FROM THE SHERIFF'S DESK: WINNING SEQUENCE IS STILL INTACT BUT THOSE WERE TWO HARD RUNS FOR WINX

By John Schreck | Wednesday, September 6, 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. Schreck’s personal blog, ‘From the Sheriff’s Desk', appears exclusively on HRO.

Winx keeps proving to everybody what a good racehorse she is.

Whilst Bowman has got her home in her last two runs since resuming from a spell they have been hard runs and, on that basis, I think her next few runs will really test her.

Her very impressive winning sequence is still intact but I’m sure her connections would have been hoping to have got through these two runs without the pressure she was under on both occasions.

Mr Waller knows Winx well and will take every care with her as always. It wouldn’t surprise me if they came back a little with her schedule.

Black Caviar was a sprinting horse ... where they jump and run ... whereas Winx is going to go to a mile-and-a-quarter shortly in the Cox Plate. It is very difficult to keep winning over those sort of distances at that level.

The expectation placed on the world’s top rated horses, like Winx and Arrogate, and also the best sportsmen and women in general, is that they should keep on winning ... like the Melbourne Storm who many people already seem to have over the line in the NRL ... but there comes a time when that doesn’t happen.

Arrogate is a good example. He has been defeated in both of his runs since resuming.

Winx, on the other hand, has carried all before her. She is outstanding ... pure and simple. There are no ‘buts’ at the end of that sentence.

All I am saying is that I have a slight concern that her first two runs back (the results excluded) ... as exhilarating as they were for the fans ... were not as her connections would have wished them to be.

There was a lot of pressure there and, on face value, they were hard runs ... and hard runs can take their toll.

That aside, Winx’s opposition still have to work out a way to neat her.

On that front all credit to Mr Ryan and Josh Parr who went into the Chelmsford Stakes with a tearway, frontrunning plan with Red Excitement to bring Winx undone. They planned it extraordinarily well and the plan nearly came off.

The only way to beat Winx in a race like that was to pinch it ... and they very nearly did!

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Josh Adams has been handed a six week suspension after pleading guilty to a charge of not riding his mount out fully all the way to the line.

Penalties are imposed to penalise the person who breached the rule but also to provide a deterrent by sending a message that certain actions are not acceptable.

The classic example of a jockey not riding one out was Roy Higgins in the Moonee Valley Cup years ago ... on Hyperno.

It was the same sort of situation where he thought he had the race won and he stopped nearly to a walk and another horse came over the top of him.

As in the Josh Adams case, Higgins tried to get his horse going again but it was too late.

The point being that miscalculating a finish by relaxing too early ... can happen to the best of them.

A follow-up to that story was that in the following year Higgins chose Salamander over Hyperno as his Melbourne Cup ride and Hyperno got up to beat Salamander by about half-an-inch ... so Hyperno was a bit of a demon horse for Higgins.

I can sympathise with Adams to a small degree because there was no intent in what he did but, for the life of me, I can’t understand why jockeys do that. Why they just don’t keep rubbing them along to the line ... it just doesn’t make sense to me.

I think Higgins said at the time that it was just stupidity ... and that’s what it is.

Think back to Black Caviar and that day at Royal Ascot some years ago. That was almost a complete, international disaster.

You have to remember that, whether it be Moree or Royal Ascot or Moonee Valley, most horses at the end of a run are travelling on empty and many of them are just about ready to stop anyway because the poor things are beggared.

Give them half a chance to pull up and they will.

I spoke about a message that needs to be sent.

It is a simple one, 'Don't do it!'

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It helps not to take life too seriously on some occasions.

Take this story for example. It brings some lighthearted relief but there is also a lesson in there. We always talk about wanting people to think on their feet and show initiative.

If only racing could come up with answers this quickly ...

A man went into a Birmingham supermarket asking to buy half a cauliflower.

The young greens produce assistant told him that they sold only whole cauliflowers. The man persisted, and asked to see the manager; so the boy went to find him.

Walking into the stock room, unaware that the customer was following him, the boy said to his manager, "Some idiot out there wants to buy half a cauliflower."

As he finished his sentence, he turned and was horrified to find the customer now standing right behind him so, quick as a flash, he added, "And this gentleman has kindly offered to buy the other half."

The manager approved the deal, and the man went on his way.

Later, the manager said to the boy, "I was impressed with the way you got yourself out of that situation earlier. We like people here who think on their feet. Where are you
from, son?"

"Cardiff, sir," the boy replied.

"Why did you leave Cardiff?" the manager asked.

The boy replied, "Sir, there's absolutely nothing there but prostitutes and rugby players."

"Really?" said the manager. "My wife is from Cardiff."

"You're kidding!?" replied the boy. "What position did she play?"

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HRO comments: In his autobiography Roy Higgins recalled how he effectively received a ten week suspension for his indiscresion on Hyperno in that 1978 Mooney Valley Cup. On appeal Higgins had the penalty reduced by two meetings.

Interestingly Higgins publically apologised to punters for his actions.This is how he described those events.

"He (Hyperno) shot away and there I was, daydreaming in front, listening to the plaudits of the crowd as Higgins the Great, Higgins the Magnificent, Higgins the Masterful, was bringing home this rogue horse, this arch villain of the racing world, this knave among thoroughbreds, to a great and noble victory.

"What was not going through my mind was the race. The mental blackout was so complete, I'd even lost the rhythm of my riding, as I saw to my horror and dismay on the film later. Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I saw another horse's head, which was a pretty rude intrusion into my thoughts at the time."