LARRY'S VIEW - CARNIVAL GETS A BIG TICK! ALSO SOME FOOD FOR THOUGHT AFTER WATCHING ORIGIN
By Larry Cassidy | Friday, June 15, 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.
As we all know, there is a lot that can be improved in racing in Queensland, but we also should be giving credit where credit is due.
I think the Brisbane Carnival was a great carnival. The beauty is that almost every racing enthusiast embraced it and I think it was run beautifully.
The facilities … I understand there were few complaints from the general public side of things, while in-house the visiting riders gave the new jockey room an enormous wrap.
It’s not often that jockeys come up here from down south and are envious of us, but the southern boys are envious I can tell you. Even some of the Melbourne boys are very envious and that says a lot for the improvements that were undertaken. So all honours to the Brisbane Racing Club.
The on-track action also produced the goods. There were some stand-outs.
Probably the biggest one of the carnival was P Moody, as always. What he did on Stradbroke day was just magnificent.
According to reports he said he’s had big days, but he said that this was right up there with them, being in his home state! I also saw that he didn’t quite like just being thought of as the trainer of Black Caviar … and quite rightly so.
Black Caviar is an amazing addition to his mix, but if you take Black Caviar away he has had an outstanding three years. She’s the top layer and the icing, but his stable has got four solid layers underneath that.
The Derby winner Brambles was one of the equine standouts for me. He landed a feature race hat trick over the carnival … the Rough Habit, the Grand Prix and the Derby. He might still have to take the next step to be a Spring horse, but he was a definite stand-out.
Sea Siren was another who went to the next level. Her main aim was the Stradbroke. She didn’t feature in that, but she picked up two Group 1’s before that (in the BTC Cup and the Doomben 10 000), so she made her mark.
Buffering … hats off to him. He did a marvelous job in difficult circumstances. He certainly flew the flag for Brisbane!
There are obviously numerous other stories … and stories within stories that raise the interest levels at any carnival.
The bottom line is I think the Brisbane Racing Club can be suitably proud of the show they put on.
Like I said, let’s give credit where credit is due.
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Another two winners in the bank for me at the Sunshine Coast today. In fact it was close to a treble for trainer Len Treloar and myself.
Len is obviously re-building his team. He’s got some nice horses. He’s building a good record and I sure he is going to get better horses. It’s great to be able to ride for a person like him.
Look, I suppose I haven’t been getting quality rides in town, so I’ve been riding at a lot more meetings because the bills keep coming. You’ve got to go where you get rides and, because I’m not riding for any of the leading trainers in town, it’s just a matter of rebuilding, re-gathering and showing I’m riding well and the results will come.
That’s how I linked up with Len and things are going very well for us. I’m getting the results I’m looking for and he is now right up there challenging for the Sunshine Coast Trainers’ Premiership … so it’s all good!
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I’ll leave you with one last thought.
Did you watch the State Of Origin fixture on Wednesday?
Did you see anybody make any mistakes … missed tries, dropped passes, fumbling under the high ball, even poor tactical kicking on occasions?
You did!
Was anything ever said to anybody about any moment that might have cost their team valuable points and maybe even the game?
Well just consider this. With sports-betting, there is now a massive amount of money bet on matches … huge amounts … just as there is on racing, and player mistakes can have a direct influence on the outcome of the match.
As far as I can see when a player makes a big mistake, his team-mates rally behind him to help keep his morale up and commentators put the mistake down to pressure or nerves or at worst, a poor error of judgment … and fans forgive them!
My point is to highlight the difference between that response and the treatment handed out to jockeys.
Racing has quite correctly invested a large amount in a stewards’ structure which polices the sport and protects its integrity. Every move a rider makes is scrutinized. When a decision is made in the heat of battle and it doesn’t work out, the rider can be questioned.
When his answers don’t add up reprimands and suspensions, where deemed appropriate, come into play and that happens on a daily basis. This, in spite of the fact that we have to make split decisions at high speed while controlling a thousand pound animal in congested space … but drop a high ball with nobody near you in front of your own goal-line and the other team scores, or fumble a ball that you just have to land on it to score a try and obviously you were just doing your best!
I know the point, to many, might be a bit of a stretch … but just think about it! Think about the different reaction you have when a jockey makes a costly error and a player makes a costly error. What do you call the player in those circumstances and what do you call the jockey?
Then take into account the strict penalty that can await the jockey and the hard luck story that the poor player has to live with! Tough break for him!
I’m not complaining. I’m just observing and it just doesn’t look like a level playing field to me given that punters are winning and losing just as much money these days on both racing and sports.
I know … totally different sports and totally different policing structures. It just looks to me like, while it is always open season on jockeys, football players are a protected species.
What do you think?
Gotta go! There’s a couple of big guys knocking on my door.
Till next week,
Larry
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