The Speed of Light(ning)

Flying Artie – Derby Day Flemington 2016

Flemington hosts a super race meeting this coming Saturday, which despite a gloomy weather forecast, promises many thrills, in particular the Group 1 Black Caviar Lightning, a 1000 metre dash down the Flemington straight.

I’ve attended the last five Lightning Stakes meetings, the first two in 2012 and 2013 featuring Black Caviar. The race is now named in her honour - after all she won it three times.

Last year it was won by the grey flash Chautauqua and the year before, the “horse with a heart”, Lankan Rupee, was the victor. Many stars of the Australian turf have won this race over the years – Fastnet Rock, Miss Andretti, Takeover Target, Apache Cat etc.

This year has attracted an intriguing field with several of the younger sprinting brigade such as three year old colts Flying Artie and Star Turn challenging older sprinters Flamberge and Terravista and The Quarterback and all those in between.

Also in the field is speedy mare Heatherly who may well give the boys a run for the money.

Owing to the train timetable, I’ll be obliged to get to Flemington around 1.30pm, which means a fairly long afternoon at the track with the Lightning Stakes scheduled to run at 4.45pm.

Luckily there are several quite interesting races to watch while waiting for the main event. Firstly the Talindert Stakes for two year old Blue Diamond hopefuls. I witnessed Black Caviar’s little brother All Too Hard win the Talindert Stakes back in 2012 at his first start. Interestingly, several  (four) of his progeny are contesting this year’s race, and one or other of them may well win it.

The Group 3 Vanity Stakes for three year old fillies run over 1400 metres and the colts equivalent the C S Hayes Stakes run after it, have both attracted classy fields. The Vanity has Legless Veuve who recently beat the boys in the Manfred Stakes, up against Crown Oaks runner up Harlow Gold and the amusingly named Nurse Kitchen who won a race at big odds on Cox Plate Day last year.

As for the C S Hayes, it’s good to see Hey Doc return to the track. He’s already had one run this season in the Manfred Stakes where he finished third and will probably start as favourite. He’s up against smart colts Seaburge, Morton’s Fork and Inside Agent.

Apparently, according to the VRC website, there will be ten Living Legends present at Flemington on Saturday. They could make a race field themselves if they weren’t in retirement.  They’ll include former Hong Kong stars Silent Witness and Bullish Luck. And who else?

Anyway, I’m looking forward to getting back to Flemington and a pleasant afternoon in the open air among the famous roses.

Bart Bags the Booty - Orr Stakes Day Review

Black Heart Bart returns to scale after winning the Orr Stakes

The Sydney races at Randwick were cancelled last Saturday due to the extreme heat and will be run today (Monday) instead, so we’ll get to see Winx race in the Apollo Stakes at 5.40pm this afternoon.

In Melbourne the weekend weather was very pleasant, Saturday being a partly sunny day with a light breeze – perfect for an afternoon turfside.

As planned, I arrived at Caulfield in plenty of time for the first of the Blue Diamond Preludes and had time before the race to cruise through the stalls and check out who had arrived.

El Divino (Winx little brother)

The grey flash Chautauqua

The beautiful Turn Me Loose

I’ve given up trying to take photos from the public lawn, the hedge is so high I can barely see over it to get a clear shot. So I spent most of the afternoon on the hill above the stalls area, which was remarkably uncrowded.

Soon enough the fillies were assembling for their Blue Diamond Prelude and Catchy started favourite with Limestone being the second pick.

The race ended with Catchy and Limestone fighting out the finish, Catchy winning by a nose. Arctic Angel finished third, 1.35 lengths behind the leading two.

Catchy (outside) & Limestone still head to head just after the post.

Catchy returns to scale

Limestone returns to scale

Arctic Angel returns to scale

Sydney colt Pariah was the starting favourite for the colts and geldings Blue Diamond Prelude, but he was outgunned by Property, who has now won the Blue Diamond Preview and Prelude double. Can he add the actual Blue Diamond Stakes to his wins?  The last horse to do so was Sepoy in 2011. Wait For No One finished third.

