Sebring Dream opened her winning account impressively and the step up in distance, scoring in the opening agenda, the Pat Hyland Plate.

She settled mid field until reaching the home turn, before Michael Walker got to work on her seriously, aided by a run in the centre of the field she looked pretty good in winning.  

Obviously she needed further than the 1100 metres of her previous start at headquarters.

Gary Fennessy, representing the stable of David Hayes and Tom Dabernig, the longest serving stable foreman in Victoria, said, “ the filly will now be spelled as she has done enough, she ran the 1400 metres right out, and with the coming spring her target will be the Thousand Guineas.”

Divine Chills gave bookmakers a skinner when she drifted from $21 to $26, to the delight of 39 members in the syndicate that share ownership in the filly.

She is prepared by John Sadler who has had quite some success with the progeny of Artie Schiller; however, he left it to his daughter, Kate, to meet the press.

An excited Kate said,” I am over the moon as were the other 38 of the syndicate, most of the planning is left to dad as to the future of the filly.”

Turnitaround continued on his winning spree with a narrow win in the Might And Power Handicap.

The son of Hard Spun is racing consistently, having won at his last three starts with the middle pin a win on his home track, Warrnambool.

Killarney Kid led for much of the race before Turnitaround and Second Bullet appeared on the scene, after a short tussle the Warrnambool trained performer received the judge’s nod.

The gelding, trained by Matthew Williams, is racing consistently, that was his third win on end, he is on a crest of a wave, the three placegetters were equal favourites at $4.40.

“There are options we could look at, it could be the Caloundra Cup, or a good race at Doomben, we will have to make up our minds shortly, or go to Moonee Valley in a couple of weeks or chase Country Cups in the spring, “ said Matthew Williams.

Might And Power was paraded before the race named in his honour, he won the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups as a five year old in 1997, he returned the following year to win the Cox Plate.

Mihany completed a winning double for Hayes and Dabernig drawing away in the straight for an impressive win in the Carbine Club Handicap.

He was well positioned for most of the trip with Regan Bayliss ready to press the trigger at the right time, he sprinted and had the race well won a fair way out from the judge.

The favourite, Grand Dreamer, never looked a possible chance at any stage of the race and finished up running last.

Mihany is handy at yesterday’s distance and he can win again in the company he met in the Carbine Club Handicap, he was seen at his best in that type of race.

Gary Fennessy was back in the driver’s seat explaining, “the gelding is a consistent horse and had a fair bit of form about him.”

Punters were right on the ball when Loyalty Man was backed right in at close of betting, to start a pronounced favourite in the Les Carlyon A C Handicap.

Yet he was still backable at the odds, he was always racing handy to the leader, in what was a winning position for much of the trip.

Rupert Legh, a member of the syndicate said,” Loyal Man was taken over to Adelaide for a Derby trial but he does not get much further than a mile, and that is where we should be aiming his races at, young Jake Bayliss was on the phone to me to see if he still had the ride on the horse.”

“We will keep the horse going while he is winning,” he added.

Amarela had to make the best of it from an awkward gate in the Neville Begg Handicap; she settled back in the field, Darren Gauci had to take her wide, there was no point in looking for cushy runs, the safest way home was around the outside which Gauci decided to take. .

Her trainer, Nigel Blakiston, was pleased to see her return to form with the win explaining, “ she was unlucky last start and a couple of starts before that,” it was a deserving win.

Blakiston was considering taking on a stakes race in Adelaide but decided to remain here in his own back yard.

“We might look at a couple of heats in the Banjo Patterson series and take it from there.”

Glorious Sinndar had the form on the board, and the mileage in his legs, to see out a gruelling 3200 metres of the Andrew Ramsden Stakes.

Punters latched onto him starting second favourite, he had done all the hard yards and is now making into a useful stayer.

Stable foreman for Darren Weir, Jeremy Rogers said “ we have had a pretty good day and there is more to come, certainly in Adelaide.”

Jockey, Harry Coffey, is firmly entrenched within the stable, he attends most of the trials riding six to eight horses a morning, and as a reward he is getting the rides in races.

Nautical doesn’t step into the winner’s circle all that much and was nearly friendless in the market, but that didn’t bother her trainer, Nikki Burke, or her rider, Brian Higgins, riding his first winner at Flemington.

It was a big day Nikki Burke, “we haven’t trialed her this time inm we thought we had done enough without that, she was engaged in Adelaide but after drawing barrier 16 we pulled her out and concentrated on Flemington,” she said.

“Brian Higgins rides the mare in all her track work, and it has been a great result around for our stable, “said Nikki.

Jimando had the issue well under control by the time the field reached the course proper in the Better Loosen Up Handicap, he was much better on the top of the ground at Flemington, he just didn’t handle the soft conditions at Warrnambool when unplaced in the Wangoon.

