3 minute read

(But not fast enough). It's a glorious day in Sydney with a light breeze and a temp of 27 forecast.

The 2yos came out in Race 1 where Gerald Ryan's Time is Precious beat the hot favourite Post Code.with Gravina third.

Then great excitement in the second when our Canberra horse Maid of Ore won her fourth race in a row in class record time!  Well done trainer Nick Olive and jockey Tommy Berry. Onwards and upwards.  Also caught up with Michelle Payne and her brother who were posing for photographers with their successful film "Ride Like A Girl" doing very well at the Box Office.  And then back in the theatre of the horse Ryan Moore was getting some Vitamin D prior to his ride in the Everest.  Bit of a change from England and Ireland where he said it had been very wet the last couple of weeks.

And then a thrilling finish in the Highway when Feel The Knight just nudged Lady Demi out of the winning position and give a win to the Goulburn Girls Emma and Lucy Longmire with Luke Currie on board.

Another Class Record went down in the Reginald Allen when Akari stormed to the front and

finished ahead of Betcha Flying and Mayassen. They are burning up the track!

And then it was time for the Kosciusko with four runners from close to the home paddock – Noble Boy and Up Trumpz from Queanbeyan and Handle The Truth and Notation from Canberra.  And the winner is "Handle The Truth" trained by Keith Dryden and ridden in great style by Nash Rawiller.  They finished ahead of favourite Victorem and Bobbing, Notation fourth having faded at the end.  There was a LARGE crowd of owners around to celebrate Handle The Truth's win so it should be a party all the way back to Canberra tonight!

There was a protest between 1-2 in the Sydney Stakes but it got dismissed leaving Deprive a worthy winner for Godolphin with Hugh Bowman riding.  Champagne Cuddles was second and hot favourite a cool third.

And then it was time for the big one!  Yes Yes Yes the 3yo broke the track record to get this with Glen Boss who had a near miss earlier in the Highway when his horse played up and Bossy came off the worse but was cleared by the Docs after that race Michael Channon (son of football legend and trainer Mick) strapping Yes Yes Yes.  Favourite Santa Ana Lane was second and Trekking at very decent odds was third.

And after the young kid on the block it was time for the old boy to stand up and this happened in the form of Happy Clapper racing over 2000m which isn't his usual trip but Tommy Berry took him to the front and he withstood all the challenges giving Berry his second win of the afternoon.  Happy Clapper is now a 9yo and has a legion of fans causing the grandstand to erupt when he won.

And after Japanese horse Mer de Glace won the Caulfield Cup it was time for another Japanese-bred horse to show his rear quarters to the rest of the field in the St Leger – Hush Writer – in the St Leger.  He's by Rulership out of a Tapit mare, and is one of the horses which Gai and Adrian have brought from Japan.  Another of these is Wolfe who was leading the Caulfield Cup field until he ran out of steam.

And another great finish in the last with Cascadian just winning a tight photo from Dealmaker and Junipal who was last for all money at the turn somehow getting his  act together and storming home for third!

The clouds were gathering at the end and there was a brief shower but all in all an excellent day's racing.