Always back the horse named self-interest, son. It'll be the only one trying
Tasmanian thoroughbred racing’s principal track at Elwick, Hobart has been a cluster duck since the wholesale reconstruction a couple of years ago that saw the ‘old fashioned’ grass grown in dirt course proper that had worked reasonably well for almost 200 years dug up and replaced with a ‘modern’ Strathayr sand-based track It has been […]
Allow me to throw a statistic at you. Prior to last Saturday, only three 4-year olds had won The Metropolitan in the past 20 years. They were Glencadam Gold, Tawqueet and Railings. Both Tawqueet and Railings won the Caulfield Cup at their next start. Montefilia won the Metrop on the weekend after sitting three-wide no […]
James McDonald is a champion jockey, we all know that. Like all of he has his flaws off the racetrack, but they are not major, and they are not fatal. The young Malaysian jockey in New Zealand Yong Chew’s throat cancer might well be, all though we all hope not. Bloody hell, the poor kid […]
We started writing about Phoenix Thoroughbreds and telling you that they were money launderers 14 months ago. You can read those stories here. The brilliant UK racing writer William Jones – who I met and spoke to last night after reading his work – does it a whole lot better. His books about drug use […]
Twelve Phoenix Thoroughbreds became a pariah in the international thoroughbred world after a US trial by a man convicted of one of the world’s biggest ever frauds – the $7 billion Onecoin cryptocurrency con – named Phoenix’s owner Amir Abdulaziz Salman in evidence as his partner and principal money launderer.
Quick Verse is a beautifully bred 7-year-old mare who was sold for $140 000 at the 2015 Gold Coast Magic Millions sale and sent to David Hayes to train. Sadly she couldn’t go a yard, and after 5 flops the owners gave up and she was sold on an online auction to clients of Johnny Manzelmann’s […]
This handsome young man in the picture is Jeff, my local publican and a real good bloke. Jeff owns a share in a horse named Gunstock, a bay colt by Tavistock that is trained by the gun partnership of the Mick’s Price and Kent, who are masters of patience and care, and experts in setting […]
Somebody connected to the Natalie McCall stable knew that Fifty Four Squares was ready to put in a big run in race 4 at the Sunshine Coast on Sunday afternoon. They backed it from $41 into $9.50, while the $2.15 was still in the field, and in the barriers with too. Then the barrier stall […]
A month or so ago I wrote a story questioning Always B Miki’s worth as a sire, and suggesting that the lack of success of his second crop of two year olds might suggest that he is just be a one season wonder, a blink and you miss it flash in the pan. I am […]
What a run it was by Mo’unga in the Epsom yesterday. Simply out of this world. How did he do what he did? Mo’unga was the worst weighted horse in the world. He is a four-year-old who only four starts back carried the featherweight of 49.5kg in the Doncaster and ran tenth. A last in […]
