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Mick Kent

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Sunline Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 Jul 2017 at 2:24pm
Yep. What Noccy said. And please don't suggest I was on Data Point. I cut that cord a long time ago!
Sunline...simply supreme
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote subastral Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 Jul 2017 at 2:34pm
In Mick Kent style, Royal Order will now win today after an awful run last start and Supido will get rolled......
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote crooked_gambler Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 Jul 2017 at 4:38pm
Went to his stables once, never again.
This space has been intentionally left blank
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote djebel Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 Jul 2017 at 5:01pm
Originally posted by SkyDancer SkyDancer wrote:

If he can get Galileos Pearl to win today then I'll declare him one!

Somebody is backing it.


reductio ad absurdum
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote vaopoaljsie Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 Jul 2017 at 5:05pm
Originally posted by djebel djebel wrote:

Originally posted by SkyDancer SkyDancer wrote:

If he can get Galileos Pearl to win today then I'll declare him one!

Somebody is backing it.



Looks like he'll need it, still a bit round.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote deejays destiny Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 Jul 2017 at 5:08pm
Originally posted by vaopoaljsie vaopoaljsie wrote:

Originally posted by djebel djebel wrote:

Originally posted by SkyDancer SkyDancer wrote:

If he can get Galileos Pearl to win today then I'll declare him one!


Somebody is backing it.




Looks like he'll need it, still a bit round.


And it wins
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote djebel Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 Jul 2017 at 5:09pm
Back to the turf, and soft turf at that, was probably the trick 
reductio ad absurdum
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote SkyDancer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 Jul 2017 at 5:13pm
M Kent you genius!!

Such an honest little trier in his work, has had a really bad tendon injury - so great to see him back and winning. Also big congrats to M Walker on the win
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote vaopoaljsie Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 Jul 2017 at 5:14pm
Shows how much I know about horses.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote 3blindmice Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 Jul 2017 at 5:36pm
Thankfully Supido did the job also. 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Bi Carb Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 Jul 2017 at 9:44pm
Originally posted by Nocturnal Nocturnal wrote:

Originally posted by djebel djebel wrote:

Originally posted by Sunline Sunline wrote:

Interesting trainer. Plenty will tell you he's a genius.


What inspired this comment ?  LOL
probably because he is a myth
 
Agreed Noc
Make it sound like you have special knowledge and the dummies will fall for it.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote ThreeBears Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 Jul 2017 at 1:30pm
If nobody else tells you how good MK is then MK certainly will. Been doing it since he was stable foreman and "trained" an Oakliegh Plate winner ( Gleaming Waters ). Just ask him.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote djebel Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Jul 2017 at 3:01pm
Originally posted by SkyDancer SkyDancer wrote:

M Kent you genius!!

Such an honest little trier in his work, has had a really bad tendon injury - so great to see him back and winning. Also big congrats to M Walker on the win

And he puts him back onto the polyester surface. 

5/2, no thanks.


reductio ad absurdum
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Magnolian Khan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Jul 2017 at 3:54pm
Strange placement, looked at wet tracker to me
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote tillyras Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Jul 2017 at 3:57pm
Has won on the Synthetic before, strips fitter from his last start.
1900 also suits.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote djebel Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Jul 2017 at 4:06pm
Too good.

I trust you stuck solid tillyras ?

Had that won a long long way out.


reductio ad absurdum
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Magnolian Khan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Jul 2017 at 4:06pm
Originally posted by Magnolian Khan Magnolian Khan wrote:

