Crio’s Question: Who or what has tested your loyalty during the spring carnival

By Chris Riordan
I’m confident that a picture of All Silent is hanging on Makybe’s loungeroom wall and a pic of Alan Eskander is near triple 20 on the dartboard!
Makybe will have Hissing Sid tucked in a drawer and a screwed-up All American resting next to the bin.
Spring is tough on our loyalties.
Heroes and villains emerge and vanish.
Kav’s a logical hero, I guess, but he was a shocker for me. Bart likewise.
Craig Williams earned brickbats, as did the TAB’s non-Emergency farce for the Melbourne Cup.
Who or what has tested your loyalty this spring?

Comments

  1. Peter Flynn says

    Slaughters on Ortensia and Governance.
    Master O’Reilly is flashing home for 4th like Kaapstad Way did in its heyday.
    Bart continues to spook.

  2. Hissing Sid!!

  3. Good call C Down.

    I was right on the Sid early on.
    Even to the point of hissing like a snake whenever I heard its name.
    Only a country cups horse at best.

  4. Without a doubt the gay pretender All American(not sure gay is the most suitable adjective)
    This horse cost me multiples of the quaddie and the chance for early retirement, so I am talking through my pocket.But this horse has never before produced these ratings to win a race and my reckoning is that he never will again.The ride on the fav by G Boss was a significant contribution and as Grant Thomas once said of the umpiring fraternity “they need to put their egos in a locker before the game” so too it can be directed at some high profile jockeys.
    I agree with you Peter both Ortensia and Governance were slaughters(just visit Upper and Lower Slaughter in the Cottswolds)but both will win next start Ortensia no further than 1200m.
    Master O Reilly needs weight relief and has still got a good race in him,probably suited to a change of stables and a country environment and placed in unsuitable races for 8 to 10 starts to get the handicpper of his back.
    Noted one for Melbourne Cup 2010 -the oaks winner who ran 5 seconds faster than the boys in the derby.Second placed horse also very smart

  5. All American. I spruiked him big time in the Toorak but jumped off him by last Saturday, which cost me (and thousands of others) the quaddy.

    Also heard enough from David Hayes over the carnival to last me a while. Apparently he enjoys making stallions (e.g. All American). Not sure what response he got back from Darley in relation to his maximising the value of Von Costa de Hero which ran last while he was making the other one a viable (?) stallion prospect. Never heard a bloke blame so many for not training a winner (jockeys, vets, VRC – they all got multiple serves)

    Neroli is one that I failed to get off early enough and cost me accordingly. Same could apply to Nicconi.
    WARNING: avoid horses starting with “N” and ending in “I”.

  6. Peter Flynn says

    Correct Budge.
    If they start with N, they must finish with y.

  7. Mark Freeman says

    Spot on Crio with my boy AS, and Esk on the dartboard and Sid tucked in the drawer. Sid was my spring disappointment. Like the boys have it above, he just didn’t take the step up that we thought he would take. The really disappointing effort was the MV Cup, and they should have put him out after that. And the Wilde’s other progressive type Arch Symbol disappointed too, but their newsletter indicates he went amiss.

    But after giving me grief at Caulfield, All American combined beautifully in a RD with the world’s best sprinter for me on Sat, nailed me a slice of the trifecta, the quin and even allowed me to avoid having a saver on Sid as I had the DD going for a buck.

    AA’s certainly not pin-up material, but I just kept him safe in a bracket selection of five in the Emirates. That was clearly his standout career performance, but Hayes has form back in the early 90s getting these milers to improve drastically in the Emirates, and it is just the sort of race where a horse with a modicum of class can get a suck through and get lucky (ie Tears I Cry). He was pretty smart as an early 2yo, nearly winning the Blue Diamond and winning the Todman or one of those Golden Slipper lead-ups that season.

    Nonetheless, he was clearly the bottom of my five, and got axed from our quaddie numbers as I could hear Gears scoffing and grumbling about his inclusion. Not that we had Sterling Prince anyway.

