Some Nights You Gotta Dance–Dixie Chicks Rock Melbourne Again

Natalie Maines – Dixie Chicks live at Rod Laver Arena 2/4/17

It was a chilly night in Melbourne town as my friend B and I set out for the Rod Laver Arena to catch the Dixie Chicks second Melbourne show on Sunday night.

Having last seen the Chicks eleven years ago I was keenly looking forward to the event, despite being somewhat fatigued by the experience of breaking in a new kitten to the house and the change to daylight saving that morning.

All my weariness dissipated as soon as I stepped into the venue and joined the sell out crowd streaming towards their seats.

We had excellent seats, second row from the front on the floor, though a bit to the side. Fortunately photos were permitted, so I managed to get heaps of good snaps from my vantage point of the Dixie Chicks in action.

Martie Maguire – Dixie Chicks live at Rod Laver Arena 2/4/17

The opening act Avalanche City, New Zealand folk singer Dave Baxter was in progress as we took our seats. As support acts go, he was pretty good, playing a pleasant set of his own songs, that included the really catchy Love, Love, Love and Inside Out, among other tunes.

As a large crew of stage hands cleared the stage , then set it up again, the big screens showed a variety of Dixie Chicks slides – trivia notes and trivia questions along with twitter quotes regarding the new POTUS, so it was around 9.00pm when The Chicks finally made it on stage to uproarious cheers from the large audience.

The set lists for all the Dixie Chicks Australian shows are similar, with a few variations for each concert. Along with all the old Chick favourites, such as Goodbye Earl, Wide Open Spaces, Lubbock or Leave It, Travellin’ Soldier etc, they performed several excellent covers.

Dixie Chicks have been avowed fans of Patty Griffin and on Sunday night they performed a total of four of her songs – Truth#2, Let Him Fly, Top Of The World and Don’t Let Me Die in Florida.

Natalie Maines also declared that she was obsessed with Beyoncé, with whom they recently played at the 2016 Country Music Awards. The song they played on that occasion was Beyoncé’s Daddy Lessons, which they have added to their current set list. It’s not a song I am familiar with having never followed, nor even listened to Beyoncé. The Chicks version of Daddy Lessons was so stunning it makes me want to check Beyoncé out.

Emily Robison - Dixie Chicks live at Rod Laver Arena 2/4/17

All the Chicks play multiple instruments – Natalie on guitar and percussion, Emily on banjo, mandolin and dobro, Martie on fiddle. They are all fine musicians.

They had a large supporting band that comprised a drummer, keyboard player, bass guitar and lead guitar. Several of them were Australian session players, but I failed to catch their names.

Throughout the concert a large screen at the back of the stage displayed various scenes relevant to the particular song being performed, hence the different backgrounds in the photos above.

A Dixie Chicks concert is really something to experience before you die. They are a dynamic group – smart and sassy with a rebellious attitude and superb musicianship. The music ranges from sweet ballads like Easy Silence to foot stompers such as White Trash Wedding and Sin Wagon.

The concert lasted for approximately two hours and encompassed about 23 songs.

They closed the night with a two song encore, singing everyone’s favourite Karaoke, the defiant Not Ready To Make Nice before ending with the hopeful Better Way, a cover of a Ben Harper song.

It was a throughly enjoyable evening out and sheer, unadulterated pleasure to see the Dixie Chicks live in concert again after such a long hiatus.

Martie Maguire & Natalie Maines – Dixie Chicks live at Rod Laver Arena 2/4/17

Set List
(not up on Setlist.com yet, so song sequence may be different)

1. The Long Way Around

2. Lubbock or Leave It

3. Truth #2 (Patty Griffin cover)

4. Easy Silence

5. Let Him Fly (Patty Griffin cover)

6. Some Days You Gotta Dance

7. Long Time Gone

8. Something In The Air (Thunderclap Newman cover)

9. Top of the World (Patty Griffin cover)

10. Goodbye Earl

11. Travelin' Soldier (Bruce Robison cover)

12. Don't Let Me Die in Florida (Patty Griffin cover)

13. Daddy Lessons (Beyoncé cover)

14. White Trash Wedding

15. Bluegrass Instrumental

16. Ready to Run

17. Mississippi (Bob Dylan cover)

18. Landslide (Fleetwood Mac cover)

19. Cowboy Take Me Away

20. Wide Open Spaces

21. Sin Wagon

Encore:

22. Not Ready to Make Nice

23. Better Way (Ben Harper cover)

Bingo Progress Report 1

It is now the fifth day that Bingo has been living with us and we’ve got to know him better, and he, us.

