Race 3- Neighlor

Race 4- Hit It Rich

Race 5- Vampiro

Race 6- Atmospherical

Race 7- Kingslayer

Race 8- Bletchley Park

Race 9- Ocean Ridge

Race 3- Waimac Attack

Race 4- Lightning Jolt

Race 5- Vampiro

Race 6- Beltane

Race 7- Atmospherical

Race 8- Michael Joseph

Race 9- Mad Robber

Race 10- Lifes Delight

Race 3- Major Pocket

Race 4- Son Of A Tiger

Race 5- Cott Beach

Race 6- HandsAndWheels

Race 7- The Bird Dance

Race 8- Atmospherical

Race 9- Carter Michael

Race 10- Michael Joseph

Race 3- WildWest

Race 4- Clarenden Hustler

Race 5- Major Trojan

Race 6- HandsAndWheels

Race 7- Infinite Symbol

Race 8- The War Nurse

Race 9- Rock Me Over

Race 10- Remit Me Whitby

Race 3- WhosWhoInTheZoo

Race 4- The Bucket List

Race 5- Cut Above

Race 6- Rock Me Over

Race 7- Convert Denario

Race 8- Eloquent Mach

Race 9- WildWest

Race 10- Marcotti

Left home at 7.30am Friday morning for the trek to Perth, armed with boxes of fine Southern Forest produce to deliver to friends and then head to GP to watch my "battlers"...a term "tweeted" by a leading trainer to describe my erstwhile steeds in what I thought was a display of unbridled arrogance....but you get that, so moving on. Completed my "Con The Fruiterer" duties to appreciative friends including the seemingly ageless and wonderful Hall Of Famer John Cooper and it was all downhill from there.

"Battler" number 1 draws an impossible gate 8 and runs down the track, battler number 2 is first up and they go like scalded cats in a very strange race running 1.55...and he finishes down the track, and after backing the stables best for the night which got bloused out in a tight photo, it was off to Steelo's for a feed, and some clown who is the worse for wear spills his $7 pint all over my chicken parmi. I know when to call it quits ...but not before someone who should know better says to me "I suppose you'll be setting "battler number 2" for the Inters in New Zealand after that run  JayJay"....he doesn't know how close he came to having one planted right on his copious beak but sanity prevailed, I kept walking and after exchanging farewells to friends and acquaintances, a brief process as they could all hold a mass meeting in a telephone box, I hit the road for the 3 and a half hour trip home....so I thought. Sailing down Canning Highway, a man in high viz steps out holding a luminous sign....my heinous crime, doing 64km/hr in a 60 zone....exit stage right another 100 bucks along with what little sense of humour remained.

A steely silence descends and soon enough, I am in Boyanup, ensconced in the thickest pea soup fog imaginable which continued all the way home......no chance of another speeding ticket, the normal 90 minute drive from Bunbury took two and a half hours and a 2.20am arrival in the driveway. I think completely knackered is the appropriate description.

A check of the post box Saturday morning reveals two items, the Water bill and the Council Rates....oh bewt....the Manjimup Shire sees fit to raise its rates more than double the inflation rate each year in order to NOT maintain the goat track that constitutes a road to my residence....wonderful value for money, local government, truly wonderful.

Then Saturday night, having virtually given Smackwater Jack (NR 50) away to SA after the poxy HWOE nonsense made him a money pit in WA, I watched with a fair degree of chagrin as he bolted in at Globe Derby Park for his new and very appreciative owner. At least someone is smiling and good for her...not leaving the house today.....other than heading to the fuel pump to replace a totally wasted tank of diesel.....in readiness for next weeks Friday Night Funpalace at the Park. Moving on.

Now I am not completely across the details but Mr Gilroy, as I understand things, is a gentleman of age who is not enjoying the best of health these days. He has been breeding horses for decades and decades and currently Craig Abercromby is looking after them. When I first noticed breeder P.B Gilroy was when the very handy horse Marquisard started racing and winning and I did a perfunctory pedigree search of the family and found very little of note to even vaguely recommend it. Then, in the yearling sale catalogue from 2018, a colt by Well Said and a half brother to Marquisard was listed and passed in at $30k. My notes in the catalogue are a less than complimentary "Dreaming - 1 winner in 6 generations". That colt of course is Dissertation, another knife through my dismal reputation of picking out yearlings.

Later on, when speaking to Craig, he told me that Mr Gilroy had never seen one of his horses win at GP and he arranged one night to collect Mr Gilroy, take him to the track and watch Marquisard in a race that Craig thought was very winnable. Alas, the horse won and Mr Gilroy was over the moon and was then taken home.

The dam of Marquisard and Dissertation is the unraced Art Major mare LeChambon (Mr Gilroy doesn't muck around with also ran sires having been to all the top liners over the years). However, Le Chambon's family must be one of the most unsuccessful families in the stud book. Her dam Di Bravura was unraced and produced 3 non winning fillies. Di Bravuras dam Sempre Grazie produced 4 fillies from 9 attempts at stud, all non winners and only one of whom (Di Bravura) even made it to the track. Sempre Grazies dam Orfana produced a colt and two fillies from 5 attempts, none of whom raced. Orfana's dam Emerald Fire produced 7 foals of which only one made it to the track for 1 unplaced run. Emeralds Fire's dam Marcasite produced an amazing 17 foals and amongst them was 4 winners, the best of which was the $27k stakes winner Rusty Thor who was a 1971 drop, the first sign of any life in the pedigree......anywhere....until Marquisard and Dissertation defied 6 generations of nothing to become very handy horses. Alas, hope springs eternal for all hobby breeders and heres hoping the Abercrombies can bring continued success and joy to Mr Gilroy. Good job Craig and Robert.