Colts Blue Diamond Prelude finish just past the post

Property returns to scale

Pariah returns to scale

Wait For No One in the parade ground – a real good looker

Race 5 was the Group 3 Kevin Hayes Stakes, run over 1200 metres,  for three year old fillies.

Fuhryk, who I admit I had never heard of, started favourite and  scored a good two length win over Oregon’s Day and Savanna Amour.

Kevin Hayes Stakes finish – Fuhryk (blinkers) has the advantage

Fuhryk returns to scale

Chautauqua was the star attraction in Race 6, the Group 2 Rubiton Stakes where he started as top weight and warm favourite.  However, he didn’t win, finishing third after leaving his run too late.  Victory went to rank outsider Super Cash with I Am A Star running second. Chautauqua’s connections were left scratching their heads and came to the conclusion that he is looking for longer races these days.  So they are going to try him over 1400 metres next.

Rubiton Stakes finish just past the post

Super Cash returns to scale

I Am A Star (inside) and Wild Rain return to scale together

Chautauqua returns to scale

Finally it was time for the feature event, the Group 1 C.F. Orr Stakes and a fine field had turned up for it. Black Heart Bart held narrow favouritism over Malaguerra at race start time and didn’t disappoint his supporters with a grand win, overtaking race leader Turn Me Loose close to the post and winning by a length. I was delighted to see Turn Me Loose show that he is back to the form that won him two Group 1 races in spring 2015 (Emirates Stakes) and autumn 2016 (Futurity Stakes). His main aim this autumn is to win the Futurity Stakes for a second time. 

The Gai Waterhouse trained Ecuador ran third and Jameka and Palentino dead heated for fourth.

Orr Stakes finish – Black Heart Bart , Turn Me Loose & Ecuador are the leading three.

Brad Rawiller salutes riding Black Heart Bart back to scale

Turn Me Loose on his way to the starting gates

Ecuador returns to scale

Jameka returns to scale

Palentino and Turn Me Loose returning to scale

Calling it quits after the Orr Stakes I headed for the station and home having enjoyed another pleasant afternoon at the races.

Next week the Group 1 action is at Flemington with the feature race being the Black Caviar Lightning.

Later…

Just watched the running of the Apollo Stakes and Winx won like the champion she is, notching up her 14th win in succession. Go Winx!

At Last, Some Class – Group 1 Racing Returns

Jameka will kick off her autumn campaign in the Orr Stakes

Since the last Group 1 race – Kingston Town Classic in WA in early December 2016 – the world has undergone a tumultuous change with the rise to power of Donald Trump to US President, so it’s good to have some small pleasures to distract one from the global doom and gloom that dominates at the present time.

I’m speaking of course of the resumption of Group 1 racing this weekend, when Caulfield hosts the C F Orr Stakes and several other interesting races.

In Sydney, wonder mare Winx kicks off her autumn campaign in the Group 2 Apollo Stakes at Randwick, aiming for her 14th win in succession.

I intend to get to Caulfield in time for the two Blue Diamond Preludes (races 3 and 4), having caught the 2 year olds on Australia Day at Caulfield in the two Blue Diamond Previews where Property won the colts and geldings division and Limestone won the fillies race.

Property

Limestone

The fillies Blue Diamond Prelude, a Group 2 race over 1100 metres is on first and has a small field of class fillies contesting it that include the aforementioned Limestone, Catchy who has won her only two starts, defeating Property in the second by over two lengths, Blondie who sizzled in her only start at Moonee Valley, and Roomooz who won her only start by 5 lengths.  They appear the top picks.

Property is probably the top pick in the colts Prelude and is up against the likes of Azazel who ran second to Property in the Preview.  Others worth considering are the stunning looking Wait For No One, Cao Cao, and Sydney colt Pariah. 

The mighty grey flash Chautauqua makes a welcome return to the track in the Group 2 Rubiton Stakes, a sprint over 1100 metres. He didn’t fire  in the two races he contested last spring so has had a long break.  It will be interesting to see if he’s back to his old winning self. He faces a small field that includes Winx younger half brother El Divino and Myer Classic winner I Am A Star. Also in the picture are Wild Rain and Hellbent.

