Bring on the new season

2005/2006 wrap up. 2006/2007 preview.

The racing season which ends this weekend has had some highs and lows but all in all I'm happy with the results. There is no doubt that I have had bigger and better seasons than this one however what we achieved with the stock that we had was a pretty good effort.

Although he only won one race for the season out of six starts, there is no doubt that the performances of Lock The Vault through out the summer carnival were a real highlight. After winning first up with Dion on board, "OCCY" went on to run second in the Belgravia Stakes, Fairetha Stakes, Guinneas, T J Smith Stakes and Fruit 'n' Veg Stakes. All the time trying his guts out and all the way building up a real cult following and bringing a lot of enjoyment to a big group of people in the Amelia Park Syndicate. If his performances were the highlight to the season, I would have to say that his sale to Hong Kong was certainly the low light in my season and something which hit the stable and staff fairly hard. As they say in the classics..... That's business!

We went to the race's on Perth Cup day and sat up in he 1900 bar where we have enjoyed many a good day over the years. As has been the case for as long as I can remember, if I have a runner on Cup day, I will have a winner! This year was no different and we saw the ever improving Turbonator come from near last to win well at good odds.

On Melbourne Cup day we produced another "first-upper" when we stepped out King of The Stalls for a very nice, well backed result. The horse is very promising however he has had a number of setbacks along the way. I feel we have him getting back to his best and it won't be long before he salutes again.

Throughout the year we have produced some very promising but late developing two and three year olds and I am looking forward to them returning to the race track. Horses such as Just Rich, Alcedo, Moondalo Guyno, Forward Thrust, Full Of Sass, Outside Edge, Celt Code and a few others not produced yet, will ensure a very good season this year. Throw in a bunch of yearlings that are about to turn two which are potentially the best I have had come through the place for a while and things are rely looking good for the next few seasons.

With a few older horses who should all have a win or two left in them to compliment the younger brigade, I am sure there will be more than the odd party or two at the Scouts Honour Bar this season. Good luck to all!

Season comes to an end

Races or the footy???

This Saturday marks the last metro meeting for this racing season. I don't have a runner on the day which means I can go along to the West Coast Eagles v Adelaide Crows footy match. It should be a ripper and hopefully we can come away with a win.

I'm no footy expert but I can certainly draw some parallel's between the job of a footy coach and the job of a horse trainer. We can both only work with the "cattle" that we have and try to do the best with them. There will be good seasons, great seasons and rebuilding seasons. There will be injuries to star performers, there will be disgruntled players (owners) who choose to leave the club and there will even be the odd dummy spit, or time spent running off the rails by some players (jockeys). A trainer/coach needs to be a friend, advisor, mentor, psychiatrist, assessor, decision maker, strategist, vet/doctor and more and that’s just during the week, let alone on race/game day!!! But when all is said and done I reckon both are pretty good jobs and both can be very rewarding. That’s why it's important to celebrate and enjoy our successes. Especially in racing where we all know that there will be more losses than wins.

Full Of Sass

Head down and bum up as Full Of Sass powers to the line.



She may be small and petite, but get in her way and she will show you who's boss. I like her style!

Mayonnaise

Very interesting Email sent to me by a close friend that tickles my fancy.

With special thanks to my daughter for transferring it from my email to this site. It is way beyond my capabilities.

Enjoy!!

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 cups of coffee.

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some
items in front of him. When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with an unanimous "yes."

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

"Now," said the professor as the laughter subsided, "I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things--your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favourite passions---and if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car. The sand is everything else---the small stuff. "If you put the sand into the jar first," he continued, "there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will never have room for the things that are important to you.

"Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your spouse out to dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal. Take care of the ! golf balls first---the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand."

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented. The professor smiled. "I'm glad you asked.It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend."

It's Amazing

What do times and margins mean?

I have always maintained that "form" really is a very simple science to follow. I don’t want to get off the track in this little piece but just to show how one can read to much into facts and figures (statistics), try this one for size.
If I said that a horse in a good Saturday class field, ran the fastest last 600m of the race and that the same horse was beaten only 2.5 lengths, you would have to say it was a pretty good run. Right? If I said a horse ran last in the same race but it was equally as big a run you would probably look at me sideways. Right? Well what if I said that they were one and the same horse?
That was the case yesterday with my horse King Of The Stalls. The reason being, the way the race was run. With no speed early and a sprint to the finish it made it near on impossible for back markers to get home. That is NOT bias! Maybe the run was a bit better than it looked?
What this does is back up my opinion that track BIAS on most W.A. tracks is a load of bull. Now I know this is sure to get me offside with all the form "experts" around the place but it wouldn't be the first time.
As far as I am concerned the biggest factor in deciding the outcome of a race (outside of ability of the horse of course) is the early pace or tempo of the race. This will have a bigger bearing than weight and barrier. There are a number of other things one can throw into the mix but as I said, PACE is the biggest factor. At Ascot, easterly or south west winds also have a huge bearing but usually in conjunction with pace.
My other runner Forward Thrust was found to be shin sore this morning and will go for an immediate spell. He is a horse to follow next preparation.

