Sale Days

Somehow the weekend has come and run away on me, and is all of a sudden over.  I don't know how it happens.  One moment it is Saturday morning, where I wake and stretch in relief at not having to rush my kids out the door by 8.25am.  And then it's back to 11.35pm on Sunday night, where Heath is still not asleep and I'm getting increasingly tired and grouchy at him.  Maxie has curled up purring on my lap, which is usually his cue that it's time for bed.  Although half the time when I head off to bed he starts his Bad-Ass routine of charging up and down the hall which is annoying as hell.

I went to the track on Saturday morning sporting a brand new dress.  It's a lovely dress and it was a surprise gift from Lyn.  At the risk of sounding conceited it looked and felt lovely on.  My friends said it looked great, to which I beamed and said my friend had bought it for me.  

The lovely black colt Shamus Award won the Australian Guineas.  I have to admit that I felt disappointed when he won the Cox Plate.  This was despite the fact that he was sired by one of "My Boys", Snitzel.  I'm a bit of a purist when it comes to a race like the Cox Plate and probably a snob too.  I had gone into Cox Plate week thinking it would be a race between It's a Dundeel, Atlantic Jewel and Fiorente.  In the end "AJ" injured a tendon and was retired, "Dundeel" failed to overcome a serious foot problem and Fiorente ran the best of the trio, finishing what was possibly a disappointing 3rd to a black colt who had never won a race before.  Maiden's aren't supposed to win the Cox Plate and I left the meeting feeling disappointed, even though from an Arrowfield point of view and therefore my point of view the colt's win was a good result for me.

So for me it was important that the block colt won at least one more important race to give some legitimacy to his Cox Plate win.  He came to Flemington gleaming.  He's a pretty thing..  Ok, ok, I hear you shake your head and say that I just think he's pretty because he's black.  And I narrow my eyes and scowl slightly and say that there are black horses that I don't think are pretty..  Albeit not very many of them!  He is nice though.  He bounded out of the barriers and was never headed and I was delighted that he won.

Today we went into Melbourne.  I just love that we can do this.  We saw my Dad and my sister and her boys.  Dad took the kids shopping for their Christmas presents, after Heath reminded him in a beautifully tactful way that he was overdue with his present!  We then went around to my sister's house before heading back home.  

Tomorrow I will reluctantly not head out first thing to work Archie because I need to be at the Inglis Melbourne Yearling Sale.  Lyn said Archie looked a little lame this afternoon.  That made me frown with disappointment and instantly start doing my optimistic hoping.  I should stop doing optimistic hoping on some things.  It's stupid.  But I so hope he's not lame.  I plan on working him after school pick up tomorrow. 

I only have a vague recollection of where the yearling sale complex is and I have no idea how to get there.  I have to use my iPhone sparingly because it's battery is crap and Dan's charger thingy has suddenly stopped working.  That's in addition to his headlight being out (Dad told me this today) and the large dint in his front passenger door and his bumper bar that is falling off.  Oh, his speakers are rubbish and getting worse (they are REALLY rubbish, you'd hate them) and I generally feel like he's being held together by a piece of rapidly stretching string.

It's now after midnight and I should be going to bed.  I'm watching a movie though which is on Channel 10 (yes, commercial TV which I hardly watch, but I can actually get some free to air channels in this house!!!!).  It's a New Zealand movie and it's actually bloody good and I want to stay up and watch it.    

Shamus Award (Snitzel - Sunset Express) - wins the G1 Australian Guineas.  Susan Archer at Arrowfield Stud emailed me yesterday after receving this sequence.  She thought it was among my finest work, which was nice of her to say.








 





My friend Neil Murray took this sneakily and posted it on Facebook.  That's my new dress that Lyn bought me.  I felt a little glamorous in it.  My wardrobe has been feeling crap lately so it was ace to having something nice to wear. 

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