In The Mood For Romance…

Chautauqua begins his autumn campaign this weekend

The romance of the turf, I mean, seeing as the autumn racing season kicks off on Saturday, St Valentine’s Day.  I’m too old for the other sort of romance (perish the thought) so the romance of racing is it for me.

Caulfield reopens its gates for the first time since the Caulfield Cup, to host the first Group 1 race of the season and the meeting also includes several choice Group 2 and 3 events as well to be run on the newly resurfaced track.

To digress, it has been a technologically trying week with my new computer developing a serious hard drive problem over the weekend, where, after a series of BSOD (blue screen of death) incidents the operating system refused to load. Fortunately, the hard drive in question, a SSD (solid state drive), was the one on which all programs were loaded, and had hardly any data saved on it. I store my data files on a second internal hard drive.

I did have an inkling that all was not well after the BSODs, so hastened to save essential stuff on my C: drive, such as email addresses, messages etc. to the secondary E: drive, so I didn’t lose anything important.

Back to the computer shop we went early on Monday and they had a new SSD installed with a fresh install of Windows 7 ready by Tuesday afternoon. It only took me a day to set it all up this time, after the tedium of the initial set up back in April last year which had me trying to install the printer driver for a week. Now the computer is back in business and performing better than before.

So it will be a pleasant break from computer woes attending the races tomorrow.

As was the case last summer, Caulfield is calling its program of summer racing “Relaxed Racing”, and in their wisdom have scheduled the feature race for 5.50pm, so it will a long day trackside as I want to get to the course by the second race.

Race 2 is the Group 3 Kevin Hayes Stakes for three year old fillies run over 1200 metres. Most of the fillies engaged in the race are resuming from a spell, and there are several familiar names among the contenders – Fontein Ruby, Afleet Esprit, Sabatini and Royal Snitzel. The winner will most probably be one of the above.

The third and fourth races on the program are of great interest in terms of assessing the current two year old crop for the upcoming Blue Diamond Stakes.  The Group 2 Blue Diamond Prelude  (1100 metres) for fillies is run first and the raging favourite is Fontiton who has won her only two starts, the last being the fillies Blue Diamond Preview on Australia Day. Her main rivals are Flamboyant Lass, Heatherly and Secret Agenda who all won their last races.

The colts and geldings Prelude is harder to assess, but I fancy Of The Brave who I witnessed winning his first race back in October at Caulfield. He is a half brother to the speedy Eloping and looks to share  her talent.  Others with a chance are Darley colts Bantam and Sampeah.

The Carlyon Cup is a Group 3 race run over 1600 metres, and the field has a mix of stayers and middle distance runners. The most interesting of them is Sydney horse Red Excitement who has a remarkable CV with a picket fence of wins against his name.  He’ll have to beat the very fit and in form  Jacquinot Bay who has won his last three starts. 

Top sprinter Chautauqua, resuming after spell, is the hot favourite to take out the Group 2 Rubiton Stakes (1100 metres). Top challengers are three year old fillies Eloping and Oakleigh Girl and four year old mares Atmospherical and Missy Longstocking.

Race 7, the Group 2 Autumn Stakes for three year olds looks like a match race between Hong Kong Captain and Profit Share, both having recent wins under their belts.

The feature race is the Group 1 CF Orr Stakes run over 1400 metres.  Past winners of this race include Black Caviar, Typhoon Tracy (twice), All Too Hard, Lonhro and Saintly among many illustrious champions of the turf. Last year it was won by Moment of Change.

This year’s edition looks rather uninspiring with the class horses in the field being Happy Trails resuming and  Dissident, whobegan his autumn campaign at Moonee Valley in January to run third in the Australia Stakes behind Mourinho who is also in the field and has to be respected. There are two three year olds in the field – Petrology and Java – who with the weight advantage could steal the show. Java has the distinction of beating Hong Kong Captain two starts back and Petrology at his last start. And Chris Waller also has two runners who wouldn’t surprise with a win considering Waller’s reputation, these being Bagman and Beaten Up.

