Thursday, March 29, 2007

The Autumn Racing Carnival Heats Up

This coming Saturday has a sizzling program of five Group 1 races and a lot of my favourite horses will be competing. It will be televised on Free to Air television, so no doubt I’ll be spending Saturday in front of the TV.

Apache Cat is aiming for Group 1 glory in the Ryder Stakes. He’s been going very well this season having easily won three times in a row. He has a top jockey on board so should put on a great show. Competing against him is a top-notch bunch of three-year-old colts including my other favourite Haradasun. Haradasun had a setback with foot problems, but apparently all that is now fixed. It should be a great race.

Also on the cards is the premier two-year-old event, the Golden Slipper. It’s a damned hard race in which to pick the winner. Miss Finland won it last year, but this year there are no real standouts, though the bulk of the field has promise. If Murtajill, the current favourite, is not injured, as is speculated by the media, he appears to be the one to beat.

Miss Finland, Melbourne’s top filly, will be competing against Sydney’s top filly, Tuesday Joy, in the Arrowfield Stud Stakes – another race not to be missed.

And then there’s the BMW, a 2400 metre race with the grand Sydney horse Desert War contending against a field of good stayers.

All in all, it will be an exciting day of racing. I probably won’t place a bet, though then again, just out of sentiment, I might put a small wager on Haradasun, as his odds are sure to be good. He has a remarkable turn of foot at his best and could well take out the race.

Tonight I’m off to see Fred Eaglesmith. I’ll report back on that tomorrow with pictures.

3 comments:

Kay Cooke said...

I love being at the races - but we go very rarely. My brother part-owns a racehorse. He says the horses really do love to race. It is not a chore or done because they're made to - they actually enjoy it and usually want to win.

Jan said...

I know NOTHING re Horse racing, although I DO know the British model Jean Shrimpton caused HAVOC at the Melbourne Cup in the 60's in her miniskirt..
Anyhow I'm learning through visiting your blog and so you never know, I MAY end up at the Races in MY city this season!

Anne S said...

CB - I love going to the races myself, but generally only make it once a year. I do however follow certain horses all year round.

It's nice to know that the horses love racing as much as we like watching them do so.

Jan - I'm glad you enjoy my blog entries on horse racing. I sometimes think I am talking to the void on the subject.
I remember the Jean Shrimpton incident well. It was in 1965. Not long after that we were all wearing miniskirts. Us young things at the time thought her gesture was marvellous.

I'm sure you would enjoy the races if you do go. They're so colourful and full of strange racing characters, not to mention the beautiful horses.