You must whip it
For a venue that has not been blessed by great weather in the last two months, Wingatui was a picture on Monday for the dual-code meeting run by the Beaumont Racing Club and the Forbury Park Trotting Club.
Numbers and turnover were both slightly up on last year, and the banter between the two codes was solid all day - highlighted by a couple of the jockeys testing out a driver's whip (a lot longer than a jockey's whip) on the backside of another unsuspecting jockey. No confirmation as to whether the jockey picked up speed as a result of the tap, although he did seem rather light on his feet for the rest of the day.
The 18-minute gaps were tight for punters and officials - although pretty leisurely for trainers in the individual codes - but it does ensure the day flies by nicely.
Hopefully the day continues to grow in stature. It's never going to be a punter's nirvana but what it does offer is a good day out for just $5 per adult. Sure, I was working, but I could think of far worse ways to spend a public holiday than sitting on the grass watching 14 races in under four hours.
Weighing in light . . .
I'm glad there is a thoroughbred review show back on TV in the form of Weigh In. And for the most part, I'm enjoying the discussions and the forthright approach from trainer Paul Shailer in particular. But it's clear that when Mark McNamara is not on the show, the South Island is waved away with a dismissive verbal hand.
Don't get me wrong - there is footage which covers the key races, but it was obvious from comments about Kylie Williams bringing up 600 winners that there's not a heck of a lot of research that goes on between races on Saturday and the filming of the show on Monday. You and I could have come up with the very generalised comments.
. . . on information
By contrast, Greg O'Connor and Michael Guerin will contact trainers/drivers prior to The Box Seat so rather than guessing where a horse might be going, they can actually inform the viewers. Funnily enough, that's something Mark McNamara does well but his appearances have been fleeting at best.
Lazy Fiver
I thought the run was over when Tiger Tara had a cushy spot behind Ohoka Punter last week, but then Dalton Bromac put in a terrific sprint to run second, giving me a quinella dividend of $4.20. So we shoot for four in a row now with Father Christmas in race 2 at Addington tonight, as long as he can replicate his great finish from Addington last week.matt.smith@odt.co.nz
