Jet Away was the star act at Caulfield on Saturday, and he didn’t let the customers down with a stellar performance in winning the Easter Cup.

He looked the goods when winning the Golden Mile at Bendigo, that win was enough to encourage a larger crowd than normal to an Easter fixture.

After beginning from an inside gate he was soon shuffled back in field, running third last when they crossed the hill.

Again it was Dwayne Dunn at his very best; he wasn’t pressing any panic buttons, prepared to wait for the openings to appear.

It was still a waiting game until just before the home turn when the run did come, there are no prizes as who was there, it was that man Dunn, he soon had the situation soon under control.

The jockey was heaping plenty of praise on the winner, Jet Away, comparing him favourably with Tawqeet, his Caulfield Cup winning ride.

David Hayes, trainer of the exciting entire, may be persuaded to have just one more roll of the dice, taking him to Sydney for the Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Randwick.

With weight for age form almost extinct the invitation is looking pretty attractive and will greatly improve his rating for the spring Cups.

The imported horses are sure to play a very dominant role come springtime, with no shortage of horses from abroad coming onto the scene.

Jet Away shows his class

Darren Gauci, long recognised as a great judge of pace, was seen at his best in the all the way win on Budriguez in the Victoria Handicap.

A noted front runner, he is racing in peak form at present, having shared the winner’s stall recently with the current Melbourne Cup favourite, Puissance du Lune, in the Blamey Stakes.

Gauci was selected to ride the gelding as he is such an incredible rider on a noted front runner, he never changes his grip, the late Geoff Murphy was never afraid to use Gauci.

Budriguez made full use of the inside draw being quickly in front and was able to dictate the pace to a nicety.

British General did most of the chasing all the way, while looking some chance on the turn he failed to run on, he seems to perform better at Flemington.

Under The Eiffel, who narrowly defeated British General at Caulfield last week, was like the man who fell out of the boat, he wasn’t in it.

The favourite, Sertorius, ran a nice race; it took his rider, Ryan Maloney, time to find room at the top of the straight, when he did the horse ran on gamely, he will win again soon.

Budriguez winning Victoria Hcp.

Jumps racing is dead, it is just a matter now of reading the last rites.

Whatever future the sport had it is long gone, it is far too late to pick up the remnants.

The previous administration of Racing Victoria didn’t assist, they hindered, instead of taking some positive action they did little.

When they introduced the jumps, with the yellow cocky cones waving about, that was the last straw.

Furthermore, the writing was on the wall, with the re-structuring of Flemington, that jumping was in jeopardy, nothing was done, no worthwhile solution was ever mentioned.

With jumping having ceased at Caulfield several years ago, and jumps racing no longer at Moonee Valley, Sandown was thrown up as the substitute, and a very poor one at that.

The course was never designed for jumping, and for that reason it has never worked and never will.

Jumping has no longer a permanent home, whilst there is no recognised jumping course how can it be expected to prosper?

There is no substitute for the six fences as we knew in the lane at Flemington; they are no more than a distant memory.

Jumps racing is in serious trouble, it is too late to throw it a lifeline, the interest is not there any longer and no new recruits in sight.

Those that followed the jumping scene have long disappeared and there are not many newcomers.

The opening of the season at Sandown two weeks ago didn’t do anything to inspire confidence in the industry, with four runners in the steeplechase and three starters in the hurdle to follow.

Any thoughts of a mating between the unbeaten English champion, Frankel, and our unbeaten champion, Black Caviar, is a possibility.

Juddmonte Farms principle, Prince Khalid Abdullah, has agreed to around 20 coverings for mares to southern hemisphere time.

Much would depend on whether Black Caviar returned to Royal Ascot that is speculation at this stage, there is still a lot of water to go under the bridge.

In the event of a covering being arranged to southern hemisphere time, it is possible Black Caviar could be out of the country for up to four months, even longer.

Already we are hearing of how much her first foal would sell for in the sale ring, not as much as you might think, as our best performed race mares have an absolute appalling record in the breeding barn.

In many instances unraced mares have proved the better breeders, Helsinge, the dam of Black Caviar, never raced.

Wakeful was the only top race mare to produce a notable stakes winner, being the dam of Night Watch.

It is fitting to see the name of Darby Munro perpetuated with the running of the first race at Rosehill tomorrow named in his honour.

Munro was one of the greats of the Australian turf, a view shared by George Moore, Athol Mulley, Ray Selkrig and Rodney Johnson, former secretary of the Victoria Racing Club.

David Hugh (Darby) Munro was born at Glen Huntly in 1913, his father, Hugh, was a prominent Caulfield trainer before taking his family to Sydney where he trained at Randwick.

Darby, and his older brother Jim, were both apprenticed to their father Hugh; between them the brothers rode five Melbourne Cup winners.

Highly promising three year old Proisir has gone amiss, with his future now in jeopardy.

He would have been among the main contenders in the major races of his age group over the Sydney carnival.

Whether he will race again, or be put to stud, is yet to be considered, he would possibly require a little higher profile as a potential sire  

Sharnee Rose, once tagged as the best city maiden about, put her best foot forward in winning the Charter Keck Cramer Handicap at Caulfield.

Her only previous win was in a Maiden race on Bendigo Cup day, after an exasperating run of placings in good quality filly’s races in the city.

The key to her maybe is to keep her fresh, she hadn’t raced since mid November, she came out on Saturday with all guns blazing, it was a good performance with promises of better things to come in the future.

Sharnee Rose has failed under the recognised top jockeys previously, this time leading apprentice, Damien Lane, was given the assignment and preformed like a veteran.

His timing was perfect, waiting until well into the straight before calling on the filly for her winning run.

Sharnee Rose is just one of a number of horses raced by Barrie and Midge Griffiths, under the training partnership of Matthew Ellerton, and his cousin Simon Zahra.

It has been a very successful venture for all concerned, those pale blue yellow checks, red cap are quite familiar in the winner’s circle.

However, those colours are rarely carried by male stock, the owners preferring to race fillies, among the only males they raced was Tawrrific, the 1989 Melbourne Cup winner.

Sharnee Rose breaks her city maiden