PETE THE PROFILER MAKES WINNING RETURN.

Lightly raced three year old PETE THE PROFILER, made his long awaited return to the race track at Northam on Sunday and what a brilliant return it was. PETE THE PROFILER had only had one previous life time start and he had shown plenty in his work leading up to Sundays win. In fact I had told his connections that I would be surprised and disappointed had he not performed as he did.

The horse is by Fimiston, a sire who's stock I have not handled prior to this horse and he has proven to be a very late maturing horse. In saying that he looks more like a very seasoned for or five year old on body type however he has been very soft and has had continual shin soreness problems.

Hopefully his shin soreness problems are well behind him and he is able to stay up for a few runs this campaign.I am confident that if he does he is capable of winning in better than just Northam maiden company.

RACING RETURNS TO BELMONT

We have been through a long, tiring and taxing season of summer racing at our premiere track Ascot but as from this weekend the focus will shift to our winter racing circuit, the spacious Belmont Park. Belmont Park looked magnificent when I inspected the surface at the trials last week and I am looking forward to getting on to the fresh surface with my young horses.

Strangely enough, I don't look like having a runner this weekend with most of my horses being still a week or two away from making a race course appearance. Without huge numbers it is difficult to have consistent runners week in and week out however a few quiet weeks won't hurt anyone. At the moment I have plenty to keep me busy with a stable full of mainly unraced young horses and on top of that we are in the process of getting all of this seasons yearlings broken in and educated.

This season will be particularly difficult for getting the yearlings broken in and educated as my main man Joe Byrne has been stuck with a full stable of horses destined for the Malaysian market, which he can't shift because of some problems at their end. Until the overseas authorities relax the movement of horses Joe is unable to do much breaking in.

Hopefully over the next few weeks I will be able to get a good few broken in and educated so that we are ready for the new season two year olds. There is something special about the babies and watching them learn what is expected of them as they go through their paces. Especially when we turn over one that can really run!!!

ASCOT TRACK FOR SATURDAY????

Firstly let me say that I believe the team who work on preparing the track for races at Ascot week in week out do a marvelous job. Apart from the usual wear and tear there is the unseasonal weather which can play havoc. I am fairly confident in saying that no track anywhere around the country cop the racing week in and week out that Ascot and Belmont do. On top of that Ascot has been forced to carry extra meetings this season because of the stuff ups at Pinjarra. If you have read any of my previous post you will know that one of my pet hates is the CONTINUING Pinjarra saga. In saying that I am not here to talk about Pinjarra as such but the Pinjarra meeting held at Ascot yesterday.

Yesterday morning we received over 30mm of rain prior to the race meeting. The race meeting was run on the six metre pad which was probably the best pad considering the previous meetings had been run on the 3m, 3m, true, 15m and true positions. This Saturdays meeting is also due to be conducted on the 6m pad which was used yesterday. It is fair to say that tomorrow's meeting will be getting "second bite" at what should have been a great surface.

This naturally leads me to ask.... Why the bloody hell are our Saturday class horses including our up and coming young horses competing in the Sires Produce Stakes, running on what has to be an inferior surface after we have run a full race meeting on the same pad yesterday? Why couldn't yesterday's Pinjarra meeting have been held out on the 15m pad where the last one was held? Why should those horses get first use at the best pad!

Call this a whinge or call it an elitist attitude or call it what you like. Yes I do have a runner in the Sires Produce and even if I didn't I still can't get my head around why we are not saving the best pad for the best horses? Just doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

AMELIA'S REASON DRAWS WIDE.....AGAIN!!!!

AMELIA'S REASON, who will be one of the favourites in Saturday's Sires Produce Stakes, has again drawn a wide barrier in what is a very good field and a difficult race to win. Nine of the fifteen nominations started in the recent Karrakatta Plate and two of the other runners are last start winners, making this a very even and tough race with the two year olds stepping up to 1400m for the first time.

