The Michael Freedman/ Tommy Berry partnership has been a major talking point in the early weeks of the Sydney spring carnival.

You wouldn’t expect a twenty eight year old jockey to have heard of a German playwright called Carl Zuckmayer let alone one of his better known quotes.

Steve cranked up his dual purpose camera recently and flew to Brisbane to catch up with recently retired Larry Cassidy.

There was a hint of nostalgia involved in Andrew Calder’s winning ride on Queen of Clubs at Rosehill Gardens.

Brooke Stower’s sudden disappearance from the northern NSW riding ranks two years ago didn’t go unnoticed.

Dylan Gibbons has won more than 400 races in just under five years of race riding. He’s already visited the Gr 1 winner’s circle on two occasions and has thirteen other black type races on his CV.

It’s not hard to imagine the reaction in homes, pubs and clubs when Grant Buckley coaxed La Bella Bondi to a narrow win in Saturday’s 1200m maiden at Newcastle.

It wasn’t until last Friday that Michael Cahill started to question his decision to retire from race riding - a decision he’d been tossing around for the last four or five years.

A buoyant Port Macquarie crowd swelled by holidaymakers was treated to a masterclass by talented young jockey Anna Roper on Sunday.

Larry Cassidy’s the first to admit he enjoyed a charmed run as a professional jockey for the first three decades of his long career.

It was reasonable to assume the touch of raspiness in Tyler Schiller’s voice on Sunday morning was the result of a little socialising the previous night.

Steve Hart indicated he would step up his racing interview quota following his recent retirement from the ranks of Sydney race day photographers. He wasted no time in lining up a chat with 22 year old Mollie Fitzgerald.

On the eve of his 27th birthday and blessed with the luxury of having no need for the sauna, Andrew Adkins has slipped into a comfortable niche among Sydney’s riding ranks.

The indefatigable Andrew Gibbons was about to leave a Coffs Harbour hotel bound for Grafton when I got him on the phone on Sunday morning.

 Any jockey resuming after an injury enforced layoff prays for an early winner. Owners and trainers like to watch the comeback rider for a few weeks to ensure that his or her confidence hasn’t been affected by the trauma of a racing accident.

Danny Beasley may well have had second thoughts about his impending retirement as he politely reeled off a winning treble at Wagga on Friday.

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.

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.

Tommy Berry’s post race interview on Sky Thoroughbred Central after Saturday’s Gimcrack Stakes tugged many a heartstring. The popular jockey had just won the Gr 3 two year old race on Manaal