Robert Ripley didn’t need to be at Royal Randwick Saturday to add other chapters to his timeless “Believe It or Not” repartee.
Mind you horse racing doesn’t figure much with Ripley. Surprisingly given its expansive opportunities for credulity.
Sure, I found that Belmont Park race from 1923 where jockey Frank Hayes had a heart attack (we will touch on one of those shortly), as the horse Sweet Kiss carried him across the line, clinically dead. But correct weight declared.
Oh, and Silver Charm, the 1997 Kentucky Derby winner, his manure was on the market for $200 a jar in 2019, so supposedly it carried a whiff of authenticity. Believe that?
So, what would he have made of day two of The Championships apart from a rich smorgasbord of all that makes racing such a treasure trove of stories and emotions?
A day when nice guys do come first.
Firstly, the very appropriately named Paul Niceforo, winning the $1m Provincial-Midway Championships with Territory Express, a horse he picked out of a Tumut paddock but that’s just part of the story.
Niceforo, one of racing’s eternal toilers and good fella’s, from Katherine, yes in the Territory, to Kembla to a small (four) horse stable at Warwick Farm. He thought he could win a Doncaster wit Territory Express (you get the name link now), missed a start there, but now thinks he can win the Cox Plate.
Don’t tell him he’s dreaming. That's what this game is about, and this is not just heart on the sleeve stuff with nice Paul.
Last October, he was lucky to survive the Life Stakes. In for a knee operation, out with two heart attacks and a stroke. “A flesh wound” declared partner and part-owner Maryanne Cram of the determined horseman, who learned it all from mystical former drover Len Cant in the Territory, then lmore from a man named Bart at Randwick (try the Shaftesbury Avenue years when foreman in Sydney), and now still his very own (horse) man.
Niceforo has got one of those lived-in looks, 63, the sort of bloke you might catch at the end of the bar holding court and a beer, but then he doesn’t drink.
One can only hope that Paul and Territory Express make it to The Valley and The Cox Plate. Could you believe the theatre of that?
Then Andrea Atzeni came to Randwick, via Italy, via England, and via meeting trainer Ciaron Maher at the Palio di Sienna, that historically, hectically, bare backed and brutal spectacle run for centuries without rules around the Piazza del Campo in Sienna.
And injected in to deliver a Sydney Cup for Maher on Circle Of Fire, but a win that much more than the trophy and history. This was only about his fallen mate Stefano Cherchi.
You know Atzeni now rides out of the Hong Kong bubble, but his last month has seen three trips to sit by Cherchi’s side in hospital before “he left us” after fatal injuries from a Canberra fall.
And all you needed to “believe” were those hugs and tears with Stefano’s father Sebastian, his wife Maria and their daughter Eleonor before how he explained it so beautifully to Emma Freedman on 7 with Atzeni after the race.
Then a year ago, Circle Of Fire was owned by The Queen, then on her passing, her son, the new King and his new Queen, until Ciaron Maher’s bloodstock manager, Will Bourne, son of “Butch” from Seymour, bought him for an eclectic group of stable clients and partners, hence the hybrid racing colours. Make believe of that happening elsewhere.
But probably not as Ripley ridiculous as what was about to happen.
Sydney’s Cox Plate, it’s premier weight-for-age championship title is the Queen Elizabeth Stakes, still carrying her name on a track with a regally sanctioned imprimatur but delivering a colloquial Aussie “bonza” performance and result by Pride of Jenni.
Ghosts of Scotch And Dry and Vo Rogue were mentioned as some reference. Relevant or not, they were excitement machines for different eras.
Let’s talk Jenni, the real deal, believe that or not. The most exciting horse in Australian, if not for fear of hyperbole, world racing right now.
You’ve all seen the vision from all angles, sideways, and above, Declan Bates and Jenni, measured at 38 lengths in front at one stage.
“This is unbelievable” said racecaller Darren Flindell, not once, but twice, just confirming what we were watching and thinking.
