Clive Churchill beating Manly at Redfern Oval in 1955 with a broken wrist, held together with strapping from a cardboard box, followed by Grand Finals featuring the blood and guts of John Sattler (1970) with a broken jaw and the courage of Sam Burgess (2014), battered with a face fracture and eye socket injury, are poignant memories that made the Rabbits Mighty but do not overshadow Jai Arrow last Thursday.
Prior to the Broncos clash Arrow, 30, who never took a backward step on the field, unless confronted with bulldozer force, walked down the tunnel with partner Berina and daughter Ayla shouldering the burden of motor neurone disease.
Even eyes dried by decades were watering with the sight of this South Sydney warrior who had given so much in such a predicament.
But when he reached the ceremonial bell to signal the start of the match it was vintage Arrow. He swung it with authority, ringing “down” but “not out”.
None did hard yards, not statistics where speedsters have considerable day light before hitting the defence, better than Arrow, but a different style of courage was experienced at Rosehill Gardens.
“She went where angels fear to tread,” Darren Beadman, as good a defensive council as there is in a protest hearing, was referring to Anna Roper not his “client”, Siena Grima.
Roper protested in the Ranvet Benchmark 78 after riding King Pedro to an eyelash defeat to Nobler on which Grima showed no quarter.
With the hint of an opening near the 200 metres, where wise men would have hesitated, Roper went for it but Grima, so tactically superb for an apprentice, stayed true and never gave a centimetre, a ploy that won her the race.
Beadman, a former champion jockey now with a tongue to match, would have been delighted with a similar result in the saddle on a program stressing the nerve, skill and strength on horseback for what was once regarded as the weaker gender.
Roper was beaten by an outstanding effort from Grima, responding to the Beadman tuition and the equine power generated by trainer Chris Waller.
Again, the distribution situation with the impoverished Australian Turf Club, dollar and real estate rich Racing NSW resounds with the increase of training fees on Sydney tracks.
From August 1 the ATC plans to increase track fees from $9.59 to $10.07 per horse, while stable rental charges will rise from $13.13 to $13.78, five percent rise in both categories. Probably sounds meagre unless the trainer has hundreds of horses.
Passing it on to the owners sounds easy, particularly with top heavy prizemoney in some races.
As it stands the ATC has to pay $26.5 million but gets only $10.2 million back from the trainers.
The increase came at the time Crown Lodge, the vast training stables formed by the Inghams, Big Jack and Bob, continued by Godolphin, and given to Ciaron Maher after the reported sale to Racing NSW.
How can the controlling body have so much, the training complex down Bong Bong way also accommodating Maher, while the ATC that puts on the show and supplies the “players” have so little?
BAD but Saturday’s World Pool at Eagle Farm was UGLY. Jamie Kah was not flash on hot favourite Half Yours ($2.35), who ended fourth to tear away Royal Supremely.
Current jockeys appear leery around big leaders. Consider Pride of Jenni.
Questioned about the Half Yours ride Tony McEvoy, co-trainer, told stewards “the eventual winner had been afforded an uncontested lead and was able to dictate the tempo of the race without being subjected to any significant pressure throughout the middle stages.”
On behalf of Kah, Half Yours did not find the spring form that enabled him to take the Caulfield – Melbourne Cup double.
Horse sense or horse manure:
“Is it sensible to ‘inflate’ the big-money, Saturday field sizes?” questions Peter Mair.
“The mainstream racing media are remiss in not reporting objectively.
“If the aim is ‘to keep punters motivated’, the decision needs to factor in the consequences of inflating metropolitan Saturday fields with ‘Bradbury’s — no-hopers turning up for generous money paid to finish in the first-ten.
“A long-term cost of this tactic to inflate field sizes is the erosion of trust with punters. Congested fields are conducive to ‘interference’ and associated ‘rough-results’ — the quality of the racing product is devalued.
“As well, inflated fields provide cover for apparently ‘no hopers’ that are ready to run a-blinder at long odds. Runners involved in this caper are not just ‘first-uppers’. Whatever, the consequences are the same — an erosion of trust. Punters will tire of playing ‘find-the-surprise’ in the form guide.
“These observations apply in spades when it comes to go-for-greed, stand-alone Saturday race meetings. Provincial administrators cannot help themselves.
“As for other field-size rorts, standout illustrations see big stables with multiple runners in one race. This nonsense needs to be stopped — stables being over-paid to pad-out field sizes is evidence enough that some races would not otherwise be run and should not be run.
“Managing the religion of racing should aim to keep-the-faith with punters.”
I disagree particularly with his view on provincial stand alones. I like them.
Sure, big stables with mass representations in the one race is a bad look. But what can be done about it? When Tommy Smith had, what was deemed too many in the one event, much less than Chris Waller at present, bracketing stablemates on the tote was mooted. It did not get out of the barrier.
Small field sizes are anethma. Who wants field sizes that result in no place dividend for third? Peter might be happier playing two up. And btw i got the quinella in the straddie in an 18 horse field. Most efficacious.
[…] “Even if these events run true-to-form, multiple also-rans from the big stables can reap, collectively, generous pay-outs for running down to 10th,” Peter Mair, emailed again on what he regards as sub-standard events, following his previous bleat on the topic in “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly”. […]