Tuesday, October 09, 2012

Caulfield Guineas Barrier Draw

On this nice sunny day in Melbourne, I felt inclined to venture out and do something different for a change, so I decided I’d go and watch the Barrier Draw for the Caulfield Guineas at Federation Square in the city.

barrier draw1
Shows barrel with horse names to be drawn and little stone plinths with barrier number on the base.

It was moderately amusing and interesting to witness the draw. The Caulfield Guineas had only eight acceptors, and hot favourite is the unbeaten colt Pierro, who drew barrier 7, represented by his lucky owner G. Kolivos.

barrier draw_pierro
Pierro’s owner choosing Pierro’s barrier.

The final draw looks like this:

barrier draw3

This afternoon’s outing was just a teaser for the main event on Saturday. I plan to attend and have pre-purchased a ticket (it was cheaper to buy online than pay at the gate) so I’m pretty well obliged to go. Not that I would miss the race meeting in a fit, as it looks to have a ripper of a race card and I am so looking forward to seeing Pierro & More Joyous in the flesh - not to mention Manighar and Ocean Park and a number of the international Cup contenders.

I’ll try and write a preview before week’s end and of course describe my day at the races, after the  event (with pics).

And speaking of Australian Horse racing, check out this wonderful post on a small grey mare called Alice Hawthorne who took the colonial Australian horse racing scene by storm in the 1850s. It’s a great Australian story and told in an interesting way.  Thanks Ms O’Dyne for alerting me to it.

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