Brad Widdup can’t recall having trained a longer priced metropolitan winner than Art’s Alive in Saturday’s Asahi Super Dry Hcp at Rosehill Gardens.

Muswellbrook trainer Jan Bowen maintained her consistent strike rate with a quartet of wins for the month just gone.

A Group 3 win at Sandown on Saturday with a horse owned by his 94 year old father should have been a joyous occasion for trainer Grahame Begg.

Of the ninety seven horses to contest ten races at Rosehill Gardens, few if any had more presence than Shohisha who looked the winner a long way from home in the 1200m Midway.

Joe Pride has never regarded himself as a hopeless sentimentalist, but he did confess to a hint of nostalgia after saddling up two winners at Wyong’s first ever stand-alone meeting.

I’m not sure that we’ve ever had a dual winner of the Pryde’s monthly award for country trainers, but December results have changed all of that.

On any other sweltering Sunday the thought of a near 500 km road trip towing a horse float would have held little appeal. Last Sunday however trainer Nick Olive felt no pain as he departed his Queanbeyan stables with just one horse on board

A buoyant Port Macquarie crowd swelled by holidaymakers was treated to a masterclass by talented young jockey Anna Roper on Sunday.

Chad Lever had just departed his Hawkesbury base bound for Moruya when he answered his car phone on Sunday morning.

It was way back in 1995 when Steve Hart and former jockey Malcolm Fitzgerald floated the idea of making an annual Christmas visit to the children’s wards at Randwick and Westmead Hospitals.

Larry Cassidy’s the first to admit he enjoyed a charmed run as a professional jockey for the first three decades of his long career.

Ashley Morgan’s caution was evident as he nursed Private Harry through the middle stages of Saturday’s BM72 at Rosehill Gardens. In fact, he still hadn’t moved when they got to the 200m.

Ten wins in the space of a month is a remarkable achievement for any country trainer with just 25 horses in work. Dubbo’s Michael Mulholland did exactly that in the month of November.

Joe Pride has all but given up on trying to outguess Private Eye. The enigmatic but massively talented gelding has had the top trainer scratching his head all through this current preparation.

Ever astute Canberra trainer Keith Dryden has enjoyed many special moments in a career now into its fifth decade.

I gained an early insight into the resilience of Keith Banks during a stint as guest commentator at the 1970 Grafton July Carnival.

Kembla Grange trainer Theresa Bateup readily admits that Crackalacka was no Via Sistina, but an honest mare who endeared herself to every member of the stable staff.

It’s a good performance by any country trainer to win four races in a month with a team of just over twenty horses in work.

Two key factors paved the way for Kingston Charm’s win in Saturday’s $500,000 Four Pillars Midway at Rosehill Gardens.

I know of nobody more passionate about harness racing than Club Menangle historian and archivist Peter Collier. His passion is exceeded only by his attention to detail and an unfailing sense of history.