Strange placement, looked at wet tracker to me


This horse might be pretty good
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote djebel Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Jun 2018 at 11:43pm
RIVAGE (NZ)Bay colt 2014 
Roc de Cambes
Bay 2004
Red Ransom
Bay 1987
Roberto
Bay 1969
Hail to Reason
Brown 1958
Turn-To
Nothirdchance
1951
1948
1-w
4-n
Bramalea
Bay or brown 1959
Nashua
Rarelea
1952
1949
3-m
12-c
Arabia
Bay 1977
Damascus
Bay 1964
Sword Dancer
Kerala
1956
1958
1-o
8-h
Christmas Wind
Bay 1967
Nearctic
Bally Free
1954
1960
14-c
6-b
Fairy Lights
Bay or brown 1995
Fairy King
Bay 1982
Northern Dancer
Bay 1961
Nearctic
Natalma
1954
1957
14-c
2-d
Fairy Bridge
Bay 1975
Bold Reason
Special
1968
1969
19-b
5-h
Gay Fantastic
Bay 1983
Ela-Mana-Mou
Bay 1976
Pitcairn
Rose Bertin
1971
1970
7-a
3-g
Gaily
Bay 1971
Sir Gaylord
Spearfish
1959
1963
2-s
11>
Emerged
Chestnut 2007
Bachelor Duke
Bay 2001
Miswaki
Chestnut 1978
Mr Prospector
Bay 1970
Raise a Native
Gold Digger
1961
1962
8-f
13-c
Hopespringseternal
Chestnut 1971
Buckpasser
Rose Bower
1963
1958
1-s
16-g
Gossamer
Bay 1991
Seattle Slew
Bay or brown 1974
Bold Reasoning
My Charmer
1968
1969
1-k
13-c
Lisaleen
Chestnut 1982
Northern Dancer
Lisadell
1961
1971
2-d
5-h
Alabama Rose
Bay 2001
Cape Cross
Bay or brown 1994
Green Desert
Bay 1983
Danzig
Foreign Courier
1977
1979
7-a
A4
Park Appeal
Bay or brown 1982
Ahonoora
Balidaress
1975
1973
1-m
14-c
Alabama Whirly
Chestnut 1993
Bold Rancher
Chestnut 1987
Rancher
Rose of St George
1979
1974
18>
9-c
Sobrica
Chestnut 1984
Cantabrian
Somardia
1972
1979
13-a
C28
 Ancestor duplications:Nearctic5f,5m x Northern Dancer4m x 5f
reductio ad absurdum
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote djebel Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Jun 2018 at 11:47pm
Won impressively today at Ballarat debuting over a mile.

Be interesting to see how far he gets both class wise and distance wise. Basically bred to be a miler.

Mick Kent is not afraid to start his horses over a bit of ground, It is a shame he never seems to get any of the stamina laden imports that are wasted with the likes of Weir and company. It would be interesting to see how he went with a horse that has already matured and been developed into a stayer.




reductio ad absurdum
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Sneck Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 Jun 2018 at 12:51am
Originally posted by djebel djebel wrote:

Won impressively today at Ballarat debuting over a mile.

Be interesting to see how far he gets both class wise and distance wise. Basically bred to be a miler.

Mick Kent is not afraid to start his horses over a bit of ground, It is a shame he never seems to get any of the stamina laden imports that are wasted with the likes of Weir and company. It would be interesting to see how he went with a horse that has already matured and been developed into a stayer.




Why doesn't he get them? Would honestly be on my shortlist if I had an imported stayer.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote correctweight Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 Jun 2018 at 1:11am
Had Illustrious Blue didnt he
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote correctweight Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 Jun 2018 at 10:22am
Sorry he had unusual suspect not illustrious blye
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Gay3 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Sep 2018 at 11:06am

SHUT THE GATE – swarms of Cup raiders “now out of control” says MICK KENT

September 12, 2018 1:48 pm

The internationalisation of the Melbourne Cup was fundamentally a good idea but one which has now spiralled out of control and potentially threatens the livelihood of Australian industry participants.

Enough is enough.

When it all began with Dermot Weld’s Vintage Crop winning the Cup in 1993, Bart Cummings warned that foreigners would squeeze the locals out of our race.

That year there were just two overseas trained runners in the race. Last year that number was eleven with a further seven imported runners. There were just five Australasian bred runners and none finished closer than 13th.

In 2016, there were nine overseas trained runners and a further eleven imports. Just four runners who were born in either Australia or New Zealand.

This year we have 50 nominations from England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Germany and Japan. That’s not far short of one third of the total number of entries. The Caulfield Cup has attracted 27 internationals.

There’s unlikely to be enough places at the Werribee quarantine/training centre to accommodate all those wanting to come – let alone for any Aussie who fancies making a late European or UK purchase of a potential Cup runner.

And now we’re paying $150,000 prize money down to 12th. Why wouldn’t they come? They’re just encouraging at least two more with that payment to 12th.

The problem is further exacerbated by the number of overseas horses now coming for other spring races. Charlie Appleby has made an art form of it and good luck to him. Fair play to him as our English friends would say and he works for Godolphin which employs a lot of people here (and worldwide) so the money drain is not a disaster.

But do these horses add anything to stimulating crowds and turnover? Quite the contrary, I’d suspect, when it comes to turnover and what happens when an independent trainer and owner/s rips a few million dollars of carnival prize money which will never be reinvested here in any form.

When Appleby won last year’s Cranbourne Cup – a tasty morsel often won by local or near local trainers such as Ken Keys, John Rattle, Robbie Laing, Peter Gelagotis and Matthew Enright (and me) – plenty of locals were aghast to see two RV officials high-fiving each other. Maybe they just backed the horse but it wasn’t a great look.