The omen bet for St Valentines Day is WA mare Real Love who has great form over longer distances, but has won over 1400 metres in the past.  West Australian horses either thrive in the eastern states – Northerly and Marasco are two that come mind – or disappoint like recent visitors Luckygray and Mr Moet. Will Real Love emulate the former or the latter West Australian champs in her sojourn in the east?

There are more Valentine’s Day omen bets running in Sydney, most notably Lucia Valentina and He’s Your Man in the Group 2 Apollo Stakes, which has a much classier field than the Orr Stakes with  Boban, Foreteller, Hawkspur, Weary, Diamond Drille and Silent Achiever being contenders as well.

In fact the race card at Randwick on Saturday is much more interesting than Caulfield’s with classy gallopers like Golden Slipper winner Mossfun resuming from an injury induced spell in the Group 2 Light Fingers Stakes along with Flight Stakes winner First Seal and Thousand Guineas winner Amicus who are also in the race.

After a two year absence due to a tendon injury, it’s good to welcome back the lately lamented Super Cool’s great rival Fiveandahalfstar in the Group 3  Southern Cross Stakes. It being a 1200 metre race he is not expected to win it, but it sure will be interesting watching him in action again.

So the racing scene will be hot this weekend and no doubt the weather will be too. It is forecast to be a humid and warm day tomorrow with the threat of a thunderstorm in the afternoon. Let’s hope that the storm that overtook Flemington on Australia Cup day in 2010 will not be repeated at Caulfield tomorrow.

It’s raining in Melbourne as I write this so who knows how the newly laid  track at Caulfield Racecourse will play.

A Family Affair at Moonee Valley

Sistonic in her stall at Moonee Valley on 30 January 2015

On the 15th January this year, a three quarter sister to Black Caviar had her first start in a lowly race at Sale. Her name is Sistonic and she is by Bel Esprit from Danavia who is the sister of Helsinge, Black Caviar’s dam.

Sistonic won that race by 4½ lengths from Blocker Dee with apparent ease. Blocker Dee franked that form by winning his next start by the same margin.

So there was quite a flurry of interest in Sistonic  having her second start in a city race. Naturally I was curious, as I’d watched the footage of her Sale race and thought her win impressive, so I went along to the Moonee Valley race meeting on Friday evening ostensibly to see her in action.

I arrived early so I could get to see her close up in her stall. As an added bonus in the stall adjacent to Sistonic was Tawteen who I was also interested in watching in the 955 metre 55 second challenge.  She’s a lovely dark brown, almost black, filly with a white diamond on her forehead.

Tawteen in her stall

A couple of stalls up from the two fillies was Hay One, the full brother to Black Caviar’s great rival Hay List. He’s a very big young horse, like his brother, but is yet to win or even place in a race from five starts.

Hay One saddled up for the McMahon’s Dairy Plate, the second race on the program.

I watched race 2 from the fence. It was won by the favourite Miniver from Avalon Downs and Any Glory. Hay One finished second last.

Miniver on her way to the barriers before winning the McMahon’s Dairy Plate.

The next race, the Reg Delaney Memorial Handicap was the one I had come to see with Sistonic starting short priced favourite.  Run over 1200 metres Sistonic was up against seven fellow three year old fillies. She breezed to a win after leading the charge from start to finish. She won by ¾ length from Distraught with Zambezi Diamond running third.  It doesn’t sound like much of a margin, but she was eased approaching line and still made it look effortless. Her jockey was admonished after the race for pulling her up too soon, because if let run at her high cruising speed she would have won by a couple of lengths.

Race 3 finish down the straight – Sistonic leads comfortably

It was all very reminiscent of Black Caviar’s early races, so it will be exciting watching her from now on.

Sistonic returns to scale after winning the Reg Delaney Memorial Handicap

She is a big strapping filly like her big sister and has a calm temperament by all accounts. She certainly looked calm and collected in the parade ring before the race as if she’d been going to the races for years.