In the absence of trainer, Tony McEvoy, Michael Shearson was on hand for the win of Jimando in the Better Loosen Up Handicap.

“Jinando was very brave in winning, he fought off all the challenges and whilst the favourite, The New Boy, was getting to him in the straight it was a strong winning effort.

Chautauqua misses Royal Ascot

There was a good legitimate reason to cancel out on the trip to Royal Ascot for champion sprinter Chautauqua .

After winning in Hong Kong on the Sunday, officials wanted a decision on the following day to confirm his flight to the U K to fly out two days later on the Wednesday.

Connections had to basically make a decision on the spot, no consideration was given to the horse, hence he will not be seen at Royal Ascot.

Chautauqua is currently in quarantine, he will come out in a little over a week.  

Big day for Weir

Darren Weir had a field day on Saturday with a training treble at Caulfield, a double at Donald, the JRA Cup at Doomben, plus the South Australian Derby.

Even when Tommy Smith was running hot with 33 premierships, he never put away seven winners at four separate venues, including two Group winners in Real Love, and the S A Derby success Howard Be Thy Name.

Weir has got his finger right on the pulse, it is a gift, he knows what every horse is doing and there is more than a 100 of them to keep an eye on.

He doesn’t mess about with small talk; he is down to earth calling a spade a spade that is how it is with him.

Weir has the perfect formula, the very best training facilities in Australia bar none, even out of range of the wealthy Sheiks.

Time to stretch 2 Y O’s out

With two and a half months of the current racing season remaining, our two year old races are not increased in distance as they should.

Caulfield on Saturday was another example, catering for two year olds in races at 1100 metres, at this late stage of the season, is ridiculous, the distance needs to be increased.

The Sires Produce Stakes run in March over 1400 metres, and the Gibson Carmichael Stakes over 1600 metres, that followed soon after, has since been moved back to the 9^th of July, which is getting too close to the Spring.

Even if a likely colt emerges out of the Gibson Carmichael Stakes, it doesn’t assist trainers much when the Derby is still five months away.

Surely there has to be some logic used, as there is little at present, you don’t frame race programs from a pick out of a hat.

Saturday’s winner at Caulfield, Blue Tycoon, has won twice and placed once, all at less than 1200 metres, it becomes a guessing game as to whether he will make a stayer, as he was beginning to fold up when the post was reached.

Blue Tycoon is by Written Tycoon, who remains third on the Australian Sire’s List, with the highest progeny earnings of $8,617,283 for a single season, of any stallion ever to stand in Victoria.

The City winner for Cumani

The midnight oil would have been burning at Bedford Lodge, Newmarket, by Luca Cumani and his wife Sarah, for good reason, their son, Matthew, trained his first city winner in Melbourne, when Show A Star won the Peter Jackson Handicap at Caulfield.

Luca is a well known and respected figure in Melbourne, he has made several attempts to take the three handle Cup back to the United Kingdom.

The closest he has come was two years ago with Mount Athos, when he finished third to Fiorente and Red Cadeaux.

Matthew has barely had his licence nine months and has produced his first city winner, and it’s all up from here, with the Ballarat Turf Club providing additional stabling he will be able to accommodate 40 horses in future.

It didn’t take long for Cumani adjusting to the climate of Ballarat; it is quite similar in some respects to Newmarket.

Jordan Childs gave Show A Star the run of the race back on the fence, waiting until before moving out on the home turn and going out after the leader, Airalign.

Memories would be recalled at the Scone’s two day racing carnival, with the first race on the second day sponsored by Kia Ora Stud.

Kia Ora was almost a house hold name within the bloodstock breeding industry, established in 1912 by Percy Miller, a prominent wholesale Sydney butcher at Glebe.

Like so many of the noted breeders of that era, he selected the Hunter Valley, the property backed onto the Pages River at Scone, where several of the successful stud farms are still located.

Miller selected Clive Inglis as his confidant, and Peter Riddle as stud manager, it was a very successful arrangement, provided Percy didn’t interfere, he only had to look after the money side of the business.

Several sires were tried at Kia Ora with little success until Magpie appeared on the scene, he was by Dark Ronald, he raced here winning at weight for age before going to stud where he sired Windbag and Amounis, he was leading national sire in 1928-29.

He was also a great brood mare sire that was to lay the foundation for Midstream, by Blandford, and Delville Wood, by Bois Roussel.

Midstream appeared in three top sire’s twice before he won the title overall, he won the title three times and was in the top three nine times.

Delville Wood won the title five times outright and was in the top three six times.

In a comparatively short time Kia Ora rose to be the leading stud in Australia, it has created records which stand today in every sphere of thoroughbred breeding.

For over 30 years yearlings bred at Kia Ora had dominated the sales scene, and have won every classic race on the calendar at some stage.

