With the ink barely dry on her brand new trainer’s licence, Claire Lever was dealing with the race day jitters as she legged husband Chad onto Grace Bay before the 1100m Class 1 at Gundagai’s Snake Gully Cup meeting last Friday.

The last thing Cejay Graham wanted to do was disobey instructions when she had one of her rare rides for the Waller stable at Rosehill Gardens on Saturday.

Post race stories usually highlight the deeds of winners, but there was a runner up at Rosehill Gardens on Saturday deserving of special mention.

Successful trotting horse trainers have been dabbling with thoroughbreds for more than a century. In the early days it happened rarely. In more recent years an ever increasing number of harness racing people have been wooed by mind boggling prize money levels, and the glamour of the turf.

Kerry Parker was in a buoyant mood long before Think It Over gave him a Group 3 win in the historic Craven Plate on Saturday.

There’s nothing like looking at past results of major races to trigger a trip down memory lane. In glancing at Spring Champion Stakes history last week, I was reminded that twenty five years have passed since Nothin’ Leica Dane won the Randwick feature.

Only a student of South African history would have picked up on the significance of the colours carried by Montefilia in Saturday’s Flight Stakes.

Co trainers Richard and Michael Freedman are leaving their options open regarding the remainder of Love Tap’s spring campaign.

Tim Clark felt nothing unusual in Taikomochi’s action as he trotted him back to scale after a comprehensive win in Saturday’s Kingston Town Stakes.

Fierce Impact’s original owners must have mixed feelings about the stallion’s slashing Group 1 Australian treble - Toorak Hcp, Cantala Stakes and Saturday’s Makybe Diva Stakes.

Muswellbrook trainer Tim McIntosh was resigned to defeat when Absolute Trust was tackled by Clearly Regal 200m out in Saturday’s TAB Highway at Randwick. “I thought Kurt Goldman’s horse had his measure, but our bloke showed plenty of fight,” he said.

Craig “Froggy” Newitt’s winning ride on Immortal Love in Saturday’s H.D.F. McNeil Stakes may have been matched somewhere on the day, but it certainly wasn’t bettered.

No jockey in Australia was more “pumped” than Wendy Peel when she walked onto the Gold Coast racecourse on Saturday. For a start she was pretty chuffed to have won on French Ocean the day before at Gatton for her new boss Paul Butterworth - one of several wins for the combination since Paul took over her indentures from Nyngan (NSW) trainer Rodney Robb six weeks earlier.

Belinda Hodder sounded remarkably chipper on Sunday for a jockey who’s had a frenetic start to the new racing season. At the time of our phone conversation, she’d had 31 rides since August 1st at seven meetings on six different racetracks for three wins and five placings.

Anyone who’s been on the fringe of the Sydney racing scene for three or four decades would have given Mosht Up a cheer when the mare scrambled home for trainer Stephen “Beaver” Schofield at Newcastle on Saturday.

“He’s the last horse I would have expected to do something like that,” said Jess Taylor as she reflected on the bizarre accident that will keep her out of the saddle until the middle of September.

How fitting it was that evergreen Dwayne Dunn should go out with a win on the final day of metropolitan racing in Melbourne for 2019/2020.

Trainer Kelly Purdy was a bundle of nerves as the Eyeliner Stakes field neared the home turn at Ipswich on Saturday. Her recently acquired stable star Bandipur was last of fourteen runners, only 7 lengths from the leader but behind a wall of horses.

Racing historian and researcher John H. Payne is the sixth recipient of the coveted award for his work in publishing “Their Last Ride” - a chronological tribute to the 938 jockeys who have lost their lives riding racehorses in Australia between 1847 and 2017.

Inanup looked to have a real fight on his hands when Prime Candidate loomed menacingly at the 150m mark in Saturday’s Iron Jack Hcp (BM88) at Rosehill Gardens.