BROWNIE'S BLOG: DUNCAN AND CORMACK - THE HOME TOWN HEROES ON GUINEAS DAY AT THE SUNNY COAST

By Damian Browne | Friday, July 17, 2020

The win by Wapiti in the Winx Guineas at the Sunshine Coast was a just reward trainer Jack Duncan and jockey Sean Cormack.

I was fortunate enough to ride winners for Jack when I was still riding and so I know first-hand that he is a very good horseman. I well remember that, even before he had his first start, Jack told me that he thought Wapiti was possibly one of the best horses he had ever trained and he is obviously starting to frank his trainer’s opinion now.

It is interesting to note that Wapiti ran second in his first start at $101. And the horse that beat him … no other than The Odyssey, who was already having this eleventh career start and therefore had more than a little race experience on his side. The Odyssey would of course go on to win The Jewel at the Gold Coast and also run second in the Gold Coast Guineas.

Wapiti then duly won his second start at odds of $1.36. What a difference one run makes!
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Wapiti did look beaten a couple of times in the straight on Saturday but Jack’s preparation had been spot-on. Jack had run Wapiti over 2030m the time before which gave him the fitness edge over a number of them. Coming back in distance and the way the track was playing would have helped but it really was a good training performance.

It was great to see Jack get his reward and it was also good to see Sean Cormack get a feature winner here. He has been working hard. He obviously had already showed himself to be a good big race rider in South African, but it was good to for him get this particular feature race notch on his belt.

I don’t think there would have been much of an interview with Jack afterwards. He is a man of very few words. I’ve had to interview Jack a couple of times. That was hard work. I don’t know who is harder … Jack or Trevor Miller … but Jack is a terrific fellow.

Jack doesn’t go sprouting his mouth off. He lets his horses do the talking on the track for him and he likes just pottering around with them quietly and Wapiti’s feature win was a fairly high-profile example of what a good job Jack does.

It was the cherry on the top actually … having a local stable take out the Winx Guineas on the Sunshine Coast Turf Club’s biggest race-day.

Good to see!
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We’ve all been getting mixed messages in recent weeks about the race commentator’s position in Brisbane.

I think both Josh Fleming and David Fowler are good callers. Josh is obviously the younger guy and David, I think it would be fair to say, is probably more towards the back end of his career in that respect … so I couldn’t see why Josh would be moved aside (as was the supposed story at one stage).

When I heard about it, I thought … geez, that would be a strange move because Josh is actually positioned to be the voice of Queensland racing for years to come. That is not taking anything away from David at all … he is a great caller … but, for the future, I would have thought Josh is the logical man to take things forward.

It was a strange one while it was going on.

I'm just pleased it has been resolved. Or, let’s hope it has.
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Personally, I do have a very clear favourite race-caller … a guy called Tony Lee from New Zealand. He’s called the central districts there for … who knows … probably thirty years now, I guess.

He can make a Maiden race sound like a Melbourne Cup. You could say he brought a bit of theatre to it. He has always been my favourite. He is a terrific race-caller and a great example of what you can bring to a call … adding atmosphere and emotion to the action. I used to watch a race just to listen to his call. It was just so enjoyable listening to him.

The starkest contrast his upbeat style is possibly the American commentators with their slow, monotone delivery which actually gets quite boring … and there are so many different styles in-between.

Commentating is an art-form and there is many different levels and layers to it.

We can argue about who should get what job and who is better than the other but, one thing I can say for sure is that it is not an easy job.

You couldn’t just jump in and think I’ll just do this for the day. You’ve got to really want to do it … and want to do it long term.

In fact, most of the stories you hear about most commentators is about them starting off at a very young age … five, six, seven years old … commentating in front of the television and then getting an early break and having good mentors as they worked their way up the ladder.

You can say what you like about commentors, but I certainly would not be able to do the job.

Could you?

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