Late on Wednesday evening news seeped out that the great sprinter Hay List, a hulking giant of a horse, had been put down due to laminitis.   The big horse was trained by John McNair and is best remembered as being the horse who pushed the champion Black Caviar the most.  He ran 2nd to her 3 times and their battles in the 2011 TJ Smith and BTC Cup, as well as the 2012 Lightning Stakes are now part of racing folklore.  Hay List, perhaps because of his size, was a chronically unsound horse with leg and feet issues.  He also suffered at least one serious bout of colic and fought back from the brink a number of times.  His trainer John and his wife Sue adored the horse and he had a large following.  In the absence of The Famous Pony Hay List claimed 3 Group 1 wins, the 2010 Manikato Stakes, the 2011 All Aged Stakes and the 2012 Newmarket Handicap, where he set a new weight carrying record of 58.5kg.  He died at his home on John McNair's centr...

The kids, Maxie and I got home this evening.  We executed a lightning style raid on Sydney to see my Mum before she goes overseas for 5 weeks on Friday.  And I worked at the races on Saturday.  Maxie is becoming quite the traveller.  We like travelling with him.  He starts in the cat carrier, and is getting calmer in that.  But then he sits on the kids laps, with his harness on, and he's very happy doing this.  And he really loves Mum's house, particularly all of those stairs and he settles in instantly.  He refuses to sleep in her laundry, and executes a determined assault on her laundry door until it gives way and he gets out.  I could hear him doing this on Friday night, and then I fell asleep, but was woken up by the triumphant little Bad A** climbing onto my bed.  He's a naughty boy. There are other photos from the day, but I've developed a fondness for this big fellow.  His run was actually pretty good, as he got cluttere...

In a worrying twist, Hay List, the giant gelding who has run so gallantly behind the champion Black Caviar, was rushed to the Randwick Equine Centre on Friday 24 June.  The horse has been battling a severe infection for over a month now.  It is worrying that the horse cannot shake the infection, and it is hoped that a different course of antibiotics will assist him in his recovery.  Hay List was profoundly lame (trainer John McNair rated it a 4 out of 5) when he was taken onto the float, but the leg apparently improved somewhat on route, as the lameness came down to a 1 out of 5 when he was unloaded. Hay List and Glen Boss winning the All Aged Stakes     Hay List shortly before being run down by champion Black Caviar in the TJ Smith   In full flight - the All Aged Stakes  

Today I will again commence with a quote, and yes, yet again, it was written by my friend, the very great writer, Les Carlyon. " that cliche they call the romance of the turf.  This is the fine threat.  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, such flaws ranging from the inability to out-run a fat man to four bad legs, a soft palate, and a tendency to bleed easily. The ultimate tease, you see, is this:  on he turf in Australia, and unlike quests for fountains of youth and haily grails, the dreams do sometimes come true". Les Carlyon.  August 1988. ...