On the death of Percy Miller, the final dispersal sale was held on the property in May 1959, 101 lots were offered of mares with excellent pedigrees, the stallions included Delville Wood, an outstanding sire foaled 1942, Double Bore by Borealis, Judicate by Hyperion, and Brimstone by Dante.

Quite A Reversal Of Form

When Merriest and I Am A Star met at Caulfield two weeks ago, both were unraced fillies, with the former running away to a impressive win, whilst I Am A Star could only manage to finish sixth.

However, positions were reversed in the Phar Lap Club Stakes at Flemington on Saturday, when I Am A Star came from behind to win well, while Merriest, an odds on favourite, led for much of the race before weakening to finish sixth.

Owners snubbed

Owners are the life blood of racing; they are the ones that continue to dig into their pockets, not always for the monetary gain, just the sheer pleasure of winning a race.

Irrespective of where it may be, it is the joy of winning, that’s what it is all about, if it happens to be Flemington, the holy grail of racing that is the ultimate.

All sports salute their winners; they are the focus of all attention, except that does not happen in racing any longer.

The Flemington VRC Handicap was a good example, all the unplaced horses had well cleared the mounting yard on their way back to the birdcage, except the winner, Good Value, you needed a pair of ten fifties to find him, he was still at the back of the course with the jockey being interviewed.

Even the chairman of stewards, Wade Hadley, looked to be getting a bit impatient waiting to weight the winning jockey in, and the owners were left hanging about unnecessarily.

Finally when the horse and rider did return to the mounting yard, it was all a dull affair.  

Racing is the only sport where the winner comes in last, even it is just a school football match, the winning team gets the honour of coming off the ground first.

Interviewing jockeys is absolutely stupid after a hard ride, when he or she could have been wasting, and the result was a photo finish, it would be doubtful if they had much to say after that, likely to be nothing but huffing and puffing.

Racing really needs a shakeup 6, 347 people at Flemington would hardly pay the wages bill for the gate attendants.

Matt Laurie breaks through

After an exasperating run of placings, Shockaholic broke through for trainer Matt Laurie, winning the National Jockeys Trust Handicap.

The gelding is a lightly raced three year old who is just beginning to hit his straps, the open spaces of Flemington suit him, he finished third to Un de Sceaux on Anzac Day 1400 metres at headquarters..

This was his fourth run in from a spell and it will be no surprise if he turns up at Flemington next week.

The second placegetter, Atlantic City, is part owned by the Rt. Hon.Lord Mayor Robert Doyle.

Trainer leaves stable in good hands

While Michael Kent was away in Adelaide winning the Oaks with Abbey Marie, assistant trainer, Darren Tymms, had sole control of the situation at Flemington, leading in a winning double, via Good Value and the speed machine, Supido.

Tymms is a son of the notable sportsman Eric Tymms who had several fights at the old West Melbourne Stadium under the name of Spider Tymms, he was a fly weight, the limit being 50.80 kgs, described as a very smart fighter he earned 9th place in world ratings in the fly weight division in 1947, he later became a well known paddock bookmaker betting on all city courses.

Lloyd pulls another one out of the hat

Lloyd Williams, a renowned judge of horseflesh, looks as if he has struck gold again with smart grey gelding Sir Prospector, bred in the U S, but by his favourite sire, Galileo.

Sir Prospector was racing mid-field at Flemington with not the slightest chance of running in the first half dozen.

Once the straight was entered he gave a great sight motoring home at the rate of knots, taking ground off the ultimate winner, Spur On Gold, with every stride.

Sir Prospector came to Australia with winning form, he had won at Navan, north of Dublin, and at Leopardstown where he defeated a field of 20 runners.

He is really a nice horse, he paraded well in the yard, there is a lot of quality about him, a win is not that far off on what he showed us on Saturday.

Supido just rolls on

Supido is the find of the season, sparingly raced for various reasons, such as periodical colds and other ailments, yet he has a near perfect record, having raced eight times for six wins, all in succession.

He could have been vulnerable at the 1000 metres after his two previous wins at 1200 metres; however, he overcame difficulties in running and was doing his best work on the line, that’s where it counts.

Obviously the intention down the line is ultimately a stud career at some stage, he deserves that opportunity, Black Type of course would assist and the quality of mares as well.  

Jockey, Luke Nolan, was on cloud 9 after being acclaimed with an excellent ride to take out the Schweppes Oaks, per medium of Abbey Marie, trained by Michael Kent.

However, success had a short duration, in the following race his mount, Miss Promiscuity, clipped the heels of another runner catapulting Nolan out of the saddle into the path of Pittsburgh Flyer, causing multiple injuries after being galloped upon.

Nolan was rushed to Royal Adelaide Hospital, as it has turned out he will be out of the saddle for quite some time, but is expected to make a full recovery.

He had only returned to riding after a break of a few months, recovering after a back injury, and had recently been riding in great form.