“I’ll wake up one day and say that’ll do me,” was Greg Ryan’s reply when I asked about his likely retirement date on a podcast posted on October 27th last year. Amazingly that fateful day arrived just five weeks later.

Even though he’s still learning what it’s all about, Gleneagles will be given his chance in at least one stakes race over the Queensland carnival.

It’s not uncommon to see a winning jockey “pump the air” in the euphoria of victory, or shake his or her head when surprised by the dominance of a performance but at Kembla Grange on Saturday Blake Spriggs broke new ground.

Training partners Robert and Luke Price won’t forget day two of The Championships in a hurry. The father and son team brought only two horses to Royal Randwick, but came away with a healthy portion of the prize money and truckloads of satisfaction.

“I can’t allow myself to be stressed out because of my surname,” said Edward Cummings. “I just go about my job looking after the twenty horses in my care.

While Darren Flindell was weaving his own brand of magic at Royal Randwick on Saturday, a race caller from the previous generation was celebrating a unique anniversary at Warren - a tiny hamlet of 1500 people some 536 kms from Sydney.

A light mouthed horse can be a nuisance on a trail ride, let alone in a high pressure thoroughbred race. The first challenge for the rider of a “bit shy” galloper comes the moment the gates open.

Great to see the Melbourne Racing Club pay homage to two great race callers of yesteryear at Saturday’s Caulfield meeting. Races were named after Bill Collins and Bert Bryant.

As Kerry Parker walked off Randwick racecourse on Easter Saturday 2010, he couldn’t help but wonder if he’d ever get another shot at the Doncaster Hcp.

The uncertainty of the year 2020 was the furthest thing from Michael Rodd’s mind as he notched a winning double at Eagle Farm last Saturday.

Kim Waugh was quietly confident Great News would vindicate her short odds in Saturday’s Provincial Championship Qualifier at Gosford, but didn’t expect the four year old mare to win with such ridiculous ease.

In the minutes after the win by It’s Somewhat in the 2017 Doncaster Mile, John O’Shea knew he was coming to the end of his three year tenure as head trainer for Godolphin’s Australian racing empire.

Globetrotting trainer Paul Perry liked Pandano the moment he spotted him in a paddock at Arrowfield Stud some weeks before the 2018 Inglis Classic Sale.

Gary Colvin decided to join a group of Another One’s owners in the Wagga grandstand as the fifteen runners arrived at the 1400m starting point for Saturday’s Newhaven Park Country Qualifier.

A spate of effortless wins by Slipper bound hopefuls in recent weeks has the form students in a quandary. On January 16th Shaquero ticked every box with a flawless display to win the Magic Millions Classic on the Gold Coast.

A flurry of winners on provincial and country tracks in recent months has more than justified Christian Reith’s decision to carve a niche for himself outside the metropolitan area.

“I would have been happy to run second to Kemalpasa or beat him by a neck, but I didn’t expect the big fella to win like that.” These were the words of trainer David Jolly in the aftermath of Behemoth’s demolition job on the opposition in Saturday’s Listed WFA Durbridge Stakes at Morphettville.

It was the late Bart Cummings who said “patience is the least used commodity in racing”. Terry Robinson has long held the same view, and has played the waiting game with many of his horses since becoming a full time thoroughbred trainer in 2005.

Scott Darby was horrified when he watched Harpo Marx contest his first two Australian barrier trials. The founder and CEO of Darby Racing had purchased the royally bred horse in 2019 from the Coolmore draft at a Tattersall’s Horses In Training Sale at Newmarket.

Ace race photographer Steve Hart dons his interviewer’s hat from time to time to catch up with some of his favourite racing people. This time around he talks to News Ltd Racing Editor Ray Thomas, a journalist who has the respect of all sections of the racing industry.