TWO FOR ASCOT TODAY

Another easy day at Ascot today and with a little bit of luck we could have a bit of fun. NAMBEELA, a lightly raced 3yo starts in race two and LA COUREUSE starts in race four.

The way both horses performed last start and the way they have done since suggests that both are not without a chance today. LA COUREUSE will probably start a short priced favourite in her race however NAMBEELA is likely to be at generous double figure odds. I will be disappointed if the filly gets beaten however I will be over the moon if NAMBEELA can finish in the money. He is owned by an old character of the race track in one James "Stalk" Mathews and I would hate to think back when his last winner was. Hopefully we can give it a shake today!

Must hurry, I'm running late for my first runner.

ASCOT AND BUNBURY THIS WEEKEND

Today we head out to Ascot with two runners then tomorrow we head down to Bunbury where we have three runners. I could be looking for a drink by the end of the day tomorrow.

AMELIA'S STORM makes his race debut today in race one and although he meets a fairly good bunch of raced two year olds who have won or been placed in town, this little guy will not be out of place. He has improved since his trial however I feel he will be a lot better after this start and probably even better after we make him two stone lighter. He looks like developing into a nice horse for the syndicate.

In the second last race we step out the ever consistent KING OF THE STALLS. He bumps into an odds on favourite and in form horse called Hadabeclorka. Strange name but he can gallop. I am confident that my bloke will run the race of his life and give it a big shake.

We have three maidens heading to Bunbury tomorrow and hopefully they don't all come home as maidens. No real champions amongst them however they have all shown that they can gallop and none would surprise if they got the money. It will be a long hot weekend so the spa and the fridge look like getting a fair working over. Hopefully I can survive the heat and can get to see out a few more race days yet!!!! Especially over the next few months.

MY WORLD IS SO MUCH CLEARER NOW!!!!

I have finally found someone who shares my sense of humour. Well maybe not my sense of humour but someone who gets a kick out of similar things to myself.

Whilst traveling along in the car this morning, listening to one of my favourite radio stations 100.1FM, I heard the presenter Peter Newman make reference to my favourite comic strip in the morning paper. He was of course referring to my little mate GINGER MEGGS. I had already read the strip but what really got me was that according to Peter (and he would know being a former ABC presenter and an expert linguist) the little insert that I love so much in the comic strips is referred to as an APHORISM. Now those who know me would also know that the word is totally foreign to me as are most words with more than six letters. I couldn't help but have a quiet chuckle to myself and thinking that there is someone else out there who is an avid GINGER MEGGS fan.

A couple of APHORISMS from the past week to help you settle into your Australia Day weekend.


Life is a jigsaw puzzle without the picture on the box!!

and

The probability of someone watching you is proportional to the stupidity of your action.

HIFALUTIN IN BRILLIANT RETURN

Jason Whiting posses for the photo as he sits up on HIFALUTIN after a very impressive first up win at Ascot yesterday. (Photo courtesy Hollands Photographics.)

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Smart 3yo filly HIFALUTIN showed that she is a bit above average by the way she rounded up a quality mid-week field at Ascot yesterday. The filly had previously won two races at 1400m and I was a bit concerned that the 1000m of yesterday's race may have been to short for her. That is when her class took over and the filly showed that she could be quite outstanding this preparation.

HIFALUTIN will have one more run before the Champion Fillies Stakes in mid February and all going well she will be hard to beat in the big race. From a weedy first foal to a classy looking 3yo has been a slow but enjoyable journey with this filly and I hope she can keep up her brilliant strike rate for the rest of the campaign.

ANOTHER FAIRLY QUIET SATURDAY.

I am hoping that it is the lull before the storm. Well maybe not a storm but there should be a lot more promising runners from the stable ova the next few months and I am confident that some of them are capable of city success.

Today we head out with only the one runner in the first race, a nice filly called SHE'LL BE RIGHT. As the name suggests, the filly is by Right Wing who's stock appear as though they will be better suited over a bit of ground. This filly showed pace in her only trial and I feel she is capable of winning over a short trip. I'm not saying that it will be today but it is hard to pull out of a $50,000 maiden run across the road when we have drawn barrier two. The other option was to wait and travel to Bunbury next week for a similar race worth $9,500 and we may draw the outside barrier. All in all I am very happy with my filly and I am confident that she will improve heaps on what ever she does today.

This is our only runner on a fairly dull day but with the benefit of some experience, I am confident that it won't be long before SHE'LL BE RIGHT!

CROWN OF CAITLIN SHOWS HER STYLE

Not a bad way to make your race debut! CROWN OF CAITLIN with Jason Whiting up, cruises to the line at Ascot on Thursday to make a winning debut. The filly has the ability and temperament to achieve a lot more.(Photo courtesy Hollands Photographics.)

