BROWNIE'S BLOG: LOOKING BACK AT THE SPRING CARNIVAL AND WEIGHING IN ON THAT 10 000 PROPOSAL
By Damian Browne | Monday, November 14, 2016
This week, in his personal blog, multiple Group 1 winning rider Damian Brown looks back at a couple of interesting aspects of the Spring Carnival. He also gives his usual forthright view on the already controversial proposal to move the Doomben 10 000 across the road to Eagle Farm. Brownie’s Blog appears exclusively on HRO
What would you rate as ‘the ride of the Flemington carnival?’
That is a question that has been put to me. It is quite hard to pinpoint and put any one ride above all of the others because I thought it was fantastic racing all throughout the carnival.
It was top, world class riders pitted against each other in a very competitive, pressurised environment.
If you look at the suspensions ... there were not many of them, which just shows how good these riders are in being able to push those fine lines of competition in such a professional manner.
Kerrin McEvoy’s ride in the Cup was obviously outstanding, particularly coming in a race like that.
To come out on top in a stride for stride battle with Joao Moreira, who also turned in his usual great ride, would have added to the thrill of it for Kerrin.
I was fortunate to have a similar experience of sorts. I beat Joao in Dubai when I won on Buffering and I know it is a great feeling to look over and see that you have managed to hold off Joao when he was in full cry.
It is just an additional feather in the cap when you get that result against him in big race circumstances.
Kerrin just proved once again that he is an absolute champion rider in his own right!
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Both Kerrin McEvoy and Joao Moreira were reprimanded for using the whip two times more than allowed prior to the 100m mark.
I think there are two important points worth noting in this regard.
Firstly, in those big staying races a lot of times it is all about momentum ... and you have obviously got to build that momentum prior to the 100m. You can’t wait until the 100m and then expect a stayer to suddenly break into a sprint.
In the Cup you probably have to start building from the 600m or 700m already and sometimes that requires a couple of slaps with the whip to get that momentum going.
Secondly, once Kerrin had achieved what was needed with the whip he put the whip away for the most part over the final 100m ... when he could have used the whip as much as he liked ... and pushed his horse out strongly with hands and heels.
In the end, Kerrin probably hit his horse less than anybody else but still picked up a reprimand, an outcome which once again exposed a flaw in the whip rule.
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Talking about carnival rides, it would be remiss of me not to give a special mention to Brenton Avdulla’s ride in the Oaks and his celebration in the saddle as he approached the finish.
When you are on a long shot you can afford to throw caution to the wind a little bit. You don’t get crucified if it doesn’t come off and you sometimes look like a hero when it does ... but certainly, as far as Brenton’s effort was concerned, it was great theatrics and a great spectacle for all ... undoubtedly making it one of the standout rides of the carnival.
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There has been a lot of comment this with week regarding the proposed switching of the Doomben 10 000 from Doomben to Eagle Farm ... I believe for commercial reasons.
If that move is rubber stamped it will become an entirely different race.
It will not only be that jockeys will have to ride the race differently, you basically will need totally different horses to compete.
You only have to look at Chief De Beers. He won twenty of his fifty one starts, including two Doomben 10 000’s, and incredibly all of his wins came at Doomben.
Imagine looking back and saying well he might never have won a 10 000 if the race was not at Doomben.
Every race is a different race if switched to a different track, but the crux of this particular matter is that Doomben is one of our Metropolitan tracks and, as such, it deserves a signature, stand-alone race.
It has got it in the form of the 10 000.
It has had it for a long time and I don’t see why it has to be changed.
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If they want to start bringing other races to Eagle Farm and having three Saturdays there for the carnival ... fine.
They want to add more races to make those days more attractive ... well, that’s up to the programming committee but why do you need to take something away from somewhere else to do that?
Eagle Farm can have four of the five big days during the carnival if need be, but Doomben still has to have its day and that day should be the 10 000.
Consider that argument in the light of what happens in Melbourne and Sydney at carnival time.
Every day has its principle race, whether it be Flemington, Moonee Valley, Caulfield and even Sandown.
Now you just wouldn’t be switching the Cox Plate to Flemington or, because Randwick is all done up now, putting the Golden Slipper at Randwick.
If they run the Golden Slipper at Randwick it would be a one hundred percent different race so the tradition, the history and the actual running of that particular race as we know it will come to an abrupt halt ... as would be the case if they go ahead with the pending proposal for the 10 000.
Why go there?
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