Experience

Tomorrow is my daughter's birthday party.  At a pool close by to us. Goodness we love living in Melbourne!  We are gradually getting to be part of the community.  It's a slow process but I like the way the other parents are making my children and I welcome.  The party rules me out of Flemington tomorrow.  That's a bit of a bummer with Belle Couture running. I have been industrious this evening.  Not only have I been Baking Queen and made the birthday cake (I'm beginning to think that I actually only know how to cook one sort of cake, it's a pretty ace one though) and we've made up all of the lolly bags.  On the subject of icing cakes the kids and I have been watching some of my Bewitched DVDs.  I laughed when Samantha frowned at her very wonky hand made icing before fixing it with that fantastic little wiggle she used to do with her nose. 

I thought about Guy Walter a bit more today.  I read that Wendy is going to take over training the horses and that Racing NSW were today approving her trainer's licence.  She must be in shock.  Of course I am only assuming, but they looked close to me.  How do you cope with losing your best friend?  The person you had so much in common with?  It must be very hard for her.  Death is so very sudden, and so very permanent. 

And on the subject of Guy, and on photographers I guess, because this topic is often on my mind, it makes me think of the value of experience.  There are always new, young guns out there.  They are a good thing.  Competition makes all of us work harder.  I think about a trainer like Guy, with all that wise knowledge and experience behind him, and all those photographers I have worked alongside at racecourses in Melbourne.  Many of my photographer friends and colleagues have either already been made redundant or are about to face the same fate in the current axe that Fairfax is wielding.  And I wonder who will they turn to, to get these great images?  Journalists with iPhones??  Will they tell you the images are the same?  Will the journalist have the foresight to get in the right place at exactly the right time?  Will they be able to anticipate the moment before it happens?  Or be able to react swiftly enough?  Will they have a clue about the composition or exposure? 

To finish off I thought you might enjoy a few of the 'old' images from my negative archive which I've been trawling through recently.  The funny thing is we thought our film cameras were the bees knees back then.  I look at the images then and now.  Who'd have thought they would ever get as good as they are now.  Is it As Good As It Gets?  Not yet I hope..  Not yet...

Kenbelle.  Boban's dam.  Who knew!
 


Dane Ripper
Thorn Park.  No longer with us.  Do you remember Ocean Park who won the Cox Plate in 2012?  It's his sire.

A little filly called Fatoon.  She's a broodmare with her breeder Emirates Park.  She's the dam of Fat Al.

The Warrior...  Grand Armee demolishes the field in the 2003 Doncaster Handicap.  From memory Lonhro ran unplaced?  Gloomy, wet and miserable day.  Cool lens though..  The 400mm f2.8 from my dear friend Julie.
Northerly.  2002 Caulfield Cup.  Incredible horse.
 

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