BALDWIN BOWS OUT ... BUT HE WON'T BE FAR AWAY
By Graham Potter | Friday, December 1, 2023
Barry Baldwin didn’t manage to round off his sixty-decade training career with a winner at Ipswich on Wednesday where his sole ... and last ... runner Shadow Cruiser finished fourth, just 0.60 lengths behind the winner after coming from last, all of eight lengths back, and hitting the line hard.
The weight of good will that Shadow Cruiser carried was enormous. In racing you can’t write your own script. A win would have been nice and put a smile on a lot of people’s faces, but an honest effort was a satisfying result for the seasoned trainer.
“I was happy with that,” offered Baldwin, given his typically balanced perspective. “If he’d run last that would have been disappointing, but he raced well.”
Baldwin, who trained the 2006 Stradbroke winner La Montagna, had previously announced that he would be closing shop as a trainer in his own right at the end of November so, by his own design, he knew what was coming and there were no surprises on the day. But, even knowing the time and place of the end-game, how did he feel saddling up his last runner? Read more ...
BARRY BALDWIN BOWS OUT ... BUT HE WON'T BE FAR AWAY
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Mark Zahra’s second Melbourne Cup win … and back-to-back winners at that … has taken his career to another new level, yet again, building on the succession of significant upward steps it has taken over the last three years in which Zahra has saluted eleven times in Group 1 events.
Zahra, of course, has been a very good jockey for a long time ... it's just that lately times have changed very much for the better.
It has been well documented that, after winning the 2022 Melbourne Cup on Gold Trip, Zahra had the choice of ride between Gold Trip and Without A Fight in this year’s race. Zahra had gone with Without A Fight in the Caulfield Cup two-and-a-half weeks earlier, which he won, but the Melbourne Cup choice was still on the table.
History wasn’t the most encouraging reference point for Zahra with either runner. You had to go back to Makybe Diva’s treble in 2003, 2004 and 2005 to find the last horse to win back-to-back Cups … and it took an even lengthier search all the way back to 2001 to find Ethereal, the last horse to claim the Caulfield Cup/Melbourne Cup double.
Equally as well documented is that fact Zahra chose Without A Fight and, from the moment that choice was made, the road to victory was about as flawless as you could get … from the build-up where everything was on song, to searching for and finding the kind of run in the race that others would have died for … to Without A Fight producing the kind of exhilarating acceleration over the final 300m that none of his opponents could live with … Zahra was in a dream world and he and Without A Fight, who put in a shift that superbly complimented Zahra’s outstanding ride, were racing’s new dream team.
Read more ...
ZAHRA CLAIMS A PIECE OF MELBOURNE CUP HISTORY
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Uncommon James is the Queensland Horse Of The Year for the 2022/23 racing season.
The Steven O’Dea and Matthew Hoysted trained son of Cable Bay, beat the Magic Millions winner Skirt The Law and the Queensland Guineas and Derby winner Kovalica to the line to claim the prestigious award.
Uncommon James ended the season as a six-time winner from ten starts … half of those results coming in the season under review.
In those five runs, which kicked off with a Listed win in the Regal Roller at Caulfield, Uncommon James excelled by winning the Group 1 Oakleigh Plate at Sandown and finishing second in the Group 1 Galaxy … as well as claiming second place in the Group 2 Rubiton.
Earlier in his career Uncommon James had wasted no time in franking his above average ability.
After finishing as runner-up on debut, Uncommon James quickly put together an impressive winning sequence of five straight wins, a run of success which took him from his win in Maiden company to that away win in the Listed Regal Roller. Read more ...
QUEENSLAND HORSE OF THE YEAR TITLE IS AWARDED TO THE OAKLEIGH PLATE WINNER, UNCOMMON JAMES
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FROM THE ARCHIVES
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Even with all of the prestige he has brought to Australian racing with Takeover Target, Joe Janiak has never been an attention seeker, so it was no surprise then that you could have walked right past him without noticing his presence as he sat relaxing at a table, enjoying a quiet day out at the Sunshine Coast race-meeting earlier this week. Read more ...
JOE JANIAK STILL ENJOYING THE RACING SCENE (FROM THE ARCHIVES)
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If you said that Pat Duff knows the racing industry like the back of his hand, you would be selling the man short. It is more than that.
When you ask the highly respected, veteran trainer his opinion on a subject, his knowledge and wisdom shines through. He never seeks the limelight, but don’t be fooled by his quietly spoken manner.Read more
THE SORRY PLIGHT OF THE SMALL TRAINER (FROM THE ARCHIVES)
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