BROWNIE'S BLOG: THE BOSTONIAN'S MESSAGE IS SIMPLE. UNDERRATE NEW ZEALAND RUNNERS AT YOUR PERIL
By Damian Browne | Wednesday, May 29, 2019
Recently retired, multiple Group 1 winning jockey Damian Browne has joined the HRO editorial with Brownie’s Blog - exclusive to HRO - now being published on a weekly basis.
The Bostonian’s Group 1 double in the Doomben 10 000 and the Kingsford-Smith has given us a timely reminder of just how good the New Zealand raiders can be.
New Zealand trainers have enjoyed success over a long period of time at the Queensland Winter Carnival. I think we have always had more of a healthy respect for their stayers but when their sprinters come over here they do sort of get under our guard.
Regardless of their New Zealand form, we’ve always had a tendency to think the Australian sprinters are better than the New Zealand sprinters.
There is no doubt that the expertise of some New Zealand trainer’s is certainly as good as anyone elses … and the last three or four years has really shown that, particularly with Tony Pike (the trainer of The Bostonian) who has brought the right horses for the right races and who has obviously targeted the Brisbane Racing Carnival.
He still takes horses to Melbourne and Sydney but not as much as he does here.
Because of that general opinion of the New Zealand sprinters they tend to start off at a good price and then their odds come down as their form unfolds … The Bostonian being absolute case in point.
His starting price was $41 when he won the Doomben 10 000 and then he started at $11 on Saturday when winning the Kingsford-Smith.
The 10 000 winner generally comes out and is in the top two or three in the market at its next start. I’m sure punters have got the message now and The Bostonian is not going to go out at double figure odds in the Stradbroke.
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While congratulations are due to Tony Pike and The Bostonian, local jockey Michael Cahill also must be given every credit for those victories.
Michael has always been a great rider but, as we have talked about before, it all comes down to opportunities and, in this carnival in particular, Michael has been getting on horses in a little more favourable circumstances than can otherwise be the case.
He has also been riding a lot of winners away from the feature races and is obviously riding with a lot of confidence which comes with riding a lot of winners.
Like the old saying goes … you can’t beat experience, and you can’t buy it either.
It is just good to see such a great bloke getting the results and recognition he has deserved for many years.
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It has been a good Brisbane carnival as well as local stables and riders are concerned.
Locally based stables have won thirteen races over the three meetings so far. The southerners haven’t dominated as they often can and as they so often are expected to do.
That goes to show we are holding our own to some degree which is a great sign for Queensland racing.
You like to think that we are competitive come carnival time and its nice to see that the results show that we are standing up this carnival.
I think it is terrific.
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The Candy Man is building up quite a following. It was a very good win in the Group 3 Premier’s Cup on Saturday where The Candy Man won for the seventh time in succession.
He looks like he is probably going to be one of our better horses going forward and it wouldn’t surprise me to see him win a Group 1 staying race in the future.
I said that to (trainer) Barry Baldwin after I rode The Candy Man at the Sunshine Coast back in early January when he missed the start by six or seven lengths and won by a length over 1800m. That was only a Class 1 but he already showed in that run that he was above average.
His is great story with what he has overcome, the lengthy operation he had etc.
We need these sorts of horses to create interest. It keeps people talking … about good things.
Like I say, it is just such a great story and hopefully there’s more to come.
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The fact that Chris Waller’s runners are about to break through the $40 million stake earnings mark for the season is quite an astounding achievement.
Sure, Winx has played a major role in that return, but his domination is just quite incredible.
We’ve had Tommy Smith early on and then we had the Ingham’s with John Hawkes dominating … and then, of course, Gai Waterhouse … but I don’t think any of them dominated as much as Chris Waller is doing.
Apart from the stake earnings, he is also likely to set a new record this season for the number of Group 1 wins.
He is currently level with Tommy Smith’s 1979/80 season record of seventeen Group 1’s, but with Chris likely to have multiple representatives in all of the Oaks, the Derby, the JJ Atkins, the Stradbroke and the Tatts Tiara you wouldn’t bet against him breaking that thirty-nine year old record.
The figures just keep coming. He is only two wins off one-hundred-and-fifty metropolitan wins for the season in Sydney.
Tony Gollan has had a good season in Brisbane and the fact that he sits on seventy-five winners … half of that which Chris is about to chalk up … puts Waller’s domination into perspective.
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It is not often that you find a stable set-up where owners are that comfortable with running against other horses from their stable.
When you are in a big stable you can sometimes wonder if your horse gets lost a little bit and is not getting the sort of attention you would want from a smaller trainer … but Chris Waller has showed that he is still able to keep those standards that high that he can give every individual horse the attention it needs.
He probably doesn’t get to sleep at all!
Everybody wants to be in his stable. I suppose that is what success brings and that stands as a credit to Chris and his organisation and how it’s run and how he communicates with his owners.
You have to take your hat off to him, stand back and admire what he has done!
He deserves every success he gets.
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Lastly, a bit of a ‘sneak-peak’ if you like, for want of a better description.
I have been thinking about what I am going to do next and, at the moment, I am contemplating managing a few riders.
I’m not trying to get the big names or anything like that, but rather I want to try and manage a few riders … like those who are around who have good ability but are not getting the opportunities.
I would like to work with them and help them to take that next step … and from there help them to go on to fulfil their potential by guiding them on how to set and reach their goals.
Just mentoring in that sort of way … and managing them as well … is what I am thinking of doing. I’d like to get a few riders and see what I can do with them over a year or two.
It becomes a mental game for jockeys in some ways because when they are not getting the opportunities it becomes disheartening so they need somebody to keep pumping them up and telling them it will turn if you keep putting in the hard work.
Importantly though, I only want to mentor riders that want to get better. There are people out there who are just there for the show and if they can’t be bothered to get better, to be honest, I can’t be bothered wasting my time either.
I’ve been the jockey’s room for a long time. I can pick out those want to do better … those who want to improve. If I can help those riders in some way … well, I would get a lot of satisfaction being able to do that.
It’s just an idea at the moment … absolutely nothing is set in concrete - but it is something I’d be very interested in doing if the pieces fall into place.
Till next week.
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