AMELIA'S REASON will be having his fifth lifetime start and once again he has drawn an awkward barrier. The horse drew the outside barrier 10/10 at his first start in a race, then drew 9/11 when he won the Magic Millions Stakes at his second start. The horse then drew 6/7 when he got tangled up in the barrier before drawing 14/15 in the Karrakatta Plate. This weekend he has drawn 13/15 but hopefully he may come in a couple with scratchings.

Wide barriers at the 1400m start have traditionally been an impossible hurdle to overcome so there is no doubt that the horse has the job ahead of him. I am happy with where he is at as the horse prepares for what is likely to be his last start for this preparation. The horse has been in work for quite a long time considering he had his first trial in mid October last year followed by his first race start at the end of October. He has basically only had freshen ups between races since then however he is probably in the best condition of his short career right at the moment.

Unlike the two weeks leading up to the Karrakatta Plate where we were doing our best to get him to the races after he injured himself the start before, the past two weeks have been fairly incident free and a lot easier for the horse to deal with. I expect the race to be a very good guide to the future for most of these horses and it is very rare that a poor quality horse wins the Sires Produce. I can only hope that my horse is good enough and goes on to reach the heights of one of my previous Sires winners, HARDRADA. Here's hoping!

KING READY TO RUMBLE

One of the stables favourite horses KING OF THE STALLS makes a return to the race track today after having had a bit of a freshen up down at Amelia Park Farm. The horse has been a problem child in all but his first ever preparations since coming over from South Australia as a three year old. In saying that he has won some races in sensational fashion and he has become far more battle hardened in recent years.

For a horse who can race forward or back and can run home solidly the last 600m it is a complete mystery to me and all associated with him just why he wont go a yard at Belmont. The horse has had about eight starts at Belmont over the years and in some of those races he has started favourite. On a couple of those occasions I felt he was close to a good thing yet the horse has struggled to beat a horse home in any of his Belmont starts. What makes it worse is I have absolutely no idea why!

The horse has had a long history of feet problems however I feel that we have them the best they have been since he first arrived over here. Providing his head is also in the same zone I reckon he still has a good few wins in him as he is a very sound horse in every other way. In fact I cant recal ever puting a bandage or poultice on the horse apart from treating his feet. The farriers have been working closely with my vet to help settle his feet problems and hopefully we will soon see some positive results with him.

He may not be the stable star however I dont think that there is a horse here who is more loved or admired simply because he is a tryer and has such a great nature. If you hear a loud scream coming from the trainers stand at around 4:36pm today, that will be his stapper EMMA, doing her best to cheer him home!

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES!!!!!!!!!!!!

Last Saturday morning about 9.30am I donned my rain coat and boots and headed off in the steady rain to inspect the condition of the Ascot track before the afternoons races. It didn't take me very long to work out that there was a real chance of the races being called off. By the time I inspected the 1200m chute I had already made up my mind. The further I went around the track, the less likely it became that any races would be held. There was so much surface water laying around that I figured it would be Monday at the very earliest that the meeting would be held.

It came as no shock to hear during the morning that the races had been postponed however I was a bit stunned that Perth Racing had decided to run the meeting the next day. Fairly ambitious to say the least I felt. Why not wait till Monday and race on a slow to dead track instead of racing on Sunday on what would surely be a heavy track with the real chance of the track not standing up to the traffic of a nine event card?

The next morning the rain had cleared however with no wind about and quit high humidity in the air, I decided to head off and check out the track once again. Once again I have to say that I was stunned. The track was firm with no surface water to be seen anywhere. The crossings were boggy however they were being dug out and replaced as I was on my way home. I was at home when the first race was run just after mid day and I couldn't believe the time for the race. What was rated a slow track was soon upgraded to dead and I think possibly even good by later in the day.

I have to say that I have never seen anything like it before. Never have I seen so much water laying on a track and then 24hours later the same track have a full race meeting held on it and barely a mark left on the track. It really does say something about the drainage of the new Ascot surface and suggests that racing on the track in winter may not be as silly as we all thought it would be. Top marks to Perth Racing, The Curators and the designers.

