BATTLE OF LONG TAN 18 AUGUST 1966

I'm pleased to write our visit to Vietnam and Cambodia was one of the most memorable trips I have undertaken in my life.  I have always had a fascination with the Vietnam War and as a young officer serving in 5/7 RAR the tactics we were taught and practiced were in the main those Australian forces had implemented so successfully in Vietnam.

There were many highlights of our 17 days in both Vietnam and Cambodia and I have arrived home full of admiration for the people of both countries. Vietnam is an exciting progressive nation that is moving quickly to catch up with its more advanced neighbours.

Cambodia has had to come back from a very 'black' period in its history where up to 30% of the population was murdered by Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge Army. I still find it hard to believe that the genocide being carried out in Cambodia at the time wasn’t being monitored in some way by other countries.

To their credit the Cambodians of today appear to be getting on with the job at hand although there is a lot of poverty in the country and a distinct lack of older people as you move around.  Our guide made the point that if the nation was to go forward it couldn't dwell on the period

Pol Pot was in power.  This is from a young women who had 24 of her 30 relatives murdered during the regime.

A visit to one of the 338 killing fields spread throughout the country was a sobering affair with the skulls of about 9,000 of the victims of the brutal regime there for us to see.  We also met two of the seven inmates found alive when the Vietnamese Army took over the notorious

S-21 Prison in 1979 after the Khmer Rouge were defeated. This prison is where two Australians Ronald Dean and David Scott were most likely executed although this will probably never be confirmed.

For me one of the highlights of the trip was the visit to the site of the Battle of Long Tan and a walk around the area occupied of 1ATF at Nui Dat.  At Long Tan Australia had its worst day during the war in Vietnam with 18 young Australia's losing their lives.  If you are interested in learning more about what happened at Long Tan on that day check out a great documentary longtanbattle.com

I was interested to find out that there are plans in place for Vietnam to establish a racing industry.  We were told that the government had allocated land for a racecourse with training facilities to be built.  This is an exciting step forward and there are signs everywhere that the country has a fast emerging middle class who is looking for ways to entertain themselves.  This is particularly evident in Ho Chi Minh City where about 9 million people live.

RACING IN NSW ON THE MOVE PLUS MORE

The announcement of major stakes increases in NSW from 1 October is a great boost for our industry in that state.  NSW has clearly taken the lead and it is time for some of the other states to start to get cracking and close the gap.

Tasmanian Racing deserves a special mention as well with all Tasracing being shown live on tasracing.com.au I'm pleased with Racing Australia's decision to formally register foals ownership. It will make a difference to know who actually owns the yearlings that we are looking at purchasing.  I always ask the vendors at any sale who owns the foals they are selling.  This gives me a better idea where the yearling was raised and why the mare was bred to a particular sire.

Queensland Racing has received a big boost with the appointment of Dr Eliot Forbes as its new CEO.  Eliot was previously CEO of Tasracing where he did a remarkable job in a very difficult environment.

He is the right man to help lead Queensland Racing forward and I wish him every success in his new role.

ON THE TRACK

Savoureaux (left of screen) Picture: Bradley Photographers. 

Savoureux put in another solid performance on Friday running 3rd in the Group 3 Tibbie Stakes in Newcastle!!!

We have a few runners over the next week headed by Bella Venus and Tough Vic in Hobart and Husson Boots to Doomben on Wednesday.

Our first two year old trials at Cranbourne with the Smart Missile filly Kaera Jaani running.

I update our Website, Facebook page and our Twitter account almost on a daily basis.

UPDATES AND MONTHLY ACCOUNTS

I have already commenced getting updates out on our horses and I will have this big job completed by Monday.  Hopefully I will be forwarding the August accounts out on Monday as well.

YEARLINGS

I will be in touch with the people who were interested in the Snitzel filly I am syndicating with Darren

Weir over the next few days to see where I sit with her.  She is almost completed.  If I have any shares available in her I will update this in next week’s Prime Dispatch.

STABLE VISITS

We are visiting Darren Weir’s Ballarat Stable on Sunday 25 September at 11 am.  Full details of the visit will be available next week in the Dispatch but if you are planning to attend the visit please forward through your details with numbers to primethoroughbreds@hotmail.com by Tuesday at 4pm so we can arrange catering

We are having a Sausage Sizzle at John Thompson’s Randwick Stable on 16 October commencing at

10am.

We will also be visiting Kris Lees Ellalong Farm with this visit also including Christmas drinks for our NSW clients.  I’ll send through the details once we have a firm date.