GUYNO THE FORGOTTEN HORSE.

Don't be surprised if forgotten galloper GUYNO shakes the life out of the PERTH CUP tomorrow. At least that is the message I am getting from the horse on the eve of the big race.

GUYNO has been flying under the radar a fair bit since his return to W.A. after an unsuccessful Victorian campaign. The horse is fit, sound and healthy which are three very important ingredients in any race let alone the 2400m Perth Cup. On face value GUNYO'S performance in the CB COX STAKES was a bit below par however the horse has come through the race in great style and has continued to improve. This week I have been very happy to see the old glint in his eyes.

The Perth Cup looks set to be run in very hot dry conditions which tends to suit horses racing on the pace more than horses which settle back in the field. In saying that there appears to be a number of gallopers in the race which prefer to race right on the speed which can help set the race up for the swoopers. If that is the case I will not be surprised to see GUYNO hitting the line stronger than anything else in the race.

THE FUZZ and BALLACK look the two to beat in tomorrow's race and plenty of respect should be paid to a number of other runners however if given the chance to saddle up any runner in the Cup tomorrow I have no doubt that I would pick GUYNO.

Earlier in the afternoon we saddle up last weekends place getter, PETE THE PROFILER. If he can handle the heat and the extra hype of Perth Cup Day, he should once again run a very bold race.

A VERY HAPPY PART OWNER.

Everyone loves a winner but when the winner is a horse which you own and it wins at Ascot, the feeling is hard to compare. A very happy part owner James McGlew leads CROWN OF CAITLIN back to scale after Saturdays win.

CAITLIN STRETCHES OUT IN STYLE

CROWN OF CAITLIN sprints away from her rivals in what was a very promising win at Ascot last Saturday. Jason Whiting went along for the ride.

THIS ONE FROM A GOOD FRIEND IN IRELAND

SOMETHING TO MAKE THE OLDIES SMILE!!!!!(Thanks Gillian)

BRAN FLAKES:

The couple were 85 years old and had been married for sixty years. Though they were far from rich, they managed to get by because they watched their pennies.


Though not young, they were both in very good health, largely due to the wife's insistence on healthy foods and exercise for the last decade.
One day, their good health didn't help when they went on a rare vacation and their plane crashed, sending them off to Heaven.


They reached the pearly gates, and St.. Peter escorted them inside. He took them to a beautiful mansion, furnished in gold and fine silks, with a fully stocked kitchen and a waterfall in the master bath. A maid could be seen hanging their favorite clothes in the closet.
They gasped in astonishment when he said, 'Welcome to Heaven. This will be your home now.'

The old man asked Peter how much all this was going to cost. 'Why, nothing,' Peter replied, 'remember, this is your reward in Heaven..'
The old man looked out the window and right there he saw a championship golf course, finer and more beautiful than any ever built on Earth..
'What are the greens fees?,' grumbled the old man.
'This is heaven,' St. Peter replied. 'You can play for free, every day.'


Next they went to the clubhouse and saw the lavish buffet lunch, with every imaginable cuisine laid out before them, from seafood to steaks to exotic deserts, free flowing beverages.
'Don't even ask,' said St. Peter to the man. This is Heaven, it is all free for you to enjoy.'
The old man looked around and glanced nervously at his wife.
'Well, where are the low fat and low cholesterol foods and the decaffeinated tea?,' he asked.
That's the best part,' St. Peter replied. 'You can eat and drink as much as you like of whatever you like and you will never get fat or sick.
This is Heaven!'

The old man pushed, 'No gym to work out at?'
'Not unless you want to,' was the answer.
'No testing my sugar or blood pressure or....'
'Never again. All you do here is enjoy yourself.'

The old man glared at his wife and said, 'You and your f....ing bran Flakes. We could have been here ten years ago!'

CROWN OF CAITLIN FIRST UP AGAIN

Smart mare CROWN OF CAITLIN showed by her first up win yesterday that she has quite a bright future as a racehorse if we can keep her trouble free. The mare came to my stables from the eastern states many months ago however yesterday was only her fourth start for me.

During the time she has been here the mare has had a number of setbacks including soundness and viral issues. Her owners have been patient and a lot of credit for her win yesterday must go to the staff who have put in extra hours with the mare to keep her trouble free. The win was her second for me, both being first up and both being over 1400m. We went to the races yesterday confident that the mare was ready to run the race of her life if she could get through the race unscathed.

The race was run with some genuine pace in it from the start which allowed CROWN OF CAITLIN to settle just off the speed. Her good turn of foot enabled her to sprint hard at the line in the straight. The mare has come through the race in good style and we will look for a similar race in a couple of weeks for her next start.