As you can see it was still daylight during the first three or four races, but the shadow cast by grandstand over the track made it difficult to get clear photos.

Race 4 was the Jeep 55 Second Challenge run over 955 metres. The 55 second challenge is a series of 16 pure speed races run at the Moonee Valley night meetings over summer, the object being to break the 55 second mark over the distance.  The trainer of the horse that runs closest to the 55 second mark over the season wins a jeep. Last Friday night Moonee Valley were offering half priced schooners if the winner completed the race under 56 seconds. The current fastest time is 55.08 held by Beach Front who was one of the field last Friday.

Tawteen started as warm favourite, kicking off her autumn season in the race.

It certainly was a speedy race and Tawteen, flashing from the barriers, led from start to finish, winning by a length from Settler’s Road with Beach Front running third. Tawteen’s time was 55.76, so the patrons could at least enjoy cheap schooners, though Tawteen’s trainer David Hayes was out of luck as far as the jeep was concerned.

Tawteen flashes down the straight with Beach Front in hot pursuit.

Tawteen returns to scale after winning the Jeep 55 Second Challenge.

I called it quits after that race and made my way to the bus stop to await the last bus home, pleased to have been present to witness a possible future star of the turf in action. Whatever,  I’m hanging on to the race book in case Sistonic matches the achievements of her big sister,  in which case it will be worth a lot of money in the future. Black Caviar’s early race books sell for a goodly amount on Ebay.

Anticipating the Autumn Racing Carnival

Australia Stakes finish – Mourinho holds off It Is Written to win the feature race

For a change, Moonee Valley hosted the Group 2 Australia Stakes meeting on a Saturday afternoon instead of Friday night, so I thought I would sally along and take in some racing action and further test the Canon G16 at a low key race meeting.

Though by no means first class racing, it was nevertheless reasonably interesting though not profitable as far as wagering goes

I arrived just as Race 2 , a 1600 metre race for fillies and mares, was in progress and made it to the fence for the finish. It was won by Marli Magic from Arena Rock with Hot Ruby running third.

Race 2 finish – Marli Magic (inside) wins from Arena Rock

Interestingly, Marli Magic’s full brother Hong Kong Captain won Race 6 later in the afternoon. They are both from Host by Limited Passage.

Race 3 was the Chandler Macleod Handicap, for three year olds run over 2040 metres. As I’d hardly heard of any of the runners, I opted to place a few dollars each way on Blue Jangles whose name appealed to me. He finished last. Despite the fact that Moonee Valley has added a rail just beyond the fence, which inhibits taking clear  photos, I managed to get a few good shots of some of the runners on their way to the barriers.

Baja Moon – finished 5th

Zahspeed – finished 2nd

Von Classic Hero – finished 6th

Also I was quite pleased with the Canon G16’s ability to take action shots such as the Race 3 finish. If you look at the enlarged image, the photo is sharp and clear.

Race 3 finish – Norman Rules about to overtake tiring leader Zahspeed (not in the picture) to win on the line.

And so the afternoon progressed.

The most eye catching win of the afternoon was that of Hong Kong Captain in Race 6 the Antler Luggage Vobis Gold Star, run over 1500 metres. Hong Kong Captain was having only the third start of his career, and after travelling at the back of the field, showed impressive speed to overtake favourite, Profit Taker and win comfortably by half a length.

The Australia Stakes was the feature race of the meeting, and was of interest due to the return to racing of triple Group 1 winner Dissident who was disqualified for three months after bleeding in the Caulfield  Stakes last spring. He started as short priced favourite, despite the 1200 metre distance not being suitable for him.  He looked very well and I caught up with him in his stall to take a photo and later in the Parade Ring.

Dissident in his stall

Dissident in the Parade Ring prior to the race

The race distance was also unsuitable for the surprise winner Mourinho who is better known as a stayer. Dissident managed to run third.

