There were 78,500 people at Flemington on Melbourne Cup day 1976. Those still living, hold indelible memories of their visit to the historic course on the day mother nature threw a tantrum.
It’s not hard to imagine the reaction in homes, pubs and clubs when Grant Buckley coaxed La Bella Bondi to a narrow win in Saturday’s 1200m maiden at Newcastle.
It wasn’t until last Friday that Michael Cahill started to question his decision to retire from race riding - a decision he’d been tossing around for the last four or five years.
Of the ninety seven horses to contest ten races at Rosehill Gardens, few if any had more presence than Shohisha who looked the winner a long way from home in the 1200m Midway.
Joe Pride has never regarded himself as a hopeless sentimentalist, but he did confess to a hint of nostalgia after saddling up two winners at Wyong’s first ever stand-alone meeting.
On any other sweltering Sunday the thought of a near 500 km road trip towing a horse float would have held little appeal. Last Sunday however trainer Nick Olive felt no pain as he departed his Queanbeyan stables with just one horse on board
It was way back in 1995 when Steve Hart and former jockey Malcolm Fitzgerald floated the idea of making an annual Christmas visit to the children’s wards at Randwick and Westmead Hospitals.
Ashley Morgan’s caution was evident as he nursed Private Harry through the middle stages of Saturday’s BM72 at Rosehill Gardens. In fact, he still hadn’t moved when they got to the 200m.
Ten wins in the space of a month is a remarkable achievement for any country trainer with just 25 horses in work. Dubbo’s Michael Mulholland did exactly that in the month of November.
Joe Pride has all but given up on trying to outguess Private Eye. The enigmatic but massively talented gelding has had the top trainer scratching his head all through this current preparation.