IT NEVER CEASES TO AMAZE ME.

No this isn't a whinge so settle down. I know I've said it before but it never ceases to amaze me just who actually logs onto this site. Over the past few weeks I have had comments and mail from a guy in New Zealand, a guy in Melbourne "Herbie", a guy in Pakistan and a young lady working at a stud down south.

"Herbie" from Melbourne made comment about GUYNO and how he had missed out on his Christmas turkey through having backed Guyno in the Cox Stakes. Herbie, make sure you back GUYNO every time he starts during the next twelve months. His next start is at Ascot on February 9th over 1800m. The young lady at Korilya Stud told me during the week that she enjoyed reading the site and found it a very easy site to navigate. It is always nice to receive comments even if they are not complimentary. I take all comments in a positive way and I am more than happy to receive input from others.

As I said a few articles ago, I expect to be fairly busy at the race track over the next few months so read the new postings carefully, always reading between the lines and you may just back the odd winner.

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Those who have followed my articles on this site know that I am an avid reader of the COFFEE BREAK COMICS AND BRAINTEASERS page in the morning paper. After all I am the resident champion SUDOKU player at this establishment. Apart from that, it is about the only page in the paper that makes sense to me. All that aside, I got a real kick out of the special comments in the GINGER MEGS column during the past week.

Wednesday: "Grand kids are the reward for not strangling your own kids."
Today: "All power corrupts but we need electricity." Love 'em!!!

CROWN OF CAITLIN HEADING FOR BETTER THINGS

On Thursday I stepped out the previously unraced 3yo filly CROWN OF CAITLIN in a 1400m maiden at Ascot. The filly arrived at my stables from Victoria about four or five months ago and from the very beginning she has been an easy filly to like. Not only is she a great type but she has a terrific temperament and ability as well.

When she arrived, her part owner, James Mcglew told me that the filly had trialled in Victoria and if possible could we produce her for a first up tilt in W.A. without another trial. I love a challenge nearly as much as I love to back a horse first up so here was the ideal scenario. Only thing we needed to find out was if the filly was good enough. Along the way the filly had continued to please and I was confident that we were on the right track for a first up tilt at Ascot on January 9th over 1000m. It wasn't until her final workout that I realised we may be making a mistake. The filly was working well however she just lacked the dash that I felt she would need for the sprint journey. The day before she was due to start I called the owner to tell him that I had had a change of heart and that we would be waiting another week for a race over 1400m.

I detected a bit of concern in the owners voice and it wasn't until he told me that none of the family had won past 1200m that I realised why. Not to be put off, James agreed to the change of plans and all was now in place. The filly once again worked in great style on the weekend and I was confident of a good result. After jumping from an inside gate the filly quickly took up a forward position and always looked the winner in running. When asked for an effort in the straight she responded well to the urgings from "The Fish" and went to the line to win strongly. The way she won suggests that there may be a few more nice wins in store for this filly in the future. The win proved to be a great result for those who count and very very satisfying.

What the whole episode did tell me is that it is still possible to prepare a horse to win a race and get on at good prices first up if everyone in the camp keeps there mouth shut and the horse is good enough. I have always believed and worked under the principle that the owner is entitled to at least one "FREE HIT" with a horse if it can be so worked. After that the horse is public property.

HOOF NOTE.
After the race whilst sharing a cold beer at the bar with my son Dion and the part owner James Mcglew, I pointed out a few very interesting details to my son. Dion had never before met James. I explained to Dion that when his grandparents came out from Italy in 1952, they spent their first four years in Australia working on the farm owned by James Mcglew's grandparents at Beverley. The property known as SEATON ROSS was owned by Charles Mcglew who was one of the early pioneers in the area. He went on to become well known in the sheep industry as well as becoming a past President of the Royal Agricultural Show. James still runs SEATON ROSS in his "spare time." It took a while for Dion to take in the whole picture and the span of generations involved. Some things are just meant to be!!!"

"A" TEAM NEARLY READY FOR THE AUTUMN

The quiet run is nearly over and during the next few weeks we will be stepping out some horses which should be followed throughout the Autumn. It has taken a little while to sort out a lot of the young horses in the stable and try to assess when and where they are placed to advantage. Hopefully we have got it right but the proof of the pudding is definitely in the eating in this caper!

