OVER 110 YEARS OF THOROUGHBRED HISTORY FINISHED ON 1 AUGUST AS THE NAMES “A BAILEY” AND “J B CUMMINGS” FAIL TO APPEAR IN FORM GUIDES ANY MORE

02/08/13

Tomorrow will be a strange Saturday in the history of Australian thoroughbred racing on two fronts. For the first time in over five decades the name Alan Bailey won’t be a snowflake’s chance in hell of appearing next to runners at Brisbane or the Gold Coast as he has decided not to renew his license. Down south, the name J.B. Cummings won’t be appearing in a Form Guide ever again after more than six decades. Now aged 85, Bart Cummings has taken his grandson James into a Racing New South Wales training partnership and the newly licensed partnership has their first runner tomorrow at Rosehill.

To most, neither of the two aforesaid facts will cause many people to bat an eyelid, but for Alan Bailey’s part he doesn’t need to ever be at trackwork or his stables and now Bart Cummings can stand back and smell the roses and let “the exuberance of youth” click in, as young James does his thing. “Unfortunately for the Cummings partnership, their sole Rosehill runner tomorrow Gliding has a) drawn barrier 16 of 16, b) hasn’t won a race for 21 months and c) is being ridden by Christian Reith who had an absolute shocker at the office last Saturday with dreadful rides aboard Dazzler and Burbero. I thought that Reith looked more like a 4-kilo bush apprentice on both horses than a fully-fledged jockey.

Alan Bailey was to me always a very fair man. At a race meeting he’d always have his wife June by his side and/or his main stable owner Ken McDonald and the trio was always immaculately dressed. Originating from the “old school”, that was the way you presented yourself at the races. There was no lairising in victory, little social interaction, just get the job done and get the hell out of there. And in the world of thoroughbred racing with all its hangers-on and duders, cheats, thieves and liars, blokes like Alan Bailey stand out like Ayres Rock.

From a personal viewpoint the name Alan Bailey will always hold a special place in my heart. About 15 years ago I approached him a few times to see if he had any arthritic horses that I could work on with a mixture I’d made up from my own knowledge of horses from growing up on a farm – along with bits and pieces of information I’d acquired from two elderly, now sadly departed horse people. Alan said he had no horses to work on originally, but one day at a QBBS sale at the Brisbane RNA we happened to meet in the same aisle inspecting yearlings. I again asked the question thinking I was wasting my time, but this day he said “Yeah, I’ve got a horse there. I think he’s buggered, but if you want to, you can work on him.” A couple of days later I was at Alan’s Gold Coast stables working on this gelding called Dashing Image. His form was ordinary – he was a light of other days, just as Alan had said. A couple of weeks after we started working on him, he improved dramatically and ran a place in town one Saturday at big odds, then a couple of months later he won the Listed Goldmarket at the Gold Coast in 2001. I had success with other stable runners and had improved many horses at stables all the way up the Queensland coast. Alan Bailey agreed to endorse the product for me but the National Registration Authority in Canberra which, as per its name, registers all such products said they wanted four vets to do field trials with 40 horses for 12 months and all this sort of rubbish which spelt the end of the project as it would have cost about $200,000 to play out their game, that’s after I’d found 40 arthritic horses that I could have from owners for 12 months. In short, the big vet companies can make pretty much any claim they like and get products through the system, but the little bloke is no hope. But a wonderful man named Alan Bailey will always hold special memories for me. He was “just a pleasure to do business with.”

Whilst Alan Bailey detested the spotlight on a racecourse, Bart Cummings was even worse in that regard. I’ve spoken to Bart several times in Brisbane when he’s come to the Winter Carnival and I also met his grandson James a few years ago when he was with his grandfather. Bart is a man of few words who would much prefer to sit in a corner by himself talking to nobody than to be engaged in conversation with others. James is from the younger generation and is well spoken and very confident, so the pair are certainly poles apart in many ways, but at the end of the day, “blood is thicker than water”, so they’ll get on just fine I’d think. In the race that’s called “life” – young James just has to keep his mouth shut and his ears open and you’d think he’d have to pick up some wonderful pointers that will help him immeasurably through the days when he eventually is literally the last one standing of the partnership.

So cumulatively over 110 years of thoroughbred racing history changes tomorrow when the names “A. Bailey” and “J.B. Cummings” no longer appear in Form Guides as a trainer in their own right (Alan Bailey 52 years, Bart Cummings 60 years). When you put it that way you get to understand the full gravity of the situation. Interesting also is the fact that they both men came into racing because their father was a racehorse trainer. It’s taken as read that Bart Cummings certainly won more Melbourne Cups than Alan Bailey did, albeit I fancy that Another Warrior which ran sixteenth in 2004 was Alan’s only Melbourne Cup runner.

