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Sydney racing has much in common with Royal Randwick's Kensington circuit – a crusty top, no foundation and a deplorable back-wash. Again punters, jockeys, trainers and owners on Saturday had to tolerate a surface more suited to potatoes than racing.
Share the blame between the host, the Australian Turf Club, and Racing NSW, which is responsible for the shambles of Sydney Saturdays. Was it 12 months ago that Gosford, with the support of the ATC, applied for a stand alone Saturday only to be told by a Racing NSW official it wasn't up to the required standard? Sure, Ballarat - Saturday's corresponding meeting in Victoria - featured the Ballarat Cup, but nonetheless the meeting did continue the vibrancy of the Victorian spring with 10 races against the puny Randwick eight, which is more comparable with Birdsville.
Dirt and clods flew on a leader-dominated program at Randwick with the exception in which the quinella dodged the missiles by going down the outside. Racing NSW chief steward Ray Murrihy even said the conditions contributed to bleeding attacks following the three-month bans on Music Man and Turbulent Jet. Obviously, if Sydney racing can't stand the heat of constant traffic, go outside. Is it too much to ask for a fair go for punters on the prime betting day?
ATC's merry ways
Perhaps Thursday's meeting would be time to change the title from the Australian Turf Club to the Randwick Social. Officials were delighted with the Saturday's fun-loving crowd, which was more interested in the drink than the sport. There was a disco vibe even at the horse stalls although the volume, mercifully, dropped later in the day. Punters ask why Canterbury, the best track in Sydney, doesn't get more Saturdays? Well, it hasn't got the booze facilities and the club earns more from a $50 bottle of champagne than a $50 bet. And thankfully Randwick hasn't seen the current sport to appear at
Rosehill where some female patrons have crashed the gents' dunny. Security guards have been employed to keep them at bay.
Vale Wally Truscott
Wally Truscott, a former prelim wrestler at Leichhardt Stadium, was a major player in a golden era for owners. A great supporter of Jack Denham, Truscott died recently in his 90s. His best horse arguably was Ricochet, who in 1970 won five straight, starting with a welter and going on to encompass the Epsom and George Main Stakes. Usually very placid, Truscott related how, during a coup, a bookmaker chopped him off, saying the field had jumped before he got set. "You weak bastard," Truscott declared and applied the Indian death lock, a hold he favoured during his 500 bouts "all over Australia, the Islands as well as in Jimmy Sharman's tent". Fortunately a friend intervened. The horse won. The bookmaker didn't complain. A little physical pain wasn't as severe as the settling would have been.
Grahame Begg considers options
The departure of Grahame Begg from Randwick is just another example of the bigger stables enlarging and the middle trainers being frozen out. Begg continued the family tradition at headquarters that was started by his father, Neville, in 1967, and the family has made a magnificent contribution to Australian racing. Certainly Grahame won't retire from training but he is taking time off to consider other options, possibly Singapore. "It's hard to be viable in Sydney these days unless you have the numbers (hundreds)," he said at Randwick on Saturday.
Admire Rakti's Cup scandal
Racing Victoria stewards were satisfied with Zac Purton's riding tactics, mentioned here last week, on Admire Rakti, who dropped dead after the Melbourne Cup. "Mr Purton explained that the horse got much further back than connections had hoped in the Caulfield Cup after being beaten out of the gates and then shuffled back by other runners in the rush to the first corner," chief stipe Terry Bailey told Racenet. "In the Melbourne Cup the horse jumped on better terms and was able to take up a desired position in the leading division with the longer run to the first turn. His pre-race instructions to be running in the first six were consistent with the horse's overall racing pattern in Japan. In all circumstances we are satisfied with the riding tactics of Mr Purton in the Melbourne Cup." Chasing a bolter under 58.5 kilograms over 3200 metres was possibly stretching the instructions a tad and the Admire Rakti post-mortem is still on the way after a Melbourne Cup chapter that ranks with the attempted Phar Lap shooting, Neville Sellwood's ride on Tulloch, the Big Philou nobbling and Dulcify's breakdown for sensation if not scandal.
Horse To Follow: Unraced two-year-old Voilier, by Beneteau, sire of Aegean Sea, successful at Randwick on Saturday, produced above average sectionals winning a Warwick Farm barrier trial impressively last Thursday.
Disappointing: Following an inspired exhibition on the front-runner, Mujadale, in Saturday's Ballarat Cup, jockey Kevin Forrester was fined $1000 by stewards for using his whip 13 times prior to the 100 metres in a forehand manner, eight more than permitted, and a further fined $1000 for using his whip seven times in consecutive strides prior to the 100 metres.
