FROM MY PERSPECTIVE - THE RACE THAT WENT RIGHT DOWN TO THE WIRE. NASH AND I SHARE THE HONOURS
By Michael Cahill | Wednesday, August 7, 2013
Apart from Australia, five-time Group 1 winning jockey Michael Cahill 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’ appears exclusively on HRO.
There was a big finish to the racing season last Wednesday when Nash Rawiller pushed the $3.50 favourite Sir Berus out to victory in the last race at Warwick Farm to equal my number of Metropolitan winners for the season.
That result meant that Nash and I shared the Australian Metropolitan Championship title.
The last race had already been completed at Doomben when Warwick Farm’s seventh race got underway and I was aware of the situation and watched the race in the jockey’s room at Doomben.
Nash just did such a good job in the closing months of the season. He looked to be in an impossible position to win the Sydney Premiership. How far behind Hugh Bowman was he with two months to go? He looked a forlorn chance, but it’s all credit to him for the way he stormed home.
He is a champion jockey!
I’ve watched Nash ride a lot throughout his career and I think he has got better and better. I think, particularly so probably the last twelve months. I think he has really gone up another level.
Successful jockeys have to have a deft touch but I think with Nash there is also an increased physical strength these days which is very much a factor in some of his winning rides.
In a couple of his wins in recent weeks I honestly think the result was more due to him than the horse. The horse obviously has to be good enough to get that close, but I think Nash made the difference between winning and losing.
He is currently riding in superlative form and, it’s a bit scary, but the way he is going he is probably going to improve.
Over the last six weeks Nash was getting good rides, being given really good support from champion stables, but he had to get the job done himself in the end.
Nash is a top class jockey. He deserves his success.
***************************************************************************************************
The race for the Metropolitan Championship wasn’t really mentioned until the last two weeks of the season and I didn’t want it to cheapen the Brisbane Premiership. I was quite happy and satisfied to have achieved that outright result.
Things went pretty well throughout the season and my first Premiership win was the result of it.
I was lucky in that I only had two suspensions during the season. Suspensions do interrupt a jockey’s momentum. The last one I had was quite costly but fortunately it was late in the season.
Different jockeys will have different reactions to a suspension. You’ve got your rights of appeal. I always do consider whether I should use those rights … and I have in the past.
Having said that, I haven’t appealed a suspension in Brisbane since 2010 … before I went to Mauritius. With the two suspensions I’ve had in Brisbane since I’ve been back … I thought I probably deserved the suspension so there was no point in going through the appeal process. I would appeal if I thought I had a strong case … otherwise I’m not going to waste my time.
***************************************************************************************************
Another win for the season for me was topping the standings in the Courier-Mail Ambassador Travel BRC Jockey Medal. That was really a bonus on top of everything else.
I am very fortunate. It is a magnificent prize which includes airfare and four night’s accommodation for two at Hayman Island. It’s a beautiful spot.
The problem now is trying to find a window to take some time off. I’m just too busy at this time so it’s a bit hard for me to get away at the moment. We’ll just see what happens.
The good thing is that I’m not physically or mentally in need of a break right now. It’s not like I’ve been flat to the boards. I was eighteen months in Mauritius. They only race once a week. It wasn’t as hard as the work you do here.
Then I had two months off for the off season and I was just back in Australia for three weeks when I had a fall and was out for two months, so it’s not like I’ve been toiling away.
It’s still a lovely holiday to look forward to when it happens. Like I say, I’m very fortunate.
***************************************************************************************************
“Form reversals’ are always a hot topic in racing … as it has been in recent weeks … but it should be pointed out that the term is often applied to situations where no true form reversal actually exists.
With the general track conditions now starting to firm up with the recent spell of good weather punters really need to do their homework carefully in terms of what surfaces individual runners excel on.
The form of many horses have been compromised by the prolonged spell of soft or heavy going and a good percentage of these will improve dramatically when they return to their favoured good racing surface.
When they do, everybody except those who don’t understand or those who, for whatever reason, don’t want to accept that simple explanation, will realise that most of the results are entirely reasonable given the changing circumstances.
Post-carnival is always a relatively difficult time of year for punters with horses returning action in various stages of fitness. That becomes an even more difficult mix when the track surface is changing from previous weeks, as it is now … but that surely is just part of the challenge for those who fancy themselves as ‘expert’ punters.
As David Fowler alluded to in his blog earlier this week, when they get it wrong it is all too easy for punters to blame somebody else. That could just be another case of their judgement being wrong.
Of course there are genuine form reversal races (the old adage that horses are not machines is a fact of life) … but they don’t occur anywhere near as much as some would have you believe.
And for the riders … well, my word, it is just nice to have the sun on our backs again for a while.
Let’s hope it continues.
***************************************************************************************************
Finally, on a very sad note, it goes with saying how shocked and sad we all were at the events on Darwin Cup day which ended up taking the life of Simone Montgomerie
I send my heartfelt condolences to her family and friends at this time of tragic loss.
Till next week,
Michael.
More articles
|