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 100 wins just surviving Brett Prebble’s final meeting assault in Hong Kong Wednesday night (live on TVN’s great coverage) – but Australia’s main premierships are already clear-cut : Nash Rawiller and Peter Snowden in Sin City, and the dynamic Nolen / Moody combo down here in Melbourne. More interest, perhaps, surrounds the industry awards which are still to be announced, as indicated in the following press release from RVL…

With just five metropolitan race meetings left for the 2009/10 season, Racing Victoria has revealed that 10 jockeys still remain in contention to win the prestigious Scobie Breasley Medal presented by Tabcorp.

The Medal, which is awarded to the most outstanding flat jockey of the season, will be announced at the Victorian Thoroughbred Racing Awards on Sunday, 8 August at Crown’s Palladium.

In one of the most open counts in the award’s 15-year history, any one of the following jockeys, which are listed in alphabetical order, could take home the Scobie Breasley Medal – Glen Boss, Dwayne Dunn, Nick Hall, Steven King, Jason Maskiell, Luke Nolen, Damien Oliver, Michael Rodd, Chris Symons and Craig Williams.

Oliver, who won the inaugural Medal in 1996, holds the record as a six-time winner, while Williams has won the past four. Steven King is the only other jockey amongst this year’s remaining contenders to win the Medal. He did so in 1997.

Votes for the Medal are awarded at each Victorian metropolitan meeting during the racing season (1 August – 31 July) by the Racing Victoria stewards panel.

They are awarded on a three-two-one basis for the three rides the panel deems to be the most outstanding of the day, which means a jockey can claim all six votes if they produce the three best rides at the meeting.

Racing Victoria Chief Executive Rob Hines said, “With the season drawing to a close, it’s with great excitement that we announce that an epic battle is unfolding in the race to secure the Victorian industry’s highest honour, the Scobie Breasley Medal.

“This announcement is certainly going to make the remaining metropolitan race meetings exciting to watch and of course the announcement of the winner on 8 August a most anticipated event.”

A range of awards will be presented alongside the Scobie Breasley Medal at Crown including;

  • Fred Hoysted Medal presented by Sport 927
  • Tommy Corrigan Medal presented by Thoroughbred Racing Productions
  • Staging Connections Victorian Racehorse of the Year Award
  • TVN Most Memorable Moment Award

Tomorrow’s Caulfield meeting, whilst possibly decisive for the “Scobie”, will have no bearing on “Horse of the Year” honours, but it is nevertheless an interesting programme highlighted by the Listed $100,000 Monash Stakes. Crucially this race is under the WFA scale which will not favour a horse like Arinos (5), whose Autumn unlucky second to Starspangledbanner in the Oakleigh Plate has been franked by his conqueror’s subsequent world-beating performances including in the Gr1 July Cup at Newmarket (UK)!  A star of the preceding Autumn, Blue Diamond winner Reward For Effort (11), returns here from a 62 week recuperation, but, if he is right, he should be too good for these. Factor in that the topweight and realistic chance, Royal Ida (1), is a fortnight from his tenth birthday.

Another interesting runner tomorrow is the paradoxically named Trustus (R4, No2). His trainer has raised hell over Dan Nikolic’s ride in the Winter Championship Final last week, basically inferring that it was a “good thing hooked”. It will need to win this with Luke Nolen on board to support his case.

The 2 yr old Inglis Bonus Handicap (R2, 1000m) features a rematch from Flemington three weeks ago where Breitling (3) was heavily backed but struck severe interference when second to ultra- impressive Soul (1). Despite the Stewards’ essay of exoneration and the resultant weight impost, I’d stick with the winning habit but be wary of newbies, especially the Kav/Ollie nominee, Too Deadly (7).

I’ll be swinging the bag in the main ring at Caulfield tomorrow, happy to exchange top odds for footy updates. My plan is to stay off the punt but I am open to persuasion. Maybe, in line with the “Scobie” cliffhanger, I should have a look at the betting on the Jockeys’ Challenge? If I wilt and am thus losing, I might try Stacey Rawiller’s Roof Raiser (6) to “get out” especially if a leader’s bias has emerged.  Thus, my speculative Quaddy numbers are 1, 11, 2,6. Good luck!

Comments

  1. I watched the replay of Trustus last start and didn’t spot anything overtly untoward in the ride. I gather the trainer falls into the “difficult to please” category. After tomorrow, Trustus will have had 8 different jockeys from its last 9 starts!

    Beware Keano tomorrow. Well backed first up but has no 1st up form. At his best would be tough to beat. Big watch on the bottom 2 in that race.

  2. Track should be fairly good which might give some horses a reboot after spongy tracks last month.

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