The Group 1 CF Orr Stakes (1400 metres) is scheduled as race 7 and has attracted a cracking field, nine of the twelve runners being Group 1 winners. Last year it was won by Suavito and the year before by Dissident. 

Black Heart Bart, Malaguerra, Turn Me Loose and Palentino all have a run under their belts, contesting  the Group 2 Australia Stakes at Moonee Valley a fortnight ago. Malaguerra was the winner,  beating Black Heart Bart by two lengths.

Back from a break are Caulfield Cup winner Jameka, Awesome Rock and He’s Our Rokkii.  Also in the field, thrown in at the deep end, is Caulfield Guineas winner Divine Prophet, a light weight chance.

Winx takes on a field of 11 rivals in the Apollo Stakes, also run over 1400 metres, that include Hartnell, Dibayani, stayers like Preferment and Leebaz and the runaway Victorian Oaks winner Lasqueti Spirit. As is usual during the Sydney autumn racing season the track will be on the slow side, but a hot day is forecast. Here’s hoping Winx will keep her winning run intact.

Melbourne has had a fairly mild summer so far with very few days getting above 35ºC and Saturday is expected to be a pleasant 27ºC, and mainly sunny.

I’m fond of the Melbourne autumn racing season it having a different vibe to the spring carnival. It is less crowded for a start and more laid back.

I’m looking forward to seeing quite a few of my current favourites racing in the flesh – Jameka, Turn Me Loose, Chautauqua, Black Heart Bart etc.

Bruce Springsteen at AAMI Park

Last night (4/2/17) I had the thrill of seeing Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band perform live in Melbourne.

The venue, the relatively new AAMI Park, is one I have not been to before, but is a football stadium (soccer and rugby) that is also used as a live music venue every so often.  It has a distinctive rectangular design and the roof, that partially covers the arena, looks like a bunch of soccer balls loaded one on top each other, shrouds the structure.

The concert began in broad daylight (doors opened at 4.00pm) with two support acts entertaining the early arrivals, before Bruce Springsteen kicked off his show at around 7.45pm.

As we had reserved seats, we took our time getting there, dining first at the Corner Hotel in Swan Street, Richmond.

From there is was only a short walk to the stadium in Olympic Boulevard, and we caught some of support act, Jet’s show, from our seats on the floor, a fair way back from the stage.

Cameras were forbidden so I didn’t mind being at a remove,  watching the show on the big screens, to the left and right and above centre stage.

Bruce Springsteen is renowned as one of the best live acts in the world, and I can appreciate why. He was indefatigable, practically playing non stop over three hours, ably supported by the wonderful E Street Band who comprised:

Bruce Springsteen (guitar, vocals)
Stevie Van Zandt (guitar, vocals)
Souzie Tyrell (violin, vocals)
Max Weinberg (drums)
Gary Tallent (bass)
Roy Bittan (piano)
Nils Lofgren (guitar)
Charles Giordano (organ keyboards, accordion)
Jake Clemens (saxophone)

Springsteen is adored by his fans and he reciprocates the devotion warmly, interacting personally with them, shaking hands and allowing certain lucky fans to climb on stage for a five minutes of fame song and/or dance.  Banners seem to be the go if you’re down the front in mosh pit; the camera catching the signs requesting songs, or wishes to sing or dance with Bruce and the band.

It was high powered set encompassing 27 songs, with rockers and slower ballads in the mix.

As daylight faded to night, above the open air arena you could see fruit bats flying over and white birds wheeling above. And towards the end of the show fireworks were detonated off to the side outside the arena with sparks and streaks of light appearing above the top edge of the stadium.

As this was the first time I’d seen Bruce Springsteen live, I was impressed and enjoyed hearing old classics such as Born To Run, Dancing In The Dark , Hungry Heart, Glory Days in person.

I’d certainly consider going to see Bruce and his E Street Band again.

