Almanac Racing- 31-7-10

Tomorrow’s meetings (Saturday 31/07) are the last of the 09/10 season with the official horses’ birthday following on August 1. From then the slow build-up begins to Spring with the better horses beginning to reappear. To access the fields I went to the “Racing and Sports” site, though I thought that I’d mistakenly found a [Read more]

racing stuff (or vice versa)

Looking at the Valley fields for tomorrow dejected me. This was – still is – the Hiskins meeting, traditionally the Club’s premier winter finale with the rich A. V Hisken’s Steeple promoted as the “Cox Plate of Jumps Racing”. Alas, we now have the Hiskens Cup, a 1514m modest open flat handicap from which no [Read more]

Almanac Racing- Racing Year Drawing to a Close

The Accountants have had their financial year fun, now it’s the RACING YEAR DRAWING TO A CLOSE… There is a fortnight left in this racing season and, though the thoroughbred stars are munching grass, jockeys and trainers are still competing for available honours. Sometimes this can lead to high public interest – witness Douglas Whyte’s [Read more]

Racing Almanac- Winter Finals

Easily dismissed as irrelevant to those outside of the Racing Industry, winter racing still offers opportunity and income to thousands and, despite meetings often denounced as “lacklustre” or even dismissed as “poor”, authorities work hard at providing incentives to keep business vibrant. Here in Victoria the VRC co-operates with other Metropolitan Clubs and with Country [Read more]

Almanac racing…MV mid-winter with the Winning Post on my mind

“I am sitting in my dingy little office, where a stingy Ray of sunlight struggles feebly down between the houses tall…” * You know its mid-winter when you donate more to MyChemist than to TAB’s MyAccount! The new “synthetic” track at Geelong is already on high rotation as dank conditions shroud Australia’s south-east. There’s little [Read more]

Crio’s Racing- Flemington 26-6-10

Here’s the first certainty of the weekend, though I doubt you’d get set. Today’s “current bun” rates the Flemington track (Rail Out 12m) as a SLOW6. We’ve had a stack of rain here this afternoon and, to be honest, I’d say they are more likely to be called off than rated slow. Mick Goodie’s had [Read more]

SPLIT VIEWS ON THE SPLIT ROUND

It is not only footy fans who face unfamiliar fixturing this weekend. Punters, too, face the realities of winter’s hiatus from feature racing as they scan their Friday formguides. Brisbane’s “metropolitan” meeting moves 40km to Ipswich, usually a Friday venue but, for this weekend, hosting 20,000+ patrons , drawn by good fields, good prizemoney and [Read more]

Forecast for Saturday is… Eagle Farm

Melbourne…Cloudy. Showers. Winds west to southwesterly averaging 15 to 25 km/h.  Max 14 Brisbane …Fine      Max 20 Here’s a tip. You’d rather be at Eagle Farm! That’s not to decry Melbourne’s  racecard, as it is actually a good Flemington winter meeting tomorrow. But who’d want to shiver in that wind tunnel of a betting ring [Read more]

LINK: Barney’s Big Coup

70 year-old trainer Barney Curley has taken the British bookies to the cleaners in one of the biggest betting coups in a long, long time. But, says Barney, it wasn’t all about the money. Punters who dare to dream (isn’t that all of you?) should read on… http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/barney-curley-nobody-will-win-as-much-on-horse-racing-in-100-years-1988728.html

Crio’s Racing: Flemington, Brisbane and Sydney Swimmers

Anyone working on the racecourse now is besieged by “responsible gambling” pamphleteers and a  determination to embrace a politically correct tide alerting any of the few wayward punters likely to visit our wind tunnel that they might lose. A lifetime in the betting ring has revealed many sad tales and it is a disease to [Read more]

Racing: Brisbane and the Valley

by Chris Riordan Saturday’s feature meeting is again in Brisbane, highlighted by the exceptional Group One Doomben 10,000 which provides a smorgasbord of quality chances, headlined by Ortensia, Hot Danish and Whobegotyou. A very good meeting there and a crack race but I can’t possibly offer any direction for punters. Locally, Moonee Valley doesn’t get [Read more]

Crio’s racing…look at some form!

The usual suspects go around tomorrow at Caulfield as winter sets in and racing’s profile drops away. For what it is, your basic meat’n’veg mid-season card, the meeting is OK but for many of us it is time to cut the losses. Even Elvis, our intrepid Groote Eyelandt correspondent, ruminated yesterday on trying for a [Read more]

Race Call Gone Wrong

“I think we’re gone here”. That about sums it up, as veteran race caller Jimmy Jacques has a tough day at the office. One man’s discomfit is another’s entertainment. http://video.au.msn.com/watch/video/9raw-race-callers-voice-goes-lame/xrh8vf

Racing: The Ramsden Day Ramble

 by Chris Riordan Budget week can be an appropriate time for us to review our financial strategies; in this case revisit some of our punting maxims and the big philosophical questions and queries that need to be addressed in the search for success. Today I’m going to incorporate four dilemmas in to the discussion on [Read more]

Warnambool Carnival: Crio gives us the latest scuttlebutt

by Chris Riordan The rumour doing the rounds of the Warrnambool pubs last (Monday) night was that Dan Nikolic will beat the rap! Watch this space and see how the journos fare when they get accused of a witch hunt.

ALMANAC RACING

Anyone who has sought my advice over Autumn racing will understand why I’m saying that the punting purse is very low. Since I am not in a tipster’s club or Quaddy team, there is every possibility that they could “go around” without me at Caulfield this Saturday. The only “early mail” I have thus far [Read more]

Warrnambool Grand Annual Steeplechase

By Mark Freeman Mid-afternoon on the first Thursday of May through the 80s and 90s was always an important fixture on my sporting calendar. Slip down the tote, chuck on a 50c box trifecta and settle in for the fascinating spectacle that is Warrnambool’s Grand Annual Steeplechase. Such a gruelling test … up the hill [Read more]

A long weekend of punting

“Dog’s Breakfast” is an ill-advised phrase in a racing column – especially into the jumps season – but there can be no denying that this weekend’s races are “all over the place”. Victoria’s main day is at Flemington on Sunday, with Sandown and Bendigo “featuring” on the Saturday and Monday.

Racing: Doncaster Day at Randwick

by Chris Riordan Correspondent “Carringbush” joined our forum last week with some salient observations from his visit to Randwick’s Derby Day. The small crowd figure was a point of obvious concern and we can only hope that more people recognize the quality of tomorrow’s Doncaster Day and that the AJC starts to regain kudos for [Read more]

AJC Derby: Quality and intrigue

by Chris Riordan Racing purists love the Randwick Carnival which begins this Saturday with The Derby. The AJC Derby is Australia’s premiere 3 year-old event and the 2010 edition has quality and intrigue. Whilst discards like Manhattan Rain reinforce my “no pre-post” evangelism, those who make it to the barriers are chasing prestige, stud kudos [Read more]