Fair enough, it didn’t’ start well. That $2.2156m the win, $4.687m the place “bet” as we landed on course mid-meeting at Geelong last Saturday.
What? – Yes. Each-way and not a Danny Wallis like theatrical bid on The Block, but we saw the appropriately named Rich Fortune being saddled up, and our favorite jockey Damian Lane was about to be in the saddle.
Ok of course, it was pure fantasy, especially for Billie, she’s just two and her first day at the races, but she did require that childlike mid-day nap and then detailed preparation for a perceived kiddie’s Fashions on The Field that alas we found was sadly amongst the official 42 equine withdrawals of the raceday.
So, if you are having a fantasy bet, yes yes, we know about responsible gambling and she’s too young to think of what else she could be buying just yet, so no point making it just a token two bucks? No let’s have a real fantasy fly, after all what are we about to lose?
I had friends involved in Carbonadas, who we saw getting winning gongs as we walked in, after being beautifully parked by volunteers in the public carpark where we didn’t draw “the carpark”.
Lane, had won earlier too on Elouyou and yes, we could have bet on-line (but she’s too young for an account), Va Via came later for him too and seemingly punters nationwide -(surely “Frosty” is Melbourne’s premier jock in waiting this season) - but he didn’t make dreams come true, Rich Fortune photoed out of third, which meant to eliminate trauma, we zeroed in on part of the very reason Racing Victoria’s sent us to Geelong on Saturday.
We could have been at Healesville for the picnics and watch Sleeping Tiger making it three from four for the fabulous Waymouth family, but as my great colleague Steve Moran once said and let me paraphrase: “if they go to all of the trouble of putting them on, the very least is you support them.”
So, Geelong (or Bet 365 Park) it was, just around the corner from Kardinia Park, or as it is now, GMHBA Stadium, turn left into Fyans Street and supposedly enjoy this what they call a Stand-Alone meeting, headlined by the mundanely named Coastal Classic on course but brimming with family fun around it.
Mind you if you look up “stand-alone” you can find links to a stand-alone bath, wardrobe, mirror, dishwasher, air-conditioner, hammock, a stand-alone solar system even (need to look into that deeper so to speak), so you get the point of such a fairly useless term parroted as babble not just last weekend, but whenever the main Saturday meeting isn’t at a metropolitan meeting.
Froggie Newitt, knew it too, he rode the first winner, 45km up the road at Werribee, Queen Beira, then beetled down to Geelong to finished further back in our race on one called Keane Enuff, who obviously wasn’t but Froggie was, as it was his only other ride for the day.
He should have joined us in the Ultimate Kids Zone just past the winning post, could have bought five of his own along, there were plenty there anyway and if that alone was any measure of the day’s “vibe” or success, then those back at Epsom Road would have put a big tick and an elephant stamp alongside their Geelong call.
And no doubt their “team”, as they are often referred too, would be scrambling through the data and crunching numbers and strategizing out key performance indicators and scheduling a full review to look out for further improvements for next year.
Anyway, after signing our waiver for Billie (2) and Sebastian (11), all they wanted to do was scamper through the magnificent “sample bag’ of goodies provided by Country Racing Victoria in their New Balance knapsack.
Oh and then join the queue for the Giant Water slide, get up close with the goats (no Ollie wasn't there), and other real livestock in the petting zoo (where we reminded not to pick the animals up, see welfare extends to the other side of the fence), pick a side for tug of war, and loads of other Kelly Sports activities, while I needed time just to get the quaddie on.
A real bet, but of slightly more modest real monies too. You tend to be more frugal when fantasy is not involved, and reality is.
I didn’t see any face painters or a jumping castle, both could have been there, but I saw kids everywhere channelling their inner Adam O(lszanski), with their new binoculars from the goodies bag, though some needed more than Adam O’s brilliance as many had them turned the wrong way around, where horses looked like mice. But that they had them at all, had them enthralled. Good stuff.
There were hats, plastic water bottles (an absolute winner), sunglasses, chalk, skipping rope, mobile phone covers and on it went, and all for the price of admission – nothing!
For mums and dads, it was a comfortable $20, and rookery scenes were then observed territorially on the lawns in from the grandstand adorning the home straight, busy but not uncomfortably crowded, bubbling though with the fun of mixing the kids being kept busy and the bottom line of the races as entertainment - the punt, and those athletes, both equine and human, being well burnished.
Of course, it wasn’t put up there as Flemington in Cup week, it was holiday time on the surf coast and you could break away from the sand for the turf for a few hours at the very least for a different sort of fun, some for the hardy for sure, and I saw plenty of those there, but mostly for the broader audience. It worked well.
Others will produce those numbers to say the crowd was possibly more than 5000, if that really matters, and turnover matched similar country or provincial “stand-alone” (and as a 2024 resolution - I’ll never use that term again), but without over thinking or over analysing, Billie, a long way from a future fan, Sebastian with a little more worldliness, self-inflicted by his father perhaps, got it.
On the track, no doubt the likes of Stay Focussed, raced by local electrician turned syndicator Nathan Bennett's group have a serious juvenile star in the making.
Carbonados will win much better races and Rupert Legh's familiar colors will lead a heavy hitters syndicate also involved. Ciaron Maher (still with Dave Eustace) won the feature "Classic" and Holymanz, carrying famous Cambridge Park colours from New Zealand will be able to soon see him live in Auckland.
There were no bigger celebrators than the Rey Magnerio group, though 10 scratched from the get out" stakes was less than edifying. RV can tinker with that but the mix of on and off stuff met a hard marker like me without much of a frown.
No moaning about food prices, $8 for a bag of hot chips is standard, $8 for a XXXX Gold for dad (I am a Queenslander), is about right. It’s holiday time, try going to a theme park.
The theme at Geelong was a healthy mix of what the sport is all about, and what it can offer as entertainment when married well together.
So, it’s after the Coast Classic (could we not have a “Long” – as in Geelong, or a “Quay” as in Torquay, or a Wave, as in Coastal, despite that being pinched up on the Gold Coast already), and I spot trainer Mike Moroney and his long serving racing manager Anthony Feroce lamenting Bermadez running second. Or maybe just hungry and thirsty.
Feroce, spots the Coconut Juice and Smoothies bar, and obviously known as something a health fanatic secures a couple for the team.
Moroney wanders past the Mexican Food Station, the Smokin Barrel, Vietnamese Food House, Dumpling Stand (they had everything there) and was last seen heading to “Hot Food” truck where all the fare needed was a special garnish to top it off - like loads of salt and squirts of tomato sauce. At least he had something sweet to dutifully wash it down with.
Billie wanted a rainbow ice-cream and then she didn’t. But she needed her binoculars to order them (she wasn’t looking at the price, she was just looking) because she had a new toy.
No interest from her or Sebastian in the beach volleyball court that kept others spiking, deep setting, digging and dinking or blocking all day – see I learned something else on the day.
Did all this while contemplating a little rest in the beautifully appointed nearby hammocks, until the White Foam Party limbered up with DJ noise, masquerading as “music” (and of course white foam – like being at the beach in the surf) that kept the slightly older ones still there and a few horsemen and their horses a little perturbed.
Anyway, Billie was last seen at home still looking through her binoculars and her soccer ball Country Racing Victoria plastic drink bottle filled with fun. A good day. Oh, and the quaddie was a snap. $236 was overs. Book us in for The Long or The Quay next year. And don’t forget the sample bags.
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