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.
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.
I’ve always been a pushover for anybody seeking to find a new home for an ancient scrapbook, newspaper or photograph. One day I’ll have to do something about the pile of memorabilia at my place that Red Rum would have had trouble clearing.
Respected Ballina trainer Stephen Lee landed two winning doubles in the final month of 2023. The first came at Ballina on December 4th when Cosmic Fortune (Adin Thompson) and Inlanda (Robbie Dolan) were successful.
Jim Byrne’s recent absence from the Brisbane riding ranks hasn’t gone unnoticed. His many followers around Australia have wondered why the popular jockey hasn’t been seen since December 16th.
I can’t let New Year’s Eve 2023 go by without mention of a special anniversary. On this day exactly fifty years ago there were scenes of great emotion in the 2GB broadcast box high above Royal Randwick racecourse as the legendary Ken Howard called time on his extraordinary career.
Lovable, humorous, entertaining, informative, loyal and decent and that’s only a start. These were some of the many adjectives used by friends and associates last week as they paid tribute to “Jock” Gollogly who died in Newcastle at age 72.
In his heart Marc Quinn thought lightly raced Bomarea had a massive chance in Saturday’s 1000m TAB Highway and wasn’t afraid to say so in a couple of media interviews late last week.
Terra Mater’s trainer Jarrod Austin and her twelve enthusiastic owners had a few heart stopping moments before the mare’s number went into the frame at Randwick on Saturday.
It was only a BM 72 for fillies and mares on the Kenso track at 6.30pm last Friday night, but for Paul and Martha Cave the race could have carried black type status.
Karen Owen and daughter Madeline provided one of NSW racing’s most touching moments of the year when they combined to win the $100,000 Stacks Law Firm Taree Gold Cup with Sound And Vision on November 19th.
It was a delight to catch up with Ray Markey at the Jockeys Reunion at Rosehill in August. I’d seen little of the former jockey since quitting the race broadcasting scene in 1998.
By the time the ninth of ten races came up at Kembla Grange on Saturday, jockeys were feverishly searching for a home straight lane somewhere near the middle of the track.
