First Command showed he is far from a spent force when he blew his opposition away in winning the Mal Seccull Handicap.

We all know that Mal had a handy one in Manikato, and while First Command may not be in that class, he is still a pretty handy steed, as shown in winning at Caulfield on Saturday.

First up since October, when finishing last in the Schillaci Stakes, the seven year old gelding has found a new lease of life overcoming quite a few problems, including a throat operation, plus nagging fetlock ailments that have caused worries for the stable.

In the past he has proved a 1000 metres specialist at Caulfield and could follow the pattern again, he will be entered for the Oakleigh Plate, he finished fourth last year.

Go The Knuckle was the preferred favourite on recent form, as many may have thought that First Command was a spent force as he had not greeted the judge in over a year.

It is difficult to comment too much on the beaten brigade, Go The Knuckle was the best run in the race outside of the winner, Rocking Force ran a nice race but nine year old horses rarely win in the city.

First Command - out on his own with Glen Boss

Peter Moody is producing two year old winners with constant regularity, the latest edition, Diamond Glow, is pretty smart judged by her easy win in the Ian Miller Vobis Gold Carat at Caulfield. The early morning track watches got it right, they were on the ball, after the filly had worked earlier in the week she opened up favourite and that is where she remained.

She is only going to improve on what we saw on Saturday, a well educated filly with ability, heading in the right direction to be a definite Blue Diamond Stakes Prospect.

Self Sense, and the baldy faced Shogun Star, were on terms nearing the turn, with Diamond Glow ready to pounce when called upon.

She answered the challenge soon afterwards, putting the issue beyond doubt within a few strides, running out an impressive winner.

Peter Moody’s deputy, Tom Brideoake, was in the driver’s seat again to lead the filly in after the win, whom he rates with a lot of potential and will be improved by the outing.

Diamond Glow is by Bel Esprit, he continues to be a prominent source of winners, from Prompt, by Exceed And Excel ,she is a filly bred for speed .

Diamond Glow - ridden by Vlad Duric

British General survived, where others perished.

It is merely four years ago since the treacherous bushfires, north of Melbourne, destroyed everything in its path, with the terrible loss of human life, homes gone up in flames, stock losses huge, plus the loss of fencing as far as the eye can see, and beyond.

The devastation was horrendous, almost beyond belief, with one foul swoop the entire countryside was blackened, people walking about in a complete haze, but at least thankful for being saved.

Every family in the region suffered losses; hardly anyone was spared as flames swallowed up every creature and structure in its path, at the speed of an express train.

The Brown family, David and Kathy, of Strathewen, suffered, but not as much as some others, fortunately there was no loss of human life and they still had a home to return to.

However, there were still losses, a barn full of hay, stables, miles of fencing, all material things, but the loss of four thoroughbred mares, three foals, and two retired racehorses, was a sad homecoming for the family.

Among the four mares was the Stakes winner British Lion, she didn’t have a foal with her, she obviously missed in the previous season, her last living foal, now a yearling colt by General Nediym, was still was in the stable as the ferocious fire drew closer.

 British General wins again

David remembered opening the stable door and giving the young yearling colt a slap on the back side, it was then time for man and beast to be on his own way as the yearling colt galloped away into a cloud of smoke, his destiny unknown.

It had been a long day, and the night was much longer, when a noise of trampling hooves was heard outside the house, it was the yearling colt, he had been spared, he either knew where to hide or he outran the fire.

Irrespective, there were tears of joy, he was greeted by a welcoming party, and there was some light at the end of the tunnel on the darkest day in the lives of so many people.

Now known as British General, he is raced by his proud owner breeders, David and Kathy Brown, he may have just outrun the fire, as he outran his rivals winning his last two starts at Flemington, taking his total of wins to six from 10 starts, that is not the last we will hear of him, he is a highly promising gelding, lightly raced, with a bright future ahead of him.

British General is trained by Dan O’Sullivan at Ballarat, it was the second leg of a winning double, and he had won earlier in the day with Tuscan Fire, a double on New Year’s Day, a good reason to take the family down to Ocean Grove for a few days.

As for British General, he is doing just nicely; there will be another race coming up for him again shortly, possibly Flemington, he has an affinity with headquarters.

Dan O'Sullivan with winning owners

Summer Gem, a $25,000 yearling purchase, gave her connections an excellent return, at her fourth start, when she secured a dream run between Nadeem and Double Dee, in the shadows of the post to snatch victory in the New Year Handicap.

She had been around the money in her three previous starts and she was the one that punters wanted, the only runner that really shortened, starting favourite at $4.40.

The win suggested she will be around for a while; she is a promising filly who knows how to find the line, as she was dead set last at the 800 metres mark.

Summer Gem rerurns to scale

Summer Gem was well handled by a confident Brad Rawiller, he knew he would get the breaks, it was just a matter of waiting, she was simply bolting behind the leaders as they came onto the course proper.

She was ridden confidently by Rawiller, he is riding on the crest of a wave at present, he makes his own luck in running, when an opening appears he takes full advantage of it.

The filly is part owned by Peter Redden; he celebrated the win with his grand children, Daisey and Matty.

She is by Elusive Quality, from Februarytwelve, by Snippets

 Winning Foursome

Tuscan Fire, well rated by Glen Boss, had no difficulty in running out a strong 2000 metres, leading all the way to win the Byron Moore Handicap.

Formerly the Byron Moore Stakes for two years olds was run on the final day of the V R C Spring carnival, its honour roll includes some notable horses, among them the great Tulloch, he was ridden by Arthur Ward now aged 94 years.

The punters were right on the ball In the Byron Moore Handicap, there were only two horses seriously backed in the race, Alcohol, who had won over 2000 metres at Flemington, and Tuscan Fire, he had finished second a week later at the same course and distance.

Glen Boss, an astute judge of pace, had the field off the bit for most of the way, never at any stage of the race did he look like being beaten, he ran the trip right out to the letter.

The gelding is prepared by Dan O’Sullivan at Ballarat, much of the horse’s fitness can be attributed to the straight training track, it is producing a lot of winners and naturally proving popular with trainers, it is an outstanding facility.

Tuscan Fire - Ridden by Glen Boss