Race 3- Courage Tells

Race 4- HandsAndWheels

Race 5- Ocean Ridge

Race 6- Liam Neil

Race 7- Hot Fraternity

Race 8- Eloquent Mach

Race 9- Livura

Race 10- Major Trojan

Race 3- Fizzing

Race 4- HandsAndWheels

Race 5- Chiaroscuro

Race 6- Courage Tells

Race 7- PresidentMach

Race 8- Eloquent Mach

Race 9- Infinite Symbol

Race 10- Dreamy Nights

The guru, Alan Parker, has been lured out of semi retirement and has written a raft of articles on the likes of the late Fred Godecke (Snr Snr), Colin Brown, Harry Capararo, the rise of women drivers and the Double Expresso story etc which makes for a good read. The magazine was previously issued to all Industry participants but since reverting to an "electronic" only production, it's appearance has been a bit haphazard but hopefully now back to it,s regular bi monthly production. Many may not be aware of it's existence.

Time will tell if there are any future champs in this years edition which interestingly includes a maiden getting into the filed in advance of the two emergencies who do have winner status. Jasper drawing the ace would appear very hard to beat but I suspect it will be a pressure race with a few prepared to have a real crack in an even field. Major Martini from gate 11 to get a good run into the race and is close to the best two year this season and I think it should win.

Race 3- Our Corelli

Race 4- Im Soxy

Race 5- Saying Grace

Race 6- Maczaffair

Race 7- Fizzing

Race 8- Marcotti

Race 9- Livura

Race 10- Shockwave

This punter was not blind but had a successful business installing household blinds.

He was unique in that the shorter the price the better. If a horse opened at 1/2 or $1.50 he may have $2k on it.  If it opened at 1/4 or $1.25 he was likely to have $8k on it. If it opened at even money he would shy away from it and not back it at all even if he thought it could win.

So much for requiring value before you bet.

He backed a lot of winners and survived for a long time but I was aware that the corporate bookmakers let him on for unlimited, which would suggest that overall he was a losing punter.

Stewards opened an enquiry into the driving tactics adopted by Paul
Diebert (Ohoka Punter NZ). After beginning from barrier number seven,
 Ohoka Punter NZ was exerted by Paul Diebert to clear the inside runners
and obtain the lead. Our Uncle Sam (Anthony Frisby) which was beaten
for the lead then moved off the back of Ohoka Punter NZ to challenge for
the lead, however Ohoka Punter NZ was allowed to run and held the lead.
The lead time of 75. 5secs for the 1071M from the 2680M start to the
mile equated to a 28: 3 sectional. As a result of the exertion placed on
Ohoka Punter NZ to lead, the gelding tired in the concluding stages to
finish in 10th position beaten in excess of 31 metres. These tactics
were in direct contrast to the manner in which Ohoka Punter NZ was
driven at its previous start when surrendering the lead in the early
stages and utilizing the sprint lane, to ultimately win the race, that
being the Sunshine Sprint. After consideration Paul Diebert was found in
breach of AHR Rule 149(2) for driving Ohoka Punter NZ in an
unacceptable manner in that the gelding was exerted beyond its
capabilities to be competitive in the finish. Paul Dieberts licence to
drive in races was suspended for 6 weeks to commence midnight Wednesday
24th July, 2019.

Entering a highly successful stable, I raced at midweeks with a 2nd to Upstanding Poplar before being slow away in winning a 2600m Pinjarra stand in slow time. 3 more country wins mixed with some non winning efforts had me labelled as an honest plodder but my next 12 starts resulted in a stunning 10 wins, 8 of them in a row....some picket fence.... with the last 3 being metro class Friday wins at headquarters. My profile had suddenly changed and I was now regarded as a horse of the future, albeit a late maturer.

However, my form then became very mixed as a 6 year old....8 unplaced runs  before a Metro win, 6 unplaced runs then another Metro win and then another 6 failures before a win in a strong Narrogin Cup. 7 runs later  and there was back to back wins in the Botra Cup and the Healthway Stakes , returning 6 runs later with a win in the Media Cup. By this stage, my reputation was a love hate deal with the punters. Taken to Kalgoorlie for the round, I ran a stout 1.58.8 in winning the Golden Mile and my last win in WA was a stand from 40m behind at Northam. All up in WA, I won 24 races and collected $150k in stakes at a time of a downturn in stakes.

Exported to the USA, I ended up with 49 career wins and 80 places for over $325k in stakes and a LTR of 1.52.8 after racing on for a long time.

Good old Christen Me, now a 10 year and one of my favourite horses, just keeps winning over there but he is down in class winning an $18k race in a lazy 1.50.2 whilst Heaven Rocks ran a close 2nd to Fillibuster Hanover in the  $150k Commodore Cup going 1.48.2.

And in a rare coincidence, brothers Brookies Jet and Brookies Prince nearly bought up an international double....Brookies Jet winning in Northam WA in 1.58.1 and Brookies Prince 3rd in 1.52.1 in America, a long way away from their foaling paddock in North Island NZ.