Mourinho on his way to the barriers before winning the Australia Stakes

There are only three weeks to go before the running of the first Group 1 race of the 2015 Autumn Season.  The C F Orr Stakes will be run at Caulfield on Valentine’s Day, but before that there will be a few interesting race meetings, tomorrow for instance. Unfortunately tomorrow’s meeting is at Sandown Park, not a racecourse I patronise and it’s miles away from where I live.

It is normally run at Caulfield, but as that racetrack has just been resurfaced there have been no races at the course since Caulfield Cup Day last year.

Two Blue Diamond Previews are to be run, always of interest in light of the actual Blue Diamond Stakes to be run in March. Also of interest is the Manfred Stakes for Guineas bound three year olds, which has generally attracted a classy field. I’ll watch them on my computer.

Farewell Super Cool–Rest In Peace

Super Cool returning to scale after the 2014 Makybe Diva Stakes

The sad news of the death of one of my favourite race horses, Super Cool, came to my notice the other night. Apparently a leg infection led to his demise and that is all that has been reported.

If you have been reading my racing posts over the last three years, you’ll know that I had a real soft spot for Super Cool and that I tried to get photos of him every time I saw him race, and many of them featured his devoted strapper Jade, who demonstrated on several occasions the sweet temper of the horse by getting him to kiss her.

So my thoughts go out to Jade who must be sadly missing her special friend.

Super Cool first came to my attention on Cox Plate Day 2012, when he was three years old.  That afternoon he was too speedy for hot favourite, the very talented It’s A Dundeel, and won the
Group 2 Mitchelton Wines Vase.

Super Cool, with Jade in attendance, parading before winning the Vase in 2012

Super Cool’s three year old season was his best where he ran second to his great rival Fiveandhalfstar in the 2012 Victoria Derby and went on to beat him in the 2013 Group 2 Autumn Classic and then again in the 2013 Australian Cup, becoming the first three year old to win the race since Saintly in 1996. The world appeared to be his oyster at that time, but he never won another race.

He returned in the Spring 2013, acquitting himself well running third to his classy stable mate Atlantic Jewel in the Group 1 Memsie Stakes and Caulfield Stakes. He also tackled the Dato Tan Chin Nam Stakes. Turnbull Stakes, Cox Plate and the Melbourne Cup that spring, and though never scoring a place, was never that far from the leaders.

He had a long break, missing the 2014 Autumn season and returned last Spring, where unfortunately he was unable to regain the form of his three year old season.

I was looking forward to seeing him at the track this autumn, but alas he will not be present. I’ll miss seeing him as he was a great horse to photograph, always obligingly looking my way when I took a snap.

So rest in peace Super Cool and enjoy running free in horse heaven.

Watch Super Cool’s greatest victory in the 2013 Australian Cup

Hello 2015 – Cats & Books

I meant to write a post before the New Year, but somehow time slipped away and I didn’t get around to it.

2014 was a pretty good year for me, only marred by the deaths of two friends, who are still mourned and will live on in my memories. I hope 2015 will not be as stressful in that way, and that my friends, family and pets continue to survive in good health and spirits.

Willy, pictured above, will turn 11 in January and this month will also mark the second year that Talya, the Russian Princess, has been part of the Cat Politics domicile.

The happy cat herbal medicine appears to be working and apart from a fracas yesterday morning the cats seem cool and calm in the main.

The fracas occurred when both cats were sprawled on the bed in close proximity and Willy misinterpreted Talya’s body language as a threat. She was actually sneezing or coughing, but he thought she was hissing at him so he advanced on her personal space and the inevitable happened with much sound and fury on Talya’s part.  She sprang off the bed with Willy in hot pursuit and hid under it, shrieking. I persuaded Willy to back off and eventually, as breakfast was in the offing, Talya emerged as if nothing had happened and the cats milled around my ankles as I dished out their food, all aggro forgotten.