Set List  (from Setlist.fm)

1. American Land

2. Lonesome Day

3. My Love Will Not Let You Down

4. Out in the Street

5. Sherry Darling (sign request)

6. Hungry Heart

7. Glory Days

8. This Hard Land (sign request) (tour debut)

9. New York City Serenade (with strings)

10. Prove It All Night (with '78 intro)

11. Trapped (Jimmy Cliff cover)

12. Youngstown

13. Cover Me

14. Death to My Hometown

15. My City of Ruins

16. Cadillac Ranch (tour debut)

17. I'm Goin' Down

18. Waitin' on a Sunny Day (tour debut)

19. Because the Night (Patti Smith Group cover)

20. Badlands

21. Thunder Road

22. Born to Run

23. Seven Nights to Rock (Moon Mullican cover)

24. Dancing in the Dark

25. Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out

26. Shout (The Isley Brothers cover)

27. Twist and Shout (The Top Notes cover)

Frustration and Good Fortune

This past week has been rather trying and frustrating, but it ended well eventually.

You might guess that it had something to do with computers, and you’d be right on the money.

It was not something that the computer did inadvertently, but rather my own choice to update the operating system from Windows 7 32 bit, to Windows 7 64 bit.

I had purchased the Windows 7 64 bit software several months ago, and was all fired to update it at the time, when I noticed that Mercury was Retrograde and thought better of it, knowing how frustrating things often are when that planet is in that configuration. Mercury rules transport, communications and information technology, so when it goes retrograde (appears to be going backwards) all sorts of delays and setbacks occur. So, not a good time to upgrade your computer.

Being clear of any Mercury backward influences I decided to gird my loins and update the computer last Monday. This meant I had to wipe C: drive and reinstall the operating system.

The new installation was a success, but I was unable to access the files on my second hard drive, which held all my data. I had backed up to an external hard drive everything I wanted to save on C: drive, but assumed (foolishly it turns out) that the bulk of my data was safe on E: drive.

It wasn’t.

Rather than search for days on Google for a solution to the problem, I gave up and took the computer to the trusty Computer Repair Shop, Cnet Technology, in Preston, which was where I purchased the computer in 2014.

Whilst there I thought I’d upgrade my graphics card as I’d been thinking of doing for a while,  the original card  being incredibly noisy. It also generated heat inside the case that was hot to touch.

The heat was actually caused by the burn out of one of the CPU fans, so it was lucky that we took the machine to be repaired or it could have been disastrous in the near future. Also, it turned out that the second hard drive was on the brink of death - the reason the files couldn’t be accessed.

The marvellous Michael at Cnet Tech was able to copy all the data from the dying disk to a new hard drive.

It all ended up being quite pricey, but with disaster averted, it was worth every penny and I have a quiet, fast, squeaky clean computer again.

The only problem is that my old monitor is not compatible with the new graphics card and needs an adaptor to work at all. It’s an old fashioned square LCD monitor, so I’m forced to update to a wide screen HD monitor, which I’ve been resisting doing for years.

Having to put up with a resolution of 800 x 600 pix until the new monitor arrives (the screen blacks out if I try to increase the resolution) makes the prospect of a new, bigger, wide screen quite attractive.

So what started out as a frustrating week was conversely fortunate. If I hadn’t tried to update my computer, pretty soon it would have been cactus, so the timing was perfect as it turned out.

I’ll never trust a hard disk to keep on keeping on ever again.  Some do seem to last forever, e.g. the one in the old XP computer which must be getting on for nine years of age. At least I know what to look for now if it’s on the point of death and back up my data regularly.

The Scene of the Crime

A helicopter hovering above Bourke Street Mall.

A series of dull thuds.

A sudden outcry as of a demonstration marching down the Mall.

A person lying in the intersection of Bourke and Elizabeth Streets as if they’d tripped and fallen.

The sudden shrill of emergency vehicles; police cars travelling at speed up the Mall, crossing the intersection and tearing up towards Queen Street, and others coming from Flinders and Lonsdale Streets and turning at the corner of Elizabeth Street also heading west to Queen.

What had happened?

That was my impression of the horrific incident in Melbourne yesterday.