As I write he is asleep under the bed covers, the weather in Melbourne having turned decidedly nippy over the past two days.  This is a change as he’d normally be pestering me for attention, but then again he’s probably digesting the chicken neck he devoured for breakfast.

There’s certainly nothing wrong with his appetite; in fact he’s voracious. He’ll eat practically anything we feed him – tinned food, raw meat and zucchinis. The only food he shows no interest in eating is dried cat food, which to my mind is a good thing.

Willy was addicted to dried cat food and you had to give him a handful with his normal food to get him started. This addiction I think was what caused him to gain so much weight as he grew older and could well  have contributed to the illness that ended his life.

One of the vets at the Northcote Veterinary Surgery told us about feeding cats zucchini, to control the weight of excessively hungry cats. It is calorie free and fibre rich, so cats can eat as much of it as they want without gaining weight.

So I’ve started Bingo early on zucchini, and he eats it straight without me having to mix it with other food.

As for the cat political situation with Talya, it appears to be settling down into some kind of acceptance. Last night Bingo pranced past her – at a distance – without blood being spilt. She hopefully realises that he’s not a threat. He is very small after all.

She has been very aggrieved by his arrival and refused to talk to us for several days, but she is showing a softening of attitude.

It’s still too early to tell how it will all turn out, but there are promising signs that a detente between the cats will eventually be reached.

Doncaster–Derby Day 2017 Edition

I Am A Star – can she emulate Sunline and win the Doncaster Handicap at her tender age?

Doncaster – Derby Day at Randwick is one of the great days on the Australian racing calendar.  A few years back the two main events were run on different Saturdays, but these days they are featured along with the T J Smith Stakes and the Inglis Sires.

There’s something for everyone – a first class sprint (T J Smith), a race for two year olds (Sires), a middle distance nail biter (Doncaster Mile) won by many champions in the past, most recently by wonder mare Winx, and the ATC Derby for three year old stayers.

The first to run is the Inglis Sires, which is run over 1400 metres, where a full field of 16 runners have accepted. Quite a few of the contestants ran in the Golden Slipper with varying results. Slipper winner She Will Reign is not in the field, but the runner up Frolic and third placed Tulip are top chances. 

Melbourne based horses have been very successful in Sydney this autumn season, so they could dominate again, for instance Sircconi who won the Group 2 VRC Sires Produce Stakes at his last start.

New Zealanders are often successful during the Sydney autumn racing season, so it would be unwise to ignore Summer Passage, who won a Group 1 race in New Zealand at his last start.

Two New Zealand stayers are entered in the ATC Derby, Gingernuts and Jon Snow, both recent winners in Sydney, the former winning the Group 1 Rosehill Guineas, the latter victorious in the Group 2 Tulloch Stakes. Both have competed against each other across the Tasman with Gingernuts getting the better of Jon Snow in the New Zealand Derby.

Of the locals Prized Icon, Inference, Anaheim and So Si Bon have the best chance of defeating the Kiwis.

The grey flash Chautauqua has a chance to redeem his reputation and make history by winning the T J Smith Stakes for the third time in succession, a feat never before accomplished in its twenty years of running.

He’s sort of back to his old self, and back to his favourite distance of 1200 metres after finishing a distant third in the George Ryder Stakes which of course was won by Winx.

The usual suspects are his rivals; Malaguerra, Fell Swoop, Japonisme, Terravista, Spieth and Rebel Dane, with three year old colts Astern and Russian Revolution, representing the greatest threat with a weight advantage.

As previously mentioned the Doncaster Handicap is a race for champions. You aren’t anyone in the annals of middle distance racing until you’ve won it. You only have to look at the list of previous winners to see what a prestigious race it is. Sunline won it twice as did Super Impose and Sacred Falls. Other top class milers who’ve won it are More Joyous, Haradasun, Private Steer and of course Winx.

This year’s edition has a super field with a good mix of quality milers and three year old aspirants. Of the older contestants, the top chances are Le Romain, Redkirk Warrior, Tosen Stardom, Happy Clapper and Palentino, whilst talented youngsters like I Am A Star and Hey Doc might well challenge their elders, having a weight advantage in the handicap conditions and with a bit of luck in the running.

