jack 3/13 @ $1.90
8 Charlie’s Queen 4/10

I wouldn’t have bet on Almodovar so I would have had an outlay of $7.00 for a return of $7.00 if I bet every race. So again, just exercising my money. Maybe I should reconsider betting on a Slow 6. Better to go home having exercised your money than simply going home cold and wet with green mould in the wallet.

I took one photo, just to prove I was there.

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The striking three-year-old Zamorar was being touted as a future champion and sent out at $2.30 favourite in the third. I thought he had a bit of a parrot mouth, but in addition he was showing some terrific overbite with his top lip retracted to show some great teeth. I’m gradually developing a disliking to a display of teeth, which is often an indicator of some dissatisfaction with the bit. And he was showing some great gums and flared nostrils! And also he was grinding on the bit, which has long been one of my no-nos. And he had a suspicious bandage above his hock as well. And did I mention that he was changing stride, with his head up? I was in the process of laying him for the place when I was interrupted by an important conversation with someone about something or another and didn’t get set. The horse managed to grab second. Sometimes it pays not to get set!

It turned out to be one of those days. A winner, Lucky Penny, at $2.00 the place, but then I gave it back with a fourth by Queen’s Fashion. All good exercise for the wallet.

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No excuses today. An Indian summer. A beautiful, balmy 25 degrees, and a dry track. In the first I was presented with a conundrum. Two two-year-olds from the Ellerton-Zahra stable, both parading around the yard in a very relaxed manner, heads down. Which one to back? Pillar of Creation, more fancied at $3.00 the place, or Thunder Rain at $3.80 the place. I always fear that the unfancied one in a dual entry will get up. But in the end the horses decide it for me, with Thunder Rain tossing her head up going out to the track. How I hate “Head up”. Pillar of Creation storms home from last to snatch third.

In the second the $3.80 favourite So Pristine is all over the shop, with the strapper struggling to contain it. I scored ten possible faults, including: tongue tie, exposed teeth, tugging on the strap, bucking, flared nostrils, clacking (striking itself), head up with the jockey up, and sweating behind. I like my mares to be calm so I fired up iBetMate and laid it on Betfair at $1.60 the place. Sam Hyland, the mounting yard reporter on TVN, couldn’t fault it. We are obviously reading different books. So Pristine struggled into fifth place.

In the next, brimming with confidence, I backed a relaxed City Of Song, despite the green winkers. The horse wore them for the first time at her previous start at Moonee Valley and they didn’t impede her barnstorming run home for second. The horse repeats the dose and comes from near last to win going away at $5.20 the place. Three out of three! I put the cue in the rack and spent the rest of the day patting myself on the back. I didn’t even indulge in photography, apart from an art shot of the sun streaming through a horse’s whiskers on a beautiful autumn day in Melbourne. Isn’t racing wonderful?

Melbourne autumn

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Now that I’m paying a little more attention to the bridle and bit I’ve decided that I may as well keep track of blinkers too. I’ve procrastinated about scoring blinkers for a long time mainly because they are in such common use, but I’ll give it a burl for a while. I scored a terrific photo today of that aberrant blinker – the visor – on Festina Lente. The visor is simply a blinker with a peep hole or slot cut in the back of the cup. Blinkers allegedly encourage a horse to go forward by preventing it seeing to the rear and being distracted by other horses. In other words, they are an aid to concentration. The function of the visor then is a little obscure, offering small rearward peeps. And usually you will only see a single visor, either on the near or off side, depending on the horse. My own opinion is that it is a sign of desperation, but I’ll check with a few trainers and report back, before giving it the thumbs down. Maybe I’m missing something.

And another pet hate is the ring bit hold, where the strapper slides his/her hand into the ring bit and then tugs down. I immediately imagine that grand trainer George Hanlon going beserk. But today I saw a double-handed ring bit hold on Second Effort. The strapper was really struggling with the effort to contain the horse. But to make matters worse the horse went out onto the track with the assistance of the clerk and then won! A good day for bad behaviour! A bad day for horse watchers.

Two bets for two losers.  And to make matters even worserer Follonica backed up for the place at $2.90 without me aboard. Now that we have passed the autumn equinox I can feel the chill of winter coming on. Two losing weeks in a row.  I’ll hang in there for six more weeks. Maybe more photography, less punting.

