Platinum Racing

THERE IS NO chance yet of the Brisbane winter carnival becoming anti-climatic despite the fact that Black Caviar, who ignited the carnival in a huge way last week, will not be seen again during the winter. The disappointment of Peter Moody's decision to spell Black Caviar was partially washed away yesterday in a sea of emotion when grand old galloper Scenic Shot and veteran jockey Shane Scriven, combined to win their second Gr 1 Doomben Cup.

The 8YO iron horse has now won two Doomben Cups, a Mackinnon, a Brisbane Cup and two P.J. O'Shea's in a glittering career and Scriven was seen at his brilliant best on the horse.

Scriven is facing the authorities tomorrow in his appeal over the "whip theft" incident during a recent race at Ipswich so the outcome will dictate whether the jockey will be able to maintain his association with Scenic Shot for the remainder of the carnival.

WHAT IS THE "GO" WITH KETAMINE:

Hong Kong racing is obviously suffering a ketamine (dance party drug name "Special K" or "K") epidemic. The drug has claimed another victim - who now looks as though his riding career is over, Kevin Leung, who is apprenticed to Mee Tsui.

A promising young rider, Leung was suspended for testing positive to the drug and just prior to the conclusion of his suspension was random tested again and proved positive to the drug again. The same happened to former premiership winning apprentice Marco Chui - who is now without a license and his career seems over - in his early 20's.

The drug took on a new face recently when the heavily backed Shatin winner Shahja, trained by Ricky Yiu, returned a positive to the drug. Subsequent steward's inquiries found that the drug had been administered by the horse's mafoo (strapper) and the horse was stripped of the prizemoney and the race.

No action was taken against Yiu - but the punters who backed the horse from almost double figures into 3/1 collected.

ONYA BEEPER!

It was great to see former top class rider Craig "Beeper" Carmody land his first metro winner as a trainer yesterday when Single, ridden a gun race by Kathy O'Hara, got the money in the opening race at Rosehill. Carmody was a successful jockey - both here in Australia - and in Asia where he was the stable jockey for the highly successful Auric Racing Stable.

Craig still rides his six horse team work himself and Single is mostly owned by well known owner Geoff Grimish, who has had a great 12 months with horses like Shellscrape, Absent Friends etc.

JOSEPH STEPS INTO THE SPOTLIGHT:

The Ballydoyle juggernaut thrust 17 year-old apprentice Joseph O'Brien, son of trainer Aiden, into the world racing spotlight overnight when he piloted Roderic O'Connor to an all the way win in the gr 1 Irish 2000 Guineas - his father's 7th win in the classic and Joseph's first classic and Gr 1 win.

Aiden paid tribute to "the boss" John Magnier after the race for his faith in Joseph and telling Aiden to put him on the horse. Joseph triple dead-heated for first last year in the irish apprentice's premiership.

Roderic O'Connor led throughout to win the feature at The Curragh.

BETTING EXCHANGES TRAP MORE VICTIMS:

The British Horse Racing Authorities this week announced they were laying several charges against four jockeys, one former jockey who is now a trainer, and several unlicensed persons following investigations into horses that were heavily laid and subsequently lost on at various English racecourses.

Following the announcement of the charges  against jockeys Jimmy Quinn, Kirsty Milczarek, Greg Fairley and Paul Doe as well as trainer Paul Fitzsimmons, security were called on to escort Quinn and Milczarek to and from the jockey's room at yesterday's Lingfield meeting.

A wide range of charges have been laid against all licensees.

AUSHORSE PROMO IN SINGAPORE A HUGE SUCCESS:

Peter McGauran and the guys from Aushorse woul;d have to be stoked with the success of the Gr 2 Aushorse Golden Horseshoe in Singapore on Friday night - which was the culmination of a seven race series showcasing Australian-bred two year olds into Singaporean racing.

The race was taken out by Mr Big, trained by Michael Freedman and ridden by Danny Beasley - who did what the Bart Cummings-trained Salade could not do at Golden Slipper time.

Mr Big only made his debit a week prior to the Aushorse feature - winning easily on the Polytrack with Barend Vorster in the saddle.

