All kinds of stuff about horse racing, yes, but also other stuff that we find interesting and which maybe you will, too.
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Yes, he Cam.
The wizardry of the Rawillered.
Some think it’s genetic. Others think it’s how their minds are wired. We put it down to being Rawillered.
In the past couple of weeks, we have seen the Gnasher rewrite the Big Book Of Race Riding by going really out there, man, to create winning opportunities not normally seen on a racetrack.
Not to be outdone, son Campbell produced a ride at Oakbank on Easter Monday aboard the Ryan Balfour trained Plympton that had the kinda wizardry one expects from Harry Potter.
He took Plympton way out wide before bringing him back with the rest of the runners and then confusing everyone by repeating the tactic...and still being able to win the race from out wide where the going was best even on Saturday.
It was a surreal piece of very smart race riding that had been thought through and assessed by the young rider who we remember being a very astute judge when growing up in Hong Kong and when the Gnasher was riding there.
One doubts a brilliant tactical ride like this will not be seen again for a very very long time.
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Those who became members of the Macau Jockey Club when it first opened its doors in the Nineties would remember Charles Leck, who won the Trainers title over there three times before returning to Singapore.
He was an astute trainer who placed his runners extremely well and formed a formidable team with jockey Colin Dean.
It was Colin, the leading jockey at Taipa at the time, who talked some of us to purchase the smallest horse racing in Macau and called Welcome in what was then a Portuguese enclave.
Small or not, Welcome, a HK$75,000 purchase, strung together twelve wins including being the first winner in Macau for newly arrived Craig Robertson.
That’s all in the past now, but it was good to see the team of Charles and Clyde Leck, the apprentice jockey indentured to his father, doing so well in Malaysia with the former having returned to training after a seven year break.
On Easter Sunday at Sungei Besi, the Lecks combined to win FIVE races at the Selangor Turf Club, a fantastic achievement anywhere. Watch this partnership go from strength to strength and congrats to Chief Steward Fin Powrie for initiating this apprentice scheme.
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Ever think about popular and hard working Italian Jockey Alberto Sanna once in a while?
From time to time, we do, especially his somewhat abrupt departure from Hong Kong a few years ago without so much as a Ciao to those who did much to make him and his family feel at home in the city.
Maybe being unceremoniously dumped by the Hong Kong Jockey Club after a somewhat ill-judged ride aboard Dances With Dragon was something he couldn’t take.
What we’ve always found interesting is that the Peter Ho trained galloper was immediately moved to the stable of Caspar Fownes right after the Sanna saga where the galloper won three consecutive races.
Surely this says more than the punishment meted out only to Jockey Alberto Sanna?
Over the years, there have been reports of Sanna sightings here, there and everywhere and who is said to be riding for several sheikhs of Araby while doing very well for himself.
Last week we watched the man from Sardinia ride at Hoppegarten where his rather unique style of riding was easy to spot.
Riding the favourite in one particular race, dear old Alberto threw everything at his galloper to get him home that the horse veered in sharply and very nearly sent another rider through the fence. And no, he didn’t win the race. He came second. But that appetite to win at all costs is still very much there.
We wish him only the very best though his radio silence after leaving Hong Kong has had many wondering about the sincerity of his “friendships” with some of us.
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SHORT CUTS
Uh oh. THAT video taken at the Crown Metropol after the running of the Golden Slipper around four years ago featuring a number of leading jockeys partying hard with ladies from Paramour in various stages of undress is making the rounds again...Has the association between Trainer Douglas Whyte and his former apprentice Jerry Chau run its course?....Could the same question be asked about the one-time Size-Moreira juggernaut? We can’t put our finger on it, but something just doesn’t seem hunky dory. We can’t also help but wonder if the Magic Man is thinking about a three month stint in Japan sooner rather than later. Hmmmmm...
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And he came out of it floating like a butterfly...
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All that sustained money run for a couple of days on Hameron that saw the Chris Waller trained galloper backed from $5 to $1.55 went pfffff when upstaged by, well, Main Stage.
Not even the brilliance of J-Mac could do anything to instil much oomph
to a plodding run by Hameron whereas Rachel King stole the show on the Gwenda Maxwell runner.