(Source: Cartoon A Day)

SLIPPER MIRRORS NSW RACING PROBLEMS

(Source: Cartoon Stock)

If the attendance figures at last Saturday’s Golden Slipper meeting are taken at face value then it merely confirms the mounting problems facing NSW racing.

(Source: Vidoons)

Forget the spin and hot air coming out of Racing NSW headquarters at Druitt Street. Forget the surge in yearling sales prices this week at the Inglis Easter sales. Forget the nauseating propaganda about prize money and how the Racing NSW tooth fairy is working its magic to make NSW racing a financial goldmine for the “50,000 participants” in our State.

(Source: SMH)

The racing landscape in NSW has changed. For the worse. It is well down the path of European and UK racing, where racing has lost its mainstream, egalitarian roots and become undisputedly ELITIST. In both the UK and France, racing has returned to becoming the playground of the elites, the haves, the privileged few. It’s like it used to be. And that is Racing’s mortal enemy.

(Source: German History Docs)

While the champagnes and cocktails keep swirling around glasses in the private boxes, committee rooms and corporate havens at the racetracks, and one-upmanship and” me too” conversations focus on the “I’ve bought a Fastnet too” or “ Mine cost an extra 300 large, because of its super pedigree”, racing is losing it existing constituency faster than a Japanese bullet train. It is fast becoming alien territory to the generation which it so desperately needs to maintain some semblance of relevance, be it little more than a charade.

(Source: Alien Territory)

A Slipper day with less than 20,000 clicks through the turnstiles is a nightmare for NSW racing. The weather is absolutely no excuse. Not for one of Sydney’s signature days of racing. Five Group Ones, the Golden Slipper and the BMW, races which every owner aspires to have their names inscribed on, it can hardly get any better than that. And yet, Melbourne can attract 80,000 plus on Derby or Cup day when the heavens open!

The difference is simple. In Melbourne racing is much more mainstream than Sydney. The spring racing carnival is promoted to the max. Melbourne is marketed and promoted as a racing town. The centre of Australia’s racing universe.

In Sydney all we read and gear about is racing politics, about legal challenges, about race clubs being starved financially unless they toe the party line, about how NSW racing is so disadvantaged by tax regimes and the lack of government handouts. From a public perception the message is clear: “we’re not as good as Melbourne”.

(Source: The Australian)

It’s a massive turn-off. Do you think Gen Y gives a fuck about prize money? About convoluted legal “wars” on product fees? About the spin each year on which oil Sheikh or local or international breeding and racing conglomerate can get bragging rights for multi million dollar yearlings?

(Source: My Confined Space)

The answer is there for all to see. Rome is dying while Nero fiddles. The ball is clearly in one man’s court – John “the messiah” Messara.

Properly exercised his position and power can make a difference. But it wont. Messara must forget the delusions of grandeur; of the centre of the racing universe shifting to NSW. He must make peace with the mortal enemy across the border in Victoria.

If the TVN farce is an example, then there is even a greater danger that Victorian racing will also be dragged down the gurgler.

(Source: Daily Telegraph)

NSW racing is fast tracking its disconnect with the community and the generations coming through. It needs a scorched earth approach with a radical makeover that would make today’s landscape completely unrecognizable. Otherwise it will go down the path of European and US racing.

(Source: Dreams Time)

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QUE?

(Source: Guardian)

We were sent a rather interesting email suggesting favoritism on our part, something called WEB and the huge $30m programing glitch by one of the computer syndicates working in Hong Kong- and taking a big bath on race 9 last weekend when their same tierce bet ended up on repeat.

A cover up by the HKJC? Of what?

(Source: Dangerous With A Pen)

What exactly happened was widely reported in all Chinese racing media and “Hats” Aitken and with the only conspiracy theorists coming from Oz and showing a naivety and an awful whiff of sour grapes in the air and the green eyed monster rearing its head like the man-eating plant in The Little Shop Of Horrors.

(Source: Brainless Tales)

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YOU’RE AN EMBARRASSMENT, BARRY O’FARRELL!

(Source: Daily Telegraph)

How embarrassing is it to have Barry O’Farrell as Premier of NSW??? His reported comments on Black Caviar in the Daily Telegraph clearly demonstrates that deep inside his cranium lurks a five star dickhead.

(Source: Flickr)

“The only thing better than a Black Caviar victory, is if Sydney becomes known as the place Black Caviar was beaten – and hopefully by a horse with Jimmy Cassidy on its back”, our dickhead, foot in the mouth Premier was quoted as telling the Daily Telegraph during the week.

(Source: This Little Thing Called Life)

Barry, you have again demonstrated how little politicians understand about the psyche of the community, and why they are so universally disliked and held in low esteem by the community.