For a change the Randwick track may not be as heavy as the recent Rosehill race meetings, with little rain falling this week in Sydney. It might even make it the better side of slow, though the aftermath of Cyclone Debbie that devastated North Queensland looks to be headed south and may rain on Sydney’s parade.

Update Saturday Evening

The undoubted star of the day was the grey flash Chautauqua, winning the T J Smith Stakes with a stunning finishing sprint from a no win position. We’ve see it all before, so it was great to witness the big grey back to his best and make history into the bargain, becoming the first horse to win the T J Smith three years in succession. He won by a neck to English, with Fell Swoop running third not far behind.

Favourites failed to feature in all the Group 1 events of the afternoon, even Chautauqua paying $6.00, unheard of odds a year ago.

The Inglis Sires trifecta was taken out by the boys and the highly fancied fillies were missing in action. Invader won, upstaging New Zealand colt Summer Passage and Trapeze Artist ran third.

New Zealand colt Jon Snow won the Australian Derby from outsiders Harper’s Choice and Hardham. Favourite, Gingernuts, left his run too late and finished fifth.

And the Doncaster Mile was taken out by 40/1 shot It’s Somewhat who beat Happy Clapper with 50/1 longshot, Sense of Occasion running third.

Next week is the Group 1 Sydney Cup, Queen Elizabeth Stakes, Australian Oaks and Queen of the Turf Stakes, which, god willing, I will be present to witness in person.

Bingo –The New Boy

Bingo

The Cat Politics residence has a new cat, a Siamese kitten in fact, whom we have named Bingo.

We fetched him today from a breeder in the Kilmore area. He is four months old, but still quite tiny.

This of course has set the household into an uproar, with neither Talya nor Bingo showing any liking for the other. He growls and she hisses when they set eyes on each other.

Poor Talya is quite miffed, but hopefully she’ll get over it in time. After all it’s only day one and it will probably take weeks before they decide on a course of toleration.

Cat politics is quite dull when you’ve only got one cat. It’s the interaction between two cats that makes it interesting, even if fraught with tension and worry some of the time.

I was really not all that interested in getting a new kitten, or was steeling my mind to resist the temptation. But B has always been keen to get a Siamese cat and wanted one before he died. Who knows if we will outlive young Bingo or if he will outlive us.

Anyway, while waiting round to die, to quote Townes Van Zandt, we will have the delight of seeing a kitten grow up one more time.

Bingo is a real sweetheart, very affectionate and smoochy, with a quite different personality to our late lamented Willy. The gap left by his absence in many ways drew us to adopting another cat.

It will be interesting seeing how the sparks fly in the next few days and weeks.

A Trio of Group 1 Events–Moonee Valley & Rosehill

Sheidel after winning the Oakleigh Plate – February 2017

Melbourne’s Autumn Group 1 racing season comes to a close this Friday night at Moonee Valley which features the Group 1 William Reid Stakes at its final night meeting of the autumn.

The race was won last year by Flamberge when he was trained by Peter Moody, who bowed out of racing on the same night.

Flamberge is now with the Darren Weir stable and is back in an attempt to win the race a second time in succession. He goes well fresh and with luck could succeed.

A rather good field of sprinters will be trying to deny him that victory, chief among them Rebel Dane, Sheidel, Hooked, Silent Sedition and three year old colt Star Turn.

Also of interest at Moonee Valley are races 4 and 6, the former being the the final heat of the Inglis 55 Second Challenge where Petits Filous is making a return to the track, after almost a year missing in action due to injury.

Race 6 is the Group 2 Sunline Stakes, a race for fillies and mares over 1600 metres.  Class acts among the acceptances are First Seal, Rising Romance and star filly I Am A Star who will probably start as favourite.

Rosehill on Saturday features two choice Group 1 races, the BMW a race for stayers over 2400 metres, and the Vinery Stud Stakes, one for three year old fillies, over 2000 metres.

The BMW has mustered a really interesting field of stayers, all with a good chance of winning. The leading contenders include the 2017 Australian Cup trifecta, Humidor, Jameka and Exospheric, along with  2016 Australian Derby winner Tavago who won the Sky High Stakes at his last outing at big odds, Ranvet Stakes winner Our Ivanhowe who loves heavy tracks, and tough staying filly Lasqueti Spirit who may run the rest of the field ragged with her ability to maintain top speed over a distance.