My only question mark is this. How can a track have a penetrometer reading of 6.1 in the middle of a hot summer with strong Easterly winds yet have a reading of 6.3 only hours after 80 to 100mm of rain have fallen on it with no wind and humid conditions? I don't know the answer and I am not having a go at anyone but I do think we have a problem with either our penetrometer or our readings on a dry track.

Hope we can work it out.

AMELIA'S REASON FOR SIRES

Smart two year old AMELIA'S REASON has come through his gutsy Karrakatta Plate run in great style and we will now take him through to the Sires Produce Stakes on April 19th. AMELIA'S REASON ran the race of his life on Saturday when running 4th in the big race for two year olds and I an confident that with more luck in the straight the horse would have taken a lot of beating. Paul King who rode the horse made one comment when he returned to scale. "He should have won!"

I said on this site on Saturday morning that I have had mixed luck in the race over the years and I felt that AMELIA'S REASON would take a power of beating. Some things just never change! I was happy with where Paul settled the horse early in the race as I knew he would find the line strongly. Unfortunately there was just a bit to much traffic to get through in the straight and I have to agree with Paul's comments that with clear running, I think we would have made it interesting.

I am not going to dwell on that race any longer but simply move on and look forward to the next race. The winner of the race on Sunday BRAVA FORTUNE, was well ridden and well prepared for the race and will again take a power of beating should it start in the Sires Produce Stakes. Hopefully we can draw a better barrier next time and have a few more things go our way. Either way it will be the last start for my horse for this campaign and he will then have a good spell at Amelia Park for the rest of April and May, right through till mid June.

HUGE DAY AT ASCOT THIS WEEKEND

All the preliminaries are over. All the excuses have been made and all the ifs and maybes have been contemplated. Tomorrow its time for the state's best two year olds to head to the barrier and put it all on the line. I was going to say go to the barrier to do battle however that is one thing none of us want to see. Me personally; I just want to see a great race with minimal interference. Most of all I would like to see a race run where the victor wins on its merits and the beaten brigade have not been denied a fair chance by over zealous or careless riding.

The race brings together what certainly looks like the best two year old field ever assembled so far this season. The right run, a clever ride and a brave heart by both horse and rider are going to be the main ingredients for success. There will be no time to make a wrong move as I can see the winner breaking 1:10 tomorrow.

Tomorrow sees the running of the richest race for two year olds in this state, the KARRAKATTA PLATE. I have been there before with favourites and long shots. I've won the race twice before and I can honestly say that I should have won at least five Karrakatta's. Daring Hombre was a good thing beaten as was Hardrada. The barrier and ride beat BUSINESS BEAT. Others were simply over the top on the day.

Tomorrow I go to the races with a horse who I believe to be the equal of any of my previous runners and better than both of my two winners. That is where I see him at the same stage anyway. That is not to say that the tomorrow's opposition are also a good bit better than what my two winners defeated in their races. AMELIA'S REASON has had two sensational victories but let his backers down last start when playing up in the barriers prior to the race. The horse took a few days to get over the barrier scare however his work since suggests that he is back to his old self. That being the case I wouldn't want to be taking any other runner to the races tomorrow for this years Karrakatta Plate.

In the race prior to the Karrakatta Plate we have HIFALUTIN taking on the big boys at W.F.A. This will be no easy assignment for this gutsy filly with the likes of Marasco and Scenic Blast both set to dominate the race. The race is run at HIFALUTIN'S pet distance and I am confident that she will not disgrace herself. I will assess her performance tomorrow before we decide on exactly which way we will go with her from here on. She may have a spell or she may just have an easy couple of weeks before we set her for Belmont feature races.

All in all it is a big day out at the track tomorrow with the running of the W.A. DERBY also on the card and plenty of strong support races as well. If I can win one race tomorrow I will come home a very happy man. Two and you may not see me for a few days!!!!!! C ya.