Freedman admitted after the race that he had a serious think about bsacking the youngster up just a week later - but decided to "go for it".

Beasley, who rides most of Freedman's horses, replaced Vorster (the horse did not have Danny's weight the week before) and the horse fought on tenaciously to win narrowly.

GOSH WE ARE FICKLE!

I must admit to seeing the very funny side to the name of a race at Mornington today - the Jack Dow Memorial Hurdle. First and foremost I am happy to see any race named after my old mate Jack Dow - he was truly one of the great characters I jhave known of the Australian turf. But, he spent a great deal of his life not exactly the most popular person with Australian racing authorities.

Jack died a few years back in Melbourne at a very ripe old age that spanned eight decades chock full of racing. He also had a heart as big as Southbank itself and I knew Jack for many years.

He also had a great soft spot for battlers and Jack never turned down anyone who was having a rough trot and you could always get a "spot" or a "monkey" off the man.

Jack began his life as a jockey and then he became an SP bookmaker. Eventually he was warned off and he became involved in the off-shore betting shop in Vanuatu - and he still raced many horses in Australia - being warned off meant nothing to Jack. I remember a particular grey horse of Jack's landing a big plunge at Moonee Valley one day - all orchestrated by a man who was warned off.

He was great mates with former VFL greats (and brothers) the late Tom and Dick Reynolds and Tom, in particular was one of the nicest people I ever met in my life. Tommy spent his final days living at Iluka on the waterfront at Surfers Paradise and in his time he owned many horses including the terrific 60's sprinter Hanuman, who won a Wangoom for Tom, trainer Ernie Ewert Snr and jockey Harry White.

Tom and I spent many afternoons together and all who knew Jack Dow have their own Jack Dow stories but the one I remember most involves a horse that was trained by John Meagher - called Splash Of Beauty. Jack used to spend most of the winter months in his Gold Coast unit, escaping the Victorian winter, and Tom called me to tell me Jack had "a moral" the next day at a Victorian provincial meeting.

I picked Tom up and and we headed to to the Birdwatchers Bar in Surfers to meet Jack and, as usual, there was no prior names or pack drill just Jack having rung Tom the night before in his raspy voice - declaring he had a "lay down misere" and we should meet him at such and such a time.

Jack's son John (a Melbourne lawyer) and others were orchestrating the plunge - and the horse which was on debut was being ridden by Wayne "Smokey" Treloar. Jack tipped Tom and I knowing we were not big punters and we made no difference whatsoever to his market so Tom and I threw in our few hundred and gave to to Jack and knew we were on at the "average."

The sting was on - no one was to bet until the last couple of minutes. Five minutes before the race the horse was almost double figures across the country's totes and we were flying under the radar like a stealth bomber as the race schedule was crammed and SKY channel crossed to the caller with only two horses to go in.

He did not have time to spruik the mammoth on course plunge on Splash Of Beauty - when low and behold an 80/1 shot burst through the barriers - dumped the jockey and bolted.

"We're f****d here," Jack yelled. "Look at this bastard of a thing," he yelled gesticulating at the bolting horse on the screen. Almost on cue the late Brian Blackmore used the time (as this bolter did circle work) to inform all over Australia of the last minute "plonk" on Splash Of Beauty. "Shutup you give up" Jack was yelling at the TV.

Too late - the stampede was on. The 80/1 shot was scratched - everyone in Australia ended up on Splash Of Beauty and she won very easily at $1.80.

It seemed somewhat ironic that a man who was a hugely successful bookie, punter, raconteur and good all round bloke that had spent much of his life being on the wrong side of the racing authorities, who played no small role in having governments legislate to make betting with off shore operators illegal should suddenly be feted with races being in his name.

But for those who knew Jack - they would agree - he deserves a race over the spring carnival named after him.

AROUND THE TRAPS:

Tha' Hab, a Graeme Rogerson cast off, continued his great run in country races with a win in his hometown cup - taking out yesterday's Young Cup for his trainer Tricia Anderson (nee Hartney) and jockey Andy Bloomfield.

The win was the horse's third in a row following a win in the picnic cup at Harden and a win at the TAB meeting at Albury a fortnight back.

