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.
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.
When Passive Aggressive went off to Yarraman Park Stud last spring, trainer Grahame Begg was probably hoping he’d get to train some of her progeny down the track.
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.
Astute Wagga trainer Gary Colvin maintained his trademark strike rate throughout February posting four winners for the month. Dupride Star and Danny Beasley got the stable away to a good start with an Albury win on February 1st.
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.
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.
