The Carnival is Over - Final Super Stable Update

I have been waiting for the final results of the Spring Super Stable competiton to be posted at Racing & Sports before reporting on how I fared.

I ended up coming 11th out of 144, which isn’t bad at all. My overall virtual outlay was $1, 522,00 and my stable won $4, 149,000. A pity it's all virtual - dream on AS.

So how did my stable go?

Apache Cat – a good performer throughout, though he never scored a win. Was in the money most of the time .
Cat’s Fun – hopeless, ditched him at first substitution
Ellicorsam – never made an appearance all spring, ditched at first substitution
Haradasun – brilliant early in the season until he sustained a minor injury and was retired for the rest of the Spring
Miss Finland – superb perfomance all round, only beaten twice all Spring and was always in the money.
Paratroopers – started really well then sustained an injury which knackered his chances for the rest of the season.
Virage de Fortune – missing in action
El Segundo – good form early in the season but failed to win much after that
Pompeii Ruler – good performer until failing in the Cox Plate. I ditched him at the final substitution when I should have dispensed with Paratroopers instead. His performance after the Cox Plate was excellent.
Gold Edition – excellent performance – won just about everything she raced in. It’s a pity I didn’t add her to my stable earlier
Tawqeet – won the Caulfield Cup but was injured shortly before the Melbourne Cup, and, although passed fit to run, shouldn’t have run at all. My big hopes for the Melbourne Cup dashed.
Wonderful World – good performer - won the Thousand Guineas.

The Spring Racing Carnival is now over and was, as usual, fascinating to follow. Miss Finland is certainly one to watch for in the autumn, as is Haradasun who will resume then as well. These two raced against each other earlier in the spring and Miss Finland won by a nose. Haradasun was blocked for a run and couldn’t quite catch her, so it will be fascinating to see them race again.

Other stars to emerge from the carnival are Efficient who won the Derby in spectacular fashion and Divine Madonna who came out of nowhere to win the group 1 Emirate Stakes.

Other Stuff

My review of the Teddy Thompson show at the Northcote Social Club is now up at the Nu Country site. His performance on the night was absorbing and brilliant. I’m mightily tempted to go and see him again.

Tarot Card Meme

I found this meme on Liz Williams blog and thought it was rather fun. I was also pleased to find my Tarot Card was:

You are The Sun

Happiness, Content, Joy.

The meanings for the Sun are fairly simple and consistent.

Young, healthy, new, fresh. The brain is working, things that were muddled come clear, everything falls into place, and everything seems to go your way.

The Sun is ruled by the Sun, of course. This is the light that comes after the long dark night, Apollo to the Moon's Diana. A positive card, it promises you your day in the sun. Glory, gain, triumph, pleasure, truth, success. As the moon symbolized inspiration from the unconscious, from dreams, this card symbolizes discoveries made fully consciousness and wide awake. You have an understanding and enjoyment of science and math, beautifully constructed music, carefully reasoned philosophy. It is a card of intellect, clarity of mind, and feelings of youthful energy.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Teddy Thompson at the Basement Discs

It was a very special treat to see Teddy Thompson perform at the Basement Discs at lunchtime today.

A comely young man, he has an amazingly powerful voice that has an attractive timbre.

He sang about five songs from his latest CD Separate Ways. As he is touring solo, he simply accompanied himself on guitar and as it happens, is accomplished on that instrument as well.

Teddy Thompson is part of the younger Rock Pop scene, a child of famous parents like Rufus and Martha Wainwright who are the son and daughter of Kate Mcgarrigle and Loudon Wainwright. Not surprisingly, these three have collaborated on several projects and also play and add vocal support on each other’s recordings. They are all incredibly talented.

Teddy’s music is singer/songwriter stuff, sort of pop/rock. Separate Ways is a lovely CD and I would, as will many others, include it on my best of list for 2006.

This afternoon was only a taste of Teddy Thompson live, so I am very glad that I have tickets for his show tonight at Northcote Social Club.

I will probably be writing a review of the show for the Nu Country website, so stay tuned.

Buckley’s Hope - 25th Anniversary Celebration

Craig Robertson, author of Buckley’s Hope , is an old friend so we were glad to accept his invitation to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the book. Amazingly, it’s still in print and will continue to be so, according to his publisher who spoke at the event.

