MY MAMMA TOLD ME "THERE'LL BE DAYS LIKE THIS"!!!!

The words from one of my all time favourite singers VAN MORRISON, ring so true and are very sobering after a Saturday race day like yesterday's.

On Friday night I went to bed full of anticipation for what the next day held in store. With two odds on favourites in early markets along with two other genuine chances, it was hard not to expect to have a good day before heading off to watch the Eagles start off the season in great style. How quickly things can change.

On Saturday morning I was not as convinced that HIFALUTIN had recovered as well as I had thought she had from her big win at Bunbury only eleven days earlier. She looked an absolute good thing in her race however things just didn't seem 100%. For as long as I have trained and I guess for as long as I continue to I will always rely on "gut feel" to help make decisions in regards to my horses. This was simply another one of those times and the filly was withdrawn from yesterdays race. Not to worry I thought. I still had another live chance in the race with lightly raced filly GOPHER. At least AMELIA'S REASON was at his peak and ready to rumble so things were still fairly good.

GOPHER ran a top race at only her third race start so I was very confident as I headed to the trainers stand before race two. AMELIA'S REASON was looking good and was ready to explode. Unfortunately, that is exactly what he did but about one minute before he should have. The horse reared in the barriers getting both front legs over the top of the front gates of the barriers. The horse freed himself fairly quickly and after inspection, was past fit to race. History now shows that the horse galloped for about 800m only, before stopping badly in the straight. As the trainer of a beaten odds on favourite I can tell you that there is no feeling quite as dejecting.

On returning to the stalls after the race I was relieved to see that the horse had not done himself very much visible damage. The horse was taken home where he had some cold water hosing as well as ice applied to his legs. When I inspected the horse a few hours later he was stiff and sore and looking quite dejected. We treated the horse last night and although he is feeling a bit sorry for himself this morning, I am confident that we will still get to the KARRAKATTA PLATE with him. It is not the ideal thing to have happen only two weeks out from the grand final, however providing the horse stretches out freely over the next few days, we should still make it to the big event.

By the time I walked into the mounting yard for the second last race of the day, I was not quite sure what to expect. I had walked down with Fred Kersley and we were both discussing the fluctuating fortunes of training racehorses. As I walked back to the horse stalls after the race with my runner ST PIERRE showing that he is not ready to tackle a race as testing as the W.A.DERBY, the words of Van Morrison were ringing softly in my ears...... Mamma told me, there'll be days like this!!!!!
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When it's not always raining there'll be days like this
When there's no one complaining there'll be days like this
When everything falls into place like the flick of a switch
Well my mama told me there'll be days like this

When you don't need to worry there'll be days like this
When no one's in a hurry there'll be days like this
When you don't get betrayed by that old Judas kiss
Oh my mama told me there'll be days like this

When you don't need an answer there'll be days like this
When you don't meet a chancer there'll be days like this
When all the parts of the puzzle start to look like they fit
Then I must remember there'll be days like this

When everyone is up front and they're not playing tricks
When you don't have no freeloaders out to get their kicks
When it's nobody's business the way that you wanna live
I just have to remember there'll be days like this

When no one steps on my dreams there'll be days like this
When people understand what I mean there'll be days like this
When you ring out the changes of how everything is
Well my mama told me there'll be days like this

Oh my mama told me
There'll be days like this
Oh my mama told me
There'll be days like this
Oh my mama told me
There'll be days like this
Oh my mama told me
There'll be days like this