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

Well gang, we have reached the last month of the 2025-26 season, and a unique start because we have the Independence Day races on the 4th of July, and not only is it races on the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, but 30 years since the film Independence Day was released!

Bill Pullman as President of the United States… well, it’s still a nicer thought than George W. Bush.

Of course, the Group 1 races are done for a few weeks and we’re on to the properly boring Winter races across the country, with the Winter Championship Final and the Taj Rossi Final at Flemington, and I think Taj Rossi is the brother of Valentino Rossi, the Belmont Oaks and the Aquanita Stakes at Belmont, the Winter Stakes at Rosehill, and the major race of the day is the old Group 3 Sunshine Coast Guineas at Corbould Park, which is rightly named the Winx Guineas in honour of the great mare, because it was the 2015 Sunny Coast Guineas that marked the beginning of the 33-race winning streak when Larry Cassidy got her home from last on the turn – Before that, Winx only 4 wins and 3 minor placings from 10 starts, and had won just 1 race in her last 7 starts… it was a final burst that re-defined Australian racing forever.

8 years later, the Winx Guineas also produced another memorable winner… 2024 Melbourne Cup winner Knight’s Choice.

And there’s also another interesting race today, which is the Marble Bar Cup, raced in Marble Bar in the Pilbara of WA, and it is famous as one of the most inhospitable places on Planet Earth, being the holder of the greatest climate-related world record ever, which is the most consecutive days over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, with a 160-day streak from October 31, 1923 to April 7, 1924.

Beat that, global warming.

So it’s on to Crazy Craig, and goodness knows where this could go, but he has requested an American artist for the 4th of July… so on that note, here’s Willy Nelson’s version of Crazy!

The Tony Abbott Pick: Thebudgiesmugla (No.5, Barrier 15) in Race 7 at The Sunshine Coast (BR7), 4:02pm AEST

2400m Listed Stanley River Thoroughbreds Caloundra Cup

Trainer: Bjorn Baker, Jockey: Dylan Gibbons, 54kg

Hello friends, Crazy Craig TBFB, Scratchie King of Bairnsdale, and I tell you what knackers, I read this week that Craig Newitt is up in arms with the Racing Victoria stewards because his son Reign Newitt (Who is 8 years old) was refused entry into the jockeys’ rooms at Sandown to serve as his dad’s valet, just as Froggy had done for his father Guy Newitt in Tasmania decades ago, even though no other jockeys had objected to an 8-year-old being in the jockey’s rooms, and by coincidence that day Froggy got suspended for overuse of the whip…

If you ask me that’s just plain old sooking, Froggy should’ve just told the Chief Steward that he knows where his family lives, that worked out well for Danny Nikolic!

Anyway knackers, it is a great day to end the heat of the Queensland Carnival with the running of the Sunshine Coast carnival, and it’s great to see a horse that won for us a few weeks ago make another appearance, in tribute to former Prime Minister Tony Abbott…

THEBUDGIESMUGLA.

He’d put Austin Powers in the shade with that chest hair!

The Charley Pride Pick: Two Time Charlie (No.12, Barrier 9) E/W in Race 4 at Belmont (PR4), 2:35pm AWST (4:35)

1600m Graduation 60+ Rating Handicap

Trainer: Michael Grantham, Jockey: Clint Johnston-Porter, 56kg

Off we go to a random meeting at Belmont, which is actually located in Burswood because those backward dickheads in WA can’t decide where their major venues are actually located, and a horse named Two Time Charlie caught my eye, and I did have an idea to have an American related pick for the 4th of July, and to be honest this should’ve been named after Charlie Sheen, given he is the most American named Charlie, and he’s the closest match to my lifestyle…

But bugger that, because there’s a great country singer named Charley who has a permanent place on my iTunes playlist – The late Charley Pride, who loved to Kiss an Angel Good Mornin’!

What a great singer he was, one of the first African-Americans to have success as a country singer, pretty much breaking the colour barrier in country music, and it’s amazing to think that in the early 1970s, he was selling more records than Elvis Presley at RCA Records…

Then again, even Rodriguez was out-selling Elvis in the early 1970s, albeit he was out-selling The King in Apartheid South Africa.

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