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.

Jamie Mott showed all of his trademark composure with a clever win on improving filly Walking Flying (NZ) in Saturday’s TAB Silver Bowl Series Final at Flemington.

Two things stood out in the BM 64 at Newcastle on Saturday. Firstly the winner Salina Dreaming is obviously better than average judging on her dominant front running display, and the sharp ‘kick’ she produced approaching the 200m.

Scone trainer Scott Singleton was in high spirits when he loaded three horses onto his float on Sunday morning to embark on the 340km trip to Coonamble. . He was still firmly ensconced on cloud nine, less than twenty four hours after his fleet footed gelding Partners had run the opposition ragged in the TAB Highway at Royal Randwick.

In Good Time looked more like a short priced favourite than a despised outsider during the running of Saturday’s Ascot Hcp at Eagle Farm. The $56.00 “pop” bounded straight into the box seat in the Listed sprint, and was coasting behind Boomtown Lass and Emerald Kingdom approaching the hometurn.

Steve presents an engaging chat with Tanya Bartlett a lady who just happens to have a passion for horses. That passion inspired a bronze masterpiece commissioned by Inglis in 2017 to be placed directly outside the five star William Inglis Hotel at Warwick Farm.

Damien Lane can’t wait to win a metropolitan race by a decent margin. The popular Wyong trainer has greeted the judge three times on city tracks in recent weeks, but on each occasion has had to sweat it out in nail biting photo finishes.

Theresa Bateup was just fifteen years old when she arrived at the Australian Jockey Club office at Randwick in late October 1994 to begin a week of work experience.

My thanks to Sean Driver who took the trouble to email me last week after having listened to our recent podcast with jockey Brad Pengelly. Sean was hoping Carael Boy would figure among Brad’s list of favourite horses, and he certainly wasn’t disappointed.

Almost fourteen years have passed since Jay Ford first thundered over the hallowed turf of Royal Ascot and Newmarket on the back of the celebrated sprinter Takeover Target - the first of his four trips to the UK.

Jim Lee didn’t go to Kembla Grange on Saturday, opting to stay home and watch his four stable runners on Sky Racing. The popular Randwick horseman has been staying home a lot these last seven months.

There’s something about Tejori that suggests it’s all ahead of the athletic three year old filly. We catch up with trainer Nick Olive who found her at the 2018 Inglis Classic Sale. He says it’s been a case of waiting for Tejori to get over a few growing pains.

Lancaster Bomber’s win in the last at Newcastle on Saturday rounded off a very pleasing few weeks for the Richard Litt stable. It was especially pleasing for the expatriate Kiwi horseman, because the Denman gelding is the very first horse he actually purchased and syndicated.

When Mitch Newman is around horses, the smile on his face tells you everything you need to know about the former jockey turned trainer. That smile was very evident when Diva Bella swamped the leaders to win the opening race at Gosford on Saturday.