With a number of equally matched fillies in the field, the Vinery Stud Stakes also makes it hard to single out a winner. In contention are New Zealand filly La Bella Diosa who won the Surround Stakes on a heavy track, then finished last in the Coolmore Classic, Chris Waller trained Foxplay and Dawn Wall, both in winning form, and Melbourne based fillies Harlow Gold and Montoya’s Secret, each of them having good staying bloodlines.

The Rosehill track will be heavy again, but the Moonee Valley track will be good, despite a bit of rain falling this week in Melbourne.

Update Saturday Afternoon – The Girls Have It!

Interesting results all round after a night and a day of Group 1 racing.

The William Reid Stakes was won by the unfancied mare, Silent Sedition, who defeated Hellbent and Star Turn, giving female jockey Katelyn Mallyon her first Group 1 win.

I Am A Star won the Sunline Stakes by 3¼ lengths from French Emotion and First Seal. She’s a super filly who will surely go on to better things.

The BMW was won in spectacular fashion by the wonderful Jameka who beat Humidor by 6½ lengths with Exospheric running third – the same trifecta result (with first and second reversed) as the Australian Cup.

Melbourne based fillies dominated the Vinery Stud Stakes with Montoya’s Secret, Nurse Kitchen and Harlow Gold running the first three places.

Next week the racing action is at Randwick for Doncaster/ Derby Day – a great race meeting every year, featuring four Group 1 races.

Reasons To Be Cheerful

Global power may currently be in the hands of a scary three year old in the body of a grown man, a sinister former member of the KGB and an ambitious inscrutable oriental power,  but I try not to let that bother me overmuch.

What can you do?

My answer is to find things that make you cheerful and take your mind off the dire new world – world war three  will happen, or then again, it may not.

I have several pleasant things to look forward to in books, music and horse racing.

Firstly, books.  I was pretty underwhelmed by the literature on offer at the start of 2016, but I did find some gems published last year after it was almost over.

I’m currently reading A Gentleman In Moscow by American writer Amor Towles, an author unfamiliar to me, even though he has one other novel, The Rules of Civility, published in 2011.

A Gentleman In Moscow is a real find; a charming and thoroughly enjoyable novel set in Moscow, covering the years 1922 through to the 1950s. 

Though  the novel is set in Moscow in the period following the Russian Revolution,  it is mostly confined to the grand old Hotel Metropol where the novel’s protagonist, Count Alexander Rostov, is detained under house arrest. 

It’s a novel to be enjoyed for its elegant and witty prose style, rather than page turning action.  However, there is plenty to keep the reader amused and beguiled as Count Rostov settles into his prison and adapts to its limitations. He’s a likeable character, a man with good taste and manners -  a true gentleman- who enjoys the good things life has to offer in his confinement, and treasures the friends he makes along the way.

Events outside the Metropol are not ignored; the tumultuous events of post revolutionary Russia  intrude on the charmed lives of the Hotel Metropol residents every so often.

Other 2016 published novels I was taken with are Margaret Atwood’s wicked take on Shakespeare’s The Tempest Hagseed, and Moonglow, a fictional biography by Michael Chabon, wonderfully written as you’d expect. I also read some super short story collections, Joan Aiken’s The People In The Castle, Get In Trouble by Kelly Link and Children of The New World by Alexander Weinstein.

This year’s fiction offerings are far more promising with novels by favourite authors Neal Stephenson (The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O), Nick Harkaway (Gnomen), Phillip Pullman (The Book of Dust) and John Crowley (Ka: Dar Oakley in the Ruin of Ymr)  all to be published this year.

As for music, I have three concerts to attend in the next few months, with the Dixie Chicks on April 2 at Rod Laver Arena. My all time favourite artist Ryan Adams will be performing live in May at Margaret Court Arena. In July I’m off to see America, the 1970s band, best known for the song “Horse With No Name”, at Hamer Hall.

Having been awed by the amazing performance of Winx in the George Ryder Stakes last weekend, I had an overwhelming urge to go and see her in her final race for autumn, in three weeks time at Randwick, in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes. I have decided to fly to Sydney for the day and have booked my flight and purchased a ticket to the event, which also covers public transport fares to Randwick Racecourse.  So a sort of mini adventure is on the cards for Saturday 8 April. I don’t care what the weather is like – rain or shine will suit me either way.

Rebecca, if you’re reading this, I can get you a race book (can’t promise to get it signed, but I’ll try) and hopefully a Winx flag. Send me an email at pollycatster@gmail.com if interested.