Racing Queensland Handicapper Andrew Whitehead has sent the scaled weights through for Doomben tomorrow and they read: Race 1 + 2 kgs, Race 2 + 3.5 kgs, Race 3 + 6.5 kgs, Race 6 + 3 kgs and Race 8 + 2 kgs.

Brisbane Racing Club Track Manager Bill Shuck has advised the website late today that the Doomben track is a dead 5. Bill added that “with a good night tonight” he expects it “to get back to a dead 4 in the morning and I’m confident the track will race on the better side of dead tomorrow afternoon as it’s in good nick”.

The apprentice jockey weights for tomorrow should be:

JOCKEY

WEIGHT

Aidan Holt

55 claims 3 kgs.

Anthony Allen

50 claims 2 kgs.

Geoffrey Goold

54 claims 3 kgs.

Kirk Matheson

52.5 claims 2 kgs.

Alisha Taylor

51 claims 3 kgs.

Janette Johnson

53 claims 3 kgs.

Ashley Butler

53 claims 2 kgs.

 

Today on www.brisbaneracing.com.au I preview Doomben Race 1. On www.sydneyracing.com.au I preview Rosehill Race 2, whilst on www.melbourneracing.com.au Matt Nicholls looks at Moonee Valley.

There have been more interesting events in the New South Wales harness racing industry and after lunchtime today Reid Sanders, the Regulatory Manager for Harness Racing New South Wales (HRNSW) issued the following Media Release which in full reads:

In the week commencing 1 August 2011, Harness Racing New South Wales (HRNSW) became aware of allegations that one or more of its full-time stewards had allegedly been involved in corrupt activity, including accepting bribes from, inter alia, owners, trainers, licensed people and unlicensed people in exchange for assurances that particular horses would be excluded from drug testing in specific harness racing events.

On 8 August 2011, HRNSW initiated an investigation into those allegations (the investigation). HRNSW further referred the allegations to the New South Wales Police and at the time the Police conducted their own independent investigation, which has resulted in 5 persons being arrested and charged.

Subsequent to the criminal matters of Mr Michael Russo and Mr Paul O’Toole being finalised, HRNSW continued its investigation and the following actions have been taken.

Mr Glenn Hayward:

Was found guilty of a charge pursuant to Rule 190 (1),(2) & (4), in that as the registered trainer at the relevant time, he did present GOOD BOYS to race and win, Race 3, the Paceway Functions Centre Pace (1720 metres) at Penrith on Monday, 27 December 2010 not free of a prohibited substance.

Mr Hayward was disqualified for a period of 2 years, back dated to 2 October 2012, the date in which HRNSW suspended him under the provisions of Rule 183.

Furthermore, the Stewards disqualified GOOD BOYS as the winner of Race 3 at Penrith on 27 December 2010

Mr John Beynon:

Was found guilty of a charge pursuant to Rule 190 (1),(2) & (4), in that as the registered trainer at the relevant time, he did present MEVAGISSY MICKEY NZ to race and win, Race 7, the Allied Express Adelaide Pace (2140 metres) at Bankstown on 1 July 2011 not free of a prohibited substance.

Mr Beynon was disqualified for a period of 2 years, back dated to 2 October 2012, the date in which HRNSW suspended him under the provisions of Rule 183.

Furthermore the Stewards disqualified MEVAGISSY MICKEY NZ as the winner of Race 7 at Bankstown on 1 July 2011.

Mr Dwayne Sarina:

Was found guilty of a charge pursuant to Rule 190 (1),(2) & (4), in that as the registered trainer at the relevant time, he did present ARTS FLIGHT to race and win, Race 8, the Farmer Joes Chickens Pace (1609 metres) at Menangle on 31 August 2010 not free of a prohibited substance.

Mr Sarina was disqualified for a period of 2 years, back dated to 13 March 2013, the date in which HRNSW suspended him under the provisions of Rule 183.

Furthermore the Stewards disqualified ARTS FLIGHT as the winner of Race 8 at Menangle on 31 August 2010.

HRNSW has also issued charges against the following people and the decisions in relation to those charges are pending.

Mr Paul Russo

Mr Michael Siejka

Mr Alistar Copps

HRNSW has issued charges against Mr Peter and Mr Michael Russo, and both of these matters are still pending.

The investigation continues.

To view the full and detailed decision in the matters of

Mr Glenn Hayward please go toHERE

Mr John Beynon please go to: HERE

Mr Dwayne Sarina please go toHERE

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