October
DecemberHowlers
What on earth were the stewards on last Saturday week? At Moonee Valley, on a natural leader, with an on-pace, slow track and 3kg claim, Talia Rodder showed some initiative to try and pinch a couple of lengths’ break. Okay, she got beaten eight lengths on the second outsider as expected, but to charge her with not giving her mount every permissible chance of winning is absurd. They must have been out the back playing blind man’s buff for the previous race when Pergola, second favourite, led by 20 and got beaten 12!
And in the west! At least when we bowled underarm at the Kiwis we were only playing for a keg and a carton of Benson & Hedges, but this was a million-dollar race taken off He’s Remarkable! That’s half New Zealand’s annual GDP. It will undo all the good work the eastern states have done to foster good relations with our trans-Tasman neighbours. Haven’t we granted them asylum in Bondi and Mornington and shared with them a huge slice of the welfare pie?
Memo to stewards. It is tautological that all protests with an element of doubt must be dismissed. Protests with an element of doubt create controversy. Would this protest being upheld be controversial? Without a doubt. Therefore, protest dismissed.
Sadly, this could mean eastern-states and Kiwi trainers will think twice before venturing west next year. In fact the only bloke who has enquired so far upon hearing they need a team of horses for a carnival has been Tom Wittingslow.
Cranbourne South (Vic)