While Dec and Jenni were alighting at the Alison Road interchange stop, Craig (Mr Brightside) and J-Mac (Via Sistina) were haggling over who had the Opal (Myki) card on the light rail down Doncaster Avenue.
Just believe what you see, even if unbelievable.
“Surreal is probably the best way to describe it,” said Bates whose has transformed some way from his debut win in a hurdle at Wexford, his hometown in southern Ireland.
“I’ve looked back at it now, yesterday (Saturday) took everything to a whole new level with people’s reactions. I just feel a privilege to be such a part of it,” said a humble Bates who celebrated by taking his two labradors for a Sunday morning work and then heading off to Terang in the western districts to get another win - on protest – well when you are hot - right.
“Sure, we wanted to keep a good distance in front but not that far after I looked back on it, but now I know her, I trust her, I just went with her in her rhythm, the idea was first 1000 go a bit steadier and then round it up,” he said.
“It certainly wasn’t Plan A,” said Bates who had experience track walker Peter “The Colonel” Ellis playing as a caddy for tactics before he and his mare delivering a masterful performance.
Not that any of this changes Bates determination to worker harder and keep improving. There is also wife Jennifer (that name helps), daughters Saorise, 4 and Mollie 2, (the labradors) and work to be done around their new home at Cardigan outside of Ballarat.
“I like to work hard but I’ve got a good life balance, it happens with kids. I like running and cycling but we’ve bult a new house here and there is always landscaping or something to do, but as hard as I work, I find the right time to recover.”
So, work this, last Thursday there were races at Kyneton, Friday morning jumpouts at Werribee, afternoon races, Geelong, flying to Sydney, and do Jenni, walk the dogs and then Terang. Monday off, four at Ballarat Tuesday.
Some journey from Wexford 2009 when he rode his first winner, Mount Welcome, the Coolcots Handicap hurdle, the start of what he describes as a ‘slow burner.”
Just like that winner - Mount Welcome, who had been beaten, 77 lengths, 127 lengths and 92 lengths at his three prior starts before Bates got him home (at only 14-1 mind you). He only won three other races from 46, Bates transforming from jumps racing in Ireland, to flat in England, and now you know a little more of him in Victoria.
“I certainly didn’t have a blistering start to my career, I rode one winner at the point to points, then got my conditional licence (like a jumps apprentice), but I was always immersed in jumps racing,” he said.
“I look back at it now, it might have been a slow burn, but it taught me so much, you see kids come and go with the claims, but I always looked at improving, I’m 35 now, and that’s how I still see it. I’ll never top learning”
“Back then I looked to put weight on to ride, now I can ride 51.5kg. Jumps racing was everything in our area, I loved it, watching the Grand Nationals, Gold Cups, but always loved the flat racing too, it’s just what it was.”
There was those old Australia V Irish competitions and Bates landed here in 2012.
Shane Jackson, known here as Turkey Legs, (thanks Ric McIntosh), who had ridden Mount Welcome for their mutual trainer Phillip Rothwell, suggested Bates have a go.
There was a wedding as an excuse to come to and a six-month travel treat with then girlfriend Jennifer, before a plethora of red tape to make it permanent.
There was sponsorship with Bool trainer Daniel Bowman, which led to Begood Toya Mother, the Bunsen burner for Bates to Victorian racing.
“I was originally down at The Bool, working with Symon Wilde, and he had Jenni then, she was in a race at Flemington and long odds ($61) and ran a close 2nd (it was the Group 2 Rose Of Kingston Stakes), that was my experience with her and for (owner) Tony (Ottobre),” Bates said.
Bates thanks Ottobre for holding out for him and the horse that has changed his life.
“Next time he rang, I was on the couch with a broken ankle, so it was a while before I got back on her, but Tony has been fantastic.”
“It’s become more than racing, it’s a family affair for both of our families,” said Bates.
Now Tony, Dec, Ciaron Maher, strapper Samantha Waters and the Maher racing team have the hottest ticket in town and racing is the better for it.
A staggering Queen Elizabeth is set to be topped by a King Charles, of course, in the spring, and then hopefully a Cox Plate.
And who’d believe that? Ripley?
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