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.
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.
Joe Pride rarely goes out on Saturday nights. A week of absurdly early rises and the grind of running a fifty horse operation takes its toll. He made a rare exception on Saturday night…
The smile on Scott Aspery’s face said it all as Uzziah snatched victory in the last few strides of Saturday’s Midway. For a Newcastle hobby trainer to saddle up a city winner is one thing. When you’ve only got two horses in the stable it’s something else again.
Grahame Begg’s stakes double on Saturday wasn’t unique in his thirty year career, but it was the first time he’d won black type races on the same day in two states.
When you have only eight horses in the stable it’s no mean feat to produce four winners in a single month - and a short month at that. Long time Port Macquarie trainer John Sprague began the month of February with a double on his hometrack.
“He’s nice to have around in the stable and professional in everything he does,” said trainer Mark Newnham of Saturday’s Parramatta Cup winner King Frankel.
Albert Stapleford can’t lay claim to being Australia’s oldest active horse trainer but he’s probably running a close second. There’s a remarkable 95 year old in South Australia called Bob Hannigan.
Danny Williams was feeling a little sceptical about European horses by the time Marsabit arrived at his Goulburn stables in September of 2021. He’d had two previous involvements with imports for two very unhappy experiences.
Ian Craig and I stood side by side at a television monitor to watch the running of the race bearing our names at Randwick on Saturday. We were mutually chuffed to see Opal Ridge plough through the testing ground for an easy win.
Authors have been writing books about the deeds of champion Australian racehorses for two centuries. None have attacked the task with more energy and purpose than Lynlea Small…
It’s starting to look like Melanie O’Gorman was fated to own So Country from the outset. That certainly wasn’t her intention when she secured the son of Shamexpress for $100,000 at the 2019 Classic Yearling Sale.
Anthony Cummings has saddled up many Group 1 starters since cutting ties with his legendary father in 1991. His first win at the elite level came just a few months after the split.
Off the top of his head Gary Portelli says he’d had nine or ten Golden Slipper runners since his training career began thirty years ago. He still tingles when he recalls the euphoria of She Will Reign’s emphatic win in 2017.
Our February award winner is Steven Royes from the Queensland mining city of Mount Isa. The talented horseman prepares a small team of eight horses in conjunction with his full time job at the famous Mount Isa Mines.
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.
Our first Hygain/Mitavite country trainer of the month is Grafton’s John Shelton who notched a winning treble at the Grafton meeting on August 16th from his only four starters.
