Autumn Racing Season 2010 – Week 10 – Golden Slipper

Typhoon Tracy resumes this Saturday

What a relief it is to write something different for change, albeit about racing. I must admit I love writing about horse racing, and think I’ve missed my true vocation.

With so many distractions, i.e. music, I’ve struggled to keep up with the latest racing news, but today looked at the acceptances for Super Saturday at Rosehill, and liked what I saw.

There are five Group One races on the card including the richest two year old race on the planet, the Golden Slipper, always a fascinating competition.

Besides the Golden Slipper there is the Vinery Stud Stakes over 2000 metres for three year old fillies, the Queen of the Turf Stakes, for fillies and mares over 1500 metres, The BMW an open staying race over 2400 metres, the George Ryder Stakes another open competition over 1500 metres.

So let’s look at the Vinery Stud Stakes first. It has a top class field of staying fillies, including Faint Perfume who must be considered the top chance. She’ll have to contend with Run for Naara who ran third in the Rosehill Guineas against the boys, Set For Fame, the Peter Moody trained filly who last ran second against the boys in the Crown Guineas, which was an excellent effort, Small Minds, winner of the South Australian Oaks, Valdemoro, Little Surfer Girl and the Gai Waterhouse trained Once Were Wild.

The Queen of the Turf Stakes, sees my favourite ,Typhoon Tracy, resuming. She will be very hard to beat. It’s a mouth watering race what with top Sydney filly More Joyous also in the picture as well other classy three year old fillies, Sister Madly and Response. Of the mares, Allez Wonder could also threaten Tracy’s dominance, but I very much doubt it. Go Tracy Go!

The BMW has the usual suspects – Theseo who will no doubt start favourite, Daffodil who is in with a good chance as the track is likely to be heavy, and that other staying mudlark mare Purple who must be about due for another win. The Bart Cummings trained duo Moatize and Roman Emperor can’t be overlooked either.

Last year’s George Ryder Stakes was won by Vision And Power, who could well win it again, though he has a smart field to contend with this year. Good old El Segundo will be having his first start in Sydney and is always an honest galloper, though is unlikely to win. Black Piranha showed he was back in contention last start running second to Hot Danish in the Canterbury Stakes, and Heart Of Dreams, after failing in the Australia Cup is back to the a distance he can cope with, has won at Rosehill before, and is an excellent chance. Surely he has to put a win on the board soon. Other chances are Danleigh, Snipers Bullet, Dao Dao, New Zealander King Mufasa and three year old Tickets who broke through for a win in the Pharlap Stakes a fortnight ago.

So now we come to the Golden Slipper…

I’ve watched and taken note of runners in the various preludes in the run up to this race, and the stand out is the filly Military Rose, unbeaten in all her starts, she also handles the wet, so is the one to beat. In my opinion, her main threats are the super talented Shaaheq who acquitted herself well in the Blue Diamond Stakes and won her last start earlier this month and Chance Bye who won the Silver Slipper back in February, though hasn't raced since. Of the other fillies Solar Charged, unbeaten until defeated by Military Rose in the Riesling Stakes, has a chance to turn the tables, as does Obsequious. Of the colts, Brightexpectations, Beneteau and Hinchinbrook look the most promising.

The weather should play a big part in deciding the outcome of most of the Group One races, and favour the mudlarks. However class can always win, no matter what condition the track is in.

Let’s hope Sydney’s Super Saturday is not as supersaturated as Melbourne’s was on Australia Cup day.

Eddi Reader at Basement Discs

Despite the fact that I am on leave this week from work, I took time to go into the city to see the remarkable Eddi Reader perform live at a Basement Discs in store today.

Eddi Reader with Alan Kelly(concertina) & Boo Hewerdine (guitar)

It was well worth the effort, as Eddi is a superb performer and possesses a truly beautiful voice, almost operatic in the way she uses it.

She has been touring Australia this past month as part of the Brunswick Music Festival and Apollo Bay Festival among other gigs.

She has a new CD called Love Is The Way which she gave us sample of this afternoon. She sang Dragonflies a song about living life to the full, and Dandelions which is her tribute to housewife superstar Susan Boyle and Leezie Lindsay which is from her album of Songs of Robert Burns. She also performed the title track of her new CD - a beautiful song.

