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.
The neverending Covid restrictions prevented Steve Hart from conducting his popular racing interviews for the best part of a year, but he’s back with a bang!
The long awaited return of It’s Me in the Triscay Stakes on Saturday was overshadowed by the hype surrounding the likes of Espiona, Very Elleegant, Lost And Running, Colette and a handful of other luminaries.
Thirty one year old Stirling Osland was a regular visitor to the winner’s circle on NSW country tracks in the first month of the new year. He won six races which included two doubles, one at Armidale and the other at Inverell on Cup day.
Trainer Joe Burges was confident Markwell Dreamer had enough ability to figure in the finish of Saturday’s TAB Highway provided he did everything right.
Gayna Williams wouldn’t have cared if half of Bathurst had witnessed her unbridled display of acrobatics as Zoo Station scored an emphatic win in Saturday’s TAB Highway at Rosehill Gardens.
“I’ve had some unforgettable thrills since the company commenced operations thirty five years ago, and Fireburn’s two city wins are right up there with the best of them,” said Louis Mihalyka
Nyngan’s Brett Robb was caught on the hop in August of last year when his father Rodney suddenly decided to quit his role as a full time horse trainer.
George Moore told me in 2002 that his failure to win a Melbourne Cup in nineteen rides was of little concern to him. His wife Iris told me differently.
“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.
Several jockeys rode winning doubles on metropolitan tracks around Australia on Saturday while ever consistent Kayla Crowther notched a treble at the Morphettville meeting.
It was going to be an uncomplicated ride for Michael Cahill when he bounced out of the gates on $2.60 favourite Why We Drink in the opening race at the Sunny Coast meeting on Friday night.
The horrors of Joe Ible’s recent relocation from Canberra to Kembla Grange paled into insignificance when stable favourite Sepulchre scored the easiest of wins in Saturday’s Midway Hcp at Rosehill Gardens.
It’s a rare occasion when a trainer is able to win with every horse he or she saddles up at a single race meeting. Scott Collings came away from the Snake Gully Cup meeting at Gundagai on November 13th with a perfect score.
Enthusiasts with a sense of racing history find it hard to get through Melbourne Cup week without sparing a thought for Carbine - perhaps the greatest of all Cup winners.
