It is always great to see someone outside the usual suspects like Freedman, Waterhouse, Hayes, Snowden, Cummings and the new boys on the block in Moody and Price win a top race. This year the Great Eastern Steeplechase at Oakbank over a gruelling 4950m and two dozen jumps was won by Pentacolo, trained by battling trainer Ciaron Maher from WarrnamboolAlthough Ciaron Maher has won a Group 1 race (you might remember Tears I Cry winning The Emirates at 100/1) he rates this win right up there with th

It is always great to see someone outside the usual suspects like Freedman, Waterhouse, Hayes, Snowden, Cummings and the new boys on the block in Moody and Price win a top race.
This year the Great Eastern Steeplechase at Oakbank over a gruelling 4950m and two dozen jumps was won by Pentacolo, trained by battling trainer Ciaron Maher from Warrnambool

Although Ciaron Maher has won a Group 1 race (you might remember Tears I Cry winning The Emirates at 100/1) he rates this win right up there with the Flemington win due to his love of jumpers. In a few weeks he will attempt to win the coup de grace of jumping races in Australia, the Warrnambool Grand Annual, on his home track with Pentacolo and what a win it would be. I have not been to Warrnambool for several years but I might wander down this year just to be part of the action and if Pentacolo wins I will be part of a piece of romantic Australian horseracing history.

The win of Roman Emperor in the AJC Derby just adds another chapter to the magic of Australian horseracing that will never be forgotten and the chapter I am referring to is called "Bart Cummings". Apart from the late Tommy Smith and Colin Hayes is there another man in this country that has commanded the respect of every punter in the land the way JBC has?. Here he is at the age of 81, where many people would be buying bulk oil for their wheelchairs or just sitting out in the garden contemplating life, at full bore already dreaming about a "bakers dozen" of Melbourne Cups as well as the pending Group 1 AJC Oaks this coming weekend with Allez Wonder and Think Money. May God give him strength: what a guy.

This Saturday the Doncaster Handicap is the best race on the Randwick program and I am hoping like mad the track will be dry. If the track is wet the top liners like All Silent, Whobegotyou, Alamosa and Hot Danish will find it a struggle but due to their class you cannot totally discount them. A wet track will narrow the chances down a fraction with mudlark Vision And Power clearly at the head of the wet trackers. In situations like this we just have to wait

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