The Doyen

It's been raining all day today.  We've had 30mm of rain, and it's still going.  I like it when it rains.  I also like lying in bed and listening to it.  I'm doing my usual worry about whether Freelance's rug is holding, however touch wood it's ok, because when I checked her this afternoon she was warm and dry underneath her 2 rugs. 

I've been tidying up hard drives tonight.  I got slightly off track, because I started it after trying to hunt through for some images I needed to send to a client, and that made me shake my head, and remember that I was in the middle of sorting my hard drives out and hadn't finished!  So I've done a little bit more on this tonight, although technically it wasn't what I intended to do today.

For some reason, I went looking through my folders from Flemington on 8 September 2012, which was Makybe Diva Stakes Day.  The following day I spent out at Nagambie and Murchison, with the Great One herself, so that made it a very special weekend.

This image caught my eye.  He reads my Blog from time to time, which bestows a great honour on me, because like my dear colleague Gerard Whateley, this man was probably the big reason I got so involved in horse racing and the thoroughbred.  So I of course hope he likes the photograph!!!!  It is of course the great doyen Les Carlyon.  I treasure the fact that I know him and call him a friend.  He is a source of huge inspiration, and one of those people who absolutely make a difference.

I sigh and realise that it has gotten late again, and get ready to walk away from my computer and get ready for bed.  Fingers crossed this period of bad sleeping won't stay with me forever. 
Les Carlyon.  What is he doing?  He's watching a horse....  And missing nothing as he does.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Legacy of Eight Carat: From the Vault Volume I

Image
We have been back in lockdown here in Victoria. Lockdown 5.0 to be precise and as a result it made us go back to feeling like sad sacks.  After having seen off Lockdown 4.0 a teeny tiny bit triumphantly, where we saw off both Delta and Kappa variants (evil beasts that they are - curse you stinky COVID - curse you), we had literally only just gotten back to work before being very suddenly plunged back into Lockdown 5.0 after the visit of those very nice removalists.   'Thanks very much!!!!' we all shouted indignantly!!!!  A key difference with Lockdown 5.0 was that half the country also into lockdown at the same time which made us feel slightly less sad.  The Victorian Government doesn't muck about anymore when it comes to outbreaks.  Their reaction is swift and severe and not at all namby pamby.  I just wish the same logic would be applied to Sydney which continues to deteriorate, much to my dismay.  This week we took our first tentative steps out of ...
Read more

Vale Sadler's Wells - champion stallion dies in Ireland.

Image
One of the most important racehorses, and later stallions of our time, the great Sadler's Wells died in Ireland on the evening of Tuesday 26 April 2011.  He died at Coolmore's Tipperary Stud in Ireland, his home since his retirement in 1984.  The stallion was retired from breeding in 2008. His legacy worldwide is immense.  He has left sons and daughters,  and three of his stallion sons, in Galileo, Montjeu and High Chaparral, are leading stallions in the Northern Hemisphere.  In Australia, Galileo and Montjeu had less success, however the impact of High Chaparral was immediate, and immense.  While the horse still has to repeat the success he achieved with his New Zealand bred runners, from which the Group 1 winners, and champion So You Think, were conceived, High Chaparral is still leading the Australian General Sires Title with only a couple of months of racing left. In Europe, Montjeu and Galileo have both sired Epsom Derby winners, in Authorized and Ne...
Read more

The physical drain of riding horses

Image
Most people agree that the life of a jockey is a difficult one.  There are a handful that rise to the top, and do extremely well out of the Sport of Kings.  The vast majority however struggle with their weights, and do their best to avoid and/or overcome injury.  Anyone who has ever been pelted off a horse would know that it doesn't tickle!  And of course the older you get, the more it hurts!  We used to fang around on our ponies, bareback, in headstalls and leadropes, never wearing a riding hat.  Completely fearless, and I am sure that on the odd occasion I parted company with my horse, I used to bounce.  In fact I rarely used to fall off, unless the horse came down as well, I guess all those years of galloping around bareback meant my balance and ability to swing my body with the horse was pretty good.  I'd like to say that I could still ride the same, but age and the maturing mind catches up, and you start thinking of the consequences of 'what...
Read more