Zaaki, the horse on everyoneâs lips, but how did he get here? By Bruce Clark 03:37am ⢠24 May 2021
So how do you go about buying the hottest box office star in Australia racing right now?
Well you have to call Stu Boman in Newmarket, England and ask him how he landed on Saturdayâs jaw dropping Doomben Cup winner Zaaki from the Tattersallâs Autumn Horses In Training Sale last year.
Over four long days, there were 1625 lots catalogued, in all shapes, sizes, ages and budgets.
Aussies were prevalent on the settling sheet, but there was Lot 706, signed for in a private sale by Blandford Bloodstock, thatâs who Boman works for, and Annabel Neasham for 150,000 Guineas. (Thatâs a quaint English currency so in this short history lesson a guinea equals £1,1s (one pound and one shilling). This is the same as £1.05 in modern money, it was used to price luxury items like cars, suits and jewellery to make them seem less expensive.
To paraphrase a successful senior jockey – good riders don’t need instructions and bad ones don’t follow them .
I note this in the wake of another messaging own goal coming from Racing Australia in a seemingly bizarrely timed Good Friday eve statement announcing an amendment to the Rules of Racing in relation to riding instructions.
This is the one that cemented jockeys only receive riding instructions from a trainer or owner of the horse they are riding.
Again in seeking – in RA’s own words – they didn’t want jockeys to be confused by receiving “conflicting riding instructions”.
Where did this come from? Where were the serious concerns raised, discussed, tabled and wrapped into this change? Which were later written away as merely formalising a “chain of command”, if you can get your head around that.
Industry condemns new Racing Australia rule regarding riding instructions
Industry pans new Racing Australia rule regarding riding instructions by Punters.com.au Damien Oliver talking with trainer Symon Wilde Image: Getty
An amendment to the Rules Of Racing which will prevent jockey agents and form analysts providing tactical instructions to jockeys has been met with widespread criticism.
In a release about the upcoming change, set to come into effect on May 1, Racing Australia said it was aware of the increasing prevalence of persons other than trainers and connections - such as riders agent and form analysts - providing tactical riding instructions to jockeys .