RSN927
KAH IS QUEEN BUT NO WAY SHE’D TACKLE THE ANNUAL
May 10, 2021 3:28 pm
By Matt Stewart, Racing Editor
Jamie Kah took it in her stride on Saturday when she arrived at
Caulfield to ride six hotpots.
But the idea of following her fiancé
Clayton Douglas over the scary-big obstacles at the Bool – a different story.
Kah the superstar played temporary second fiddle to Douglas last week at the famous
TAB Warrnambool May carnival. She had a handful of rides, for no winners, and seemed comfortable in her supporting role.
WARRNAMBOOL, AUSTRALIA – MAY 06: Clayton Douglas riding Gold Medals defeating Aaron Kuru riding Zed Em in Race 7, the Grand Annual Steeplechase, on Grand Annual Day during the Warrnambool Jumps Carnival at Warrnambool Racing Club on May 06, 2021 in Warrnambool, Australia. (Photo by Vince Caligiuri/Getty Images)
Michelin in the same steeplechase.
The timing, just days after sweeping rule changes were introduced after the death of a single horse in the
Melbourne Cup,
Anthony Van Dyck, would appear to have been at the least awkward but the lack of reaction was telling on a number of fronts.
It suggested there is something out of sight, out of mind about the goings-on at
Warrnambool in May compared to
Flemington in early November.
Warrnambool is big, but tribal. Mainstream media obviously doesn’t hawk it for bad news like it used to, basically because the bad news stories are not as common as they were when constant fatalities almost had jumps racing banned.
RSN927
BOOL BURSTS BACK TO LIFE WITH EPIC ANNUAL
May 6, 2021 4:26 pm
By Matt Stewart, Racing Editor
Where do you start? The horse – or horses? Two of them, epic rivals, perennials.
The race? Remarkable; greybeard heroes flog the upstarts, all horses home safe. Phew.
The trainer? “The ultimate horseman,” according to his father.
The jockey? He wasn’t Mr Kah, not today.
The event? Last year
Warrnambool was empty. Today, half of Victoria appeared to have marched up that hill to watch legends
Gold Medals and
Grand Annual Steeplechases ever run.
WARRNAMBOOL, AUSTRALIA – MAY 06: Clayton Douglas riding Gold Medals defeating Aaron Kuru riding Zed Em in Race 7, the Grand Annual Steeplechase, on Grand Annual Day during the Warrnambool Jumps Carnival at Warrnambool Racing Club on May 06, 2021 in Warrnambool, Australia. (Photo by Vince Caligiuri/Getty Images)
RSN927
WARRNAMBOOL IN MAY, THE GREAT ESCAPE
May 3, 2021 2:32 pm
By Matt Stewart, Racing Editor
When jumps horses were dropping like flies a decade ago, prompting
Racing Victoria boss Rob Hines to conduct a crisis meeting in the
Warrnambool steward’s room on
Grand Annual Day, racing was confronted with a couple of unimaginables.
The three days of the
2009 May racing carnival were the darkest in jumps racing history. Six jumpers had perished in 14 days. Twelve had died in 12 months and three in three days at the Bool.
Hines declared “that’s it!” and suspended the sport after popular South Australian horse