Monty the cat next door has been hanging around in our back garden quite a bit, but both he and Willy appear reluctant to come to blows. If they’re facing off on the fence, Willy allows me to lift him down without any fuss and wanders inside without a backward glance. When I got up the other morning I discovered Monty lounging on the back door step. The resident cats were outside as well, looking on, but not game enough to dislodge him. When he saw me he slunk off, which gave Talya and Willy their chance to pester me for breakfast.

Monty lounging on the decking outside the back door

On other matters, this time last year I was anticipating new novels from two of my favourite writers, those being David Mitchell and William Gibson, and I’m pleased to say that neither novel  was a disappointment. In fact The Bone Clocks (David Mitchell ) and The Peripheral (William Gibson) are among the best books I read this year, both being wonderfully written and interesting throughout.

Another book that glows in my brain is Tigerman by Nick Harkaway, a book about fathers and sons with the most unusual super hero in literature. This was the last book I read in 2014, and it is up there with the best. Nick Harkaway is the son of John Le Carré and has written three novels so far – The Gone Away World, Angelmaker & Tigerman-  all of which I have read and enjoyed. He’s a writer I’ll certainly be following in the future.

H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald, which won the 2014 Samuel Johnson Prize for Non Fiction and the 2014 Costa Prize for Biography, is a standout. It’s a beautifully written memoir wherein Helen Macdonald, in the wake of her beloved father’s death, describes in glittering prose how she tried to cope with her grief by acquiring and training a goshawk.  As well as detailing her life with Mabel her goshawk, she muses on the sad lonely life of T. H. White who also wrote a book on training a goshawk in the 1950s, but is famous for his series of Arthurian novels collected under the title of The Once And Future King.

I’m still waiting for the 25th Anniversary Edition of John Crowley’s Little, Big, despite being hopeful at the beginning of last year it would be published in 2014.  Dare I hope to see it in 2015? It is after all 10 years since I subscribed to it, but surely will be worth the wait.

Speaking of collectable books, I was able to get a signed first edition of William Gibson’s The Peripheral, being alerted on Twitter by a Gibson fan that Barnes &  Noble had them available for pre-order. I was delighted to finally have a long desired, signed edition of one of his books.

And I lashed out on a slip cased, limited, numbered and signed edition of The Bone Clocks, which arrived on Christmas Eve - a nice present to myself.

There are several books I’m looking forward to in 2015. The final book in Hilary Mantel’s Thomas Cromwell trilogy, The Mirror and the Light, will possibly be released this year and Kate Atkinson is mooted to have new novel as well, about one the characters in Life After Life.

And I’ll have to clear another largish space on my bookshelf for Neal Stephenson’s new novel titled Seveneves, another 1000+ page novel due in May 2015. I like collecting his books in hardcover editions, even though they take up a lot of space, but they look wonderful on the shelf and are highly collectable, Stephenson being a nerdish cult hero.

Current hard cover collection of Neal Stephenson novels

No doubt there will be more good reads in the offing, and who knows there may be a new author out there who will blow me away.

With 2015 being barely begun, who knows what is in store in the next 12 months. I’ll no doubt be spending some of it at the racetrack. The Magic Millions 2 and 3 year old (outrageously rich) Classic races are scheduled on the Gold Coast this Saturday. I haven’t a clue as to who the likely winners will be, but they’re always interesting to watch.

The first Group 1 of the 2015 Autumn racing carnival is only a little over a month away, so there’s lots to look forward to on the racing scene.

With that, I wish readers of this blog (if there are any) good fortune, good health and happiness in 2015.

Happy Summer Solstice

Today is the longest day of the year for us in the Antipodes and the longest night for those in the Northern Hemisphere. Astrologically Capricorn becomes the dominant sign of the zodiac, which is not a particularly friendly sign to those of us born in fire signs.

In Melbourne it is a warm and sunny day and of course it’s only three days to Christmas.

