Based on a series of plausible events in a regional Victorian town

Here’s a laugh for you – I took Harry McKay as an anytime goalscorer last Sunday at $1.02, do not ask me why…. Anyway, he shanked his only kick at goal and got concussed 15 minutes into the game.

So as Victoria gets out of lockdown and promptly gets flooded, because apparently God hates them more than South Australians, it’s another frozen and boring Queen’s Birthday long weekend, with the Bob Charley Stakes at Randwick, the Group 3 Hyperion at Belmont (That’s in Burswood), but it’s time for the biggest day on the Queensland racing calendar…

The Group 1 JJ Atkins, which will be the second-most relevant Group 1 tomorrow, because it’s Stradbroke Handicap Day at Eagle Farm, and who can forget those years when they ran the Straddie on Stradbroke Island…

Those sand mines brought an end to many a favourite!

Other than that, it’s a monster card, with the inaugural running of The Q22, formerly the PJ O’Shea Stakes, The Gunsynd Classic, The Dane Ripper Stakes, the Brisbane Cup gets restored to 3200m for the first time since 2006, and The Wayne Wilson, named after the late voice of Queensland racing, and of course, who can forget Wayne’s finest moment behind the microphone – Rough Habit’s ’92 Stradbroke win:

Wayne could’ve made the world’s saddest funeral sound exciting.

So on that note, enough of my garbage, here’s Crazy Colin with his P(r)icks, and after somehow plucking the Each-Way winner last week after he asked for Orinoco Flow as the theme….

Back for an encore, here’s Enya!

Wild Planet (No.7, Barrier 15) E/W in the Stradbroke Handicap at Eagle Farm, 3:53pm AEST

1400m Group 1 Handicap

Trainers: John, Michael and Wayne Hawkes, Jockey: Tommy Berry, 54kg

Ahoy-hoy friends, it’s Crazy Colin again, too busy stealing a couple of stubbies from the fridge of Crazy Craig, and after last week’s success with Namakwa, I am feeling the pressure being lumped by the stone on my shoulders, and let me say this straight out…

WE HAVE MORE OF A CHANCE OF STARTING A COLONY ON MARS THAN ME GETTING TWO EACH-WAY WINNERS IN A ROW!

Just ask Crazy Craig – The last time I tried it, he gave me $1200 and told me to reinvest it, and by the time I was done, we didn’t have $1200 anymore!

So on that note, it’s time for the STRADBROKE HANDICAP, always a fantastic race to not bet on, and this year is an exception, because I saw this year’s field and thought ‘Bugger it, why be boring Colin, let’s hang shit on ourselves!’

Now, out of approximately 18 winning chances I’m backing the Hawkes-trained WILD PLANET, who produced a big run in the Doomben 10,000 behind the winner Eduardo, and ahead of current favourite Vega One, who went to win the Kingsford-Smith Cup, and the Harrovian, who is up to his hind quarters in this one, which suggests to me that even though Wild Planet has to deal with a wide barrier, he can be right in the finish with a well planned steer from Tommy Berry!

And all I’ll say to conclude is, if you don’t agree with me, go and throw a bunch of darts at a board and see what you land on, because you’ll probably have as much luck as me – Mr Quickie, Tofane, Vega One, The Harrovian, Apache Chase with the feather weight, even Victorem, you can back all of them pre-race and actually feel confident!

So a short sharp one this week – WILD PLANET is my Each-Way pick for this Saturday.

Aberdeen Queen (No.9, Barrier 8) in Race 7 at Belmont, 3:15pm AWST

1600m 72+ Rating Handicap

Trainer: Lindsey Smith, Jockey: Chris Parnham, 54.5kg

On to my Pick of the Day, and on the advice of my contact in Perth Mr Alfonse, I’m going back to the Wild Wild West for some unfinished business after a narrow 2nd last week, and this time, I’m going with a mare trained by Lindsay Smith called Aberdeen Queen, and I can only assume that she’s named after the greatest export from the armpit of northeast Scotland….

Why of course, it’s ANNIE LENNOX!

I always get Annie Lennox + Eurythmics confused with Roxette when I listen to them on Gold FM…. Even more so after I’ve had a few beers!

So moving back to the nags, the reason I’ve gone for Aberdeen Queen was because of her almightily game performance in defeat 3 weeks ago over the 1300m at Belmont, when she had to shift back to last from a wide barrier right from the jump, and after being closer to Optus Stadium than the running rail in the straight, she sprouted wings late and ran 4th, only finishing 0.8L behind the winner Magniforce, and another 100 or so metres and she’d have been in the photo for 1st!

Chris Parnham is currently sleeping on the top bunk in the Parnham household as he romps to the Perth & WA jockeys titles, he retakes the ride on the Queen for the first time since January, she just needs a bit more luck in the run after getting none at all in May, and fair dinkum, all she’s up against is Naughty by Nature, the horse who was probably named after Crazy Craig!

$4.20 right now, she will probably tighten a bit more than that by the time this goes online, and Aberdeen Queen, or as I’ll call her from now on, ANNIE, may be a thorn in my side, but she’s my PICK OF THE DAY.

This is Crazy Colin, writing good luck to you all, and if you see any $50 notes on the sidewalk, don’t give them back to Crazy Craig!