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Champagne Day At Caulfield

It is an absolute corker meeting at Caulfield today and i can only hope that the battlerslike Jake Stephens (Alcopop), Stephen Farley (Sincero) and Ron Leemon (Manawanui) figure among the spoils in the major Gr 1 races. Of course the three Gr 1's will be overshadowed by the return to the rce track of the mighty Black Caviar as she attempts to put 14 straight on the board.

I think the best on the program is LUEN YAT FOREVER in the Toorak. This horse has been absolutely luckless recently and he has drawn great today and he gets his chance to have a nice run and get home over the top of them.

I also think BAUER is extraordinarily well weighted in the Herbert Power. The Quality conditions of the race sees him very close to the bottom weights in the race - and I would not be at all surprised to see him run a corker.

The Rosehill meeting looks average in comparison but I do think there are a couple of good bets on the card. I am very keen on IZABABE in race seven. He is so well drawn, and well placed with Sam Clipperton's claim. I also think ZAIRA looks a pretty safe bet in race six on the card.

CAULFIELD:

3...BAUER 1, Tanby 2, Shewan 3.

5...LION TAMER 1, Alcopop 2, Mighty High 3, Sincero 4.

6...LUEN YAT FOREVER *** 1, King Mufhasa 2, Woorim 3, King's Rose 4.

7...HELMET 1, Manawanui 2, Smart Missile 3.

8...GYBE 1, Celts 2, Valentine Miss 3, Panapique 4.

9...BULLBARS 1, Too Deadly 2, Utah Saints 3, Do Ra Mi 4, Testa My Patience 5.

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The Horror Of Daylight Saving Kicks In

Happy Valley and daylight saving - the horror of it all - kicks in tonight with a 1.50 am EDST finish. However, for the diehards (like myself) that love the Valley and HK racing it just means a shorter night's sleep.

It is a hard meeting tonight and looking for a standout at value is tough, but I think the meeting offers some good value, especially through the quaddie and the mutliples.

I think the best of the night is long wait until race seven but I do think GREEN ZONE will be very hard to beat. He came home hard last time out and looks well placed tonight.

I also give PERFECT TEN a great each way chance in the last. I think he will lead, he loves the city circuit and looks hard to run down - despite being first up at 1650 metres.

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Happy Birthday Old Son!

Today my earliest hero in racing turns 68 years old, but it will be just really another day of struggle for a man who is now confined to a wheelchair after having suffered multiple strokes who has lived in a housing commission house on the South Coast of NSW for the best part of 30 years.

But for Barry "Weasel" Dawes, life wasn't always like that. In the 60's there was no brighter rising star in Sydney racing than this super talented apprentice who cut a swathe through the riding ranks that was littered with legendary jockeys like George Moore, Athol Mulley, George Podmore, Bill Camer, Ray Selkrig, Des Lake, Jack Thompson, Stan Cassidy and co.

It was also a great period for apprentices with the likes of Ross Spackman, Dorian Osborne, Dennis Sullivan, Frank White, Frank Powyer - but none better than the boy from Auburn, Barry Dawes.

Barry did not grow up in a racing family, being raised in the working class suburb just upstream from the putrescible wasteland that surrounded the heavily polluted Duck Creek and cross wind from the fumes that spewed 24/7 from the catalytic cracking plant at the nearby Shell Oil Refinery.

A slighlty built, freckled faced redhead with very pale skin, modelling was never an option for Barry (hence the less than flattering nickname), and a family friend sugested he have a crack at being a jockey so he entered the stables of legendary Randwick trainer Frank McGrath.

He started from a knowledge base of nil about horses, but within just a few short years he stood Sydney racing on its ear.

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