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There have only been five Group 1 races conducted in Melbourne in 2021 and already, two jockeys have scored their maiden elite-level success, with Teo Nugent sharing the spoils in the Oakleigh Plate and Zac Spain claiming victory in the C.F. Orr Stakes.
James Tzaferis looks at which jockeys might be next to join the club.
Jamie Mott: In my mind, Mott is arguably the most talented jockey in the country who is yet to win a G1. Admittedly, he s had 31 attempts, but most of those have been on horses not fancied in the market. His battles with weight are well publicised and unfortunately restrict his opportunities but if work ethic and sheer talent count for something, his day will surely come soon. His momentum was halted in late 2019 when he broke both legs in a race fall at Cranbourne, but he s wasted little time returning to his old form and already boasts 49 wins for the season. Mott is aligned with the John McArdle stable, so he ll be hoping the Mornington horseman
Goulding goes, O’Connell sees red
Yellow peril: Baxter’s Charlie O’Connell has just been sent off after receiving a second yellow card in Saturday’s FFA Cup loss to Seaford United.
Picture: Darryl Kennedy
LANGWARRIN midfielder Callum Goulding joined leading NPL1 club Bentleigh Greens last week.
It is the second time the former Melbourne Victory player has left Lawton Park having joined Box Hill United partway through the 2018 season.
Goulding rejoined Langy under Scott Miller for the 2019 season and while there was much angst over his initial departure this time he went with the club’s blessing.
“Callum has always expressed his desire to test himself at NPL1 level and the opportunity has presented itself at Bentleigh Greens,” was Miller’s matter-of-fact response.
Doubts about councillors’ understanding
MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire councillors are being asked to revoke Governance Rules they adopted last Tuesday (23 February) because some of them appeared not to understand what they were doing.
Cr Anthony Marsh decided to try to reverse the decision just hours after councillors had spent 90 minutes debating changes to the Rules.
The council meeting at the shire’s Rosebud offices finished at 11.30pm and Cr Marsh, who lives in Mount Martha, emailed his intention to revoke the decision to CEO John Baker at 1.40am Wednesday morning.
The email inboxes of his fellow councillors and shire governance manager Amanda Sapolu would have received the message at the same time.
Further delay over prayer or pledge
Councillors last week voted against giving the public a say on four options for starting meetings.
The options suggested by Cr Antonella Celi included retaining the traditional prayer; rewording the prayer to delete any reference to “God”; replacing it with a pledge; or observing one minute’s silence.
Both state and federal governments start sittings with a prayer that mentions God as well as an acknowledgement of country and traditional custodians.
In December, council decided on saying a pledge rather than the prayer at the suggestion of newly-elected councillor Anthony Marsh.
Despite the change of wording, it was still listed on the agenda as a prayer In-house lawyer, governance manager Amanda Sapolu, advised that as long as what councillors were saying was called a prayer, there was no need to seek public consultation before changing the wording.