It might not have the bells, whistles and Godzilla-like million dollar marketing budget of something like the Everest, but The Pinnacles, Perth’s Spring Racing Carnival and the world’s only single track racing festival- Ascot Racecourse-featuring a Group One race worth at least AUS$1.5m for three consecutive Saturdays, has given racing in Western Australia a new buzz.
Frankly, anyone who tries to bring something new to anything, where so much of what is produced often dissipates into clichés, should be embraced.
As for WA racing, it’s been ignored for years by those in “the East”- Melbourne, Queensland and New South Wales. Perhaps it has to do with the scheduling of horse racing in Oz? Maybe it’s something else...
When winning is the name of the racing game, it’s always been easier for us to win by following the races in WA- even in somewhere like York and beautiful Broome.
These days, and though William Pike is back again riding in Perth, the jockey ranks are competitive. The Wizard is up against the Parnham boys, Clint Johnston-Porter, the very much improved Lucy Warwick, below, the up and coming Holly Watson, the guile and experience of Paul Harvey plus excellent trainers like Neville Parnham, Simon Miller, Daniel and Ben Pearce, Adam Durrant etc.
When at the peak of his riding powers, Douglas Whyte was a fairly regular visitor to Perth, won the coveted Railway Stakes aboard Scales Of Justice for Lindsey Smith and returned to Hong Kong singing about the Feel Good factor of the racing over there.
Having always enjoyed visiting Perth, it’s a friendly and chilled city. Many of us talk about when Perth hosted the OneMovement Music Festival with a weekend of ‘live’ by acts from around the region at the Esplanade.
This event had everything to be so much more and it’s unfortunate that no one has revived OneMovement. It would definitely add another layer- a sustainable younger and entertainment driven layer to horse racing.
On Saturday, the Group 1 Railway Stakes was won by Trix Of The Trade, trained by Mr Colin Webster, 84, and ridden by the trainer’s one-time apprentice Troy Turner. Very well done. It was a fitting result.
The W.A. Guineas was won by Amelia’s Jewel ridden by Patrick Carberry and trained by our friend and everyone else’s friend Simon Miller.
It was, quite rightfully, an emotional win with the same team also taking out the last with Above The Peg. Apart from tweaking the wagering landscape and offering more bangs for one’s buck, what we’ve noticed with the promotion of the Pinnacles is the WA racing media led by leading racing writer Julio Santarelli and “Diggers” and the Clitheroe Kid on Tabradio being enthusiastic cheerleaders of the concept and with the rest of the racing fraternity happy to be giving with their time. The Pinnacles has also attracted support from Godolphin, Waller Racing and others from “the East” who have sent runners for the three major races. This of course adds credibility and another dimension to what is still a new brand.
With no time difference between Perth and Hong Kong, what we really cannot understand is why the Hong Kong Jockey Club has never had even one simulcast from WA.
Personally, we feel that the racing from Hong Kong and WA coming together on a Saturday afternoon, even as an experiment, is long overdue.
This partnership just might surprise both parties and with the marketing of horse racing having a much needed facelift.
After all, nothing stays the same forever.
Not even Cher.
#thepinnacles #perthracing #westernaustralia #lucywarwick #OneMovement #douglaswhyte #railwaystakes #williampike #trixofthetrade #ameliasjewel