To say that you are batting way above your average, making comments such the ones attributed to you, would be actually paying you a compliment, when in reality you probably never troubled the scorer.

Comparisons can be odious, but Barry, you are several light years removed from your Victorian counterpart Denis Napthine, who is both racing Minister and Premier.

Yet again it demonstrates another advantage the Vics have over New South Welsh men and women, when it comes to horse racing.

Where Napthine oozes a genuine passion and love for racing, and seizes every opportunity tom promote horse racing in Victoria, you, Barry are all froth and very little bubble when it comes to backing up your words with action in putting your hand in your wallet to support a financially strapped industry which contributes so much to your budget bottom line which has been under siege for so many years.

(Source: Funtoon T-Shirts)

Playing the interstate rivalry game just doesn’t gel any more Barry. It is what is holding the racing industry back.

But, to lower yourself to the gutter level, which seems to be choice du jour for many of NSW racing’s movers and shakers in the administrative elite, by willing Black Caviar’s defeat in our home State, is virgin ground for how low a politician, let alone a Premier can stoop.

Barry, in case you’ve been in a cryogenic state for the past few years, Black Caviar has been the best thing that has happened to racing, correction, make that any sport in Australia in the past few years.

While every mainstream sport in this country has been tainted beyond recognition by everything from drugs to match fixing and any other rort you could imagine, Black Caviar has single handedly shown how a true champion and hero/heroine can restore faith in the noble pursuit of pure excellence in sport and any form of endeavour.

For a racehorse to be undefeated in 24 starts is something very, very special. It is generational.

Extrapolate this rare achievement into any form of sport and it defies any comparison.

We, Barry, have been privileged to witness Black Caviar as racegoers and as members of the greater NSW electorate that you fucking well pander to every three or so years with your truckload of promises which you and your enemies across the floor in Parliament make and never deliver.

Like the greater majority of New South Welshmen and women, we will be willing Black Caviar home in our own backyard at Randwick.

We consider ourselves privileged to be able to have her in Sydney. We don’t get a toss whether she is from Victoria, or South Australia or Tasmania or the fucking Cook Islands for that matter. She is Australian and we are mighty proud of her.

(Source: The Irish Field)

If there is one positive Barry, your irrational rant will make us cheer her home even louder. And Barry, we don’t want our kids getting wind of your rant. We want them to aspire to excellence, not put it down. But then again since when have we looked up to a politician as a role model?

(Source: Politican Humor)

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IS THE TIMING RIGHT FOR TOMMY BERRY?

(Source: SCMP)

Tommy Berry is riding high. He is arguably one of the most improved jockeys in Sydney. His link up with Gai Waterhouse has opened doors that many other jockeys would covet. His ride to win the Slipper last Saturday on Overreach on a track resembling a motor way with lanes was brilliant. Tommy is on the way to joining the ranks of the top five in Sydney.

(Source: The Australian)

But, ask many, is he ready for Hong Kong? Riding in Hong Kong for the last three months of the season will be a challenge in itself. It has proven to be the toughest time in the long season.

Hong Kong boasts the best competition in the world in the riding ranks and that is no idle boast. Succeed in Hong Kong and you can succeed anywhere else.

Ride successfully against the genius that is Douglas Whyte, backed up by a stellar cast compromising Purton, Prebble, Mosse supported by the likes of Chadwick, Doleuze, Marwing and there is no looking back.

Tommy Berry has plenty going for him. His work ethic is outstanding and he is a level headed young man who plays by the rules.

He will need to adjust to the vagaries off-track where owners in particular like to wine and dine their jockeys and turn them into sir lunchalots, and also steel himself for regular “sprays” from the local, punters and the rabid Chinese racing press.

To be fair, Tommy Berry needs his three month licence to be extended to cover next season. He has the smarts and raw talent to make it to the top. He certainly deserves his shot at the big time and already being offered the key ride on Military Attacks augurs well.

(Source: Apple Daily)

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JOHN HAWKES GETS THE MILLLION DOLLAR THUMBS UP

(Source: Yumbanas Hoppe)

It was no surprise that John Hawkes will train the two most expensive yearlings from the Sydney Easter Sales this week. It was really a no brainer.

(Source: Thorough Bred News)

John Hawkes’ record as a stallion maker in Australia stands on its own. Octagonal, Lonhro, Commands, Strategic in recent times and with All Too Hard groomed to join these success stories no doubt swayed the owners of these two yearlings who fetched a combined $9 million.

It is a wise choice. Conservative as he may appear, John Hawkes has shown he is prepared to roll the dice with his horses and with stables at Rosehill and Flemington his horses are trained from an early age to get accustomed to the clockwise and anti-clockwise direction of galloping and travel the 600 or more kilometres each way between states by road which can the making of a horse’s temperament.