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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
“He’s one of the slowest learners I’ve ever had anything to do with,” said Danny Williams of Saturday’s TAB Highway winner Bandi’s Boy. “He hasn’t yet learned to finish the job.”
There have been few more consistent performers on the TAB Highway merry go round than the genuine Taree mare Chase My Crown. Ten of her twelve city runs have been in TAB Highway races in which she’s posted two wins, one second, two thirds and no less than four fourths.