FROM MY PERSPECTIVE - THE LAST TEN DAYS HAS BEEN A PRETTY FRUSTRATING TIME FOR ME

By Michael Cahill | Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Five-time Group 1 winning jockey Michael Cahill is the latest addition to the HRO blogging stable. Apart from Australia, Michael has ridden in the UK, Hong Kong, Singapore, Macau, Malaysia, South Korea and Mauritius. He brings thirty-three years of race riding experience to the game and with this greater all-around experience Michael is superbly qualified to give insightful commentary on the racing scene. Michael’s personal blog, ‘From my perspective’ will appear every Wednesday on HRO.

Last week, with the wet weather putting paid to a number of meetings, translating into a pretty frustrating time for me.

There were rides lined up … horses ready to go.

For me it was frustrating because I’ve been getting plenty of offers and now I am in a position where some horses that I would ride regularly could be doubled up in the same race.

That puts you in a position where you have got to choose and obviously puts your future rides on certain horses at risk.

We are talking about horses that would not otherwise have clashed, so it is not the most comfortable circumstances for a jockey to be in. That situation can work against you a bit.

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The prevailing conditions of the last week have also brought the value of the cushion track right into focus.

I certainly do think there is a place in Australian racing for a synthetic, all-weather surface but, in my opinion, the cushion track might not be the best answer.

I say this coming from a place where I was a big fan of the cushion track originally when it was first installed at Caloundra. It was a very good track to race on in the first six to twelve months after its opening.

There was hardly any kick-back. You hardly needed to wipe your goggles after a race. It seemed to have that cushion effect in that, at that time, you could hardly hear the horse’s hooves hitting the ground.

For whatever reason, the nature of the track has changed. Now it is a different track entirely. It simply doesn’t race the same as it first did.

There is kick-back now. You can hear the horses in the back straight … even the colour is different. It used to be a blond colour. It’s almost dark now … and it is very different to the way it raced early on.

I’m not sure what the answer is here. It is understandable that these synthetic surfaces can vary to a certain extent, but I just feel there is a marked, unfavourable difference in the track between the present and the past … which, to me, is very disappointing.

I’m ridden on the synthetic surface in Singapore and it always seemed to stay the same. Meydan in Dubai uses a Tapeta track. Lingfield and Wolverhampton in Britain … they race every week there during their turf season break.

It might be a good idea to study those tracks to see why they sustain racing better than our ones have.

In putting forward this viewpoint, and it is just one opinion, let me say that I don’t mean to detract in any way from the value synthetic tracks, present or future, provide for the industry and it was certainly good to see proactive decisions being made in Queensland this week to put that value to use … as will undoubtedly be done again in the future.

I just worry about the life of the cushion track and how its profile might continue to change over the comings years and whether it would be wiser for us to be looking for a possible better option sooner rather than later.

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With regard to my activities during the ‘down-time’ … as a jockey you can’t afford to do too much different to your usual routine because a lot of the time you don’t know whether the races are going to be on or off.

Often they are only called off race-day morning, like they were on Saturday, so it is not like you can sit back and take it easy. You still have to make certain that your fitness level is up to where it needs to be. You still have to watch your diet. You weight must be right.

So really, apart from missing the physical activity out on the track riding races, nothing much changes.

I did still ride work when races were called off. I went out to the Patinack property last Tuesday and Thursday. Normally I would go to jump outs or trials on a Tuesday morning, but they obviously weren’t on because of the conditions.

So, riding work on Tuesday and Thursday … that was about the working week for me.

Racing can work in strange ways sometimes. Horses lose runs or miss work … and you could find that some horses are more suited to a lighter than normal preparation and others are probably disadvantaged by it.

Until they go there race-day nobody really knows how individual runners have been affected.

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I don’t get too involved with the racing that is on elsewhere in the country while we are out of action.

I watch a few races but I don’t stay in for them. I was out on Saturday afternoon so I missed the races big down south, but I was able to watch replays of the main ones.

If I happen to be home I might turn the television on or else I’ll catch a replay of anything that I particularly wanted to see, but I’m not one to stare at the screen all day.

Till next week

Michael

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