The Cream of the Crop: Clarence the Clocker

Sure, the female and male equivalents are more articulate but hardly overwhelm his popularity or excellence in finding winners.

Arthur Davies, foaled in 1913 with a 25-year stint mainly on Saturday mornings with Channel Nine, deceased in 1984 after a knock-about career.

A creation of his era Clarence had varied occupations, including being what he described as “a defrocked milkman”: he watered the product but pleaded bad cows.

Always on the newspaper fringe he was a member of champion trainer Tommy Smith’s clocking staff. Frank Packer’s Channel Nine was looking for a racing character and Clarence was their man. He received the title from the Bing Crosby jingle which preceded his television appearance:

“The owner told Clarence The Clocker

“The Clocker told jockey McGee

“The jockey of course, passed it onto the horse

“And the horse told me”.

Perhaps lacking polish, more inclined to homespun humour, Clarence struck hot and often where it mattered.

“Come on girls, put down your mops and lift up your skirts, have I got a winner for you,” he would declare, ably associated by his off-sider Pam (Burling).

Apart from whimsy just what was the ingredient of his status? Clarence had a couple of strong contacts around the Smith stable, and sorted the wheat from the chaff when it came to listening to good judges, one being John Holloway, the former Sydney Turf Club director and present equine breeding aficionado.

But sitting down spending hours with the Sportsman, the best guide of the period, wasn’t his go. Clarence fancied himself as a ballroom dancer and was first on the floor with a partner, always younger, and rock’n’roll was his specialty.

Preceding Clarence, radio’s Clif Cary was the major influence with punters. Never seen at the races Cary intrigued listeners with his weights, times and measures theories.

Newspaper guides were good but nowhere near the modern-day assistance. Consider, too, race and barrier trial replays, now at your fingertips, were restricted to Channel Nine. Barrier trials were limited and covered by the “Midweeker” in print. Specialist services, mainly “Pictureform” were available but most horse players depended on Sportsman finish and furlong (200 metres out) photos.

However newspapers, even the ABC, had trackmen who clocked gallops that were published most days. Bob Jones, Joe Tauro and Mick O’Brien from Randwick were brilliant while Horrie Gollan and Ron Duggan featured at Rosehill, Bill Bell (Warwick Farm), with Val Harland, a giant at Broadmeadow.

Going back was easier for me to back a winner when Clarence reigned because fewer horses were at full throttle and easier to identify the goers from the woers. Currently big stables have mass representatives in races. Basically all are on the job. Maybe some are fitter than others but not held as formerly when jockeys were legged up to the chant of “give this a run”.

Currently the majority of trainers and jockeys are too well paid. Results come from prizemoney, not what once could be plucked from bookmakers by fair means or foul.

Statistics have superseded insider trading or stable mail, but there’s still a knack in interpretation. Writing in the British publication “Notebook” Rob Waterhouse, bookmaker and turf academic, related the tale of two horse players who received the “Holy Grail: the best prices of every runner in Australia on Saturdays … nothing in racing would be more coveted”. Of course it carried strong non-disclosure conditions.

One of the well-heeled punters backed the horse in the Sydney betting ring having the shortest odds but only if the odds reduced. “His thinking was that if this happened it proved the horse was a ‘trier’,” Waterhouse explained but the punter ignored the horse if the price was longer that the computer pre-assessed.

According to Waterhouse the strategy failed. The punter ended up bankrupt while the other player spread his betting around many organisations, and only supported fancies over the prescribed price. He triumphed. But they were more top end plungers, playing the numbers rather than the mail that influenced Clarence.

Undoubtedly now there are outstanding ground level services. Racing and Sports produce many insightful features, but on the figures front it’s assessing the ratings. Take, for instance, Winedot Michael. He savours the best world’s best plonk on Betsmart’s Dan O’Sullivan’s figures. I have been a recipient of both. For a Resches imbiber the fine wine is wasted on depleted taste buds. Old habits, too, die hard with the punt but O’Sullivan is a valuable second opinion.

Sky Channel, with worthies Greg Radley and Ron Dufficy, produce a top service, superior to the Clarence period in many ways if not the bottom line, while the involvement of Bruce McAvaney makes Channel Seven professional and worthwhile. Later on Seven, Lizzie Jelfs had a run with Sky Channel comparable with Clarence who would have swept her off her feet with the light fantastic if not the tip.

Alas he confronted hurdles. Once questioned about where a promising horse would finish Clarence quipped: “She’ll be further in front than Sabrina”. A voluptuous Brit-bred, Sabrina wasn’t built for speed but had outstanding features. Like those who judged the substance of milk, the Broadcasting Tribunal was not impressed.