Many of us watch an endless flow of races from all parts of Australia, the majority of which do little to get you on the edge of your seat. Once in a while you spot a performance that sends you scurrying to the replay button. 

“Life is what happens to us, while we are making other plans”.  That quote is credited to a man called Allen Saunders and aptly applies to Queensland jockey Michael Hellyer.

Andrew Gibbons’ hard work has paid off handsomely in recent years. In the 2016/17 season he won 79 races in NSW, another 65 in 2017/18, and he’s currently chasing Greg Ryan with 67 winners in the state.

Cameron Crockett didn’t know where he was, in those first surreal moments after Ori On Fire had flashed past the post to win the TAB Highway on Saturday.

The last time I saw John Marshall was at a Cessnock race meeting in May of 2014. His son Taylor had rides at the meeting and he had driven the apprentice from Ron Quinton’s Randwick stables.

Billy Prain struggled with mixed emotions as he walked off Warwick Farm racecourse on Wednesday November 28th - his last day as a trainer. He’s been saying for a long time, that he’d retire when his valued owner and friend Fred Peisah decided to call it quits.

There’s a maiden galloper racing in Sydney currently, whose name rings a giant bell for me.

He’s called Triplicate, a logical name for the son of a mare called Tripled, a non winning daughter of General Nediym.

A couple of astute judges came away from the Albury meeting on October 27th, convinced they’d seen a pretty promising four year old in action. The horse in question was a big, raw chestnut gelding by the name of Noble Boy, who made very short work of thirteen others in an 1175m Maiden.

Winona Costin doesn’t remember riding a pony called Midgey on a farm in Cambridge NZ, when she was only three years old, but her mother has never forgotten it.

Received an email during the week from popular owner Eddy Boas, who wishes to share the most touching horse story in recent memory. I’m sure you’ll remember Eddy’s hardy campaigner Stony Bay, and like me you’ll be surprised to learn that nineteen years have passed, since the tough gelding was retired.

Raquel Clark knew she wanted to be a jockey from the first adrenaline charged moments of her maiden fast gallop.

While James Cummings, Darren Weir and Chris Waller were basking in Group 1 glory at Flemington on Saturday, veteran trainer Keith Dryden was alone with his thoughts at his Canberra stables.

Harry White would have given anything to ride one more Melbourne Cup winner before his retirement in 1995, for no other reason than to “shake old Bobby off”.

Ray Warren and I were very honoured to be invited to “open the bar”, at the grand opening of the new Tourmaline Hotel on Windsor Rd at Vineyard in 1972. The pub was the culmination of a joint business venture between horse trainer Tom Sewell, and his partner Jack Jones, and was constructed on part of Tom’s twenty acre training property.

I knew little of Eduardo until I received an email from my old friend Ken Boman late in September. Having only his third race start, the chestnut gelding jumped to the lead in the Sports Club Hcp (1100 metres), and proceeded to reel off some rare figures.

I didn’t expect John Shelton to answer his phone just before 8 am on Sunday morning (Oct 14th). When you’ve trained the winner of the inaugural Kosciuszko, and revelled in the post-race celebration into the wee hours, you’re entitled to be catching up on much needed sleep.

My very first thought when Maid Of Heaven threw herself at the line to win the GR 1 Spring Champion Stakes, was for her trainer Mark Newnham. It was a defining moment in the career of the fifty year old, who’s had nothing else but racing on his mind, since early teen years.

It was love at first sight when I “fluked” seeing I Am A Star win the Group 3 Quezette Stakes at Caulfield on August 13th 2016.

Les Bridge was in Melbourne when he received the news that Tip Top had got away during afternoon exercise, sustaining a nasty injury to a front superficial flexor tendon. It was mid October 2015, and the horse had finished third in a Kembla Maiden at his initial start, only a few days before.