Ch2 ODDS AND ENDS - not big enough for a thread of their own

[Messenger]

Taking an interest in the 3yo at Geelong today as a couple of well bred types were going around and then I decided to look up the winner.
Our once regular poster and moderator, Richard Prior, bred the dam - Rockin In Eden, Cocora is her first live foal. She ran 4 placings last season without being able to notch a 2yo win but she goes alright Rich

http://www.harness.org.au/racing/fie...s/?mc=GE310122

[Messenger]

PeterProfit is suggesting that Joe Conolly 'has something' whether that be training nouse or something else and he bases this on the way he improves older horses but let's be fair and analyse their form previous to Joe getting them

Silly Sid - no surprise he won in 1.56.2, as then 7yo, he was having only his 6th start (has still only had 11) and a year before that win he had run 1.56.1 in a trial
Fortunate Son - PP is only complaining about Joe making him consistent - give the man a break
Schouten Island - he cites the 1.53.0 win in July but 2yrs before that he had run 1.53.2 when 3rd at Albion Park
Mister Magic Man - PP marvels at him winning in 1.51.4 saying he had never won in faster than 1.56.6 BUT 2yrs before he had run 1.53.2 when he drew badly and had a hard run before finishing 7th, so we are not talking miracles
Art Tutor - as a 6yo has gone pretty close to 1.50 when beaten by Muscle Factory last November BUT this is a horse that as a 2yo having his second start back in 2017 rated 1.56 when finishing 7th, it is not mind boggling to think that 4yrs later he could be capable of about 6 seconds improvement on a faster track over a shorter distance

Fortunate Son rated 1.49.4 racing at Menangle yesterday - leading and winning by 18m

http://www.harness.org.au/racing/fie...22#PCC01022205

PP asks this morning - Why would you be selling him for $25k? Saying that until today he had been advertised for that for the last week on Harness Trading Ring

[Showgrounds]

Cheap horse at 25, unfortunately secrets to its much improved performance are unlikely to be supplied. I watched that race in amazement then looked at the horse's racing record. A quick check of my BS-ometer revealed it had bent its needle in going off the scale.

No, I'll keep my 25 grand for a yearling. Unless they are using an alarm clock for timing races at Menangle this horse's form runs in the opposite direction to laws of nature.

[Messenger]

On this 13th anniversary of the Black Saturday fires, the town and track look magnificent at Yarra Glen. It really is a beautiful track/vista. The track is already set up up with dozens of marquee for a party day/gallops meet on Saturday - I am pretty jealous

[Showgrounds]

The Yarra Valley certainly is the complete opposite of what it was this time thirteen years ago Kev. That day was 1939 revisited but with even more dire consequences. By coincidence I had applied for a job covering all of Victoria but based out of Healesville. I emailed my application just after seeing the huge plume of smoke when the Strzeleckis ignited. A phone call on Monday to arrange an interview in Melbourne the following morning and then a job offer on the Wednesday saw me meeting my new employers at Tullamarine Airport early on the Friday and on the job in Healesville by mid morning.

The fires were still burning around Healesville for another three weeks. Yarra Glen's surrounding areas were badly damaged including many vineyards between the two towns. My boss would ring me daily to ensure my safety. I'd tell him as long as I could look out the window and see the Mt St Leonard fire tower all was well, if it wasn't then I was out of there!

But the Yarra Valley Racing Centre is one of the best there is. The track is terrific and the grandstand facilities, all air-conditioned behind glass make for an enjoyable day out. It seems many trots participants remain unaware that the extension of the Eastern Freeway via the Mullum Mullum Tunnels halves the travel time to Yarra Glen. This venue deserves more support and, undoubtedly, is Victoria's most picturesque track.

[Messenger]

I choose to think of it as the luckiest day of my life, we lost our house, 2 cars, everything BUT my wife and 18yo daughter who were forced to take refuge in someone else's home when their escape route was cut off, survived the front and helped save the house that saved them. I know how long those fires burnt, I got back to the Valley before 10pm but did not get them off the Hill (Christmas) until about midnight.
Today my thoughts were with the many, many who lost family such as the 11 on Steels Creek Rd below us

[Showgrounds]

It sure puts a different perspective on the word "lucky" Kev. I woke up at 6:00 AM the next morning to find Marysville was gone, went into Traralgon and saw dozens of people I knew from the Traralgon South area who had lost everything and learnt of others who had perished. Everywhere I went in the next year I met so many more people with the same story, many of whom just needed somebody to talk to. We've had a couple of close calls at our place including an evacuation order three years ago as we were "certain to be impacted by wildfire and embers". At the same time the wind was blowing the fire away from us while we couldn't leave the property due to flash flooding!

You can stress about these things or recite Dorethea Mackellar. I choose the latter.

[Messenger]

24 races tomorrow = 12 at Melton + 12 at Mildura

Not small fields either - 23 of them paying 3 place divvies

You have to say that is healthy. Things are definitely healthy in Mildura - they don't need any horses outside their region to fill a meet

[Messenger]

One damper however is that
We have 216 horses going around for $168,000 (24 races)
while on the same day
the gallops have 55 horses going around for $400,000 (8 races Sandown)

Our average per race is $7,000 (OK for us) while their average per horse is more than that!

[Messenger]

In R4 at Ararat today, Diamond Wes had his first start for 24 months and his first win for 49 months.
He only started at 4/1 after trialing well of late

http://www.harness.org.au/racing/fie...22#ARC13022209