First off, in case you missed it, I should detail why I didn’t post this last night:

There was the WA Museum opening in the morning, then, thanks to Half Price of Manning Jack Attack fame offering me a ticket, I finally went to Ascot on the biggest day in WA Racing and had a ripsnorter of an afternoon with the Minister For Good Times, cheering on Inspirational Girl with the Inspirational stubby holder:

Then, after noticing the taxi rank was 80 deep for 2 cabs, we tagged up with Pricey’s brother Tim and had a good long evening walk up Great Eastern Highway back to Tim’s unit, venturing past landmarks like the Indoor Sky Diving facility, and the Church Of Scientology.

They did ask me if I’d like to begin the path to joining Xenu, but for the time being, I might stick to donating to charitable causes, such as my TAB account.

Then, as soon as I got home, we had another very eventful night on No Hope Avenue, filled with enough singing to keep the neighbours up until well past midnight.

So in short, during a 16 hour window, I had no more than 45 minutes to write something, so it was easier to just write the Review on Sunday.

Moving on to the Chalk Eaters, and I think I managed to avoid an utter wipeout, thanks mainly to dodging a tough day at Kembla, combined with only putting in 1 tip from Ballarat, as all 10 favourites managed to go down in varying degrees of brutality, like Shelby Cobra misfiring badly and running near enough to last in Race 3, and Affair To Remember getting nosed out by Irish Flame in another dodgy renewal of the Ballarat Cup.

Speaking of Ballarat favourites, I may as well start the review with Right You Are.

Right You Are in Race 7 at Ballarat – 8th

“I can’t fault him.” – Mick Price before the race r.e Right You Are

DAMN MICK, YOU GOT US AGAIN.

You could apply what happened to Right You Are to least 8 of the other favourites who crashed and burned at Ballarat – It wasn’t that they got rolled (Which is an every day part of the game), it was moreso that they just showed absolutely nothing in getting beaten.

That’ll probably be another lesson to me to give Ballarat Cup day a miss.

Ballistic Boy in the Mooloolaba Cup (Race 8) at the Sunshine Coast – WINNER

For the first time in recorded history, a Chalk Eaters Gabster Special, Race 8 Number 8, HAS SALUTED.

If you ask me, it was never in doubt friends, even when Matty McGillivray had to get off heels on the turn and really get to work to mow down So You Win, but once the favourite had clear room down the outside to build momentum, he looked mightily ominous, and ultimately got home just in time by a half-head to the game Chris Waller horse in a fantastic sporting finish.

Ballistic Boy was a Group 3 winner as a 3-year-old, and performances like that should give you a pretty good idea how he won that Rough Habit Plate.

Dom To Shoot E/W in the WA Guineas at Ascot – 3rd (Technically correct tip)

In hindsight, I’m glad I changed Dom To Shoot to an eachway tip, because at the very least, he ran a place, which I was aiming for.

If my memory serves me right, Dom To Shoot jumped at $5.50/2.15, sharing favouritism with Brave Angel, but while Brave Angel went backwards, big Dom smashed the line after getting caught behind arses on the turn, which left him a bit too far to challenge Watch Me Dance and the very game Em Tee Aye at the long odds, who both stayed out of trouble on the speed.

I’ll just curiously overlook the fact that Dom To Shoot did shift inwards and slightly inconvenience Solaia and Bragwell, which Paul Harvey was reprimanded for.

So while Dom fell a length short, it was big win for the pride Of Albany in Watch Me Dance over Em Tee Aye, who joins Arcadia Queen (2018) as the only fillies to win the Champion Fillies-WA Guineas double in the last 60 years, and this triumph was probably more impressive, considering Watch Me Dance had to back up 7 days off a Heavy track run.

If Red Can Man had gotten up in the Railway, they’d have had to lock the entire Great Southern region down just to contain the celebrations for Steve Wolfe.

Inspirational Girl in the Group 1 Railway Stakes at Ascot – WINNER

In a glorious return from Melbourne, Pike-Williams-Peters made it a hat-trick of Railway Stakes wins, and it was a true triumph for us mugs, who didn’t miss the champion mare in betting.

If you look back to that screenshot from Friday, the mare was $3.90 about 24 hours out from the jump, was down to around $3.30 an hour out, and ultimately jumped at $2.50.

The power of the William The Wizard on markets is like few you’ve ever seen.

Still, there were a few nervy moments on the turn, as an outside run between Material Man and Truly Great disappeared, forcing Pike to cut back towards the inside, and after Red Can Man took off, the run opened up at the 250m, Inspirational Girl took flight, scythed past Too Close The Sun at the 100m, and Ascot went berserk.

9 wins from 11 starts, and while the winner proved a class above, there’s one run in the race that really screams off the screen.

It wasn’t Too Close The Sun, it was Uni Time (In the orange silks) at $101 down the outside to run 3rd.

He was no better than second to last on the corner, had to peel out 6 wide, and out of nowhere, produces a finishing burst to rival the winner, and missed 2nd place by a nose.

Where the hell did that come from.

Crazy Craig’s Not So Lucky Lips Tip Of The Day

Rock E/W in The Gong (Race 7) at Kembla Grange – 12th out of 16

Turns out Crazy Craig picked the wrong Hawkes horse.

Ironically returning to his former home, Archedemus won the $1m feature, his first race win since May 2019, when he was still trained by Kembla local Gwenda Markwell.

Combine this result with the fact that Crazy Craig backed Affair To Remember in the Ballarat Cup, it’s no wonder he sent an angry phone call to our mutual contact Mr Alfonse yesterday.

I believe it went something along the lines of “F all the horses, I’ve said it before, BUT I REALLY MEAN IT THIS TIME!”

Ah Craig, never change.