Damn it was wet!

November 13, 2010

Wet! That's the only way to describe Derby Day. I saw the forecast 4 days out, and thought in alarm, if that's right, then my gear is in trouble, seeing as I couldn't find for the life of me the rain cover for the big lens and camera. I'd never been really happy with it, and the Herald Sun photographers had been using on Caulfield Cup day some pretty good looking AquaTech covers, so I made some phone calls, and Andrew, you're fabulous, he got them to me in Melbourne in time.

Thank goodness! The day started oppressively warm, after a very warm Friday, which I admit to struggling with, seeing as Canberra as been gloriously mild, and with a heavy cloud cover. Up to race 3, there had only been one light shower, so I began thinking, with a slight frown in my haste to rush out and spend precious dollars on the rain covers, that perhaps we were going to be spared, and that perhaps, just perhaps, the BOM was wrong and we would be spared a soaking.

Humm..... It was not to be. The Group 1 races began with the Coolmore Stud Stakes (Ascot Vale Stakes), at race 4, at 1.20pm. As if on queue, about 20 minutes before the race the heavens began to open. Star Witness won the Coolmore, which was a good result for me, and the rain was becoming heavier and heavier. At one point, when I came in, my dear friend Saskia was there under cover, and she just said as I approached 'oh Bronnie, and wiped me down sympathetically with a towel. Yes, all the eyeliner and mascara was gone, as was the previously respectable hair, and in it's place was a very good drowned rat persona. Sigh....

The MacKinnon and So You Think was next, and by this stage, it really was teaming. Several nice people, like Henry Plumptre from Darley shared their umbrella with me, and we all began battling the dreaded condensation and vision problems, and hoped desperately that our cameras and lenses would keep focusing. The great tragedy was that this would turn out to be So You Think's last Australia victory (well, at this point it would appear to be so, with the horse now bound for the UK) and so there is real regret at having these last wonderful images of this champion horse all on his own marred by the rain. My wonderful D3s and 500mm lens coped admirably, albeit with a few occurrences of focusing on the rain drops instead of the horse, and my new rain cover kept me in business. I was well and truly drowned rat material now, and beginning to feel a little sick of the rain.

The Derby was next and goodness me, talk about DRIVING rain! I had trouble seeing, as the water was just pouring off me, and of course the rain ruined the chances of many of the better performed and bred colts in the race.

All in all the rain did not let up all day. The press room at the end of the day resembled a battlefield, and the most common comment was that either the camera had stopped working altogether or that it had suffered condensation. It turned wickedly cold by the day's end too, and in the end I was chilled through and felt pretty miserable! There were amusing pics to be had though, of the crowd singing and dancing in the rain. I think it had gotten to the point that you either laughed, or sat down and cried!

We went up to the committee room for the Cup barrier draw and goodness did I feel I'd earned that glass of wine!

Below: Star Witness (Starcraft - Leone Chiara) wins the Coolmore.

Below: Poetry. So You Think takes the MacKinnon.

Below: by now we'd all reached that point where it just wasn't possible to get any wetter. Lion Tamer (Storming Home - Lioness) relished the conditions though, leading and winning the Derby by some 6 or 7 lengths I think. Although he'd slipped under my radar, and I was probably heard to say 'Lion who?' after the race, he'd actually run a good second to Rekindled Interest in the AAMI Vase the week before the Derby. Hugh Bowman clearly thought if you're going to get fined for a premature wave of the whip, go for broke and make it a really good one! He was high in his irons a long way from the post. Too high Hugh! With the big lens I've cut your head off in a few frames, alas and woe!

Below: I don't think the connections of Sacred Choice (Choisir - Sacred Habit) would mind me saying that under normal track conditions, this mare couldn't be expected to be spoken of in the same league as the wonderful mares she left in her wake in the G1 Myer Classic. I speak of course of Typhoon Tracy, who battled well for second, and my darling Hot Danish, who finished bruised and battered, but still ran honourably for third. I came as close as you come to missing this race, and in a frantic dash just made it to the clock tower in time, and I guess was fortunate that the winner was apparent 200m from home! Whoops a daisy.