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

Well friends, here we are at Derby Day on Halloween, but before I begin, my Photo of William Pike tab on the website HAS NEVER BEEN MORE VALUABLE… if anything it actually needs an update to honour W.Pike, W.S. Cox Plate WINNER:

Odd fact for Derby Day – The Wizard has rides in all 9 races at Flemington, and they’ll be for 9 different trainers.

Well friends, after the Cox Plate provided the warm-up act for the week ahead, here we are at Derby Day, what used to be the greatest day of the Australian racing calendar, and while Melbourne Cup Day traditionally has the most meetings across the nation, Derby Day is eternally the higher quality day, by virtue of the entire card being Group races, capped off by what is now 3 Group 1s, the stallion-making and breaking Coolmore Stud Stakes, the Empire Rose Stakes, and the ancient VRC Victoria Derby dating back to 1855 (5 years before the first Melbourne Cup), and for all we know this could be the last year that the Derby is run at 2500m, if certain trainers get their way and the race changes to 2000m…

Funnily enough, the Derby was actually run at 2400m (1 1/2 miles) from 1855 until 1971, then with the metric system kicking in it was officially 2,400m in 1972, then went to 2,500m in 1973, and has strenuously remained there ever since.

Of course, this Derby Day marks 70 years since one of the greatest finishes in the history of Australian racing, as Fighting Force, Ark Royal and Pandie Sun recorded the first TRIPLE DEAD HEAT ever seen in Australia in the 1956 Hotham Handicap:

All 3 horses were in the final 24 runners for the ’56 Melbourne Cup, although Ark Royal was scratched, while Fighting Force and Pandie Sun were never a match for the mighty mare Evening Peal, and sadly the Hotham (aka the Archer Stakes) is no longer the last gasp Derby Day qualifier for the Melbourne Cup, as they run it on Makybe Diva Stakes Day in mid-September.

Also continuing on the theme of history, this year will mark 20 years since Flemington’s all-time record crowd of 129,089 for Derby Day 2006 (November 4, 2006), surpassing the crowd for the 2003 Melbourne Cup day (122,736) as the greatest crowd for any race meeting in the history of Australian thoroughbred racing.

Other highlights on the great day of racing include the alternative big race north of Wodonga, the Group 1 Golden Eagle for the 4YOs at Randwick worth a few kajillion dollars, plus a couple of other sprint races for the horses not good enough to win the Everest (The Russell Balding Stakes) and much to my disappointment, Racing NSW still can’t be bothered using the Steve Miller Band, or even Ross Wilson of Daddy Cool, to promote a race named after an Eagle, then there’s Ascot, which is in Belmont, with the Group 3 double of the Prince Of Wales Stakes and the Asian Beau Stakes, and not many people know that Asian Beau has held the Australian record over 1450m (1.24.550) since December of 1978…

It was actually equalled this year (To the exact thousandth of a second) by Beautiful You at Kembla Grange on September 17!

So it’s on to Crazy Craig, and this is a rare edition of a Saturday tips on Halloween, so here’s an old time classic… Ray Parker Jr with GHOSTBUSTERS, because who ya gonna call when a bloke’s dropping $50 notes on the sidewalk in Bairnsdale?

The Omen Omen Bet: Damien (No.5, Barrier 3) E/W in Race 3 at Randwick (SR9), 1:20pm AEDT

1300m CG&E BM78 Handicap

Trainer: Kris Lees, Jockey: Tommy Berry, 57kg

Good morning all, Crazy Craig TBFB Scratchie King of Bairnsdale reporting, and I’ll be honest I only did this one for the joke, because if you ever saw The Omen, you’d know the kid’s name was Damien..

It would appear that name came from him being sired by Hellbent, which means ladies and gentlemen, we have done it –

THE OMEN OMEN BET.

OMENCEPTION.

Also, it doesn’t make sense that Damien would be running at Randwick on Derby Day…

Shouldn’t be running in Race 5 at Flemington, the DAMIEN OLVIER?

P(r)ick No.2: Icy You (No.9, Barrier 10) E/W in the VRC Derby at Flemington (MR7), 4:20pm AEDT

2500m Group 1 3YO SW Howden Victoria Derby

Trainers: Trent Busuttin & Natalie Young, Jockey: Craig Williams, 57kg

Icy You… hope he’s as Cold As Ice like Foreigner were!

Lou Gramm, what a voice… he’s retiring soon as well!

Crazy Crappy Group 1 Picks… more than living up to their name this spring

Golden Eagle at Randwick (SR8) = Sheza Alibi (No.16, Barrier 6), no value there and could easily end up like the Caulfield Stakes did

Coolmore Stud Stakes at Flemington (MR6) = Satono Glow (No.13, Barrier 4) E/W, 2/2 up the Flemington straight and won the G2 Roman Consul last start, should be featuring about the place