A REAL POPULAR WINNING HABIT

You would reckon Walshy had just won Lotto by the look on his face! His sister Denise looks pretty thrilled as well.



Willie Pike returns to scale not sure of what the photo has in store.



One look at the photo and it is "easy" to see we have won!!!



200m to go and it is any ones game. BLACK HABIT was just starting to dig in.


What was all the fuss about? Was there ever any doubt that this was BLACK HABIT'S day???The Walsh family and partners David and Jean Law line up for the photo shoot!

BLACK HABIT A GREAT HABIT

The win of consistent mare BLACK HABIT at Ascot yesterday was as sweet a victory as I have savoured for quite a while and one which brought a lot of enjoyment to a lot of people.

BLACK HABIT is owned by various members of the Walsh family who I have had a great and lasting association with for many many years. Yesterday just happened to be V&V Walsh day at the races with the family and their businesses in general sponsoring the whole meeting. When The Walsh family put on a party, they put on a party. The whole committee room was booked out and tables were filled with family and close friends.

The Walsh family have been sponsoring a meeting at the races for a number of years however this was the first time that one of their own gallopers was able to win on the day. Not only was it the first Saturday city winner for Peter for a while but also the first Saturday winner which Neal Henchie (Peter's brother in law) has ever been associated with. The celebrations went on long into the night as one would expect, not only because of the win but also the $17.00 win dividend proved to be very popular with all those assembled up stairs who stuck with the family horse.

BLACK HABIT has now won two of her last three starts however she has been racing for a while and will now be given a short let up before she is back for the Belmont winter season. There is no doubt that this mare appreciates the sting out of the track and with winter on our doorstep, it makes sense to have her racing during that time. She has been an unlucky mare on more than one occasion and yesterdays win was some compensation for a few that "got away."

I have no doubt that if this mare can enjoy more luck in her races in the future, there will be many more wins in store for her. She is more than capable of troubling the better company over the winter months.

ESTIARTE GETTING THE HANG OF THINGS

ESTIARTE hangs on to win at Ascot on Saturday aided by a rails run compliments of the great ride from Jason Whiting.



A very happy part owner Steffan Vahala leads ESTIARTE back to scale on Saturday.


Lightly raced galloper ESTIARTE has taken a few seasons of racing to mature both in body as well as mind but the wait has been worth while. His win at Ascot on Saturday showed the difference in the horses attitude between now and when I first took over training the horse some months ago.

I remember the first time we started the horse I thought he would win and the way he was travelling in running on the day made me even more confident. Unfortunately when the horse lost sight of the other runners when finishing quickly down the outside, he literally pulled up and refused to hit the line. On Saturday the horse also hit the front quite early in the straight however with the benefit of race experience and mental maturity, he was able to finish the race right off.

ESTIARTE is no champion however he has developed into a great money spinner for his enthusiastic group of owners who get quite "toey" every time the horse races. It is great to see and even better to witness the pleasure and excitement the horse brings to them all when he either wins or looks a winning chance. ESTIARTE still has a couple of restricted wins left in him before he needs to tackle the best company however the way he has been racing suggests that open company will not be beyond him.

PINJARRA PICS

IT'S BEEN A WHILE BUT SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGE. WE COMBINED TO WIN MANY RACES TOGETHER IN THE EIGHTIES AND NINETIES. HERE WE GO AGAIN IN 2009!


SMOKIN DRAGON wins with something in reserve at "Pini" on Thursday with "The Fish" on board.(No the horse isn't doing his preliminary!!)


MAROONED AGAIN was the second winner for the day. Both with "Fishy" on board and both winning with ease. I've won hundreds of races with those colours but this was the first one for some ten years or so. Hope we don't have to wait as long for the next one!!!

TWO OUT OF THREE AIN'T BAD!!

I have to say that I was more than happy with the performances of my runners at Pinjarra yesterday however I did drive home with the hit song by MEAT LOAF echoing in my ears. For those of you who are not MEAT LOAF fans (the singer I am referring to not the meal)I kept hearing the words to the song, "Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad" all the way home. I guess there is plenty of truth in that however I reckon three out of three would have been better!!!

We took three horses to Pinjarra yesterday, SMOKIN DRAGON making his debut, MAROONED AGAIN, having his first start for twelve months and ANDRETTI, having his second start in this state. I gave them all a very good chance of winning with a little bit of luck.

As it turned out, the first two won in very impressive style when racing first up while ANDRETTI went down in the last stride when racing second up over 1600m. I am not sure how good they all are however I am confident that the three of them have plenty of improvement in them.

It was great to win the first two races for long time stable clients. SMOKIN DRAGON is raced by the Yovich family who have been involved in the industry for many years and have been stable clients since the early nineties. MAROONED AGAIN is owned by Dallas Dempster who stood his sire Marooned for many years at his Tilden Park Stud. Dallas and I go back a long long time and it was great to win the race for him and even better to see him back out at the race track yesterday. I hope we can win many many more with yesterdays two winners.