October
JuneNo respect
As a part-owner of the winner of the second race at Moonee Valley on Saturday June 18, Schockemohle, I would like to vent my disappointment at some of the comments made by so-called racing experts.
Yes, the race was run at a farcical pace due to a reluctance by each jockey to take up the running. That was, until Michael Walker decided to take matters into his own hands and dictate the way the race was run.
Now it was certainly not the horse’s fault that the race was devoid of pace, yet all we heard was that the race was “a joke”, it was boring, it was handed to us on a platter.
One commentator, in a very poor attempt at humour, said: “Welcome to the trial show.”
When the sprint for home was on, each horse in the race had a chance to catch him Schockemohle and his closing sectionals were the fastest of the day.
We know our horse is not a champion. However, he did beat Extra Zero, who went on to run second in a Group 1, ran Pheidon to a short half-head — at the Valley, incidentally.
Yet not one commentor gave the horse any credit after the race. It was almost as if we should have apologised for winning.
I feel that it was those so-called experts who failed to pick up on Schockemohle’s love of the Valley, his good second-up record and his liking for the distance that were, by going on and on about the pace of the race, covering fact that they missed him altogether.
All I’m saying is that the horse should have been given some recognition,even just to say that on the day he was too good for them.
He had not won for more than 550 days. As owners the last thing you want to hear after such a long time between wins is how the rest of the field lost the race rather than how you won the race.
Anyway, seeing that the horse didn’t get the recognition he deserved on the day, I would like to recognise him now.
So well done, Brett Scott — great training performance. Well done, Michael Walker — great ride, outsmarted them all. And last but not least, well done, Schocker.
There’s an old saying: “Winners are grinners and the rest can suit themselves.”
Money’s in the bank.
Newport (Vic)