Over the next few weeks we have some useful gallopers ready to step out and I am looking forward to their return. The list will be headlined by stable star GUYNO who looks the part after a short break. He will be followed by smart two year old AMELIA'S REASON who also resumes soon. They will be followed by some more than useful young horses like, BLESCAY, HIFALUTIN, LA COUREUSE, SCENIC SPREE, MOCASSIN BEND and SECRET VAULT. Throw in some smart unraced two and three year olds and the next few months is looking good. We may even have a nice raced horse join our stables for a tilt at the W.A. DERBY but more about him later.

If some of my horses reach the heights that i feel they are capable of reaching, it should be a great couple of months.

THREE RUNNERS TODAY

Another low key meeting at Ascot today and we will have three fairly low key runners on the day. We have WING STAR having her second start in race one, an 1100m race for 2yo's The filly raced first up last Saturday and this will be her last start before she has a good spell. I expect to see her run on a bit better today although I don't expect her to trouble the speedsters in the race. This filly will come back a more than useful filly when she gets up over a bit of ground.

SHASHTI will be having her second start on consecutive Saturdays mainly due to lack of suitable races. There is something wrong when the mare can gain starts in open class Saturday mares races and restricted Saturday races yet is an emergency when she gets nominated for races at mid week or provincial meetings of lower rating. She has been racing without luck.

Speaking of racing without luck, my last runner KING OF THE STALLS certainly falls into that category. Since winning over 1000m about six weeks ago, this horse has had nothing but bad luck, interference and bad rides ever since. If he can get away with a trouble free race and get ridden well, the horse is a genuine winning chance. I am not holding my breath or getting too optimistic. He certainly deserves to win another race and is capable of winning better races.

Happy punting!!

GETTING SICK AND TIRED OF PINJARRA FIASCO

I know I've said it before and no doubt I will say it again. This site is intended to be an informative site for my clients and anyone who cares to browse. It is NOT intended as a WHINGE site. That is until I see or read absolute crap!!!!

Whilst browsing the RWWA web site this afternoon I read with interest that the Pinjarra Cup which was to be run at Pinjarra on March 2nd over 2300m is now to be run at Ascot on March 24th over 2400m. Thanks guys. Thanks very bloody much. It just goes to show how little those involved with programming know about preparing horses for any race, let alone a $100,000 Listed race over a journey.

I have just brought my horse GUYNO back from the farm where he spent a week or so freshening up after the Cox Stakes. The reason he came back today is that he needed to run over 1800m at Ascot on February 9th to be ready for the original programming of the Pinjarra Cup. Had I been told earlier that the Cup was to be run at the end of March instead of the beginning, I could have programmed his races and career better.

All the programming issues aside, what really gets under my skin is why we are having all these problems with the Pinjarra track in the first place. I did make mention of this a good few months ago on this site and have received a very cold shoulder from those in charge ever since. What amazes me is that the redevelopment works which were carried out, were supposed to have been done in such a way that we would be back racing on the track by January this year. As I said on this site back in about mid September 2007..... that we had mine and Buckley's chance of doing so looking at the progress throughout the year. Every man and his dog who looked at the works at the time knew that the redevelopment was a complete and utter stuff up. Everyone except those in charge that is. Everyone except those on the Pinjarra Committee involved with the work through to those involved at RWWA who incidentally I believe oversaw the whole sorry affair and works at Pinjarra.

Well it just goes to show that perhaps they would all be better off doing what they do best and leaving race track redevelopment to those who know a bit about it. What any of them knew about race course redevelopment would collectively fit into a proverbial egg cup and that is where it should stay. I personally have had a guts full of the lack of answers forthcoming from our industry leaders about just why and who stuffed up. I can guarantee one thing for sure. Nobody will put their hand up to take the blame and nobody will be held responsible or taken to task over the stuff up. And that is the only way to describe the total fiasco which is the Pinjarra Race Track Redevelopment.

I know. It is just Louie having another whinge. Well if I didn't have my whole livelihood in an industry which appears to be run by so many incompetents; I wouldn't have to!!!! HAPPY NEW YEAR.

ANOTHER QUIET WEEKEND

We have not had a lot of runners of late and this weekend is no different. We will have only two runners or possibly three. Two year old filly WING STAR will make her race debut in a race where she will be just getting warmed up at the end. I have a fair bit of time for this filly however I think it will take 1600m before she even gets warm. As is the case with most of my two year olds, I like to give them a trial and or a start if possible before they go out for a spell and that is what we are doing with this filly. In twelve months time I expect her to be a leading Oaks contender.

LA COUREUSE makes her return to the racetrack tomorrow in what is a very competitive field. Most of her rivals have an edge in fitness on my filly and most are better suited at the 1200m than she is. I do expect her to improve greatly as we step up her distances so keep an eye on her. SHASHTI is an acceptor for a 1400m 0-86rating race however she may be reserved for an easier race at Ascot on Wednesday.