HOLIDAY MODE

With all of the big races having been run and dusted, all except the Perth Cup that is, we have tended to slip into holiday mode a bit over the past week or so. That is not to suggest that the horses are being cared for any less, just that with not many starters of late we are able to get done a few things which we are to busy to do for the rest of the time.

We have all survived Christmas and the scorching few days which followed and apart from watching the first test from the MCG, things have been a bit quiet. We do have two runners in the second race at Ascot tomorrow with ESTIARTE and FAIREST AND BEST both starting over 1000m. Both horses have had slightly interrupted preparations with either niggling problems or lack of ideal races available however I am looking forward to seeing how they perform tomorrow. Neither are probably genuine 1000m horses however the way they race suggests that the distance may suit them this weekend.

We are taking a few horses to the trials on Monday and we are not far off getting a few of the young guns back up and firing. While we have been a bit quiet of late, things will really liven up around here from February onwards. The Autumn is a period I really love with young horses having a few months extra maturity on their side to help them cope better with the pressure of racing. The three year old classics including the Derby and the Oaks are races we tend to target but none more than the big two year old race the Karakkatta Plate.

While we will certainly be looking at those races this coming year, I feel we have some lightly raced young horses who are also likely to pick up a few races over the next six months. Meanwhile it is nose back to the grindstone and making sure that everything we hope to have happen over the next few months, we help to make happen with careful planning and programing.

All the best to everyone for the festive season and I hope you all have a happy and prosperous new year.

Good luck and happy punting.

NO PERTH CUP FOR GUYNO

Stable star GUYNO has been officially scratched from the Perth Cup and will not be taking his place. Instead the horse will be having a short freshen up after the Cox Stakes in which time we will look at a possible short Autumn campaign with him.

Guyno will have his last start for this campaign when he starts in the $200,000 CB COX Stakes on Wednesday at Ascot and I will monitor him closely over the next week or two before we decide on his immediate future. While on the subject of the COX Stakes being run on Wednesday...... can anyone give me one good logical reason why? I know I am fairly old fashion or maybe I have just been around for a fair while and can still recall when the race was always run on Boxing day along with the Derby and the Karrakatta Plate.

Over the years, Boxing day has lost its gloss as a popular city race day but what on earth was wrong with running the COX next Saturday, December 22nd when it would give the Kingston Town Classic horses more time to get over their runs and would provide an ideal final hit out for Cup horses over the more suitable distance of 2400m. Why the race is run at a lowly mid week meeting where the attendances are poor and the punters are not yet officially into holiday mode is one of those quirky programming anomalies which has me baffled. I would love it if someone could actually give me the reason if there is one! Either way it is not going to effect me greatly as we are not heading to the Cup and my horse has done a treat since his race last weekend.

PERTH CUP WEIGHTS.

As we was always going to be the case, GUYNO has received top weight of 58.0kg for the 2008 Perth Cup. Having been in constant discussion with the handicapper, I was always aware of this although his weight did go up a kilo after running second in the Kingston Town Classic on Saturday. When I spoke to the handicapper on Friday he explained that to me and again on Monday morning He told me where my horse is at. As the horses scratching will not affect the other weights and as I had not had confirmation from the owners that we would not run in the Cup, I was compelled to have him weighted in the field.

History shows that in the past sixteen years, no horse has won the cup with more than 54.5kg. In the same period, only three horses have won another race after winning the Cup. History is very very hard to argue with and for that reason GUYNO will not run in the Cup. We will run in the COX STAKES next Wednesday and then have a let up. Depending on how he does after the race, we may look at a run or two in the East in the Autumn.

At this stage the long range plans are for him to get to Melbourne in the Spring to tackle the Caulfield Cup.

NOTHING WRONG WITH SECOND PLACE.

GUYNO ran the race of his life yesterday to fail by half a length to win his second group one race. The horse covered a bit of extra ground after being caught three deep for a good part of the race but in reality this probably suited the horse. GUYNO settled back in the field and continued to make ground throughout.

GUYNO got onto the back of eventual winner MEGATIC at about the thousand metre mark and followed him the whole way. At the end of the day it was the pure guts and determination of Megatic which won the race for him plus the huge pull in the weights of 6.5kg. My horse ran the race of his life and had to settle for second place on this occasion. I am confident that as we step up in distance he will prove even harder to beat.

At this stage Guyno will have his next start in the CB COX Stakes before having a short break. I am not keen for him to run in the Perth Cup however the final decision will rest with the owners. The horse will be asked to carry 58.0kg which I feel is asking way to much of the horse at this stage of his career.

Th Cox Stakes has a winning stake of $122,000 so it is nothing to be sneezed at. With the owners of the horse pocketing $100,000 yesterday, it is not hard to see why GUYNO is such a popular little horse.

LATEST EMAIL TO TICKLE MY FANCY

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As I have said in the past; There are some emails that really tickle my fancy. This is one of them! Hope you enjoy.





The Bathtub Test

During a visit to the mental asylum, a visitor asked the Director how do
you determine whether or not a patient should be institutionalized.

'Well,' said the Director, 'we fill up a bathtub, then we offer a
teaspoon, a teacup and a bucket to the patient and ask him or her to empty
the bathtub.'

'Oh, I understand,' said the visitor. 'A normal person would use the
bucket because it's bigger than the spoon or the teacup.'

'No.' said the Director, 'A normal person would pull the plug. Do you want
a bed near the window?'


ARE YOU GOING TO PASS THIS ON, OR DO YOU WANT THE BED NEXT TO MINE ?