GUYNO DRAWS THE OUTSIDE IN CUP

In what has been a somewhat frustrating campaign for my honest little galloper GUYNO, this mornings barrier draw seemed to be the latest in a series of "bad luck" events. In the thirteen horse field, GUYNO has drawn the outside barrier making his task just that little bit harder...... but not impossible! The only saving grace is that I have nobody else to blame for the bad draw as I selected the gate myself.

GUYNO raced for the first time since the 2008 Melbourne Cup when he resumed with what could best be described as a fair run in the C B Cox Stakes on December 17th. He made some late ground however he never sprinted to the line as hard as we have seen him do so in the past. That race was run at WFA and he does meet most of his rivals a good bit better at the weights in the Cup.

During the past week I have seen a nice turn around in the horses attitude and if he keeps heading in this direction I am confident that he will be as close to his top as I can have him coming off the gruelling two miles of the Melbourne Cup. GUYNO has been enjoying some beach work and bush work over the past few weeks and all in all he appears to be happy and trouble free.

His wide barrier was certainly not what I was hoping for in a race which I can see being run at a genuine pace. There are a number of front running types in the race along with a few others who like to race right on the speed. This should make for a very even tempo throughout and now it is up to his rider Jason Whiting to weave his magic and give the horse a soft trouble free run. If he does I believe we are in the race with the right weight and with conditions to suit. I can only hope that the sea breeze is in by Cup time as the bureau is forecasting a scorcher.

GUYNO will be having his last start for this campaign when he runs in the Cup before he heads to the paddock for a well earned spell.

GUYNO AND ST PIERRE FOR ASCOT TODAY

The afternoon at Ascot today looks like being a fairly quiet affair with small fields the order of the day in the early part of the afternoon. We head out with two runners and both will be in the second half of the day with ST PIERRE in race seven and GUYNO in race eight.

ST PIERRE again gets his chance to win his first race in Australia after having run a number of placings since he arrived earlier this year. We have learnt a lot about the horse this campaign and I am confident that whatever he does today he will improve on even further at his next campaign. He is a typical N.Z. bred horse who has taken a bit of time to get the hang of racing in Australia as well as taking a bit of time to fully mature.

GUYNO is another horse typical of the N.Z. bred type who has taken a long time to reach full maturity. He makes his return to the race track today after running a brave race in the Melbourne Cup. I am sure he will derive a lot of benefit from today's race and I am looking forward to the 2009 Perth Cup with him.

CEEDEX LOOKS GOOD

After looking to have no hope 400m out and only a rough chance at the 100m mark, CEEDEX sprouted wings at the very end to get up and win in impressive style at Ascot on Monday. Jason Whiting had the mount. (Photo courtesy Hollands Photographics)

CEEDEX AT LAST

Consistent young performer CEEDEX broke through for an overdue win when successful at Ascot earlier today. The lightly raced son of EXCEED AND EXCEL has been in good form of late running close up to the winner at his last three starts and being unlucky on a few occasions.

The horse has put in some barnstorming efforts of late and today was his first try at the 1400m. He is built like a 1000m horse and his sire has thrown the winners of a few short course races however this little guy will not be at his best until he gets to 1400-1600m. Even in today's race the horse appeared to be travelling like the winner a long way from home however he came off the bit before the corner and looked gone for all money with 200m left to travel. That is when he switched on and really powered to the line.

We will now look to keep CEEDEX in races over the distance of today's race for his next run or two before he is given a short spell. This horse is a half brother to former top class mare ROYALE HARVEST and if he is anything like her the best is still to come with him. ROYALE HARVEST was a slow maturing type and CEEDEX appears to have very similar traits. If he can win as many races as her I will be very happy with him.

GUYNO TO RUN IN COX

My tough little stayer GUYNO appears to be happy and bright since returning to my stables and everything appears to be on target for him to make a return to the race track in Wednesday weeks C.B. COX STAKES.

GUYNO spent nearly two weeks being trained out of a paddock while enjoying a bit of country air and relaxing lifestyle after his gallant Melbourne Cup run and the thought has always been there to have a tilt at the 2009 Perth Cup. I have wanted to see how he freshened up and to gauge his mental and physical condition before making any set plans with him. The horse came home from Melbourne looking as though he had just started a campaign however it is another matter completely trying to assess their state of mind after such a gruelling event.

I would have to say that to get most horses back up would be near on impossible however this guy has the constitution of an alley cat and such a relaxed nature that it is difficult to tell when he is asleep and when he is awake. At this stage we will run in the Cox Stakes and then reassess after that race. He would need to show me that he wants to be out there and then pull up sound for us to warrant running him in the Perth Cup. If not he can go to the paddock and then have another crack in the Autumn or early Winter.

