FROM THE SHERIFF'S DESK: RACING'S LONG LIST OF CHANGING VARIABLES MEAN NOTHING IS SET IN STONE

By John Schreck | Wednesday, January 4, 2017

John Schreck, a former Chief Steward in both Sydney and Hong Kong, has seen both the colourful and the dark sides of racing. His wealth of experience and his deep knowledge of racing matters across the board is unquestioned and the reputation he built as a racing ‘lawman’ remains firmly entrenched in racing’s history. Shreck’s personal blog, ‘From the Sheriff’s Desk', appears exclusively on HRO.

The result of the Perth Cup, where owner / breeder Bob Peters landed his seventh success in the race (and won the race for the third year in a row), once again had some critics lamenting the downside of somebody dominating a particular racing landscape.

Even Mr Peters himself was quoted as saying, ‘I’ve heard that I’m the worst thing that has ever happened to Western Australian racing. It’s annoying, but what can you do.’

An argument can certainly be made that the Peters colours currently dominate Western Australian racing too much, but if someone puts in the time and the money like he has done then I have always been of the view they are entitled to any success that the might have.

He buys good stock and breeds good stock and he has a lot of success.

Back in the day when T J Smith dominated as a trainer in Sydney for many, many years ... to the degree that no one will ever do the same again ... the Australian Jockey Club committee tried to restrict the number of runners that Mr Smith had in any one race.

Of course Mr Smith won that argument hands down in court because it amounted to a restriction of trade.

Domination will always have its detractors. It is not necessarily a good thing in any sport but if somebody has the means and the ability to get into that position that is their good fortune.

In some sports ... like the NRL with its salary cap ... rules are now in place designed to maintain a more level playing field.

Before salary caps St George won whatever number of premierships in a row and, because of the on-going possibility of having that dominating factor, they’ve designed salary caps to try to prevent that from happening again.

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Horse racing is very different.

A lot have people have come and tried to dominate over the years and most have been unable to do so because in racing the wheel tends to turn and I have no doubt it will keep on turning.

Money is not a guarantee for anything in racing ... and has never been!

There is no restriction on success. Anybody can own a champion.

So, while we can applaud some success stories, it is worth remembering all of those other people who brought their wealth into racing and then disappeared within a couple of years.

We had an example of that fairly recently in Australia and many others have done the same thing.

In certain walks of life if you reach a certain level of success it seems that your wealth will just naturally grow from there, but in racing you are dealing with horses and all of the variables they bring into play can quickly pull you up ... and even send you tumbling backwards.

As I said, in our sport there are no simply guarantees and if some risk takers, wealthy or otherwise, reap their reward, good luck to them.

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Damian Browne has made the decision to ride Ours To Keep in the upcoming Magic Millions Two-Year-Old Classic.

He is on record as saying what a difficult choice it was to make between the two unbeaten stable companions Ours To Keep and Champ Elect.

Being spoilt for choice is both an enviable and precarious position to be in because, over the years, there have been many instances where jockeys have pulled the wrong rein when making their big race call.

Circumstances too can conspire against a jockey.

One classic example that does come to mind in that regard was the case of Jack Purtell and Comic Court in the Melbourne Cup in 1950.

Jack Purtell, who has retired to the Sunshine Coast, was a champion rider in Melbourne and overseas in his time.

He always said that the best horse he ever saw was Comic Court and yet the year Comic Court won the Melbourne Cup Jack Purtell, in a hapless turn of events, was released from the ride on Comic Court, which was supposedly doubtful for the race at one stage, so that he could take the mount on race favourite Alister.

The race itself was a messy affair. Two horses fell in the race and Bruin broke down. Both of these incidents resulted in Alister suffering interference in the running which compromised his chances.

All the while, at the happier end of affairs, Comic Court was charging away to a clear-cut victory in record breaking time.

So, just as a list of unknown variables can bring down an prospective empire builder as I discussed in the first segment of this blog, so too can a long list of variables ... some known, some unforseen ... get in the way of a potential big race truimph.

That is why racing is such a fascinating game.

It's all about that unpredictability.

You could say there is nothing else quite like it.

*For the record, Comic Court was trained by Jim Cummings and was strapped by his son Bart and, while the 1950 Cup got away from him, Jack Purtell did end his career with three Melbourne Cup winners ... Hiraji in 1947, Wodalla in 1953, and Rising Fast in 1954.