DID YOU KNOW today is the 40th anniversary of the release of Highway To Hell?

That’s probably where I’m headed, after I took out Sopressa…. and Bon Amis.

Can’t Be Done in Race 1 at Caulfield- 4th

Drifted from $2.35 to $2.65…. the warning signs were there.

Can’t Be Done jumped well and decided to lead, but knowing he was no chance of winning, Mertens on Forever Loud decided to pester the crap out of the favourite and set a really hot speed.

He predictably dropped out to finish dead last.

A sound set of riding tactics- If you can’t win, just kill the favourite.

All in all, some utterly terrible rides, and I’ve got no doubt that race will be used as a torture device when a few of those hoops are likely captured by Asian mobsters in the future.

River Bird in Race 4 at Rosehill- 4th

Once I saw the pre-race drift ($2.40 to $3), that was the sign for me that it was all over.

Ultimately, River Bird never really looked ‘there’, as she seemed content to bob up and down under hard riding from O’Hara, as she ultimately fought on to finish in 4th, behind something that could only be a Kath & Kim reference- Foxy Housewife!

A solid name for a horse- It’s nice, it’s different, it’s unusual.

Essential Spice in Race 3 at Belmont – WINNER

The shackles are off for Pikey, and any winners between now and the end of the season on Wednesday are just extending that national record.

For once, one of my selections wasn’t drifting, as the typical Pike money came on Essential Spice and smashed it into $1.80, and The Wizard didn’t disappoint in the slightest, sitting just off the speed, keeping Spice in clear running, and going through the motions in the straight to win pretty comfortably.

Of course, that race was the Peter Griffin Birthday Handicap, so for no reason, here’s a classic Peter Griffin moment.

Free Trade in Race 5 at Belmont- WINNER

Bloody oath, I told you he was going to be right in the finish one way or another.

Smart thinking by ‘Parnzy’ not to go hell for leather and challenge for the lead when he’d been beaten for speed, deciding to sit 3-wide with cover as the front-runners stabbed themselves with pressure.

It wasn’t a typical Free Trade performance- I.E, he didn’t produce an eye-catching turn of foot and charge to the front, as Moschard looked an absolute certainty to win coming from last, then he hit the wall 50 metres from home, and the Bunbury flyer battled on and scored a very well earned win.

No Stageman to stop him today!

CRAZY CRAIG’S TIP OF THE DAY

LAYING Ilwendo in Race 5 at Rosehill- LAY SUCCESSFUL

It appeared the Crazy Craig crazies were out in force on Ilwendo in the 20 hours before the race, as the market ended up correcting itself by the jump, and his prime target drifted from $2.50 to jump at $3.70.

And in what appears to be a reoccuring theme, the Crazy boys from Bairnsdale were right.

Unlike that last start at Doomben, Ilwendo didn’t get the lead, and on the turn, while everyone went off the fence, except for one of the horses Craig mentioned in his preview- Our Candidate, as Brenton Avdulla stuck to the fence and got a slingshot up the inside, exploding with a devastating turn of foot to utterly annihilate the field by the proverbial minute.

Ilwendo did run on well to bag 2nd, but good golly Miss Molly, nobody was touching Our Candidate, who made sure Crazy Craig had claimed yet another victim.