The weights for the Perth Cup were released today and it was nice to see that he has been handicapped on form and not on the hype of past glories. The reality is that this horse has not won a race since early October 2007 when he won a six horse race in the York Handicap at Ascot. He has remained consistent ever since but has failed to bring home the bacon. I am sure that he will tell us exactly what and how much he is ready to do over the next few weeks.

HERE WE GO AGAIN....AND AGAIN AND AGAIN!!!

The wonders of modern technology. Here I was enjoying a lazy Sunday afternoon in the garden when I received a text message on my mobile courtesy of our friends at RWWA which read.... "The race meeting scheduled for Bunbury today has been abandoned due to the unsafe condition of the track." Marvelous invention the sms messaging service!

I was quickly on my mobile to the staff at Amelia Park to ensure all my horses had survived the storm or flood or whatever other inclement weather had caused the abandoning of a race meeting only 40km away. The staff thought I had been drinking or had gotten too much sun whilst out in the garden. No rain. No wind. Just a picture perfect summers day. Not a cloud in the sky.

So how and why is a race meeting called off due to the condition of the track? And more to the point, what made the track deteriorate between 8.00am this morning when the track rating was given as good 3 on all TAB outlets and the time the owners, jockeys, horses and staff had travelled over 200km to get there some four hours later???

Earlier this year we had the same situation at York. Sprinklers were blamed. Then we had it at Northam. Beetle's were blamed. That is after a couple of years of Pinjarra. No one took the blame there. Now we have more of the same at Bunbury. I wonder who is to blame this time?

A couple of weeks ago I am told that one of our leading race day commentators Wes Cameron, made comment on radio, that he felt the condition of the Bunbury track the previous day was such that he could envisage a meeting or two being missed because of it. How can a guy who does race day comments foresee these problems but nobody in charge can?

After the York debacle earlier this year I had a long and somewhat heated argument with the Chairman of Stewards Mr John Zucal regarding the way the industry participants continually have it stuck up them by these provincial clubs. John actually agreed with me and gave me and the industry an assurance that this would never happen again. Well I hate to say it but the more we are told that things will change; the more they seem to stay the same! I think there was a movie some years ago that summed up this situation fairly well. I think the name had something to do with HOGS!!! The producer could have saved himself a lot of money and simply filmed a couple of days in the life of a provincial racing club.

I wait with baited breath for the next episode.

PETE THE PROFILER IS BACK

Lightly raced but very promising galloper PETE THE PROFILER will make his return to the race track at Ascot on Saturday. PETE THE PROFILER has been a very slow maturer and had many bouts of shin soreness before he made it to the race track. He showed during his last preparation that he is a bit above average when he won three in a row at Northam and Belmont before he lost form at his next couple of starts.

The horse appears to be doing everything in good style again and I am sure that we will once again have a good time with him this campaign. I am not sure just what level he will get to but if he can live up to what he has shown in the past I am confident he will more than measure up to Saturday company.

On Saturday he bumps into another very promising and undefeated galloper in Tudor Lad from the Ross Price stable and the way he has been racing would suggest that he will take a power of beating. He has the edge in fitness on us this weekend however I am sure we will run a nice race and be improved by the outing.

We start off the day with two runners in the 1200m 3yo handicap. I don't often run two horses against each other and both of my runners were entered to run at Pinjarra today. After looking at the final field I decided that we should have a crack at Saturdays race instead of going to Pinjarra as the field did not look up to the usual Saturday standard. We can head back to Pinjarra at any time for a maiden however $50,000 races like this one are hard to pass up running in if the horse has any chance at all. Both of my runners ran nice races last start and neither would surprise if they finished in the money.

A CHRISTMAS STORY

A Christmas Story for people having a bad day:

When four of Santa's elves got sick, the trainee elves did not produce toys as fast as the regular ones, and Santa began to feel the Pre-Christmas pressure.

Then Mrs Claus told Santa her Mother was coming to visit, which stressed Santa even more.

When he went to harness the reindeer, he found that three of them were about to give birth and two others had jumped the fence and were out, Heaven knows where.

Then when he began to load the sleigh, one of the floorboards cracked, the toy bag fell to the ground and all the toys were scattered.

Frustrated, Santa went in the house for a cup of apple cider and a shot of rum.. When he went to the cupboard, he discovered the elves had drank all the cider and hidden the liquor. In his frustration, he accidentally dropped the cider jug, and it broke into hundreds of little glass pieces all over the kitchen floor. He went to get the broom and found the mice had eaten all the straw off the end of the broom.

Just then the doorbell rang, and irritated Santa marched to the door, yanked it open, and there stood a little angel with a great big Christmas tree.


The angel said very cheerfully, 'Merry Christmas, Santa. Isn't this a lovely day? I have a beautiful tree for you. Where would you like me to stick it?'


And so began the tradition of the little angel on top of the Christmas tree.