Hi Fans and Punters,
Another great week in our sport has concluded and there have been heaps of things happening and I have done my best to report stuff back to you.
I know everyone has chimed in about this subject, but Eagle Farm yesterday was diabolically bad. I don’t even know what diabolically means but I’m sure it applied to the track yesterday which hosted one of the feature meetings of the Brisbane Winter Carnival.
It had not rained for ages, no irrigation had been put on the track and grass in Queensland grows pretty well as a rule. And yet I switched on the new TVN channel 529 to watch the first race and there were clods the size of elephant’s feet flying through the air. The track was a heavy 8 which belied the results and some of our leading jocks described the course as the “worst I have ever ridden on.” No race broke 36 for the last 600 metres all day and the worst thing was how tough it seemed on the horses. They just seemed to labour all the way and the straight must have seemed a mile long for a lot of the poor buggers.
A good guide to how draining a track can be is usually in the margins between first and last in each race. The bigger the margin, the tougher the going is for a lot of runners. At Eagle Farce yesterday the margins between first and last for all races was: 10.2 lengths, 29.8, 28.6, 69.2, 86.4, 12.8, 27.1, 95.7. That is a total for the meeting of about 360 lengths between first and last over the whole 8 races. That is more than a kilometre between first and last on the day!!!! The track was churned up, the horses struggled, the riders were confused and it was not a good look for racing. Imagine what would happen if it rains??? And it usually does during the Carnival up there. So what do they do???
Clearly, they cannot run any further feature meetings at the Farm. The Sunshine Coast is just up the highway, is a big, open and fair track that offers every horse a chance. Surely the call has to be made sooner rather than later to take the rest of the Carnival up there instead of Eagle Farm. It would be a brave call but one which would be applauded by the industry.
Anyway, that’s my rant for the week. On a positive note, yesterday saw some great performances. Josh Parr and Tim Clark, the loveable brothers-in-law, rode a treat at Randwick as did the great legend Hugh Bowman who won yet another Group 1 on the much improved Clearly Innocent. What a horse he will be!!!
But the bloke who gets the Award this week is Nick Heywood. He is still an apprentice who claims, is only 21 years old and he is on fire.
During the last week, he has ridden a heap of winners starting with a double last Saturday at Rosehill aboard Hay Now and Quick Feet. He then went to Goulburn last Monday and won on Volpe. He was off to Canterbury on Wednesday and won aboard Speed Hero for the inform Jason Coyle.
And his week culminated yesterday in a stellar performance riding 5 winners at Newcastle, those being Bint Snitzel and Bull Market for the powerful Snowden stable, Fratellino and Hunter Caulfield for David Atkins and Paris for Me for Brett Partelle. What an effort from this young bloke.
Nick rides very well and will have no trouble with rides when he loses his claim. He has the backing of some big stables and all the good judges are “on him.”
Nick my brother, being from Wagga you would no doubt work up a thirst. I see you around the traps from time to time so on the next occasion we catch up, put your hand in your kick, pull out a lobster or two and buy me a beer.
Until next week this has been Tommy from Campbelltown…………………signing off.
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