It's a well used statement that in any other era, Hay List would be proclaimed the best sprinter in the land, and perhaps the world.  The hulking son of Statue of Liberty has a fine record, but he has had to live in the shadow of the mighty mare Black Caviar, who has defeated him soundly on every occasion the 2 sprinters have met. However, after "Nelly" again relegated him to 2nd place in the G1 Lightning Stakes for the 2nd successive year, her trainer Peter Moody elected not to start his great champion in the 2012 Newmarket Handicap, where she had been burdened with a crushing weight of 60kg.  And his decision left the door wide open for the perennial bridesmaid Hay List to win an overdue G1 race.  He swept down the outside late, to nail the gallant Buffering right on the line, to win by a whisker.  It was great theatre, and no one on course begrudged him his victory. Hay List has also been injury and illness plagued.  He has bad feet, and last year, aft...

I'm sitting, finally, in my new lounge room at my desk.  Although we moved in on 31 March, I've only spent a total of 7 nights here in my new home, because of the amount of time I have spent 'on the road', and it feels nice to be here again.  And it's fair to say that this Blog has been hopelessly neglected during the last 6 weeks or so.  And for that, I am sorry. There's been a lot going on, so it has not been a lack of equine or photographic activity that has caused this Blog to lie idle.   However the search for, and eventual success in finding a new house had to take priority, and then moving during what is my 2nd busiest time of the year, well, it's a process. So where to start?  I had to go back to my hard drives to recall exactly where I've been, but I was, officially, at Rosehill Gardens for the running of the Silver Slipper Stakes on 3 March 2012.  The highlight of the day was clearly the win of the handsome Lonhro colt Pierro, in the S...