A WEEKLY REVIEW: The Good The Bad The Ugly

Sam Clipperton takes pride of place in the GOOD to end the year, not because his saddle performance on Saturday was better than other jockeys but he needed it more.

Certainly Jason Collett’s four successes at Eagle Farm was impressive as was Jamie Kah’s Cranbourne three while Dylan Gibbons, Tom Sherry and Regan Bayliss, over the holiday period were also top class.

Zac Lloyd, too, triumphed, but received a demerit for Sun God, the $2.40 chance, that ran into a dead-end in the five starter Racing and Sports at Royal Randwick on Saturday taken by stablemate Mare Of Mt Buller, trained by Chris Waller.

Mare Of Mt Buller was superbly handled by Clipperton striving to make a successful comeback.

“Sam’s a thinker,” Waller later opined on a previously out of form mount similar to Clipperton’s other Randwick winner Unlimited, backed from $6 to $4.40, in the TAB Handicap.

“Thinker” and riding return brings Larry Olsen to mind. Olsen, a great rider, was better for a break, exposing a brown rice diet on which I have been on ever since, without the same results. Olsen resumed to score in the Melbourne Cup on Kensie as well as other Group ones.

Olsen was tactically superb as were champions George Moore and Jim Cassidy, who did well after an absence. Alas their departure was due to rule breaches while Darren Beadman switched to the pulpit for a time and it did him no harm.

“Fire in the belly” or “eye of the tiger” is required for top jockeys to take the step up to greatness. Some need the break because of “wasting”, the severe weight reducing regime, or burn out. It’s a tough, demanding career.

Currently Sydney is fortunate to have so many talented hoops who need to take the extra step to greatness like Clipperton.

Dylan Gibbons, too, was seen to advantage on Tavi Time to take Boxing Day’s Summer Cup at Randwick, bringing joy to regular correspondent Peter Mair.

“Another ‘rinse and repeat’…………… looked a moral on ‘unlucky’ lead-ups.” Facetious?

And then went into a previous email. “It is surprising how often a winner of a feature race backs up a year later and wins it again.”

Tavi Time had won the Summer Cup in 2024 and his recent efforts could be deduced as being in unsuitable events. The worth of patterns, and successes in the same race, was dealt in an earlier blog.

Surprising Mair missed Zaphod at Eagle Farm on Saturday. Like Tavi Time, Zaphod is prepared by Kris Lees, and scored in XXXX, his first win since taking the corresponding race twelve months ago.

Perhaps Mair figures Lees should do a stint in stocks for delivering such ‘surprising’ results, though I’d call it a fine example of the training art.

Obviously the 18,000 at Randwick on Boxing Day represented a return to form. The traditional big crowd had fallen away in recent years, but the influx of Irish racegoers has given both booze sales and atmosphere a lift, while the curmudgeonly members stayed away.

Last Saturday the Randwick attendance dropped by over 10,000. The worth of the Irish with the assistance, but not the thirst of others from abroad, was emphasised by the Victoria Racing Club hoping to get 12,000 for the New Year’s Eve promotion at Flemington. Apart from the Melbourne Cup carnival other main days pull around 15,000.

Surely, though, there is too much racing at Randwick over this holiday period with another upcoming on Saturday.

Gosford had two black type events, the Gosford Guineas and Belle Of the Turf, featuring on Sunday. Down south Melbourne had no qualms about the main Saturday program being at Cranbourne.

Both Gosford Race Club and the Australian Turf Club wanted the provincial club to have the stand-alone Saturday but the Mr Big of NSW racing did not. BAD.

UGLY this week is more difficult to define. Moving house meant I was a scratching at Randwick last Saturday, with Channel Seven as the only television viewing option.

Channel Seven provided an excellent service with the sidelight highlighting the benefit of gelding a colt or stallion. Learned opinion was expressed from all the usual suspects, but none more graphic than Peter Moody, the Queenslander.

“Bush oyster,” Moody exclaimed about the unkindest cut of all. But Moody gave it a certain relish. Expressed by an epicurean south of the boarder it would be UGLY.

But a Queenslander?

Well it was like beer off the wood at The Breakfast Creek or a mud crab.