BROWNIE'S BLOG: THERE IS STILL PLENTY OF WATER TO GO UNDER THE BRIDGE BEFORE MAGIC MILLIONS DAY

By Damian Browne | Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Damian Browne rode two lively Magic Millions Two-Year-Old Classic prospects to victory at Doomben on Saturday, both for trainer Chris Munce. While most riders hope to have a ride in the big race, all being equal, Browne will have a choice of rides going into the main feature on racing’s richest race-day. In this week’s edition of Brownie’s Blog, which appears exclusively on HRO, Damian ponders that dilemma ... and he also comments on the series of extended meetings currently being trialled at the Sunshine Coast.

For some time now Chris Munce has had a good opinion of both of his two year old winners on Saturday and Ours To Keep and Champ Elect have certainly emerged as exciting Magic Millions prospects.

Both horses have two wins from two starts and I’ve been lucky enough to partner them in all four wins.

That means, all being well, I will probably soon be faced with a bit of a dilemma in having to choose between them for my Millions ride because they are set to clash in the Magic Millions Two-Year-Old Classic ... but I guess, as far as dilemmas go, that is a good dilemma to have.

Hopefully Chris doesn’t ask me to make a decision too soon.

I’d like to wait until the barrier draw before I make my call if I can. I’m not sure if Chris will let me wait that long ... but the longer, the better!

The Millions might be coming up relatively soon but, in the world of two-year-olds where things can change very quickly ... with shin soreness and other variables that can come into play ... there is still a fair bit of water to go under the bridge between now and the millions.

And then of course each horse has its own set of connections so I am aware that my choice at the end of the day might leave somebody disappointed.

I’ll discuss that and talk that through with Chris closer to the time and I’m sure it will be fine, but obviously in these circumstances it is hard to please everybody.

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Ours To Keep and Champ Elect both got a little bit of a let up after their respective first-up wins. They trialled since then and they have come on nicely between wins.

We wanted to ride the colt (Ours To Keep) with a little bit of cover last Saturday just to add another string to his bow ... to see what he would do.

He was pretty good and I think he’ll again take good improvement from that. So I’m really happy with the way he is going.

The filly (Champ Elect) probably had to do it the tough way. She was three deep, albeit with cover, and she was strong through the line.

She not only has ability but she is a good looking filly too. She could win a few fashion contests I think.

In essence, it is difficult to split the two at this stage. It is just good to know they are both going in the right direction.

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I have to say it is a pleasure riding for Chris. He just enjoys racing so much and he has all that enthusiasm.

He is like a cat in a fish shop ... he is smiling that much.

I think he could take on Gary Moore in the post-race celebration stakes.

If Chris wins the Magic Millions he’ll probably be there in time to help me pull the horse up.

We might have to get him a hat beforehand so he can throw it into the crowd like Gary does.

He loves his horses. He loves racing ... and it is great to see!

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We now go to another of those extended race meetings featuring additional races at the Sunshine Coast on Wednesday.

This is the fourth in these series of these meetings, each originally scheduled to hold twelve races (down to ten this Wednesday), which, in my understanding, is being trialled to see if it can bring any benefit to racing’s financial bottom line.

It will be interesting to see an official breakdown of turnover in general and the turnover of each individual race in particular to see if betting peaked at some stage and then fell away towards the end, or perhaps started slowly and then picked up ... and, of course, the final verdict.

While we accept we must all do whatever we can for the industry, it is the participants who are the ones putting in the long hours and the hard work to make these meetings happen so it would be good to know if our extra effort is making a difference or not.

So that is another bottom line to consider ... namely what participants think of this extended race meeting concept.

By participants I mean participants as a whole ... trainers, strappers, stewards, jockeys, members of the public, ground staff and everybody else involved.

I suggest we don’t have to wait for a print-out report on that one.

In my view at least, the race-day is too long. It is just too long!

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