The annual outback bash at "Bree" took place yesterday with the running of the Brewarrina Cup which was won by the Rodney Robb-trained Excellent Plus ridden by Ms K Adams.

TALKING OF SP BOOKIES:

Hotelier, former SP bookmaker, horse owner and seriously bad punter Col Harvey passed away recently. Col was another of those good blokes that belonged to a more "real" era but the man affectionately know as "The Plumber" was a great character.

Col lost his battle with cancer - but he was one of those great Aussie success stories who clawed himself from the drains of Sydney to a chain of htels, a home in the eastern suburbs and a home on the Gold Coast.

Col was great mates with many in racing including Victorian jockey Malcolm Pay and he was another who had a soft side he hated being exposed.

Col built a very successful hotel empire - owning Cheers Bar and The Three Monkeys in George Street in Sydney, with his sons Greg and Steve.

But he was a bum punter! One would have thought for a bloke who made a small fortune as an SP would know that favourites do not always win - but not Col - the shorter they were the more he loved it.

He may have been a bum punter - but he was an absolute champion bloke.

"AND I AM GOING TO BE HIGH AS A KITE BY THEN...."

The Kris Flyer (International Gr 1) International Sprint (1200 metres)  tonight at Kranji in Singapore - proved one thing conclusively. Black Caviar is the greatest sprinter in the world and Rocket Man (not Hay List) is the second best.

Rocket Man, who was run down in the Kris Flyer as a three-year-old by Sacred Kingdom, then chopped down close home last year by Green Birdie, finally buried all the boogie men and showed why he is the greatest horse to have ever come out of Singapore - and by a country mile - with his devastating win tonight for trainer Patrick Shaw and jockey Felix Coetzee.

The 4.75 lengths win was Rocket Man's second International Gr 1 this year - having also won the Golden Shaheen at the Dubai World Cup meeting.

Singapore, which is one of the greatest racing centres in the world - the track, the quality of racing, the quality of participants and the crowds all combine to make it a centre of racing excellence - has had some good horses, but Rocket Man stands alone. He is an absolute superstar and certainly far superior than Ouzo - without doubt the island state's previous best horse who defeated the great Jim And Tonic to win a Singapore Airlines International Cup.

I hope Patrick Shaw brings him to Australia for the spring to take on Black Caviar in the Patinack. If he does - there is one thing I am sure of - she won't be putting up a margin and the entire world will probably see the greatest sprint race ever.

It was interesting tonight that Felix Coetzee described Rocket Man as the bravest horse he had ridden. Big call considering Felix rode the mighty Silent Witness to 16 straight victories in Hong Kong as well as a Yosuda Kinnen in Japan.

How lucky has Felix been?

SCHOFIELD, SPENCER AND HUGHES DON'T NEED A SLEEP!

Glynn Schofield flew to brisbane on Friday night to ride Hay Listy a special gallop yesterday morning, before he jumped back on the plane and flew to Sydney to ride at Rosehill yesterday. He then boarded a plane to ride at Singapore tonight where he was on Gitano Hernando in the Singapore Airlines International Cup.

Jamie Spencer rode in England yesterday and Richard Highes chased home Joseph O'Brien in the Irish 200 Guineas - and they spent the night on the plane getting to Kranji to ride in the Cup.

HOW SAD TO SEE GITANO HERNANDO WIN?

The win of Gitano Hernando in the International Gr 1 Singapore Airlines International Cuo (2000m) at Singapore last night was in many ways a triumph for a great trainer in Herman Brown and jockey Glyn Schofield - but a sad day for international racing when a despot like Ramzan Kadyrov - the president of Chechnya - can bask in the glory of winning such a prestigious race.

Kadyrov, of course, was not on hand to see Gitano Hernando win. The man has previously been refused visas to see his horses race in international events as was the case here in Australia a couple of years back when his charge Mourilyan, also trained by Brown and ridden by Schofield, finished third to Shocking in the Melbourne Cup.

Kadyrov is a blight on the landscape of leadership throughout the world - held in roughly the same esteem as Robert Mugabe, Laurent Gbagbo, the late Osama Bin Laden, and other such despised specimens on the planet - and it is an absolute besmirchment of international racing to think he can race horses internationally with impunity.