The Romance of the Turf

"It follows that these pieces are some small celebration of that cliche they call the romance of the turf, this is the fine thread.  This romance, this pursuit of dreams, is what makes the turf special.  If you like gambling, there are poker machines.  If you like speed contests, late-night television is frequently a snarl of Formula One fury.
The turf is more than these things.  There must, for instance, be a romance, or at least some strange force, which propels otherwise intelligent people out of bed two hours before dawn to work four horses, all of them fundamentally flawed...
The great thing about racing in Australia is that it is rotten with democracy.  This is what distinguishes it most from Europe and North America.  And just when they say this democracy is dead, flattened by big cheque books ... Vic Rail, hefting an old Syd Hill saddle and wearing jeans with air-conditioning vents, steals the Melbourne autumn and is seen heading off for drinks with baronets and premiers.
The ultimate tease, you see, is this:  on the turf in Australia, and unlike quests for fountains of youth and holy grails, the dreams do sometimes come true".

Les Carlyon.  August 1988.  "Chasing a Dream"

Perhaps this is why I cannot give the track, and the horses up?  Am I being selfish, and am I too consumed Chasing a Dream? Or is it also partly that, in addition to this great loves of the horses, and horses in general, perhaps it is because photographing horses, and thoroughbreds at that, is the one thing that I have ever been truly good at?  I do not know.  All I know is that there is truth to the saying a straw can break a camel's back.

We hit the highway tomorrow, bound for Sydney, and with it the Slipper, the Inglis Easter Yearling Sales, and then the following Saturday the great Black Caviar will be waiting for me at Royal Randwick.  It will be good to get away.............   Horses rarely let you down.







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