LARRY'S VIEW - POSITIVE SPIN-OFF FROM AWARDS NIGHT WORTH ITS WEIGHT IN GOLD

By Larry Cassidy | Friday, September 14, 2012

Larry Cassidy currently has forty-two Group 1 successes behind his name. He is a multiple Premiership winning jockey having taken out three titles in Sydney and one in Brisbane. Larry’s View, the personal blog of this top class rider will appear on horseracingonly.com.au every Friday, workload permitting.

Different people have different views on the merit of awards nights. The fact of the matter is that every state has their own award’s night because that is the way racing honours horses, trainers, jockeys, breeders etc for the feats they have achieved during the season. As such it is a pretty big part of racing.

An awards night is not just to give winners a pat on the back. For racing participants it is a bit of enjoyable downtime away from all the hard work. In the case of Queensland, they come from all over the state and it gives people a chance to catch up with their colleagues in racing, to have a few drinks, relax, let your hair down a bit and enjoy themselves for an evening. There surely can’t be too much wrong with that?

I think it is a ‘must have’ part of racing … and I’ll tell you another thing. While the high-profile, headline acts who win the major awards take most of the glory in the press, the awards have arguably an even greater meaning for those lower down the pecking order who pick up an award on the night.

Take the case Diet, the Ipswich Turf Club Horse Of The Year.

I was fortunate to sit at the table with the owners during the evening. When I say owners … there are plenty of them. In fact I’m not certain what their number is but some of them hold positions high up in the Pine Rivers Bowls Club at Lawnton, which is one of the biggest bowls clubs in the country … and, quite simply, Diet has built up a massive following there, not only from the owners, but from the local community. You know, all the regulars that go there.

On Ipswich Cup day when Diet ran in the last race of the day, they say that an hour before his race there were only a few people in the TAB area. By the time of Diet’s race that area was packed. It was standing room only and apparently the roof nearly came off the place when he was declared the winner in a very tight finish.

Diet started at long odds. They all had their five dollars or ten dollars on him and apparently the TAB didn’t have enough money to pay out that day at the club.

It was a massive moment for everybody involved, directly or indirectly.

The owners bought him cheap at a Darley dispersal sale. I think they paid $8000 for him. He’s got just over $70 000 in the bank and to win for them during the carnival on Ipswich Cup day in front of a packed grandstand was just fantastic. It was like a Melbourne Cup day for them!

The only unfortunate part, if there was one, was the fact that Diet won a QTIS race on the day … and he is a BOBS horse. Nobody cared about that though. It was just one of those twists that racing continually throws up.

Diet has had three starts at Ipswich for three wins and I think he drew a bad barrier nearly every time.

So the owners were already on a high with what the horse did in its last preparation. To be recognized for those achievements at an evening like that … they just thought that the awards night was superlative.

For me it was so good to spend the evening with a fantastic group of people who know how to enjoy themselves … and don’t mind letting people know they are enjoying themselves, in a nice way.

The bottom line is that these owners had already enjoyed their racing experience a great deal before the awards evening Being a recipient of one of the awards at racing’s ‘off the track’ season’s showpiece, was the cherry on the top for them and, of course, trainer Louise White, who has done such a good job with the horse.

And the big spin-off of the evening?

Every one of those owners went away ready to pass on the positive message that racing so needs to get out there.

I am sure the host of other winners and all of those who attended the evening and saw racing in a ‘good mood’ will be doing the same thing.

For that reason alone, the event was a smash hit.

And yes, it was pre-planned that I didn’t take any rides on at Coloundra on Sunday. The last time I went to an awards night and took rides the next day … well, let’s say, it was a very tough day!

Till next week,
Larry

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