LARRY'S VIEW - SOMEONE'S BAD LUCK IS SOMEBODY ELSES GOOD FORTUNE
By Larry Cassidy | Friday, November 4, 2011
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.
Williams went to the movies instead of watching the Melbourne Cup ‘live’. You couldn’t blame him. Everybody deals with disappointment in their own way and that was the option he chose after picking up a suspension which deprived him of the ride on the Melbourne Cup winner Dunedan.
Had he been able to be in the saddle and had Dunedan then achieved the same result, Craig would have been the first jockey to win the Caulfield Cup, the Cox Plate and the Melbourne Cup in one season. Achievements don’t come bigger than that!
Sadly though, that is the nature of the game. Nobody totally tames horse-racing and it is often when you are on a high that a setback arrives to bring you back down to earth.
Craig was not the first to suffer this fate. He will not be the last.
For most jockeys that rollercoaster ride is accepted as an intrinsic part of the profession.
Somebody’s bad luck is generally somebody else’s good fortune … be it stemming from a suspension, an injury or just a wrong judgement call.
When I won the Dulcify on Nothing Leica Dane for Gai, Shane Dye didn’t want to ride it … and it absolutely bolted in. Shane got off him and Gai put me on and he absolutely brained them.
But that was just a touch of good fortune for me because Shane then said, yeah I’ll ride him in the Spring Championship Stakes, which he did, and he bolted in there too. He went on to win the VRC Derby later. Had I managed to stay on him I’d probably have won the Spring Championship on him. I’d probably have won the VRC Derby on him.
At least I made the most of the little opportunity I had on the horse. It wasn’t the first time I’d lost a ride on a horse going places.
Once I was riding a horse called Stony Bay. I won about four on him. I won a race in Melbourne on him. I won the Ranvet in June, at 20-1, and then Shane again said, ok, I’ll ride him. Shane was friends with the owner too … so that was another one that got away.
One that’s quite funny is the story about a horse called Innocent King. Kerry Jordan trained it and the owner was a bit of a character. The owner was always saying, this horse is going to win the AJC Derby.
I won a Maiden on him and I said to Kerry, this horse goes pretty good. When you hit him, he just went boom. Then you’d sort of float … then you’d hit him again and he would just jump out of the ground. Average horses don’t do that.
I went on to win three or four in a row on him. After I’d done that I said to the owner, you might be right Billy. I think he can win the AJC Derby next prep.
Then he went out for a spell … and, of course, when he came back Jimmy said I’ll ride him. That was after Jimmy had bagged him earlier in his career. So, again, I was moved along … but I suppose the good thing is that at least Jimmy won on it and no-one else.
On the other side, I was in the right place at the right time to get on Sunline.
Trevor McKee rang the wrong number. He was looking for Jimmy but he had rung my number.
He said, ‘Jimmy … Trevor McKee here’.
I said, ‘Trevor … it’s Larry here. You’ve got the wrong number’.
Trevor said … ‘Ah, you’ll do’.
He then said, ‘I’ve got a really good filly. I think it is the best one I’ve ever had’ … and I know Trevor has had some outstanding horses. He said, ‘I’m bringing it over. Can you ride it?’ I didn’t even ask what it was running in. I just said, ‘Yeah I’ll ride it’.
At that stage Sunline had had two starts for two wins. I won at Randwick on her on a bog track. It was the Furious Stakes. I won the Tea Rose then I won the Flight Stakes on her.
Then I was going to go and ride her in the 1000 Guineas, but she hurt herself. Then I went to New Zealand and rode her first-up. Came back and I won the Doncaster on her.
So, I was on the right end of the phone at the right time to get all that.
But then the tables turned, as they do.
I was riding for the Inghams. Sunline was racing in Melbourne. I actually wanted to go and ride her, but Arena was running in the Canterbury Guineas.
Jack rung me and said … ‘Larry, Sunline is one horse. We’ve got a thousand’.
Then he added ‘… but don’t let me influence you’.
So where I was in the right place on one occasion, it was decision time for me then. I opted to stay with the Inghams.
I did win on Arena that day. It was a Group 1 race. I also won the Rosehill Guineas on Arena and I won the VRC Derby on Arena.
It was a tough call. You know Sunline could have gone sore the next day and I did have a commitment to the Inghams but, when you put it all on paper, with hindsight, it did cost me because Sunline did go on to win $12 million.
Greg Childs was the beneficiary. He got on Sunline then although I did get back on her.
These are just a few stand-out examples of the how the fortunes of a jockey can fluctuate through circumstances over which he has no control.
Sometimes, the behind the scenes manoeuvrering can be as important to the outcome for the rider as his expertise in the race itself.
We’ve all been through the merry-go-around of ups and downs. Craig Williams was just the latest high profile personality to suffer the turbulence with the drop from an emotional high to deep disappointment.
But then again, part of his high was when winning the Caulfield Cup on Southern Speed. Trainer Leon McDonald is on record as saying his only regret about the Caulfield Cup win was that Clair Lindop, who had done so much with the horse throughout its career was not aboard the horse.
It’s all part of the interplay of fortunes.
None of us are immune from getting dealt a bad hand every now and again.
Till next week,
Larry
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