Making crap up on the spot since 2019

Hello all, Crazy Colin sent me an email at midday saying he’d had some kind of an emergency with his reticulation thanks to Crazy Craig ripping out one of the pipes stealing his carrots, and he wasn’t going to be able to write up his usual bullshit about Saturday’s racing action…

So it’s been left to me to pick up the slack on the last weekend of November, marking the end of Spring for 2022, although not that anyone told the bloody weather patterns across the East Coast of Australia…

Looking across the board it’s a pretty solid weekend, with the Group 1 Winterbottom Stakes meeting at Ascot actually getting a semi-decent field for the first time in yonks, with Rothfire, Vilana, The Astrologist, Beau Rossa and Paulele up against the local welterweights like former winner Elite Street, Miss Conteki and Red Can Man, then there’s the Zipping Classic at Caulfield, in which Vow And Declare is somehow a 4/1 equal favourite despite not winning since the 2019 Melbourne Cup…

And not that anyone except Sky Racing gives a fat rat’s toss about it, but the Festival Stakes is on at Rosehill…

So, time to find a couple of omen bets, and I may have to find one about Michael Jackson’s Thriller, because Wednesday will mark 40 years to the day the album was released, going on to become one of the greatest cultural phenomena the universe has ever seen.

Just kidding, I won’t have any time to find one about the King of Pop.

The Utterly Obscure Olivia Cole Omen Bet: Roots (No.8, Barrier 7) in Race 9 at Caulfield (MR9), 5:40pm AEDT

1600m Group 3 Mares Summoned Stakes

Trainer: Chris Waller, Jockey: Michael Dee, 56kg

I’ll be honest, with a name like Roots I was going to try and get Shane Warne involved somehow, but while I was browsing through the November 26 birthdays and saw Tina Turner pop up, not far below her is an actress called Olivia Cole, who died in 2018 and had a birthday on November 26, 1942.

You would probably have no clue who Olivia Cole is, and to be honest neither do I, but Cole won an Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy or Drama series in the year 1977.

That show’s name?

ROOTS.

Fun fact, the final episode of Roots, broadcast way back in 1977, remains the 3rd-highest rated broadcast in the history of American television (51.1% share), beaten only by the finales of M*A*S*H and Dallas.

Peanuts Value Omen Bet: Cavalier Charles (No.2, Barrier 15) in Race 10 at Rosehill (SR10), 5:55pm AEDT

1400m BM78 Elite Quarry Products Handicap

Trainer: Matthew Dale, Jockey: Tim Clark, 60kg

Why Cavalier Charles for an Omen Bet?

Well, November 26 was the birthday of Charles M. Schultz, the man who wrote the Peanuts comic strips, and tomorrow would’ve been his 100th birthday!

Speaking of which, yesterday was Thanksgiving in the US and A, so here’s a compilation of Charlie Brown trying to kick the football:

Let’s be honest, he’s got Buckley’s chance of winning – Barrier 15 and jumping up from 51.5kg to 60.

And Because I’m Totally Short of Omen Bets: Pure Devotion (No.14, Barrier 8) in Race 7 at Ascot (PR7), 4:05pm AWST (7:05pm)

2100m Listed AJ Scahill Cup

Trainer: Adam Durrant, Jockey: William Pike 54kg

Alright, you all know the drill….

Winterbottom Stakes Pick: Rothfire at $6, just based on form and the fact I can’t be arsed looking at the rest of the field