So, too, the jockeys which adds merit to McDonald’s form. Wise guys maintain punters pay the “JMac tax” with his mounts being shorter than they would be if ridden by other top liners.
He was beaten on a couple of short-priced favourites at Randwick last Saturday but they needed a tow truck more than astute handling. Still, his skill was tested by Kerrin McEvoy, a top liner of any era, and Hugh Bowman, among others. With JMac making the pace on Lord Ardmore in the Precise Air Handicap, McEvoy had to be exceptional to beat him on Huetor, the import who has won his first three races in Australia. Have any others from abroad achieved the feat?
The Snowdens, Peter and Paul, should also take a bow for giving McEvoy the horsepower.
Jockeys are now heavier and happier than previously when Bowman, for one, would have been wasted. The Christmas period always carried stories about the deprivation that riders, sapped from sweating in saunas and diuretics, had to suffer to make the right weight. Patience was limited. Tempers were frayed. Little love was lost between riders although whistleblowing, to give right of way in a traffic hold-up, was heard.
Now prizemoney, and not the sling to jockeys from betting coups triggering desperation, has made jockeys just as competitive, a contributing factor as to why Australian racing, particularly in NSW, is booming, hardly the situation in the UK from whence the sport began.
“British racing has a prizemoney crisis combined with a structure incapable of correcting it,” opined the esteemed Robin Oakley in The Spectator.
“We will never be Australia or Hong Kong; that pass was sold long ago … Field sizes are declining, and without the Middle East owners who make such a crucial contribution, we could be lost.
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“Just suppose Sheikh Mohammed … should decide that he wants no more of the British racing scene and the UK media glare; it could bring seismic change.”
No doubt if Sheikh Mohammed, recently shed of $1 billion in a divorce settlement in the UK, folded his Godolphin operation here, it would leave a hole but one that would be quickly filled due to the strength of the Australian turf and those that make it.
Play The Exotics
Parlay: Race 2 – (12) Zakor, Race 3 – (6) Dynamic Impact, Race 7 – (1) Polly Grey, Race 10 – (14) And We Danced.
Quadrella: Race 7 – (1) Polly grey, (3) Stockman, Race 8 – (7) Tamerlane, (8) Loveplanet, Race 9 – (2) Holyfield, (5) Snippy Fox, (6) Blesk, Race 10 – (11) Remus, (14) And We Danced, (21) Otyrar.
Early Quadrella: Race 3 – (5) Wheelhouse, (6) Dynamic Impact, (7) Five Kingdom, Race 4 – (6) Legend Has It, (9) Trust The Process, Race 5 – (7) Rousseau, (10) Niffler, (13) Always On Show, Race 6 – (8) Lady Of Luxury, (14) Hasty Duchess, (15) Girls Are Ready.
Best Box Trifecta: Race 5 – (7) Rousseau, (10) Niffler, (13) Always On Show.
Best Quinella: Race 2 – (6) Tags, (12) Zakor.
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Waller, McDonald neck and neck as year nears finish line
Source: Philippines Alive
