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.
There’s not a race caller on the planet who doesn’t feel some degree of stress before and during the broadcast of a horse race. He desperately wants to get it right for the punters large and small who collectively create huge betting pools.
The practice of trying to forecast winners during the running of races is fraught with danger. Sometimes horses can enjoy a cosy trip and give the impression they have a tankful of petrol, only to be found wanting when they come off the bridle.
Marc Conners felt sick in the stomach when he saw Brenton Avdulla ease Winning Verse right out of the race to finish a distant last in a BM72 at Randwick on April 23rd.
“Can you imagine the number of track gallops those blokes have ridden for Warwick Farm trainers over the years?” The question was posed by one of fifty guests at a recent Xmas gathering hosted by seafood restaurateur and racing devotee Mick Doyle.
As Kerry Parker walked off Randwick racecourse on Easter Saturday 2010, he couldn’t help but wonder if he’d ever get another shot at the Doncaster Hcp.
Globetrotting trainer Paul Perry liked Pandano the moment he spotted him in a paddock at Arrowfield Stud some weeks before the 2018 Inglis Classic Sale.
It was the late Bart Cummings who said “patience is the least used commodity in racing”. Terry Robinson has long held the same view, and has played the waiting game with many of his horses since becoming a full time thoroughbred trainer in 2005.
Jess O’Donnell, Sponsorship and Marketing Manager for the progressive Sapphire Coast Turf Club has pulled out all stops to promote the 2021 Bega Cheese Bega Cup Carnival next weekend. I’m happy to give her a helping hand!
Scott Darby was horrified when he watched Harpo Marx contest his first two Australian barrier trials. The founder and CEO of Darby Racing had purchased the royally bred horse in 2019 from the Coolmore draft at a Tattersall’s Horses In Training Sale at Newmarket.
Ace race photographer Steve Hart dons his interviewer’s hat from time to time to catch up with some of his favourite racing people. This time around he talks to News Ltd Racing Editor Ray Thomas, a journalist who has the respect of all sections of the racing industry.
Unfavourable barriers brought Keagan Latham’s winning run to an end at Newcastle on Tuesday with only one of his five mounts finishing in the money, but he was in no position to complain.
Jamie Mott showed all of his trademark composure with a clever win on improving filly Walking Flying (NZ) in Saturday’s TAB Silver Bowl Series Final at Flemington.
Harry White would have given anything to ride one more Melbourne Cup winner before his retirement in 1995, for no other reason than to “shake old Bobby off”.
My very first thought when Maid Of Heaven threw herself at the line to win the GR 1 Spring Champion Stakes, was for her trainer Mark Newnham. It was a defining moment in the career of the fifty year old, who’s had nothing else but racing on his mind, since early teen years.
