BROWNIE'S BLOG: AUSSIE, AUSSIE, AUSSIE ...

By Damian Browne | Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Brownie’s Blog is the weekly blog of multiple Group 1 winning jockey Damian Browne. This week there can be only one topic of conversation as Brownie looks at a great Australian triumph on Australia’s greatest race-day. This is Brownie’s Blog – exclusive to HRO.

What a result it was for Australian racing on that famous first Tuesday in November!

It would almost be fair to say that we had started to give up and were thinking that the internationals were going to just keep on winning the Melbourne Cup every time … so it was great to see that we are still competitive … and competitive enough to win it … particularly as we only had a small number of horses in the race with the odds, numbers-wise, stacked in heavily favour of those international bred runners.

Whether the tide turns now we’ll just have to wait and see but the local victory has at least once again reignited hope for more Melbourne Cup triumphs for the local industry in the future which wasn’t so apparent before Vow And Declare’s stunning win on Tuesday.

That brings us back to the question … how well does our industry cater for stayers?

I think it is a problem that we don’t have enough staying races in Australia. The incentive to buy horses is linked to opportunity and if you are buying a stayer you have only got limited opportunities for a return compared to the many more opportunities you will have when you spend the same amount of money on a sprinter.

It’s not that we have got a shortage of racing by any means. I’m sure they can squeeze a few more staying races in programs around the country. I think, if the racing program catered a bit more for stayers it would help change things.

Perhaps, on the back of Tuesday’s result, this would be a good time to review that option and take advantage of the interest that Vow And Declare achievement has attracted and see if we can build momentum for our stayers from there.

Dermot Weld broke the mould for the international runners with his Cup wins with Vintage Crop and Media Puzzle and others followed. In a similar context Danny O’Brien, Craig Williams and Vow And Declare bucked a trend which seemed difficult to derail.

Vintage Crop and Media Puzzle were game changers. Hopefully we can look back in a couple of years and say Vow And Declare was also a game changer.

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The simplest thing to say about Vow And Declare’s trainer Danny O’Brien is that he deserves his success.

We all know what Danny (and others) have been through over the last couple of years. It would have been easier for him to say, ‘get stuffed’ and go and find something else to do but his perseverance just shows the passion he has for the industry and to fight back the way he has done is quite extraordinary.

Hats off to him.

And what a terrific ride by Craig Williams. I thought coming down the straight for the first time … gee, he is throwing caution to the wind rolling forward here, but there is no better jockey at analysing his races and doing the form than Craig and he obviously felt that was his best option.

When you start horses up like that and go forward, you have got to mindful of getting them to relax when you want them too. Some just won’t if you kick them up too much, but Craig obviously knew the horse well and it all went according to plan.

Things did get a bit scary close to the line but Craig and Vow And Declare simply were not going to be denied.

Heartiest congratulations are also due to Craig for becoming only the eighth jockey to win the ‘Grand Slam’ of Australian racing … the Golden Slipper, Caulfield Cup, Cox Plate and Melbourne Cup.

You might remember that in 2011 Craig was due to ride the Cup winner Dunaden before losing the ride due to a suspension so he is certainly one who deserves his latest success, both in terms of his talent and the fact that he is a great ambassador for the industry as he showed in his post comments.

You would not find anybody more respectful of the sport than Craig.

All in all, a great Aussie victory on a great day for Australian racing!

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