She puts her whole heart and soul into her performances, they’re passionate and thrilling. She trills whilst playing an air violin, and seizes the microphone like a rock star.

Boo Hewerdine on guitar and Alan Kelly on the concertina, added sterling accompaniment.

She was born in Scotland and has a quaint accent and calls “small” wee in true highland fashion.

A special treat indeed was Eddi Reader and you can read, see and hear more about her on her website.

More of a legend than a band – The Flatlanders live at Spenserslive

Whew, I’ve finally got a chance to write about last night’s show at Spenserslive, out in the wilds of West Melbourne, which of course featured The Flatlanders.

The Flatlanders

At this moment I am supposed to be at Northcote Social Club waiting for Lil’ Band O’ Gold to put on a show, but the person whose ticket I was taking, found she could go after all. And no, I don’t feel cheated, as I’m tired and weary worn by the constant music stimulus. And besides, I did get to see them at Basement Discs on Saturday.

Anyway, enough of diversions…

Let it be said, The Flatlanders are a fantastic band and it was unbelievable to many at the show last night, that we collectively were seeing the legendary band in action with help from a few extra musicians, including an ace guitarist called Robby someone.

The gig at Spenserslive was not advertised at all, as far as I could see, except on their website. I was lucky that a friend alerted me to the show early (the same friend, by the way, whose ticket I was going to take up tonight) so we ended up with a table abutting the stage. Prime position!

Jimmie Dale Gilmore

I’m not going to describe the show in any detail, but it was thrilling and quite up to expectations.

Butch Hancock

I had never been to the venue before, but was favourably impressed. I’d certainly not jib at going to a show there again. It’s comfortable and laid back and the sound system was excellent.

Joe Ely

As you can see The Flatlanders are an interesting looking bunch of guys. They’ve been friends for over forty years, having all grown up in Texas. Both individually and together, they have been creating music for a very long time. Hence their legendary status.

The Set List – filched from the stage at the end of the show:

They played all of the list in order up to the encore (Sowing on the Mountain was the last song of the set), where they performed only See the Way and Gimme A Ride To Heaven. They took it in turns to lead the vocals, starting with Joe Ely whilst the other two, plus guitarist, provided harmony vocals.

Lyle Lovett, Mary Gauthier & Lil’ Band O’ Gold

This will be a very brief run down of the music I’ve had the pleasure of seeing over the past few days as I’m feeling bleary after too many late nights – music festival lag has set in and it’s not over yet.

First and foremost to report on, is Lyle Lovett’s concert on Friday night at Hamer Hall. In terms of quality and class, it was on a par with last year’s tour by Leonard Cohen. It was an exquisite night’s entertainment, with Kasey Chambers performing an engaging opening set.

Hamer Hall has strict rules about taking photos, so I’d primed my camera to be unobtrusive, switching off the LCD display, and relying on the view finder. This didn’t work too well at all and I ended up with unusable shots. The photo above was kindly sent to me by my friend Margaret who was sitting near the front and managed to take some very good photos.

Lyle came across as a genial, funny guy with a self deprecatory, quirky sense of humour. His band was excellent and comprised Luke Bulla on violin and vocals, Keith Sewell on guitar, mandolin and vocals, John Hagen on cello, Victor Krauss on bass and vocals, and James Gilmer on percussion. The four part harmonies on songs such as I Will Rise Up, and Ain’t No More Cane were spine tingling and rang out across the excellent acoustics of Hamer Hall to a hushed and awed audience.

Lyle played for something like two and a half hours, covering songs from a wide range of his repertoire. Of course he did If I Had A Boat, also That’s Right You’re Not From Texas, One Eyed Fiona, and Cowboy Man to name a few. There was a marvellous bluegrass segment, with Lyle, Luke Bulla, Keith Sewell and Victor Krauss (as pictured above) gathered in bluegrass fashion around a single mike for Pantry and Up in Indiana.

A real treat it was to see Lyle Lovett finally in the flesh - he’s a class act.

