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

Yes friends, as the FIFA World Cup begins in the New World we have another great day of Group 1 racing in the Antipodes with the JJ Atkins for the 2-year-olds, and the time-honoured Stradbroke Handicap, the greatest race in Queensland, and it’s that time of year when we show the replay of Rough Habit winning the 1992 race in the almighty driving finish, knocking off a great sprinter in Schillaci:

Fun little fact considering it’s World Cup time, Schillaci was named after the late Salvatore Schillaci, who won the Golden Boot and Golden Ball at the 1990 World Cup in Italy… he only ever scored 7 goals for Italy, and 6 of them came in that World Cup.

Also one of the great race calls by Wayne Wilson, who actually passed away 12 years ago last week (June 6, 2014), his death coming on the night before the 2014 Stradbroke.

Other races on the day include the 2-mile classic that is the Brisbane Cup, the Gunsynd Classic, the Group 2 Dane Ripper and The Q22 to end the Eagle Farm card, and that is the race Without A Fight won in 2023, a few months before going on to win the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups, and this year’s race will feature the latest Cups double winner in Half Yours, plus the Queen Elizabeth II Cup at Rosehill, Belmont hosts the Group 3 Strickland Stakes, and anything else it’s mundane Winter Saturday racing, especially at Sandown.

So it’s on to Crazy Craig, and he noted to me in the email that Saturday the 13th would’ve been Slim Dusty’s 99th birthday, which is only slightly short of the 106 albums he recorded, and apparently his 99th album was so crap that I can’t find it anywhere, so as a tribute here’s a song from his 100th album called A Bad Day’s Fishing….

Which was written by none other than Kevin Bloody Wilson, making it one of the few KBW songs to not contain one piece of profanity.

The Skyhooks Pick: Skyhook (No.2, Barrier 13) in Race 4 at Eagle Farm (BR4), 1:28pm AEST

1600m 3YO Group 3 Gunsynd Classic

Trainers: Gerald Ryan & Sterling Alexiou, Jockey: Kerrin McEvoy, 57kg

Good morning all, good evening or possibly good afternoon it’s Crazy Craig, TBFB, Scratchie King of Bairnsdale, trudging through the winter like a freight train through a never ending tunnel… it’s bloody dark in Bairnsdale this time of year, I tell you!

Anyway, we’re off to Eagle Farm for one of the great days of winter racing in between the peaks of the autumn and spring, the Stradbroke Handicap, and I would also note the JJ Atkins is one of only 2 juvenile Group 1 races run over a mile in Australia, the other being the Champagne Stakes in April – I would note there’s only two 2-year-olds I know of that have won both races, the last was Broadsiding 2 years ago, and the other was the almighty Luskin Star in 1977 after he’d already won the Triple Crown!

In fact, both horses won the same 3 races – The Champagne Stakes, the now BRC Sires Produce Stakes, and the JJ Atkins!

How crazy is that!

Anyway, I’d rather not focus on the JJ Atkins because I’ve seen a horse that I backed a few months back on Golden Slipper Day, and quite honestly Skyhook did bugger all that day because Red Symons wasn’t aboard as he ran 4th, but obviously Red got the ride at the start of May because he actually won the Hawkesbury Guineas, then a few weeks later ran 2nd in the Fred Best at Eagle Farm, which says to me the form is there and he CAN WIN, as my old mate The Cheetah would say…

But you know what’s more likely?

From Barrier 13, this race will be a HORROR MOVIE, right there on my TV!

This one could either be an NBA Finals Omen Bet, considering the Skyhook was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s signature move!

The Tony Abbott Pick: Thebudgiesmugla (No.7, Barrier 7) in Race 8 at Rosehill (SR8), 3:05pm AEST

2400m Listed Queen Elizabeth Cup

Trainer: Bjorn Baker, Jockey: Dylan Gibbons, 53kg

On to the next pick, and we have a horse that was scratched from the Brisbane Cup to run at Rosehill in the QEII Cup, and gets in absolutely superbly at the weights considering he’s unbeaten at 2200m to 2400m (5/5), and what an amazing name Thebudgiesmugla is, it really makes you think back to the memorable time that this untamed specimen became the Prime Minister of this country… only for us to realise it was a mistake letting Manly supporters outside of the Northern Beaches:

I tell you knackers, just looking at that, it makes you realise they didn’t need to waste a few billion dollars of taxpayers money on the Australian Border Force stopping the boats, all they needed to do was stick a couple of cardboard cutouts of Tony Abbott along the West Australian coastline, clad in nothing more than a pair of Speedos ensconcing his Jatz crackers, standing as a reminder to asylum seekers that fashion choices in Australia are actually several hundred years behind the Middle East, and they would regret their life’s decisions and promptly turn around to the green, green grass…

Of the Cocos Islands.

JJ Atkins Pick (BR7): To be honest, Broadsiding does look very good with McDonald and Waller

The Stradbroke (BR8): Spicy Martini (No.16, Barrier 2) E/W… shaken, not stirred.

Enjoy your weekend folks, stay safe, stay negative, KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE ROAD, and remember, I’m Crazy Craig, and that’s why they call me Craaaaaazy Craig!