Thinking Man's Thought's

More one liners and proverbs to help keep you sane.

Behind every successful man is his woman.
Behind the fall of every successful man is usually another woman.
Be who you are and say what you feel: because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.
Being right is highly overrated. Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.
By the time a man realises that his father was right he has a son who thinks he is wrong.
By the time you learn the rules of life, you are too old to play the game.
Compromise: the art of dividing a cake so that everybody believes he or she has the biggest slice.
Crime has already been organised. Now its up to the police.

Re Spelling!!!

Just to prove how unimportant a spell check is, try this.

Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and the lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a tatol mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istef but the wrod as a wlohe!
It's esay wehn you get the hnag of it.
Who ndees slepl cchek?

Website reaches far and wide

Feed back regarding web site has been great.

It never ceases to amaze me as to just who reads this web site! I have had mates e-mail me from overseas and interstate to pass comment (some not so complimentary) regarding the site. I have even had people email me to pick me up on my spelling and grammatical mistakes. I take it all on board and I am very happy to receive feed back whether it is complimentary or otherwise.
Firstly let me say that as a two finger typist (I have progressed from one finger) most things related to electronics, key boards and computers in general are foreign to me. In all the mucking around trying to get this site up and running there have been more than the odd headache or two. The biggest one being that there is still no automatic spell check. That being the case there are going to be more than a few spelling mistakes and even the odd grammatical mistakes until we get that rectified. I never did set out to become a journalist. I'm finding it tough enough being a horse trainer!
All that aside I do enjoy the banter and feed back I receive and I'm always open to suggestions. I've been told where to go so often that I now look forward to the trip! I won't mention the recent recommendation I was given from a good friend in London. Although I do think it would have been good fun!!!!
While I'm here I'd like say hello to a great bloke and a very good friend in "Dr Toss." Some of you may know the good doctor from his Broome days a few years ago. The Doc is one of those guys who is always off saving the world somewhere. One day the jungles of South America, the next day Beijing or Shanghai. Doc keeps abreast of things on my web page and often emails to say hello.
Keep up the good work Doc!

Two runners at Belmont

Forward thrust and King Of The Stalls ready for second up runs.

Last start mid-week winner Forward Thrust has done well since his impressive first up win and we are now looking to take on Saturday company with him tomorrow.

Although I prefer to give my horses a bit more time between racing first and second up, this horse appears to have come ahead nicely and I am looking forward to the race. He appears to have a bright future and could become a handy three year old.
Stablemate King Of The Stalls is also racing second up but he is very much the opposite case as far as time between runs. He hasn't raced for nearly six weeks and I must admit to being very disappointed with his first up effort. The horse has shown plenty in his early wins and hopefully we can get him back to that form as soon as possible.

Full Of Sass

Good run continues at Belmont.

Waif like filly Full of Sass showed the benefit of a good barrier when she pushed her way of the fence and hit the line strongly at the end of yesterday's 1650m race for 2yo's.
The lightly raced filly was having only her third race start yesterday and was able to be ridden in a far more positive manner than she had been at her previous starts when drawing wide on each occasion. The filly has some very stout breeding on her dam's side, being very closely related to some quality fillies of a few seasons ago including Judyann and Goleen.
It was especially nice to train a winner for a couple of long time friends and drinking partners in Billy Biggs and John Sarich. Bill and I have decided that John Sarich is a bit of a lucky charm and will be included in as many future horses as possible. Since buying into his first galloper for a long time in Convenient Woman a few years ago, John has had a great run with Lemonade Dash and now Full of Sass.
Full of Sass will now have a break before a summer campaign.

Forward Thrust

Although nobody is owning up to giving him his name I am sure it will grow on us after another 4 or 5 wins!

"Diesel" shows his winning style at his race debut.

So who's a clever boy then dad?

Down the outside

Sheridize shows his winning style coming from back in the field.

"O.K. So you haven't been happy with me lately. Is this better?" appears to be what Sheradize is saying to himself with about 50m to go yesterday.

Just the beginning.

Guyno being led back to scale by two very happy ladies, Helen Court and Shirley Richardson
(Photo courtesy of Hollands Photographics)



After a very exciting race Guyno is led back to scale before a nervous few moments waiting on the result of a protest.
(Photo courtesy of Hollands Photographics)

Protest and speeches over. Now its the group photo then off to celebrate the win with a few bottles of Moet, a bottle of red or two and an odd amber ale!! I can feel another head ache coming on.

Guyno..........Way to go!

OK. So I'm not a Dockers fan.


Guyno bursts through the middle to win well at his second race start. (Photo courtesy of Hollands Photographics)

After an impressive debut effort, up and coming two years old gelding GUYNO showed that he had learnt a lot from his first race start with a brilliant win when racing second up in the Rosenthall Stakes at Belmont on Saturday June 10th.
The horse showed he has a very bright future by the way he hit the line and I am confident that we will not see the best of this horse until next season and even then, not till he gets up over 1600m and further.
The win was very well received by a jubilant and excited group of owners who celebrated the win long into the night. If this is an indication of things to come I had better put myself back into full training so that I can keep up with the pace set by the entire group on future occasions.