If you’re wondering at my folly, check out this video of Winx winning the 2017 George Ryder Stakes last Saturday.  Be mindful that the track was a heavy 10 (Heaviest category track, very wet, towards saturation). All the racing fraternity are lost for words at her latest win, but I can’t help but rejoice that a racehorse of her calibre is back with us again so soon after Black Caviar stole our hearts away. 

Golden Slipper Day Preview

Catchy after winning the Blue Diamond Stakes

This March, Melbourne has been experiencing a late summer. It has been consistently warmer this month than the previous three summer months.

In Sydney, however, rain has fallen relentlessly over the past three weeks, so the super race meeting at Rosehill on Saturday will no doubt be run on  a heavy track.  This is not all that unusual, as in the past heavy tracks seem to have been the norm for Sydney’s Autumn Racing Carnival.

The meeting  features five wonderful Group 1 races that put Melbourne’s recent carnival to shame with the quality of the fields mustered for the event.

The Group 1 Golden Slipper, the richest two year old race in the world, is the feature event. But the Group 1 George Ryder Stakes is the race that most racing fans will be keenly watching, with wonder mare Winx aiming for her 16th consecutive win.

She will face seven challengers, among them champion sprinter Chautauqua having his first start over 1500 metres.

Back in 2015 Chautauqua and Winx provided the wow performances of the Spring racing carnival, over a night and a day at Moonee Valley; the grey flash winning the Manikato Stakes on the eve of Winx’s first Cox Plate victory.

So it’s kind of wonderful to have them both competing in the same race at a middle distance. 

As for the rest of the field, Canterbury Stakes winner Le Romain and 2016 Epsom winner Hauraki are the next best.

The first of the Group 1 races to run is the Ranvet Stakes a race for stayers over 2000 metres. Top pick is of course Hartnell who failed to fire in the Chipping Norton Stakes (won by Winx). If he is anywhere near his best he should win. His main opponents are Antonio Giuseppe and The United States.

Victorian Derby winner Prized Icon is one of the main chances to win the Group 1 Rosehill Guineas, another race over 2000 metres. He’s a stunning black colt trained by James Cummings (Bart’s grandson). He may not handle the heavy track, but Inference the winner of the Group 1 Randwick Guineas certainly can. Also in contention is New Zealand Derby winner Gingernuts , with good wet form to his credit.

Fillies appear to have edge over the colts in the Golden Slipper (1200 metres) with Houtzen, She Will Reign, Catchy, Tulip and Frolic being the top chances. Pariah, Single Bullet and Diamond Tathagata are the best of the boys.

I think both Houtzen and Catchy are exceptional fillies, both unbeaten in four starts, and hope either one of them wins. Whatever the outcome, it looks a fascinating race.

The final Group 1 of the afternoon is a sprint over 1100 metres. The Galaxy has attracted a full field of fourteen sprinters. Top picks are English, Redzel, Fell Swoop, Heatherly and Russian Revolution.

In the racing news today it was revealed that Extreme Choice and Flying Artie have both been retired to stud. So I’m glad I at least got to see them race this autumn.

Update Saturday Afternoon

I’m pleased to note that the Group 1 results at Rosehill, eventuated pretty much as I imagined them. The track was extremely heavy with frequent showers of rain.

The highlight as expected was Winx stunning 7½ length demolition of the George Ryder Stakes field. She sailed effortlessly over the soggy turf to beat Le Romain, with Chautauqua squelching into third place.  It was an emotional experience watching her win her 16th race in succession and 11th Group 1. She’s simply amazing!

The other Group 1 races results:

The Ranvet Stakes was won by 3.3 lengths by outsider Our Ivanhowe who only wins on extremely heavy tracks.  Hartnell finished second and The United States ran third.

New Zealander Gingernuts relished the heavy going in the Rosehill Guineas winning by 7.3 lengths from favourite Inference. Victorian horse So Si Bon ran third.

Fillies ran the trifecta in the Golden Slipper with She Will Reign winning the bikkies from Frolic and Tulip. Alas, Houtzen who led for most of the race was caught napping and finished 5th. I think the heavy track was not to her liking. Ditto with Catchy who finished last.

Three year old Russian Revolution won the Galaxy narrowly from Redzel with longshot Jungle Edge close behind running third.

I was pleased with Russian Revolution’s win as I’d used a bonus bet on my Sportsbet Account – $20.00 to win.  He was a sort of omen bet, as I’m currently reading a novel that is set during the Russian Revolution, and a bet on the eponymous horse seemed to be the thing to do.