Rockhampton horses continued their onslaught at the Townsville carnival on Saturday, taking both the coveted Cleveland Bay and the Townsville Cup in a day of total domination.
Favourite Chivadahli, under a perfect ride by the redoubtable Bobby El-Issa, edged out another Rocky trained galloper Legal Procedure (unlucky) in a thrilling finish to a somewhat farcically run Cup. And Chris Whiteley on Heartbreak Harry landed the Cleveland Bay by an eyelash over the heavily backed Drumbeat’s Choice trained by former Rocky trainer Tom Bourke, now domiciled at Caloundra. The result was an enormous thrill for Tommy Button whose dad Tony won the Cleveland Bay 17 years ago to the day with Yallah Stinger.
Tommy, a former top apprentice, had a stint in the army after a short and successful riding career but stepped into the big shoes of his father a few years ago at Callaghan Park and has been an instant success. Saturday’s Cleveland Bay would rank among his greatest triumphs.
It was a big day. The story of the Cup can be summed up by the fact the overall time was slower than a BM65 over the same distance – yet the Cup’s final 600m was run 2.3secs faster!
Another ex Rocky trainer Garnet Taylor and his star apprentice Corey Bayliss kicked off the day with a double in the first two races, including the BM65 winner Bold and Groovy who was in fact first emergency in the Cup.
Locals Oosthuizen and Septimo kept the local flag flying thanks to masterly rides by evergreen Nathan Day who has returned from injury in sparkling form.
For Gary (Muttaburra) Dickson it was a case of a bitter sweet weekend. He had two runners over the final two days, both ridden by Day and both won.
But he might have landed in some hot water with officialdom. He (in his inimitable and well known fashion) voiced his disapproval to a visit by QRIC stewards to his stable, who turned up unannounced on Friday.
Of course we all know that the stewards, under instructions by ex-senior cop Ross Barnett (who thinks he is still back at Headquarters) must now carry a camera and voice-record the conversations with licensees.
It is an expensive innovation considered way over the top by many and even the stewards, I am told, don’t really feel comfortable with it.
Surely a change of government will see a complete overhaul of racing (yet again) with QRIC the first casualty. The three codes should be made responsible for their own destiny and allow racing to get back on an even keel without having to piggy back the trots.
The three codes under the one roof has been a total disaster and the separation of QRIC from QR a disgraceful waste of precious funds. Totally unnecessary.
But back to Mutta.
Seems he tore into the stewards (it’s all on tape) over many issues – not only for turning up without notice. It was a rant that lasted several minutes and included reference to a time when he was “wrongly disqualified” for four months some years back.
He is still seething over it – and with some justification too, according to those familiar with the case.
The rumour is that Mutta’s little outburst could have been a reason for the visit to Townsville by chief stipe Allan Reardon who arrived late on Friday. Surely not.
It is obvious that the cheque book at QRIC has unlimited funds to spend on air fares and hotels for its officers while the majority of its licensees – especially those in the country areas – are eating the paint off their stable walls.
As for Mutta, everyone knows his bark is bigger than the bite. He is a bushie from his dandruff to his toe nails. But he is harmless, and forever helpful to anyone and everyone.
A bloke that local racing can ill afford to lose. Yet he is on the verge of just walking away from the only thing he knows – training racehorses.
Surely there are bigger issues… somewhere between Mackay and Mt Garnet, perhaps.
Peter Moody, Townsville’s special guest over the carnival, also had a swipe at officialdom during an entertaining speech at Friday’s Calcutta. He was not a wrap for the current administration – and the way racing is going in Queensland – and he not certainly not alone there.
He gave special mention to the recent appointment of a new senior steward, which set the tongues wagging. My spies tell me Racing Minister Grace Grace would have been somewhat relieved when Moods ended his address delivered to an enthralled audience.
They responded with sustained applause in obvious agreement with his comments on what little RQ and government is doing for regional racing.
It was Moods’ first visit to Townsville but, like everywhere else he has been – from Mascot to Royal Ascot – he certainly made an impression.
Hopefully Grace Grace this time will heed his advice – delivered freely and solely for the sake of Queensland.
The spotlight swings to Cairns this weekend for the first day of the cup carnival. The feature this week is the Newmarket, which has attracted a full field of 14.
Stablemates Craiglea Deken and Craiglea Wandoo are at the top of the handicap with considerable interest in the up-and-coming Rock Spur who will make his open class debut. He bids his fifth on end.
We still wait with interest the QCAT date for the appeal of jockey Mathew McGillivray for the 10-day suspension incurred at Townsville on June 20. He is the jockey of the moment in Brisbane and said yesterday he had no idea when the appeal would be heard but he is not concerned so long as he keeps riding winners.
MaGillivray was originally suspended for 10 days when found guilty of causing interference in a race at Townsville on June 20.
Stewards found McGillivray had excessively restrained his mount Harjaka causing several runners to suffer interference.
McGillivray argued he was riding to instructions to restrain his mount but when no-one else wanted to lead he was left in front.
Question is why didn’t the other jockeys go forward? Why was he singled out?
He sought an internal review and, amazingly, adjudicator Kane Post, himself a former jockey of moderate success in Victoria, upheld the stewards’ decision AND also increased the suspension to 11 days.
McGillivray's lawyer Matt Tutt lodged an appeal against the internal review decision at the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal and was granted a stay pending the hearing.
"It is a matter of natural justice. We will be arguing that we were not given a chance to speak about a possible increase of sentence," Tutt said.
"It isn't clear when the matter will be heard as it depends on QCAT's work load."