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Now that my eye has been readjusted I’m seeing Irish martingales everywhere. Two in the first race of the day, on Placement and Fine Calibre. And at last, a half decent photo. When they appear so obvious it makes you wonder how I’ve missed them all this time, but then I tend to be looking at the whole animal and other particular bits of gear rather than the reins. And it’s easy to see how easy they are to miss. There are all those hands, belts, bands, rings, straps and buckles. You can try for yourself in my spot the martingale photos!

Only two bets for the day. Follonica because of those fabulous ear muffs and there was a gale force northerly wind blowing. Horses hate the wind whistling in their ears, and I do too. It creates havoc with my tinnitus. So I suppose it was some sort of sympathy bet. But the muffs didn’t help and Follonica finished fourth of six. And I backed a beautiful Amah Rock, for another fourth. Next start it. But a wretched losing day. My first for some time. I put it down to the wind.

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I have trained my eye to instantly assess a horse for over a hundred different variables, mostly related to behaviour and gear. But there are still things that I miss. Fortunately I can rely on other eyes, and when my mate Peter said have you seen the Irish martingale on Fabulist, I had to confess that I had missed it. I whipped out the camera for a quick snap of the horses head, just hoping to catch it. I’m afraid I failed pretty comprehensively. But if you have a good look at the picture you can get a glimpse of the rings on the reins in the bottom right-hand corner.

An Irish martingale is simply a short strap with a ring on either end. The reins are run through the ring on each side. According to Wikipedia “the Irish martingale’s purpose is not to control the head, but to prevent the reins from coming over the horse’s head, risking entanglement, should a rider fall”. This seemed like a bit of nonsense so after the race I hurried back to the stall to check with Danny O’Brien. Danny said that the rings just put a bit of weight on the reins and get the horse’s head down a bit. He also said they are often used in track gallops. I could see why Fabulist could benefit because the mare was very much a head-up, unsettled type of horse. But to no avail though, when the horse finished fourth of seven runners.

Not much else caught my eye. Stanzout, who used to be a beautiful dappled grey is now almost completely white, but retaining the dapples on his legs, front and back. If you do a search for Stanzout in the Search box you can see how he looked on Cox Plate day in 2010. Age gets to us all. I’ve even found a few white hairs in unmentionable places as well.

And God Has Spoken was sporting very spiffy yellow winkers. I can’t recall seeing this colour on a horse before, but it is probably appropriate. Horses have what is known as dichromatic colour vision, in contrast to humans who have trichromatic vision. Horses can see blue and yellow, but not red and green. They probably perceive the world in much the same way as a red-green colour blind human. God Has Spoken finished eleventh of fourteen. He was obviously too distracted by a colour that he could actually see out of the corner of his eye.

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I always say that I’m not having a bet on the Newmarket Handicap because it is such a hard race. Twenty four horses down the straight six. The Charge of the Light Brigade. But each year I see something and get sucked right in, usually to my personal financial disadvantage. And this year is no different. I’m not betting. Until suddenly, what on earth is that? A horse in a full body suit, a ginormous wet suit, an equine budgie smuggler! And look. I think it’s Hay List, the favourite for the Newmarket, but I can’t be sure. The tag on the bridle is slightly obscured. Is it Race 6, No 1, or is it No 11. The horse disappears before I can confirm its identity. This is the first time I’ve seen a compression suit. Apparently they increase circulation to the muscles during transportation and stabling. Wow! For more information check out the Hidez website.

I’m all set to back Hay List until he fronts up in the mounting yard with winkers. Now, I’ve developed a slight aversion to winkers, not as bad as the nose roll, but enough to put me off backing horses sporting them. What a shame, when I was all set to fall in love with compression suits. Anyway, it must have been the 11, Grand Nirvana. But hey. What’s that? Buffering. Lobbing along, head down, relaxed, stunning. A standout. And who’s that? Another standout. A Francesca sighting. It is an omen. All the planets are aligning. I back Buffering for the place. They’re off and Buffering has the race shot to bits, until who is that digging deep on the line? Of course, it is that grand warrior, Hay List. Have the budgie smugglers done the job? But I’m not fussed, because the $5.90 place divvy for Buffering is the same regardless of first or second.

No bet on the Australian Cup. But I did glimpse the fine head on Americain. The horse looked magnificent. You can only describe him as imposing. I also caught a brief glimpse of Better Loosen Up who won the race in 1991. Can you believe this horse is 26 going on 27 years old. I wish I could see him without the rug. And in the last Yosie had an interesting gear combo of Kineton nose band, nose roll and tongue tie. There was meant to be a bit lifter in there somewhere but with all those straps and buckles I’m blowed if I could see it. Yosei finished a respectable fifth.

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