PRIME DISPATCH

Edition 81 – 02/09/2015      Compiled by Joe O’Neill

Vale Bart Cummings 

 It was a sad week for the industry with the passing of racing legend Bart Cummings as well as the Chairman of Tas Racing Brian Speers.  Bart was one of our great trainers and while it should be remembered Tommy Smith won more Group 1 races than Bart it was Bart that really made our greatest race, the Melbourne Cup his own.  His passing gave us the opportunity to look back on an amazing career that spanned over six decades.  I met Bart on a number of occasions and was lucky enough to have a couple of private conversations with him.  My favourite horse Bart trained was the very good mare Maybe Mahal. 

Our sport like all sports needs to give its stars due recognition.  If we don’t then we won’t give the emerging enthusiasts in our industry the opportunity to fall in love with the sport and build an affinity with the greats of the time.  My heroes were Jim Atkins and Tommy Smith with horses like Dalrello and Kingston Town having a huge impact on me.  While I was very interested in racing during my childhood it wasn’t until I was about 18 that I became passionate about the industry.

The industry also lost a great administrator with the sudden death of the Chairman of Tas Racing, Brian Speers sadly passing away last Wednesday.  Brian had guided the industry in Tasmania through some very challenging times and deserves a lot of credit for giving his fellow directors and the salaried staff of Tas Racing the leadership they needed and space required to get on with the difficult job at hand. 

We thank both of these fine men for their contributions and I’m certain both will be given the recognition they deserve.  May they both Rest in Peace.

THE WEEK AHEAD

I’m certain I wasn’t on my own in farewelling winter on Monday.  The coldest winter in Victoria in 26 years said it all.  It has been a shocker and I hopefully we will see it starting to warm up.  Not to be outdone Tasmania recorded its coldest in 50 years.

I went to the jump outs at Burrumbeet which is near Ballarat yesterday and it had reached -5 overnight.  The Burrumbeet Track is a good asset for the Ballarat trainers.  The training tracks at Ballarat are first class and I intend arranging a visit to Darren Weir’s training complex in December to give our clients a chance to have a look at the facilities.  They are exceptional.

We kick things off on Friday at Wyong where we may have Awasita and Rumeron running.  Rumeron is also in at Newcastle on Saturday.  On Sunday More Than A Rose and Maydena are down to run at the Sunshine Cast and Devonport.

Once again this week we had a few trial and some very promising efforts although with our horses we don’t go out to win trials by a minute, no stakes money winning trials.

SPRING CARNIVAL

A couple of weeks ago I wrote in the dispatch that I felt the Sydney trained horses would make a big impact on the Victorian Carnival when they ventured south.  This certainly was the case last Saturday with Boban and Bounding winning important races.  In my opinion the three year olds look really strong in Sydney. 

This Saturday’s Randwick meeting is an absolute cracker and again I recommend you look closely at any Sydney trained horses heading south to Monee Valley.  They may well be dodging bullets in Sydney and while Sydney hasn’t had the best of weather it has been far superior to the fare served up in Victoria in recent weeks.

Horses of interest running at Moonee Valley are Pasadena Girl (Closely related to Sitkamose), Scream Machine (1/2 to Naranja), Bring A Ring (Closely related to Terra Amata) and Contributer (Closely related to Annaman and Shining Brooke).

Good luck as you work your way through the carnival.

SHARES AVAILABLE

Smart Missile filly out of Pride Of Pine 2013

10% shares @ $12,500 (5% @ $6,250) - Kris Lees to train

The filly

This filly is a strong well balanced athlete that will continue to go forward as she commences breaking in at about the end of June.  She has a great hindquarter and is without doubt the best credentialed filly I have ever offered for syndication. 

She is a ¾ sister to the outstanding 3year old filly Lone Rock and winner of the Group 1 SAJC Goodwood Handicap.

The filly is also a ¾ sister to Pride Rock the VRC Riverside Handicap and Lucia Bella which was trained by Kris Lees and displayed great ability before going amiss.

The filly has many upsides including:

As the ¾ sister to a Group 1 winner she has residual value and if she were to gain black type would be an extremely valuable breeding proposition after she completed her racing career.

She comes from a great female line that includes some of the best mares in the Australian Stud book, Procrastinate, Personify, Galapagos Girl.

There are quite of number of well-bred fillies high up on the page that should continue to see the pedigree page continue to improve.