Golden girls still living the dream
Sydney Morning Herald
Monday March 1, 2010
The Chance Bye team saved racing after a bad week. After the announcement of a heavyweight title bout, set down for the courts, between Nathan Tinkler and Anthony Cummings, came news jockey Dan Nikolic is facing Racing Victoria stewards due to suspect mobile telephone use. It came after inquiries into Nikolic's rides that created a red-light reaction on Betfair, if nothing else. Fortunately, battler Michael Tubman produced Chance Bye, a $15,000 purchase he has moulded into something more in the $1 million category. Kathy O'Hara rides her fast and loose, in gone-with-the-wind fashion. On Friday night, they were on Channel Nine's A Current Affair, prime-time television, the exposure the industry vitally needs. It's dubious whether she can win the Golden Slipper because aspects of the Silver Slipper - bias track and the condition of rivals - are suspect. Still, Tubman keeps on improving her, and the vision splendid will get major exposure for all the right reasons in the lead-up to the Golden One.DIALLED INCharges laid against Nikolic regarding a mobile telephone are in a "parking fine" category, going on expert opinion down south where Victorian jockeys have more clout with officials than their NSW counterparts. For instance, the jockeys' association on Friday, according to a report, told members not to hand over their telephones to stewards if asked. "I will fight it to the end," Nikolic said. "Neville Clements does form for me, and I rang him on that day to ask about the tempo of a race. It was a 12- to 15-second phone call that I made away from the jockeys' room." Sydney jockeys have to lodge their mobiles with an official before engagements, and pick them up when leaving for the day. Should an urgent call be necessary, they have to approach stewards and, if given permission, it must be made in the stewards' room, probably using the official phone.UGLY PATTERNUsually tracks rated good, and on the fast side, lead to a racing pattern favouring up-front types and others near the rail. On Saturday at Rosehill, it extended to a bias. Winners either led or were up close on the fence. Those out wide and swoopers found it difficult to get into races. Asked for his read on the conditions, Blake Shinn answered: "It wasn't the wind. Looking at the track and the feel of it, there didn't seem much, if any, difference. But it was very hard to make up ground." Jim Cassidy was more succinct: "The tracks are f---ed."SHORT STRAWHardly a major meeting in Sydney is held without a top chance missing the start or striking trouble early. De Lightning Ridge ($1.65) and Chakvetadze ($2.80) came into the category at Rosehill on Saturday. Old-timers reckon hot-pots at the old open-strand starts had a smoother dispatch. When the field was lining up, the starter would cry: "Goers to the front, whoa'ers to the rear."AJC MOUNTIES"Peck's Raiders" will play an integral security role at Randwick racecourse, particularly for the coming Future Music concert. Following the furore regarding the Mark Kavanagh stables during a Flemington shivoo, Lynell Peck, an AJC mainstay, decided to get their own mounted division. The AJC was priced out of hiring specialists so Peck found two bush nags, set for the knackery, and bought them for a case of beer. Two former mounted NSW Police officers will be in the saddle, basically patrolling the stable area. Trailbikes were considered but regarded as too noisy.HORSE TO FOLLOWZutara produced a big finish to end up third in the Silver Slipper.DISAPPOINTINGManhattan Rain, backed from $3.10 to $2.70, was given every chance before his fifth in the Hobartville.
© 2010 Sydney Morning Herald
