Thunder of hooves fades

It happens every year, the so-called experts suck us in with their supposed “good oil “in the Cup.

Vauban I hear you say. I admit I was keen on him because of the Willie Mullins connection, but at the end of the day he was a hurdler and not a WFA quality horse like Without a Fight.

In this era, it needs WFA type horses to win the big race. The last 400m sectional times from the Cup, emphasise that fact – you need speed at the death to win.

Some of the so-called world-class jockeys made some basic errors as well, such as being too close to the red-hot speed, and or getting on the back of horses struggling during the run. Fundamental learning for all punters, do your own homework and trust your own judgement above others.

The other big take out from this year’s Cup was the red-hot speed throughout the race. There were no breathers or letting up during the great race. It fooled quite a few jockeys who moved their steeds too close to the front. It favoured those horses’ mid field or in the second half of the race, the

run-on horses. It requires good pace judgement and nerves of steel not to be sucked into thinking your horse can’t win from that far back. They do.

Finally, even if the race was run at a more sedate speed, I can’t see Without a Fight being beaten, albeit Gold Trip may have gone a lot better.

A few turn-ups for the books on Champions Day, the final day of the Spring carnival. Imperatriz continues her domination of the Group One sprints in Melbourne. Absolute star. The Mile race wasn’t a huge surprise, but putting Pride of Jenni in front on Fangirl, Alligator Blood and Mr Brightside was the pick of very few pundits. Put it down to a brilliant front running ride by Irishman Declan Bates – Pride of Jenni is a serious horse with two Group Ones in two weeks.

The 2000m Group One was much the same. The winner, the Chris Waller-trained Atishu, was only fifth in the betting, but was better than the others on the day. JMac notched up his third Group One in seven days on the winner. But for me it was great to see Jamie Kah ride three winners on the day. She’s well and truly back.

The young trainer Sara Ryan, only in her second year of training, was asked if she thought Attractable had a chance in the “Big Dance Race“. She replied, “I rode him yesterday and he tried to kill me, so I know he is ready for today. And ready he was. It’s great to see a young female trainer has such success.

While I was looking for info on winning trainer Sarah Ryan, I came across the below poem written by AI apparently. Things have sure changed in my lifetime!

Sara Ryan, a trainer so new,

With Attractable, she knew what to do.

She rode him herself, knew him inside out,

And when it mattered, she gave a shout.

Attractable, a horse with heart,

Gave his all, played his part.

He danced his way into Sara’s heart,

And won the race, right from the start.

Sara’s hands-on approach to training,

Helped her win, without complaining.

She’s come a long way, from pre-training

To winning big, and entertaining.

So here’s to Sara, and Attractable too,

For winning the Big Dance, and seeing it through.

May they continue to shine, and inspire,

And keep on winning, with passion and fire.

No doubting the influence of Invincible Spirit on Australian racing. He might be about to take over as king from Danehill.

Firstly, though, I am Invincible and the plethora of Group One winners and now Kingman siring the VRC Oaks winner Zardozi trained by James Cummings and ridden by James McDonald. It didn’t miss this old fella’s eye that it was 95 years since his great grandfather Jim Cummings trained the Oaks winner and that between Jim, Grandad Bart and his father Anthony and himself they have trained an amazing 13 editions of the Oaks.

Well Barry Baldwin has announced his retirement from horse training at age 80 as of 30 November this year. In his 58 years as a licensee, he has a record of 2000 plus winners, 10 premierships in Roma and Toowoomba, three premierships in Brisbane, and another four in Macau.

To top it off, he of course trained the Stradbroke with La Montagna in 2006. I hope he writes a book because he is both very knowledgeable and funny at the same time. Some great yarns. I will miss my visits to his stables whilst camped in Brisbane where he always had time for a yarn with the Old Coat Tugger.

What are we going to for the next few months with a big lull in racing? Between Melbourne and Sydney, we have enjoyed a welter of top class racing with gazillion dollars and Group One racing to soak in. Channels 10 and 7 did their bit, along with Sky and Racing.com to keep us preoccupied with the Sport of Kings. We’ve got 10 weeks to the Magic Millions carnival and will need to rely on cricket and tennis in the meantime. The racing calendar

reigns supreme.

Couldn’t miss the mountain of Facebook posts on the Gunsynd Travel 2023 Pat O’Shea Melbourne Cup Trip Site. Around 100 Gundy and Darling Downs folks make the annual  epic journey to watch the Derby, Cup and Oaks meetings-a very big week.

Looks like they’ve had a ball. Graeme Scheu puts on a great show, which I can attest to, having done 20-plus. Long may it continue. These days I just try and find the right TV station in time!

A Cork man went for a job at the local stables. When he sat down for the interview, the farmer asked him ‘Have you ever shoed horses?’ The Cork man thought about this for a couple of minutes and replied, ‘No, but i once told a donkey to “get lost outta here!”