BROWNIE'S BLOG - BUFFERING AND TINTO 'MAKE MY DAY'

By Damian Browne | Friday, January 15, 2016

Damian Browne, reigning Queensland's Jockey Of The Year, is rated right up there with the best jockeys in Australia and, as such, his highly informed views make essential reading for anyone in the racing industry. Damian’s column, ‘Brownies Blog’ appears exclusively on HRO

I was fortunate enough to have a successful day on Saturday at the Magic Millions, Australia’s richest race-day, winning two $1 million races.

Buffering and I have been around a few times now and have got to know each other really well. We work well together.

I guess that comes down to a combination of Buffering generally doing what I ask of him and with me playing along with him when he’s trying to tell me something. It’s a bit of give and take and it works well.

In Buffering’s race on Saturday I expected there to be a little bit of pressure early. Brad Stewart did kick up a little bit on Mister Booze and that’s why I just took my time getting across to the front but, once we got there, I think Buffering had the race pretty much under control.

I still had to be mindful of the 1300m distance and the big weight that Buff was carrying. He hadn’t won over that distance before and although he had done well in a couple of Stradbroke’s over 100m further, those Stradbroke runs were a couple of years ago ... so he was not only younger then, but younger in the legs as well.

Although we were actually confident he would run the trip we still had to be mindful of that, particularly with the big weight.

Mister Booze didn’t exactly go away and he chased Buff bravely, but Buff did quicken on straightening pretty well and, although I wasn’t really aware of how far behind me they were, once we quickened I thought Buffering would have them off the bit and struggling to catch him.

So I did think we had everything under control from a long way out.

Besides, as everybody knows, catching Buff is one thing. Passing him is another matter.

Buff did what he had to do and, all in all, it was a very satisfying win.

********************************************************************************************************

The win on Tinto was very special to me for all of the reasons related to Timmy Bell, who rode her to victory in the same race last year.

Tim’s relationship with Tinto and the success he had on the mare has been well documented.

I had to block all of that out once I got on the horse. There was still a job to be done and I had to put everything else out of your mind.

Thankfully, I was able to do that and concentrate on what needed to be done.

I thought we had lasted in a close finish, but obviously when Ryan (Wiggins) did his little salute I sort of half second-guessed myself for a moment. I thought, have I hung on or not?

I was very thankful when Bernadette Cooper made her way over to me when I was pulling up to tell me that I’d won and to do the post-race interview.

That was a real relief. Actually it was sense of relief and elation all in one.

Then the emotion did come out.

I even thought that Timmy may have helped me a little bit in that finish ... and, not to detract anything from a fine performance by Tinto, in the immediate aftermath of the race our thoughts were very much with Timmy for sure.

It was so good to be able to share those moments with Tim’s family. The on-going support that the family have received from the racing fraternity and the manner in which they have conducted themselves has been fantastic.

I think all of that just shows the respect that Timmy earned when he was with us and everybody’s feeling towards him as a person ... their genuine affection for him as a fine, young man.

He earned all of that himself.

Taking that all in after the race was won was a very emotional experience.

********************************************************************************************************

All of the riders obviously knew Magic Millions was going to big day in all aspects, but it surpassed what many of us thought it would be ... crowd-wise, for example.

Many days are built on one race ... even the Melbourne Cup meeting is very much built around one race ... but because the program at the Gold Coast was so strong throughout it enabled the buzz to start early and to just continue to build.

There was a great atmosphere and it was good to be part of it.

The relatively small track facilities and the large crowd did create some difficulties but it is hard to justify wholesale changes for what really is a once a year problem.

From the jockey’s point of view I was pleased that we got better runs once we got out onto the track then we did trying to find the trainer and owners to talk to before each race.

It was a crush outside the weighing room and it was very difficult to get through to your connections even if you did manage to spot them.

It’s easy to say that a separate area should be set aside only for owners, trainers and jockeys pre-race, but I don’t where that would be at the Gold Coast.

Hopefully something like that can be sorted out.

Thankfully that is not my job so I don’t have to worry about it or how to make things more comfortable for everybody on the big day, from those inthe public area to the members.

It would give me a headache.

That’s not a bad problem to have though.

It is certainly better than sitting and waiting for somebody to pitch up at the front gate.

More articles