The venue chosen for the event was Comrade Paddy’s Bar in the Trades Hall building, the 147-year-old birthplace of leftist politics and trade unionism in Australia.

Mounting the stairs to the bar, I noted how worn the bluestone steps were and imagined how many feet must have climbed the same steps through the years – honest workers feet.

As soon as we entered the bar, I felt immediately at home. The walls were decorated with revolutionary posters and satiric paintings of current Federal Government members.


Buckley’s Hope is a novel about William Buckley , an escaped convict who, shortly after arriving in the new colony, fled into the bush and ended up living with the aboriginals for 32 years before returning to the white settlement. He was dubbed the “wild white man”. Craig was the first writer to tackle William Buckley’s story. He researched the novel for many years before sitting down to write it and it was originally published in 1980.

Having neglected to read the novel before, I picked up a copy yesterday and started reading it on the train this morning.

Getting back to the celebration, there was a good turnout, and I was pleased to discover many old friends whom I have not seen for years.


After preliminary drinks, the ceremonial part of the proceedings began with Craig (pictured above) speaking on the experience of writing the book and introducing the other participants, his publisher Henry Rosenbloom (who I remember from my University days), the poet Barry Hill who recited several of his Buckley poems inspired by Craig’s book, Gregory (I forget his surname), a singer –songwriter who performed 2 songs relating to Buckley and a highly entertaining performance by Jan Wositzky of his “The Go Between - The Story of William Buckley & the Settlement of Melbourne.”

It was an interesting way to spend a Sunday afternoon and, apart from that, it was good to re-meet old friends.

Another musical diversion

I took time off to go to yet another Basement Discs In-Store performance today.
The artist was Fiona Boyes, local, Internationally acclaimed, blues artist.
She has great bluesy voice and also is no mean slouch on the guitar.

It was a small audience, but Fiona appeared unfazed by this and we were all very appreciative of her performance, which was gutsy and entertaining.

I naturally took some photos and one of them is above.

Next Friday I am really looking forward to seeing Teddy Thompson perform there and I am going to his show at Northcote Social Club the same night.

Teddy Thompson is the son of famous folk artists Richard & Linda Thompson.

Melbourne Cup Day and Thanksgiving

Melbourne city gets a holiday on its biggest racing day the Melbourne Cup. It is a tradition, that if you don't go to the race, you are at a Cup day party.

The latter was the case for us, which was combined with a token Thanksgiving feast of roast turkey owing to the presence of an American at the party.

It was a great day, lots of food, booze and convivial company.

The photos are a tradition that was started last year. One of the hats we used for drawing the Cup Sweep was a pith helmet. We thought it would be amusing if we took photos of everyone wearing it, so I took along my camera this year to reinforce the tradition for a second year.

Bernie - the hostess with the mostest

Nani - turkey cooker supremo and manufacturer of intriguing home made liqueurs.

Tony's looking happy because, for the third year running, he won the Sweep and also managed to successfully bet on the Cup trifecta which paid a tidy sum.

There's always one...

The inevitable grumpy person who would rather be dead than be seen wearing a pith helmet ... Michael - resident cynic and trenchant wit of the party.

The Melbourne Cup was won by Japanese horse Delta Blues and his stablemate Pop Rock came second. A clean sweep by the Japanese racing contingent.

You may well ask - how did I go? Well, I did select Delta Blues a month or so ago in a future bet, so I scored rather well myself, though not as well as Tony.

I almost forgot...

Back at the beginning of October Clare Dudman at Keeper of the Snails ran a BAFAB (Buy a friend a book) competition, requiring participants to submit:

" ...a story of exactly 101 words (not including title) written using words spelt exactly as you say them (e.g. I wint downt laik an got owt me buk. Twas gud buk. I cudnat stop reedin.) The theme is 'guilty pleasures'."

I submitted a piece in Strine and I won, so I have been informed by Clare.

You can read my entry in the comments here.

Needless to say I am chuffed, not giving myself a snowflakes chance in hell of winning.

Thanks Clare, I should run something similar myself, but I fear I have not that many readers.