Well, another week of racing and there are always a few yarns to spruik.
Firstly Damien Lane’s victory in the G1 Tokyo Yushan. The Australian jockey born to horse training parents who started riding in Japan in 2019 knocked up 4 wins on the day. Well done! A big day out.
The Brisbane Winter Carnival continued Saturday with Oaks Day, providing some great racing. The winner trained by Kris Lees, Amokura (daughter of Kermadec) showed she has a big career ahead of her. The three-year-old won the Oaks by 1.5 lengths and appeared to do this comfortably.
Damien Oliver is apparently still smiling for taking the ride, of which he was at first hesitant. Oliver has the most Group One wins now adding this one on, taking over from George Moore (126) who retired from race riding in 1971. Not sure how Hugh Bowman is feeling though given he was apparently the first choice.
The female jockeys scored noticeably well on Oaks Day, riding the first three winners of the day. The Gai Waterhouse and Adrien Bott stable trained Azula was the first winner of the day with Rachel King onboard. The second race won by Trevelyan, trained by Chris Meagher and ridden by Melea
Castle and the third race won by Legal Esprit with Angela Jones aboard.
The Old Tugger is a firm believer that the steady calm hands of the female jockeys are in part the reason for their success.
The southern trainers didn’t sweep the carpet by any means however Race four of Oaks Day saw James Cummings Athelric running a close second in the Ladbroke Lightening Handicap and Red Card winning the Queensland Day Stakes. Chris Waller brought a few from his stable to the day out, not
quite managing to cut through – but still managed to score a few second and third placings on the day.
Good to see Jake Capewell in the news again with Sir Warwick, finishing in third place in the Stradbroke Calcutta.
Well-liked Brisbane based trainer Rob Heathcote’s Prince of Boom charged forward to claim victory of the Star Moreton Cup. Well done, Rob!
It appears that the $5m Everest is gaining more attention than usual with the potential decision to increase the prize money to $20 millioin. Many including one of Victoria’s biggest owners Nick Williams have wagered in on the decision, suggesting that there are many tracks out there that could do with a mere million to improve the quality of the surfaces or extra prize money to other races.
“One could argue that the rich in racing get richer and the poor continue to battle,” Williams is quoted as saying.
It is difficult to disagree with this sentiment in a world where the cost of everything is increasing and the small time owners and trainers are finding it more and more difficult to continue down their chosen paths. Williams also commented that the increase in prize money does not mean that it could attract
any better field. Again, hard to disagree.
One of the old Tugger’s favorite trainers, Peter Moody has apparently teamed up with Katherine Coleman. The young Coleman has been a part of the Moody racing team for over a decade and is now being made co-trainer.
Albert Stapleford , longtime NSW trainer, now 93 is handing in the reins on 1 August . The lovely thing about the racing game, age is not a barrier. (pardon the pun)
Paddy’s wife was reading the newspaper, “Paddy here’s an article about a man who traded in his wife for a season’s football ticket. You wouldn’t do a thing like that would you?” She turned to Paddy.
“Of course I wouldn’t!” replied Paddy. “The seasons almost over”. Paddy was seen sporting a good shiner that afternoon.
