By Hans Ebert @hanseberthk
Still thinking of that absolutely devastating win by Winx in the Turnbull Stakes at Flemington yesterday? What we shouldn’t forget is just how privileged we are to have been able to see the long string of wins by this incredible mare and her partnership with Hughie Bowman and Chris Waller. It’s almost as good as having grown up with Beatlemania.
Winx – 21 in a row! pic.twitter.com/pnqb93MKgP — At The Races (@AtTheRaces) October 7, 2017
Congratulations to Winx on win 21 in a row in the Turnbull Your British public await!#RoyalAscot https://t.co/Oe5uD1VivQ — Ascot Racecourse (@Ascot) October 7, 2017
Jockey Balance 👌👊 Hugh Bowman training hard ahead of Turnbull Stakes day. #Winx pic.twitter.com/JkCs3Co494 — Vince Caligiuri (@Vinnycenzo_71) October 5, 2017
But horse racing can’t be a one mare show, so there’s also a need to applaud the superb efforts of riders like Stephen Baster and Mark Zahra, below, Damian Lane, Brenton Avdulla, Tye Angland, Kerrin McEvoy, Tim Clark, the amazing Jeff Lloyd, and those who often travel under the radar- Jamie Kah, Chris Caserta, Jason Collett etc.
Also recommended is watching an interview Edward Sadler of the HKJC conducted with the legendary South African rider Felix Coetzee about his career in Hong Kong, especially his very special relationship with the great Silent Witness.
As in music, there’s always a need to appreciate and understand the past and those who came before and set those benchmarks for others to reach and sometimes surpass.
Having said this, will we ever see anything on a racecourse as brilliant as Winx who has also done her part to introduce horse racing to all those who wouldn’t know a nudge from a wink?
One doubts it though the Imperious One behind The Everest race will disagree despite the event being universally shunned and dismissed as a gimmick of hula hoop and yo yo proportions.
Still, as has been hailed from Noddyland to The Land Of The Llamas by Daily Telegraph racing writer Raymond Thomas, this 12 part slot machine will benefit all of Sydney- the poor, the rich, the even richer, the slot machines, the bakers, the miners, the mynah birds, the homeless, The Bullring ringing hollow in the Deep South, the Sherpas, the richer than rich, the flying goon squads, and of course, the present and future of horse racing. There’s Winx and there’s a wank.
On firmer and more realistic terra firma, there’s racing at Sha Tin this afternoon with one topic of conversation still being Joao Moreira with some in the peanut gallery insisting that The Magic Man has lost his wand along with his mojo. That’s extremely tough to buy.
Joao Moreira loves to win just as he was born to ride. His ride on Dutch Windmill to win the first of a double at Happy Valley on Happy Thursday was a ten out of ten. IF he’s going through a “slump” by not regularly riding quartets and quintets and sextets it’s probably because he can no longer pick and choose what he wants to ride. Maybe he’s not the flavour of the day anymore with those who pay the bills?
Owners of horses, especially in the lower classes, want “odds”. Those days of wanting winners for “face” have been replaced by wanting “odds” if their horses have been prepared for a win. Joao Moreira riding them means taking what are well under the odds. For odds, they probably wanting The Poon Train aboard. But all this is guesswork, Sherlock.
Only Joao Moreira knows what’s going on and he seems pretty darn happy with life and family. We’d better stick to making our’s work just as well and enjoy this hobbyist pastime without it taking over our complete being and where the tail wags the dog.
This afternoon one doubts being able to offer up a $16,000 Treble for an outlay of $180 as we did last Thursday including one of the strangest betting drifts in a very long time when Pikachu went from its overnight odds of 13s to 20s to 40s before finally going off at 80 to 1. We’re not complaining.
As for today, the races where the short prices on offer for the favourites in races 5,6 and 8 should perhaps be tempered with caution, whereas though Fifty Fifty should win the last, leave out Lucky Dollar at your peril. It was absolutely flying at its last start at Happy Valley which was the perfect prep race for this afternoon.
Individual bets aside, there’s plenty of value if some of those favourites get rolled in the aforementioned races. There could be a cool million to collect by winning the Six Up Bonus.
*RACE 1
AMAZING STAR (7) A SHIN HOOF (9) IMPECCABLE FELLOW (3) LUCKY LUCKY (9)
RACE 2
After hearing Amigo Brett Davis mention that he couldn’t see “anything from the back that would take off”, Sweet Bean (6) popped or pooped out like the campfire scene from “Blazing Saddles”, but re-evaluating the race, anything could happen here. Anything.
RACE 3
MULTIGOGO (12) WISH COME TRUE (8) E MASTER (5) WIN BEAUTY WIN (7)
RACE 4
Apart from WINNINGLI (11) as a value chance, this race lost me at Hello.
RACE 5
ENDEARING (2) AMBITIOUS PINS (6) AUDACITY (13)
RACE 6
RATTAN (6)
RACE 7
SPICY KAKA (8)
RACE 8
MYTHICAL EMPEROR (8) HAIR TRIGGER (5) FANTASTIC EIGHT (3)
*RACE 9
WILLIE WAY (5) SUNNY WING (4) HIGH VOLATILITY (12) DIVINE BOY (2) GONNA RUN (3)
*RACE 10 FIFTY FIFTY (13) LUCKY DOLLAR (14) SUPER LIFELINE (7) SIMPLY INVINCIBLE (2)
* Betting races
SIX UP (1)
R5: 2 R6: 6 R7: 1-8 R8: 3-5-8-12 R9: 1-2-3-4-5-12 R10: 2-7-13-14
SIX UP (2)
R5: 2-6-10-12 R6: 2-4-5-6-9-10 R7: 1-8-9-12 R8: 3-8 R9: 2-3-5 R10: 13-14
PARTING SHOT
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