ALL EYES ON KINGSTON TOWN CLASSIC

Today sees the running of the WFA championship for W.A. and what a great field we have assembled for the race. This field boasts what is one of the best fields put together in this state for a long time and what a race it is proving to be. We take stable star GUYNO to the races to compete in what should be an absolute blockbuster.

GUYNO has done everything asked of him so far this preparation and although today's race is still a bit short of what is his ideal distance, he is set to run the race of his life and with any luck is capable of winning his second group one race. There are some of the states best galloper contesting this race today and in my opinion, it is far from a one or two horse race.
The three year olds throw another dimension into the race, and could prove to be the hardest for GUYNO to beat. All going well we will head to the CB COX STAKES next start with GUYNO and that is likely to be his last start for this campaign. I am not keen to run the horse in the Perth Cup which would prove to be a bit of a gut buster for him.

We have two other runners for the day, both at double figure odds and with average luck they are both capable of finishing in the money. ESTIARTE in race five and SHASHTI in race six are both in races where they have drawn well and have both improved on their last start efforts.

All three runners are in black type races which are never easy to win. If we can pull one of these races off it will make the Christmas turkey that much sweeter!!

FRUSTRATING DAY AT THE TRACK

It sure can be a frustrating game this racing caper. Last weekend we took our biggest team for many years to the races and on form and what they were showing at home, all runners had a real chance to finish in the money. Probably ROYALE HARVEST was the only one which looked a bit out of her depth.

My two year old filly SCENIC SPREE, ran a mighty race in the first in a race not run to suit. Had there been plenty of pace on as you would expect in a 1000m two year old race, I have no doubt that she would have been hard to beat. FAIREST AND BEST ran a top race in the next, a race which always looked to short for him. He will improve when we step him out over a bit further.

OUTSIDE EDGE disappointed in the third however he has pulled up with soreness in his heals which would have effected his performance. Hopefully we can get him right quickly as I was hoping to run him in the Perth Cup. He will not continue along that path if he is not 100% by the time he is due to run again next weekend.

KING OF THE STALLS, who won well the previous weekend looked a big chance to repeat the performance and I was happy with how he was travelling before the corner. Although the winner won well in the end, I have no doubt my horse was going to let down with his usual dash when he pulled out at the top of the straight and would have finished in the money. That was until he was nearly put on the deck by what the Stewards have deemed a "racing incident" with no rider to blame. Amazing! The favourite is stopped in his tracks 250m from the finish and nearly comes to grief and nobody is to blame. I hope we are not heading back to the style of riding we saw earlier this year.

Four down, two to go with the next one SALE TOPPER looking a real chance on his latest form. Wrong. Barrier one looked like an ideal barrier for this little horse but the slow pace soon wiped out that advantage then interference took care of the rest. At the end of the day we didn't have a place getter amongst our runners yet some very nice runs amongst them.

I can only hope that there are no more races (or very few) run during the carnival which are decided by the amount of interference that other runners in the race may suffer due to "a racing incident". There appears to be this perception by our stewards in this state that if a horse has received interference from more than one runner that it is a racing incident. No rider could be blamed. What a bloody joke! I say what it actually means is that there was more than one rider not keeping their horse straight. That being the case, punish ALL those involved. Then we may finally see riders taking all due care in a race instead of knowing that they can avoid punishment because they are only partly to blame!!!

ROYALE HARVEST FOR THE PADDOCK

Quality mare ROYALE HARVEST has been forced to the paddock for reasons which seem quite bizarre. The mare who has amassed nearly $240,000 and who has finished in the first three in more than 50% of her starts is the victim of her own consistency and poor race conditions.

Without blowing my own bag, I reckon I have placed this mare to perfection throughout her career to help win the most stake money for her loyal group of owners The Amelia Park Syndicate. Unfortunately, all that good placement counts for nothing when it comes to carnival time and the conditions of some of the races programmed during that time.

ROYALE HARVEST is probably one of the better mares currently racing in W.A. Unfortunately she is not quite up to the best open class sprinters racing during the carnival especially when she has to meet some quality horses on nearly equal weights because of the compressed nature of the weighting in these races. A classic example was this years Hannans Handicap. When she is nominated for mares races she is given top weight of 59.0kg or 60.0kg a weight she finds it very hard to win with.

That's all well and good in the normal run of the mill mares races throughout the year but even when it comes to the few quality mares races over the carnival with black type attached to them, she is still burdened with top weight of 58.0kg. This seems quite ridiculous that when it comes to the best races, the whole series bar one race are run under handicap conditions. That race is the LA TRICE CLASSIC run over 1800m, a distance which suits so few horses.

Surely it is time if those in charge are serious about running a series of quality mares races during the summer carnival, that they structure the conditions of the races to give the better mares racing a chance to be competitive in them instead of weighting them out of contention. All this does is give some lesser light mares the chance to earn some black type whilst forcing the better mares like ROYALE HARVEST East or to the paddock.

After looking at the options available with this mare I have decided that the best opportunity for her to earn more stake money as well as hopefully gaining some more black type along the way is in races like the Hyperion Stakes, Easter Handicap, Belmont Sprint etc.
The other option with her is to send her East however by the time she has a well deserved spell and then gets fit again, all the black type mares races have already been run in Victoria. Those races are run at set weights with penalties where the better mares are not weighted out of the listed and group races.

I know Rome wasn't built in a day and that slowly but surely, those in charge are doing their best to improve our racing. Hopefully we do not see many (any) more carnivals go by before we see this anomaly in the race conditions changed for the better.