Platinum Racing

I READ - WITH SOME HORROR that there was an element of trainers and industry participants that believe we should allow the introduction of pacemakers in Australian racing.

What a load of bollocks! The use of pacemakers is the greatest blight on British racing, and erodes the integrity of racing in more ways than one.

There are several issues here that people have obviously not thought through when making their views on this known. One of these principally being that very few owners have sufficient numbers and are prepared to waste training fees etc to send horses around to make the pace for something else.

I doubt many trainers here could convince owners of othe horses to allow their horses to be used as a pacemaker for horses they have no interest in.

Furthermore the introduction of pacemakers would take tactical riding out of races. Why should a race be run to exactly suit the requirements of a favoured runner? It is a sheer nonsense.

Public confidence would be further eroded in the industry if pacemakers (as would happen as sure as the sun rises every day) happened to keep going and win.

It just does not make good sense. At a time when the industry is fighting to maintain its shares of the gaming dollar such a move would be a very retrograde step in my view.

SHANE DYE is continuing to slay them in Mauritius. He rode another double at last Sunday's meeting at Champs Del Mar. Both winners, Pardon Me Boy and Terry were trained by Gilbert Rousset.

SEA THE STARS IS SOME HORSE. His win in Tuesday night's Gr 1 Juddamonte at York was simply sensational. In winning he clipped a full second off the track record on the Knavesmire course. Despite Aiden O'Brien providing his only three rivals in the feature race, two of which acted as pacemakers for Mastercraftsman, Sea The Stars was simply stunning over the final 200 metres.

Mastercraftsman was afforded every possible favour, with the two pacemakers not only cetting a cracking gallop in an attempt to "gas" Sea The Stars, but one every obliged by moving wide on the track shortly after turning for home to allow Johnny Murtagh to drive between them and a half lengths on Sea The Stars.

But the half brother to Galileo dug deep and he had rounded up Mastercraftsman by the 50 metres mark to win drawing away.

THE NEW HONG KONG racing season does not kick off until mid September - but the first bombshell of the new season has been dropped already last week when John Yuen Si-kit, the owner of champion racehorse Good Ba Ba announced he had transferred the horse from Andreas Schultz to Derek Cruz.

Even more sillier, is the fact that a friend of Yuen's said the move was made because Yuen was a strong believer in Feng Shui and he believed that he had used up all his good luck with Schutz, who lost the horse while taking his annual holiday in his native Germany.

And, it has been some luck. Schutz has won 10 from sixteen with the horse including four Gr 1's! Schutz was reported "ill to the point of vomitting" when he heard he had lost the star of his team.

But for Yuen - this is somewhat of a habit. His first horse Dr Win had a relatively stable life being trained first by Ricky Yiu before being transferred to Tony Millard.

Subsequently Yuen had Run And Win, who commenced his career with Millard, before being transferred to Wylie Wong, followed by Manfred Man, John Size, back to Man, then to Brian Kan, Peter Ho and then back to where he started from - Millard's stable.

In all the horse had 8 stable changes in his 46 starts!

Good Ba Ba also commenced his career with Millard before going to Alex Wong and then to Schutz.

Look over your shoulder Derek!