Edward Gorey Christmas Cat

As usual I’ll be going to my brother’s place for the day and leaving the cats to their own devices. They no doubt will be alarmed by the absence of their slave, but I’ve arranged for a neighbour to attend to their needs in the evening.

More Christmas cheer was to be had at Flemington last Saturday, which I attended to see how my new camera handled the racing scene.

A droll band costumed in Christmassy things were greeting race goers as they entered from the station…

…and the Makybe Diva Statue was bedecked with a Christmas garland

I only stayed a short time – for three races – and only had one bet which was successful. I was pleased when Taiyoo, a son of Haradasun,  easily won the Comic Court Handicap, a race over 2000 metres. He didn’t pay heaps, but financed my short afternoon at the races.

Taiyoo returns to scale after winning the Comic Court Handicap

As for the G16 at the races, it’s a pity that I inadvertently stuffed up the White Balance, somehow setting it to underwater mode instead of auto white balance.

There wasn’t much of a crowd so I decided to expand my horizons at the course and walked up beyond the winning post, where I found a spot that was not obscured by the double fencing that restricts one from taking action shots. The photo below was taken from there.

Bascule, winner of the Primacy Handicap returning to scale.

Despite the stuff up with the white balance, I was quite pleased with the G16’s performance and the photo quality. I do however prefer the continuous shooting mode on my Panasonic as the Canon, despite taking very fast shots, has a lag when processing the images after the fact, and doesn’t give you a live view when shooting in that mode.

As the trains were not scheduled to leave Flemington until 4.55pm, I didn’t fancy hanging around till then, so decided to go home by tram. It certainly is a long walk to the tram stop in Epsom Road – good exercise I suppose – but at least I now know where to go in the future should I need to.

The roses were still in bloom, so I paused on my walk to the tram stop to snap a photo of a rose, marvelling at the extent of the famed rose gardens at Flemington, and how much work it must take to maintain them.

This will be my last post before Christmas, so I wish anyone who reads this a very merry festive occasion.

New Camera, new cat (& dog) pics

I’ve just purchased yet another camera. This one is a Canon Powershot G16, an updated model of my old Canon G10 which I purchased in 2008. There was nothing wrong with the Canon G10, it took great photos, but I have to admit it was somewhat sluggish at times when it mattered.

I had been eyeing off the G16 for some months, but resisted buying it, until last week, when Canon were offering it at a discounted price with a generous cash back.  How could I resist!

I put the G10 up for sale on Gumtree and sold it almost instantly. Perhaps my asking price was too low, but I thought $100.00 for a six year old camera was reasonable, and obviously so did the purchaser.

Anyway, I’ve been testing out the G16 and I am really pleased with its performance (lightning fast) and the quality of the photos it produces.

Naturally the resident cats have been my test subjects…

This photo of Willy was taken early this morning in poor light, but it turned out quite well.

I also tried out the camera on  plants in the garden.

Macro of fuschia (really pleased with the bokeh effect)…

Periwinkle

A friend came around to visit the other day and brought her delightful little dog, Tickle, so I snapped the following photo of her.

You may well wonder how the cats reacted to having a dog around. Tick is a fairly frequent visitor, and it is more for her safety that we isolate the cats to another part of the house. Tick lives with two cats, so is used to them, but our cats are not accustomed to dogs, and Willy, in particular, would probably attack poor Tick if she approached him.

As for the relationship between the resident cats, nothing much has changed – they still loathe each other. I had to take Talya to the vet, when I noticed she was losing more fur than the normal malting process would produce. She was over grooming and pulling the fur out herself. The vet reckons it was caused by stress, so he gave me some Chinese Herbal medicine called Xiao Yao San to try out on both cats in the hope that it would fix the problem. 

It hasn’t really, as Talya is still occasionally ripping out her fur, though the Xiao Yao San has calmed both cats down, apparently, as they have not had a really serious confrontation since they’ve been on the medicine.

Overall I’m very pleased with my new G16 and look forward to trying it out at concerts and the races.