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.

When Passive Aggressive went off to Yarraman Park Stud last spring, trainer Grahame Begg was probably hoping he’d get to train some of her progeny down the track.

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.

James McDonald’s tactics on Fangirl in the Verry Elleegant Stakes were a carbon copy of his Apollo Stakes ride two weeks earlier.

Astute Wagga trainer Gary Colvin maintained his trademark strike rate throughout February posting four winners for the month. Dupride Star and Danny Beasley got the stable away to a good start with an Albury win on February 1st.

Trainers of horses who qualify early for the $1 million Country Championship Final are obviously relieved to get the hard part out of the way, but then they have to deal with a different kind of problem.

You’d expect a bush trainer who’d just won her very first race at Royal Randwick to be treating herself to a lazy Sunday morning. There was also the small matter of a nine hour round trip from Wingham to Randwick.

Danny Williams has saddled up 26.5 TAB Highway winners since the inception of the concept in 2015. He got a special thrill in 2017 when Don’t Give A Damn posted a 6.5 lengths winning margin at Rosehill.

We’ve seen an amazing sequence of Sydney metropolitan wins lately by horses of humble origins. $7000 online purchase Willaidow recently made it four straight with a Midway win at Rosehill. 

Many veteran racing fans on and off course felt a tinge of sadness as the runners filed onto the track for Saturday’s Petaluma Hcp at Randwick.

Marc Conners was still shaking his head in disbelief half an hour after Willaidow’s impressive Midway win at Rosehill Gardens.

I’ve always been a pushover for anybody seeking to find a new home for an ancient scrapbook, newspaper or photograph. One day I’ll have to do something about the pile of memorabilia at my place that Red Rum would have had trouble clearing.

All it took was a sidestep and a swerve from a green three year old filly to remind Anna Roper of the vagaries of racing.

When giant gelding Possibly So grabbed the lead in the final few strides of Saturday’s TAB Highway he triggered great emotion among connections.

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.

I can’t let New Year’s Eve 2023 go by without mention of a special anniversary. On this day exactly fifty years ago there were scenes of great emotion in the 2GB broadcast box high above Royal Randwick racecourse as the legendary Ken Howard called time on his extraordinary career.

Lovable, humorous, entertaining, informative, loyal and decent and that’s only a start. These were some of the many adjectives used by friends and associates last week as they paid tribute to “Jock” Gollogly who died in Newcastle at age 72.

In his heart Marc Quinn thought lightly raced Bomarea had a massive chance in Saturday’s 1000m TAB Highway and wasn’t afraid to say so in a couple of media interviews late last week.

Terra Mater’s trainer Jarrod Austin and her twelve enthusiastic owners had a few heart stopping moments before the mare’s number went into the frame at Randwick on Saturday.

It was only a BM 72 for fillies and mares on the Kenso track at 6.30pm last Friday night, but for Paul and Martha Cave the race could have carried black type status.