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. 

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 Lockdown 5.0, hurrah f
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 New Approach respective
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 if I come off', which
Read more