A WEEKLY REVIEW: The Good The Bad The Ugly

The magic toe of Jamie Humphreys working wonders for the Mighty Rabbits against St George last Saturday couldn’t overshadow the luminaries of Ladies Day at Rosehill Gardens and Caulfield where Pride Of Jenni, regarded as washed up, produced the speed and sparkle, that again promises to fire up the autumn.

A seven-year-old mare, Pride Of Jenni is the Horse Of The Season but dipped out bleeding, a sorry sight last November but under the handling of Craig Newitt produced her dominating front-running rhythm in the Peter Young Stakes.

Dabbling with topliners in such a delicate situation was courageous for a trainer and Ciaron Maher is congratulated.

Again Chris Waller showed his domination with fillies at Rosehill. Yes, Lady Shenandoah received the kudos for Rosehill Coolmore Classic triumph for an outstanding effort by filly and jockey James McDonald but apart from the result it had nothing on Lady Of Camelot, beaten only a half-length in the minor placing under the most strenuous circumstances.

Lady Of Camelot, prepared by Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, was also responsible for a rare achievement with stablemate, the bubbling, frothing Vauban in the Sky High Stakes.

Never has a horse looked so hot and bothered before a race as Vauban but the astute eye of Chantelle Buckley, the Sky Racing presenter, did not allow viewers to lose hope regarding the French-bred, even when he “relieved himself”, in her words, at the barrier.

Those who backed him felt the gelding would evaporate and float away if there was a delay at the start but Buckley could see deeper than the sweat.

For the second Saturday Waterhouse, obviously with considerable assistance from Bott, has worked wonders with the imports. A week earlier they notched a double at Royal Randwick: Royal Patronage, another French bred, and Alalcance (Great Britain) at their first starts after a spell.

Vauban, too, was resuming over 2000 metres and had never raced below 2100 metres previously in 21 attempts under the management of Willie Mullens, regarded as one of the world’s great horsemen.

Also the Tulloch Lodge bone-and-muscle worked overtime with Lady Of Camelot, wide throughout to the degree race broadcaster Darren Flindell described it as “working her backside off”. The tempo was so torrid Punters Intelligence noted she sizzled “19 lengths faster” than the Phar Lap, another sprint for three-year-olds on the same program over the 1500 metres.

Lady Shenandoah is exceptional but had J-Mac not produced a pearl from an awkward gate, 11, if he blinked at the wrong time, she gets beaten by Firestorm.

Alas J-Mac and Harlem Queen in the Quayclean Handicap qualified, with the Rosehill track conditions, in the bad category.

With Lady Shenandoah, Harlem Queen was rated one of the best bets at Rosehill and never looked likely, ending up third. Stewards reported J-Mac commenced to place Harlem Queen “under pressure from the 600 metres and near the 500 metres and the filly momentarily lost it action and was inclined to lay out which prompted him to look down.”

On straightening the filly recovered and was placed under full pressure. The incident cost Harlem Queen the race. J-Mac felt something was amiss yet there was no veterinary follow-up reported.

Surprising, too, that despite heatwave conditions the Rosehill rails section was a no-go area.

Excessive watering?

It will be argued that few if any horses were inconvenienced by the final slow to good ground. So why did Harlem Queen come unstuck? She was out wide.

Perhaps it’s a matter of taste but some found trainers in Melbourne and major Saturday provincials down there as ugly wearing shorts in the member’s enclosure on hot days.

Peter Moody, for one, was spotted at Caulfield on Saturday garbed more for the Gold Coast, flashing his knees. Being a Queenslander no doubt a close eye will be kept on him because, if the trend continues, thongs, those worn above the ankle, could come into play.

Reports indicate Mick Price, a Victorian, in shorts is a regular before a race toiling with owners and jockeys and was that Neville Begg’s boy, Graham, spotted adorned similarly at Caulfield to Moody?

Currently Sydney is sticking to something like the traditional dress, some flexibility with coats, but once members had to suffer like Vauban in the heat.

Dr Geoff Chapman, a Group one winning trainer, refused to wear at coat for health reasons as the temperature soared into the Randwick enclosure and gave riding instructions to jockeys over the fence.