CLIVE ALLCOCK

SOME RACING IDEAS CAN BE CHALLENGED- PERHAPS!

As the Golden Slipper looms, I always reflect with some fond nostalgia on the origins of the race. I was privileged to work with George Ryder, the founder of the race, named by his wife Dorothy.

I was one of three to deliver a eulogy at his funeral. George, in my view but shared by many, was one of the great racing administrators. Think support for barrier stalls, setting up the Sydney Turf Club, and Rosehill and many other racing features.

Perhaps one of his best products is forgotten. Often these days with multiple syndication members and owners, George wanted to involve as many as possible in ownership and with limits of six in ownership of a horse he conceived of the idea to create a company to race many horses but with shares available to multiple owners at easy cost.

For various reason I ended up as one of the directors and racing mangers of what was originally called Australian /Racing and Breeding Stables but later, after business dealings, became Doncaster Custodian.

There were many successful years of racing before a run of not so good horse would have necessitated more payment from current shareholders, many of whom were old or even on pensions, and the decision was made to wind the company up and return a dividend to participants.

But his race, the Golden Slipper was always one George wanted to win. In 1981 the company’s beautifully named Food for Love (Lunchtime from Current Affair) ran second at 40/1 after winning the Magic Night on the Monday before when rain moved the meeting on from Saturday. And then in 1986, when favourite, Imperial Barron recovered from a bump early in the event to finish third beaten only half a length.

George was a great person to work with, real gentleman with whom you could have disagreements/discussions and decide one way or another with good will. Which brings me to one area we sometimes disagreed on.

George was the traditional horseman and where possible and sensible wanted to get weight off the horse with a claiming apprentice. I was heavily into ratings in those days but had formed the view that weight is overrated as a factor especially in shorter races.

On one occasion, if memory serves me correctly, in a race midweek at Canterbury he placed a senior rider on after my comments only for the horse to be beaten by a nose. I accepted the obvious comment that with a claiming apprentice the horse would have won. My point that the horse had just run its best ever rating and with an apprentice may not have got as close as it did.

So why do I have such a disparate view? Well, when Todd Sloan in 1896 won five races at Newmarket the style of getting up off the horse’s back was emphasized- the so called “monkey crouch” by the British who weren’t enamoured of the American’s style – prior to the wins! It had been used with success by another American visitor before but did not catch on until after Sloan dramatically made his point.

The relevance to my argument is that in the days of Admiral Rouse and his tremendous work on weight for age the jockey sat in the saddle and the horse had to lift that weight with every stride. Now up over the wither it is much less a burden. Room for debate and I throw that in for thought.

But as the Slipper field jumps some of my thoughts will go back a fair way. And one passing punting comment: the race is often won by a beaten favourite. Will that apply this year? My final issue for this blog is cover in a race. I have heard the “three wide but at least has cover” comment more times than I want as it is usually my horse but some years ago I interviewed a retired very well performed jockey. One point he made to me spontaneously in the chat was that cover made little of no difference- it was the three wide that was the problem.

So take some solace from your bet having cover if you need to – I know I do! – but it may not assist a possible win as much as the commentary implies. In a future blog I may look at one or two other challenges to orthodox thinking.