Yesterday was The Basement Discs double attraction In Store of Mary Gauthier and Lil’ Band O’ Gold, which basically took up most of yesterday afternoon.

“Hail, Hail the Orphan King, with the crooked smile and a crackerjack ring”

I snapped the above photo of Mary just as she was concluding the song Orphan King, and it coincidently depicts the lyrics of the chorus.

Looking somewhat tousled, Mary accompanied by Ed Romanoff, played an abbreviated version of The Foundling over the space of half to three quarters of an hour. She had performed on Friday night at the East Brunswick Club, so it was generous of her to give her time to a show at Basement Discs at midday on a Saturday. It was another moving performance and warmly received by the sizable audience.

The Lil’ Band O’ Gold were supposed to be following on from Mary at about 1.30pm, but were delayed till about 2.15pm. It was a long wait, but as the store filled up, no one moved from their positions and waited with admirable patience for the band to arrive, which they eventually did, heralded by CC Adcock, looking dangerously attractive, unshaven, wearing sunglasses and holding a stubby of beer. He charmingly apologised for the delay and promised the show would proceed as soon as the rest of the band with gear arrived.

There are eight in the band, and it is amazing that they all mostly squeezed onto the tiny Basement stage…

“Lil' Band O' Gold are a Louisiana supergroup of legends of Cajun, Zydeco, Swamp Pop, Country music and Louisiana Rock and Soul who blur the lines between their genres in their mutual admirations.

Born in the late 1990s when young Cajun accordion wizard and bandleader Steve Riley and producer/rocker/film scorer CC Adcock put the band together, their 2000 debut was a joyous celebration of Louisiana musical diversity, with Swamp Pop Maestro Warren Storm on drums and vocals, much covered songwriter David Egan on piano and sculptor/hipster/returned New Yorker Dickie Landry on saxophone, and Richard Comeaux on weeping, twisting pedal steel guitar. For their new CD The Promised Land they've added Swamp Pop angel Tommy McClain and Clifton Chenier's guitarist Lil' Buck Senegal. As their album cover proclaims, '8 members, 25 egos, 6 livers.'”
from promo on The Planet

Anyway, they were well worth waiting for and played a sizzling set of swamp pop, Cajun influenced rock n roll, somehow managing to cope with the tiny arena, swapping microphones and changing places with adroitness. They were, in a word, fabulous.

Tonight it’s The Flatlanders at Spenserlive. Will report back tomorrow.

Autumn Racing Season 2010 – Week 9 – Rosehill Guineas

The Rosehill Guineas is the sole Group One event this weekend. Run over 2000 metres, it is for three year olds and hasn’t attracted much of a field, only 11 runners will start.

Be that as it may, the field is pretty good, with Crown Guineas winner Rock Classic and Randwick Guineas winner Shoot Out being the outstanding chances. Neither has raced further than 1600 metres, so the race is a kind of trial for the Derby for both of them. Hanks, trained by the in form Peter Moody has won over the distance as has the lone filly Run for Naara, but any one of the other runners – Kidnapped, Captain Sonador, Gathering, Zabrasive might turn the tables on the favourites.

I’d love to see Shoot Out win and his breeding (High Chaparral) suggests he’ll handle the distance easily as long as he’s not worn out from racing every second week since summer.

Last week’s results were a mix of the expected and the unexpected; Military Rose is the new favourite for the Golden Slipper after continuing her winning ways, beating the highly fancied Solar Charged by several lengths in the Riesling Stakes, and Theseo won his second Ranvet Stakes in succession in fine fashion. What an old war horse he is!

Alverta signalled that she wasn’t past it stealing the Coolmore Classic from Gold Water and Palacio de Cristal, and Hot Danish returned in style winning the Canterbury Stakes.

Star Witness bombed in the Todman Stakes, obviously unable to handle the Sydney way of going, so all plans for the Golden Slipper are off and he is being spelled until spring.

We won’t see Denman racing in Australia again, which is a pity, as he’s being sent to England and will be competing there in July. However, his aunt, a full sister to the great Lonhro, Shannara, shows promise, after a win at Warwick Farm on Wednesday.