I was standing on the tram stop outside the old GPO as the tragedy unfolded and didn’t actually see the crime, a stationary tram on the other side of the street blocked my view, so I didn’t know what was going on, and I didn’t find out until I got home and looked it up online.

It all happened in a very short space of time, so I’m only left with the above fleeting impressions, but the huge number of police cars present indicated that something serious was afoot.

Ignorance is bliss, as I didn’t feel very alarmed at all, just puzzled by the drama. I thank my lucky stars that I wasn’t on the other side of the street or it could well have been a different story.

Bourke Street Mall is generally a laid back spot with  buskers entertaining the crowds sitting on the GPO steps, while tourists take photos of themselves on the Public Purse sculpture which lies on the footpath outside the GPO on the tram stop.

That’s the closest proximity I’ve had to a murderous crime, but have been in hearing range of several others – the Russell Street bombing in 1986 and the Hoddle Street massacre of 1987 – which freaked me out more than did yesterday’s crime.

Everytime I wait for a tram from now, on the corner of Elizabeth and Bourke, I’ll remember yesterday’s outrage, even if I didn’t witness it.

Music Master–Tim O’Brien at Caravan Music Club

Tim O’Brien live at Caravan Music Club – 11/1/17

Caravan Music Club, out in the wilds of Oakleigh, on the other side of the Yarra, is a fair way from where I live. But it’s such a pleasant venue that the long trek getting there is generally worth the effort.

Such was the case last night, where we saw American master musician Tim O’Brien show off his expertise on guitar, violin and mandolin in a one man show.

Tim O’Brien last toured Australia in 2011, and I had the good fortune to see him perform at the Port Fairy Folk Festival and at the now extinct East Brunswick Club.

As well as being a whiz on various instruments, Tim also has a great singing voice, a warm tenor that suits the kind of music he favours – bluegrass, folk and gospel.

He started his show with one of his own compositions Workin’ a sort of Dylanish monologue detailing various work scenarios. Señor, a Dylan song he recorded on his wonderful Bob Dylan bluegrass tribute album Red On Blonde, followed, and provided an interesting and appropriate segue.

He changed the mood with a traditional English folk ballad Pretty Fair Lady In The Garden, then performed the comical title song from his latest record Pompadour.

Quite a few of the songs on the night were from the Pompadour album.

Tim O’Brien is touring Australia in the company of his partner, Jan Fabricious, whom he invited on stage to sing harmony in the next few songs – Wichita, I Gotta Move, What Happened To Me and Go Down To The Water.

Jan Fabricious at Caravan Music Club 11/1/17

And so the night progressed, Tim switching from guitar to fiddle to mandolin, singing or playing 22 tunes in his main set.

I was a tad disappointed he didn’t play banjo, but you can’t have everything.

Tim O’Brien live at Caravan Music Club 11/1/17

Several of the tunes were instrumental, such as traditional fiddle tunes like Ditty Boy Twang, Say Old Man and Kid On The Mountain, but the whole show was varied in terms of musical styles, making it a very enjoyable and engaging concert.

There was a good crowd in attendance, many of my vintage, who all appreciated the rare pleasure of watching Tim O”Brien play his instruments so effortlessly and with masterful skill.

Set List (stolen from the stage)

Tim O’Brien Set List for 11/1/17

Set List Translated (to the best of my ability)

1. Workin’
2. Señor
3. Pretty Fair Maid In The Garden
4. Pompadour
5. Wichita
6. I Gotta Move
7. Whatever Happened To Me
8. Go Down To the Water
9. You Were On My Mind This Morning
10. Say Old Man (fiddle tune)
11. Working On A Building
12. Ditty Boy Twang
13. Kid On The Mountain
14. Not Afraid Of Dying
15. I’m A Mess For You
16. Brother Wind
17. Jack of Diamonds (Drunkard’s Hiccups)/The Crossing
18. Nellie Kane
19. The Tulips On the Table
20. Gentle On My Mind (John Hartford cover by special request)
21. The Water Is Wise
22. Look Down That Lonesome Road

Encore

Before This Time Another Year