Good fare … Rowley Mile winner Keepin’ The Dream returns to scale on Saturday for Peter Wells. Photo: Simon Alekna
Mundane Sydney Saturdays were given new life by Hawkesbury at the weekend. Scone promises to follow in the same vein on May 14. Sure, the recent metropolitans, despite appalling weather, produced top racing – but generally the off-peak Saturdays disappoint in field sizes and quality, with racegoers dwindling. Hawkesbury produced eight acceptable races on Saturday, all with eight starters or more, and an official attendance of 10,465. Sure, the listed events deserved the limelight but what about the Richmond Club Stayers Final over 2250 metres, a top betting medium? While the call is out for ”game-changers” in the industry, Hawkesbury has thrived on administrators with strong racing backgrounds – the late chairman Ted McCabe and Brian Fletcher, the long-time CEO. James Heddo, from Gosford, continues to try new ideas, and did his early training with the Sydney Turf Club. No doubt the Australian Turf Club, rippling with new-age businessmen, is still in its infancy, but recent turf vitality is out of town.
WE’RE IN LUCK
Luck, a coming television series, promises to be a winner. Produced and written by David Milch, the creator of Deadwood, which runs the quinella with Power Without Glory as the best TV series I’ve seen. It should be a real interest spinner for racing. Dustin Hoffman bobbed up in the previews, and a central figure is a trainer lined by misfortune but with the glint of a coup in his eye. Organised crime gets a mention, and the only disappointment is Ian McShane (Deadwood) didn’t get a mount. The action shots are graphic, particularly a jockey bouncing off the dirt. And the bedroom scene while only getting out of the barriers? Wow.
WIDE OF MARK
Former champion jockey Roy Higgins compared the recent ”brain snap” of Shane Scriven at Ipswich with one of his few lapses and that of Scobie Breasley, who dropped his hands on Chanak in the 1947 Caulfield Guineas. Higgins did something similar handling Hyperno in the Moonee Valley Cup more than 30 years ago. While I wouldn’t usually disagree with ”the Professor”, he and Breasley were guilty of concentration lapses. Scriven, in snatching a whip from an apprentice, was trying too hard to win, similar to Mel Schumacher’s leg pull in the 1961 AJC Derby. Enthusiasm to get a mount home is commendable, particularly in Queensland at present, but in the Schumacher and Scriven cases it was dangerous. We won’t kick Scriven when he’s down but allow the appeals process to decide what is an appropriate penalty.
FORT RAID
Paul Messara, with his Arrowfield connection, has a stable bristling with the progeny of Redoute’s Choice and other bluebloods so it was surprising to see him score with Chateau Fort in the Gunsynd Classic at Eagle Farm on Saturday. Chateau Fort is by Kempinsky, which hardly features on top of the highest-priced yearling lists, and was bred by Messara’s grandfather, Maurice. ”I didn’t expect to see the best of him today,” he said after the triumph. Chateau Fort hit the line like a classic prospect.
FEISTY TYPE
”Tough little mare, very aggressive,” Lisa Cropp, now topped in a similar shade to that of the PM, quipped regarding Shylock’s Daughter, her winner at Caulfield on Saturday. Many would agree it was an apt description of the jockey.
CLASS WINS OUT
Saturday’s telecasts took me back to the bad old days before TVN with wall-to-wall racing on Sky Channel. TVN gave the usual professional coverage of Caulfield but the Sky Channel service had meetings galore. Now I concede there is interest in Seymour and Newcastle, which are entitled to a service, but fortunately for those who want to savour the feature program, TVN is there for no extra slug. Anyway John Baddock of Bathurst emailed his opinion on the racing media talent: ”Outstanding media writers/commentators: Ron Dufficy, Deane Lester, Bruce McAvaney, Bruce Clark, Caroline Searcy, Andrew Bensley. Very good: Steve Moran, Shane Templeton, Craig Young, Wayne Harris, Simon Marshall, Sam Hyland, Jason Richardson. Acquired taste: Richard Callander.
HORSE TO FOLLOW
Peck looked a three-year-old of considerable staying promise when fifth, beaten 2.4 lengths, in the Rowley Mile at Hawkesbury on Saturday, given a masterful, beneficial ride by the veteran Rod Quinn.
DISAPPOINTING
Vivid Vixen, the $1.85 favourite, was second but never looked like winning the Zaidee’s Rainbow Foundation Cup at Caulfield on Saturday.