A piece of good news is that Graceful Anna is back in training and will be competing in the Queensland winter carnival. She beat Shoot Out twice in the early summer and won the three year old Magic Millions Classic.

Gasp, Sigh – The Extraordinary Truckstop Honeymoon

Back on the sticky carpets at the East Brunswick Club last night, I had the pleasure of seeing Truckstop Honeymoon for the first time.

They were pretty amazing, playing high powered music on banjo and double bass and singing with ATTITUDE. They were also pretty funny, coming across as a blend of Fred Eaglesmith and The Handsome Family, in terms of black humour and acerbic wit.

Truckstop Honeymoon is Mike West and Katie Euliss partners in life as well as on stage. They have a tribe of children who accompany them everywhere they go and often feature in the on stage monologues. About the first question the couple were asked last night was “How’s the kids”. In response, we were then given a description of their sojourn at the Yakandandah Festival where one of the progeny took on the duties of goat walker at the place where they were billeted.

Originally from New Orleans, after their home was washed away by Hurricane Katrina, they settled in Lawrence Kansas, selected, so they claim, because it as far from any large body of water as they could get.

They were on tour in Florida when Katrina struck and were stunned to see their inundated house on the front page of the New York Times. This of course inspired a song, The Cover of The NY Times.

A very crowd friendly act, they had the audience oohing and gasping during a song about their great grandparents playing music for Saturday matinee melodramas. Crazy stuff!

And on another occasion they got the audience involved in a yodelling wave.

They sing songs about looking for the perfect pair of sunglasses, following the Melathion truck to get high on toxic mosquito killer, vacation Bible Schools and other eccentric and unusual topics.

It was a very enjoyable show and I’m glad my friends persuaded me to attend.

Next weekend and week is heavy duty as far as music events go. There seems to be something on everyday.

On Friday there’s Lyle Lovett, on Saturday the Basement Discs double bill in store with Mary Gauthier and Lil’ Band O’ Gold, then on Sunday it’s The Flatlanders.

Monday, I am not spared either, having taken up the ticket of a friend who can’t go, to see Lil’ Band O’ Gold at Northcote Social Club. Basement Discs hosts Eddie Reader on Tuesday and on Thursday it’s the Old Crow Medicine Show at Thornbury Theatre.

Music Festival lag anyone?

Sweet Music for a Sultry Day – Kim Richey at Basement Discs

Melbourne, over the past few days has been under the influence of a hot and sultry weather pattern, a surprise lingering of summer which we had almost given up seeing again after a cold snap in early March.

Despite the unseasonable weather, Basement Discs continued today with the second in store performance for the month, and it featured the wonderful US singer songwriter Kim Richey.

I discovered Kim Richey’s music way back in the 1990s with her sophomore disc, Bitter Sweet, a great collection of beautifully written pop songs. I have continued to collect her records ever since, though I don’t get much of an opportunity to listen to them these days.

As an aside, she also sings background vocals on Ryan Adams’ debut solo disc Heartbreaker, on the popular song Come Pick Me Up.

It was in January 2002, that I saw her live for the first time, when she toured Australia as part of a singer songwriter showcase which included Fred Eaglesmith, Audrey Auld, Jim Lauderdale and Jason McCoy.

Today however, Kim performed solo, simply accompanying herself on guitar. She has a new CD called Wreck Your Wheels, and she treated the small but appreciative audience to a snippet of it today to the tune of four songs, and also performed two from her previous album Chinese Boxes.

Kim is an excellent song writer and has collaborated with singers like Trisha Yearwood, Radney Foster, our own Felicity Urquhart and Sydney artist Karl Broadie, and her songs have been covered by many artists including the Dixie Chicks.

She has a sweet voice that is a pleasure to listen to, with a timbre that gives it character and expression.

Song List

Chinese Boxes
Careful How You Go
Not A Love Like This
Once In Your Life
A Word To The Wise
Wreck Your Wheels

Kim Richey has an attractive website where you can learn more about her music and check out her My Space page for sound clips and video

Other news…

I have written expanded reviews of the Eilen Jewell and Mary Gauthier concerts for the Nu Country website.

Check them out here (Eilen) and here (Mary) if you’re interested.