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.
When someone as eminently qualified as Gordon Spinks heaps praise on a new apprentice, you tend to take it on board. The former star Sydney jockey was on the phone last week to spread the word about a seventeen year old Gold Coast rookie called Jace McMurray.
Elson Boy’s effortless win in a Mudgee barrier trial on Sunday March 31st, gave veteran trainer Dar Lunn almost as big a thrill as an official race win.
Todd Howlett was in buoyant mood on December 2nd last year as he parked his four horse angle loader at Rosehill Gardens. The float was occupied by his trio of TAB Highway runners Tanglewood, King Rupert and Talons.
Adam Duggan was watching his eleven year old son Jack competing in a Central Coast basketball match when distracted by the shrill ringtone of his mobile phone.
What a comforting thing it is for any owner, trainer or jockey to be involved with a horse capable of delivering a peak performance no matter what the conditions.
When Shelby Sixtysix grabbed Gr 1 glory in the 2022 Galaxy, trainer Danny Williams was confident he had another one at home likely to tread a similar path.
Ray Selkrig, Bill Camer and Cliff Clare were close in age and carved out distinguished careers for themselves in an era when the Sydney riding ranks were as strong as they’ve ever been.
Chris Parnham’s four win haul at Ascot on Saturday was almost certainly Australia’s best riding performance numerically. At Rosehill Gardens James McDonald calmly snared a black type treble including the Gr 1 Coolmore Classic on Zougotcha.
Steve Hart recently caught up with Kerrin McEvoy who added another Gr 1 to his impressive CV by winning Saturday’s Randwick Guineas on Celestial Legend.
Trainers of horses who qualify early for the $1 million Country Championship Final are obviously relieved to get the hard part out of the way, but then they have to deal with a different kind of problem.
You’d expect a bush trainer who’d just won her very first race at Royal Randwick to be treating herself to a lazy Sunday morning. There was also the small matter of a nine hour round trip from Wingham to Randwick.
Danny Williams has saddled up 26.5 TAB Highway winners since the inception of the concept in 2015. He got a special thrill in 2017 when Don’t Give A Damn posted a 6.5 lengths winning margin at Rosehill.
We’ve seen an amazing sequence of Sydney metropolitan wins lately by horses of humble origins. $7000 online purchase Willaidow recently made it four straight with a Midway win at Rosehill.
