Well that was a Saturday involving horses, in which Faskia’s Spring campaign, which could’ve included a run in the Winx Stakes and a shot at The Invitation, was ended before it barely began, as she managed to bleed in the Missile Stakes despite being good enough to hold on to 3rd, and that’s a slam dunk 3-month ban from racing, and means she’ll probably be put on ice until the Autumn.

A great shame, but for all we know the winner of those races didn’t even appear on an Australian racecourse today.

On another note, today was the annual day for the National Jockey’s Trust to remember the contributions of past and present jockeys, and after a 38 year career as a jockey, Peter Hall had his last ride in Perth, with his lucky last ride being the Broome Cup next week in the most picturesque racecourse in Australia, and his only ride for the day just happened to be the lucky last race, which was titled the “CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR CAREER PETER HALL HANDICAP“, and it was good to see the WA Jockeys get around Peter with a guard of honour:

From riding against fabled names like JJ Miller, Danny Miller, ‘Rocket Rod’ Kemp and Laurie Connell’s colourful associate Danny Hobby, his final years were up against names like The Wizard, The Fish, The Pontiff, and Parnzy.

Two great eras of Perth racing.

It wasn’t quite the fairytale for Hally in the race named in his honour, finishing 2nd on Sowar after Steve Wolfe gave him one last ride to celebrate a great partnership, and in fairness to Peter, 2nd is still better than anything Crazy Craig managed today.

Pick of the Day: Remarque in Race 8 at Randwick – 3rd

To be diplomatic, that ride on Remarque was questionable at best, ironically after Tommy Berry produced a great ride to win the Missile on Phobetor.

Sure it was always looking a bit dangerous given the draw and the pattern of the race, but Remarque was travelling alongside the eventual winner Paulele and should’ve been right in the finish, but while the winner went wide, Remarque was forced to go for an inside run, because Mazu on his left had the outside lane and the leaders directly in front weren’t going to disappear.

The end result – Remarque didn’t get out until the 250m, and after steading up he got going and ran a narrow 3rd, when he should’ve at least run 2nd, because I don’t think he would’ve run down Paulele, who appeared to have the better turn of foot.

This from the Racing NSW Stewards Report:

When questioned regarding his riding, T Berry stated he was instructed to have the colt settle where comfortable. He said after beginning only fairly, he allowed Remarque to settle in a midfield position but was reluctant to ride the colt forward as it had had a tendency to travel strongly in its most recent trials.

He stated that after improving to the inside of Paulele making the home turn, he then observed Mazu hang out and immediately shifted Remarque out to take advantage of a run that had presented between Mazu and Maotai. He added that when Mazu was corrected by its rider and shifted back in, he was obliged to check Remarque when disappointed for this run. He added that Remarque was then badly held up for clear running until near the 250m but then took some time to balance up when shifted to the outside and into clear running.

After considering his explanation, the Stewards found the tactics adopted by T Berry were reasonable in the circumstances. In assessing the interference suffered by Remarque, the Stewards found that K McEvoy (Mazu) was entitled to re-establish the position his mount had vacated on the home turn as Remarque had not established running between Maotai and Mazu.

Another Pick of the Day that had a heart as big as a pea.

Each-Way Pick of the Day: Coolth in Race 9 at Flemington – 9th

Cue the music: