Platinum Racing

THE HEAD OF SECURITY OF THE HONG KONG JOCKEY CLUB, Steve Chandler, has issued a warning to local trainers regarding receiving large amounts of cash to purchase horses on behalf of clients.

Chandler, who attempted to downplay the edict given to trainers as "normal", said he has warned trainers to ask clients who deposit large sums of cash money into their accounts to buy horses where the cash has come from.

Chandler said large sums of money moving internationally were increasingly attracting the attention of the Hong Kong authorities and his warning was to ensure that trainers are not dragged into an unnecessary vortex at some time in the future.

"All I have said to our trainers is that, when somebody puts a whole lot of money in their account to buy an expensive racehorse, they make sure they ask where the money comes from" Chandler told Australian journalist Alan "Hats" Aitken of the South China Morning Post.

THE RECENT WOES OF ACE FRENCH jockey Christophe Soumillon continued when the jockey suffered a fractured elbow in a fall at Nancy in France last Tuesday evening.

Soumillon, who recently lost his plum position as stable rider to the Aga Khan to Christophe Lemaire, and his elbow was broken when he was clipped by a trailing horse who could not avoid him.

He had surgery last week and is now out of contention for France's showcase Arc meeting and was due to return to Hong Kong in time to ride in the international races later in the year. That too, is now in doubt.

CANBERRA TRAINER NICK OLIVE has had the two days from heaven! The super talented young trainer saddled up three winners at yesterday's Queanbeyan meeting - and he repeated the dose todat Gundagai with another treble.

He also won with Asquick Aszariz at Wagga last Monday - so the stable is on fire.

I KNOW IT IS A RIGHTS ISSUE AND THE SKY CHANNEL and TVN "war" has never really ended - but how bloody absurd was it that TVN was unable to show Gundagai races today - the only meeting in NSW? Forget about who is to blame in this but it is clearly apparent that both the Sydney Turf Club and Australian Jockey Club - the supposed leaders and financial backers (and losers) in TVN must take their share of the blame for the poor voerage NSW non-metropolitan racing gets from TVN.

What were they thinking when they decided to kick SKY Channel in the butt and put their clubs' hard earned cash into TVN?

Obviously not much when you look at the outcome.

AUSSIE TRAINER JOHN SIZE has confirmed that he will send his star Hong Kong sprinter Enthused to Japan to contest the Gr 1 Sprinters Stakes (1200 metres) at Nakiyama on October 4.

Douglas Whyte has been booked to ride the horse who will also be joined in Japan by Hong Kong's superstar sprinter Sacred Kingdom (Brett Prebble).

Australia's Royal Ascot victor Scenic Blast will also contest the race, but his regular rider Steve Arnold, will not be able to ride the horse due to commitments in Melbourne the previous day.

The system in Japan requires jockeys to be locked down 24 hours to a meeting at a designated location and Arnold's Melbourne commitments prevent him from being in Japan to be locked down.

SOUTH AFRICAN JOCKEY GREG CHEYNE had a great start to his Hong Kong career when he scored on Almond Lee's revitalised sprinter Wine Win down the straight at Shatin yesterday.

Cheyne, former stable rider for top class former South African jockey and former Hong Kong rider's premiership winner Basil Marcus, had three rides in the sweltering conditions at yesterday's meeting for a win and a third.

He is obviously yet another in the long line of South African jockeys that are international riders with the talent to go anywhere and win races.

Marcus, his brother Anton, Jeff Lloyd, Glynn Schofield, Kevin Shea, Weichong Marwing, Douglas Whyte, Robbie Fradd, Anthony Delpech, John Geroudis and Felix Coetzee are among the long list of Springbok jockeys that have taken their skills to the international stage.

I know I will get an argument here - I think Marwing is the best of them - he is just a champion jockey. But all of the above are wonderful riders.

THE OLD SAYING "WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES" certainly applies to the attitude of the chairman of the Australian Racing Board (ARB) "Baghdad" Bob Bentley. Yesterday, when being interviewed on SKY Channel's Racing Retro he came across as a dictator in the Mugabe-mould. His performance on Racing Retro via telephone was abysmal, reeked of arrogance in the extreme and would have made those of us who are old enough to remember the out of touch arrogance that was the hallmark of the AJC and its officials in the 60's and 70's, and the time when people's livelihoods could be taken away at the whim of a steward player judge, jury and executioner, feel like we had slipped back through a time tunnel.

It was extraordinary. He told all and sundry that it was matter between the ARB and the jockeys and further intimated that other people "should keep their noses out of it" a veiled shot at people such as Aushorse CEO Peter McGauran, Sydney trainer John  O'Shea and others who had expressed no confidence in the ARB members.

Even more astonishingly, Bentley continued on to have a shot at Racing NSW Chief Steward, who held a meeting with jockeys at Rosehill on Saturday to see if he could broker a compromise. Bentley said he was "not authorised to do so." Last time I checked Ray Murrihy did not work for the ARB. It is in fact the other way round, Bentley has no authority to tell Murrihy how he conducts race meetings and what meetings he wishes to hold.

I am actually in total agreement with the new whip regulations. But after yesterday's performance by Bentley, I am right on side with those who have fears that the current ARB board members are the best people to be charged with overseeing the industry in this country.

Just 24 hours later he was being interviewed - again by phone by Andrew Bensley on SKY Channel this afternoon and he began talking about the issue as being "one that affects all racing participants" and this was an "industry matter."

That's better Mr Bentley. One wonders if he had his butt kicked somewhere overnight over his authoritarian attitude and obvious inability to disguise his smarting over comments being made by others in the industry.

Either way - he moved a long way in attitude in just 24 hours.