    And Bart. Low point of the carnival was getting Barted on Cox Plate day only 40 mins after blowing a stack on Sid in the MV Cup. Matched only by the well-publicised (by me!) Eskander flexi trifecta debacle. But all’s well with my punting world after the champ All Silent did his thing last Sat.

  8. Makybe,

    Displeased by Gears’ scoffing. How was his form during the carnival?

  9. PS. Makybe, I loved your loyalty to Sid. Maybe not smart in a punting sense, but more than worth-worthy for us bystanders.

    What does a Warrnambool trainer include in his newsletter?

    We should have a trainers’ newsletter watch on this site.

    Jo thinks I’m far too watchful of Francesca Cumani.

  10. Daff – that makes at least two sets of eyes that Francesca Cumani has on her on a regular basis.

  11. My Carnival review has to include the stupidity of a 10 race programme (8 is plenty) and, even more so, the ridiculous 50 minute gaps between some races. At 40 mins (more than enough) you can run 9 races with the first at 1150 and last at 510.
    A Carnival initiative that should remain is the big screen that looks down to the ring from the Hill end. Great for viewing at Flemington where, like at Caulfield, if you are not a member it is quite a hike out to watch a race “live” and it adds interest in the Interstaters (tho less volume for them pls!).

  12. Sportsbet tested my loyalty on Cup Day with pretty poor website performance. However, they were good enough to apologise and give me a $10 free bet for my inconvenience – which I invested in All American (at $30) for the win in the Stakes. $300 later and my loyalty has been restored!

  13. Fickle, aren’t we?
    It’s like when I asked everyone about their favorite horses, all responses were regarding profits rather than simply sentiment.

  14. Mark Freeman says

    Mercenary buggers the lot of us Crio it’s true. And Gigs that’s ticks for Sportsbet and Centrebet for very good customer relations displayed in the heat of battle. Of course we should also mention the good men of Turfbet, and our friends at Betfair, whose mathematicians must spend all week crunching the numbers generated by our esteemed co-editor JTH’s complex lays.

    Daff re the Wilde stable newsletter – not only do they include rundowns on each of their gallopers, but Wilde stable funnies as well: In evidence, Your Honour, I offer the following item cut and pasted from said newsletter:

    Four Horse

    A man asked an American Indian what was his wife’s name.
    He replied, “She called Four Horse”.
    The man said, “That’s an unusual name. What does it mean?”
    The Old Indian answered, “It old Indian Name. It mean,

    NAG, NAG, NAG, NAG!”

    And here’s what they said boys about Sid after the MV Cup:

    HISSING SID (5yo gelding) RATING 102 – A very disappointing outcome last Saturday. Sid didn’t get any opportunity to present himself in the race. Slowly away and a very disappointing ride from Craig Newitt. A nothing run at a crucial time and we just have to put a line through it and move on. He’s come through the run as normal and is back on track now for a tilt at the Cup if he can get in. If not he’ll head to the Queen Elizabeth Stakes on Emirates Day.

  15. G’day Daff,

    Have been laid low with a horrible chest infection – have been coughing and spluttering since Makybe and I took full advantage of the Age’s hospitality at Caulfield Guineas day. The doc finally diagnosed a mycoplasma infection – probably shouldn’t have kissed Whobe in the stables after his big win that day.

    It didn’t stop me attending my good mate Peter “Chooka” O’Loughlin’s hens (bucks) day at Fitzroy Bowling Club on Stakes Day. Some great amateur footballers in attendance Daff – none better than the Buck himself, who you may remember rucking for OPs back in the ’90s and early 2000s.

    I was all over Makybe’s All Silent on the day, and even got a nice double into All American. Those collects returned my spring to surplus, though I probably dropped any winnings over the bar on the day…

    Good luck Thursday night with the book launch and the Christmas sales.

    Mick.

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