The prize money has been lifted for the spring’s three major races which you could argue has been enabled by the turnover generated by the hard-working locals providing the ‘product’ for night racing on Thursdays and Fridays.

Yes, the VRC has endeavoured to program more suitable distance races, but it’s no easy task nowadays to get a runner in the Cup which is effectively a quality handicap and the visitors know exactly what rating their horse need to have to gain a run.

Ratings which I suspect are sometimes a touch inflated. I don’t agree that the overseas stayers are necessarily lengths better than ours. It’s just that everybody here – bar Lloyd Williams who’s not sourcing his horses locally – has just about given up.

Australians, at large, have stopped trying to develop staying horses.

Let’s not forget it’s just three years since the New Zealand bred Prince Of Penzance won the Cup and fellow Kiwi-breds Criterion and Gust Of Wind finished top six. Who Shot Thebarman ran very well in 2014 and 2016.

It’s not that long ago that we had three ‘local’ wins on end with Efficient, Viewed and Shocking. Viewed had 53 kilograms and I wonder if he’d have made the cut had there been more visitors that year while Shocking had good spring form but only got in by the skin of his teeth after winning the Lexus.

They’ve taken away the dream. It used to be every Australian trainer’s dream to win the Melbourne Cup. Not now. They, and most of their clients, dream of winning a Golden Slipper or The Everest. I fear the stories of Michelle Payne or school teacher Wendy Green winning with Rogan Josh or Kiwi trainers like Snowy Lupton winning the Cup will be gone. Good heavens, it’s 20 years since a bona fide Kiwi trainer, Brian Jenkins, won the race.

I wonder at the overall economic impact of the push for internationalisation. Aside from the potential prize money leak, there is the spend on recruitment and entertainment.

What overall impact has the push had on domestic spending on yearlings or mares to breed from or even on local tried horses?

The solution is not clear cut, as I while I would advocate some form of ‘invite only’ which would perhaps be limited to six horses, I also appreciate that’s difficult given the race is a handicap.

But I do believe we ought not sit back and do nothing. Make local qualifying conditions easier. It is, after all, a handicap so I see no issue with telling the potential visitors that they are paying their money and taking their chances. There’s no guarantee you’ll get a run. After all, the English spend most of their training lives trying to secure the best handicap mark for their horses and taking their chances.

Perhaps a million-dollar bonus for any Australian or New Zealand bred horse who wins any one of our three major spring races. A lesser bonus for any horse who wins a stakes races beyond 2000 metres.

The other consideration is that there are now an awful lot of eggs in this international basket. Heaven forbid there’s an outbreak of strangles or some other contagious disease at Werribee. The Melbourne Cup would be wiped out.

By: Mick Kent


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote furious Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Sep 2018 at 12:49pm
Well racing in NSW suffered from EI from the quarantine facility so the last statement isn't so unreasonable.

But Gai would have at least one or two to offer.  Waller could probably supply ten of his geldings.  You could chase the Perth Cup winner and New Zealand so I'm sure the race could still be run.

Also I've found we underestimate anything thats a stayer with (AUS) after its name.  Now take Destiny's Kiss.  He's not a 3200m horse but constantly wins over the imports.  He is often the top weight unless something like  Who Shot thebarman (NZ) turns up.

So in recent years Fanatic (NZ), Poppiholla (NZ), Who Shot thebarman (NZ), Zacada (NZ), Sir Charles Road (AUS), Sin to Win (NZ), CHequered Flag (NZ), Anton En Avant (AUS), Megablast (NZ), All I Survey (AUS), Master of Arts (NZ), De Little Engine (AUS), Mujadale (AUS), Like a Carousel (AUS), My Diamantine (NZ), Pop 'n' Scotch (AUS), Prince of Penzance (NZ), Criterion (NZ), Purple Smile (AUS), Tunes (AUS), Real Love (AUS), Viva Espana (NZ), Parthesia (NZ), Etah James (NZ), Runaway (AUS), Rezealient (AUS), Wolf TOne (NZ), Anemoi (AUS), Dornier (AUS), Parthesia (NZ), HIgh Mode (NZ), Mujadale (AUS), Trendsetter (NZ), Cool Chap (AUS), Etymology (AUS), Bullish Stock (NZ) etc have all won or placed in stakes events over 2800 to 3200m.

So I think the field could be filled.  But the owners of half these horses wouldn't even think to enter in the Melbourne Cup.  Light weights miss the field these days even though more than 1/2 the time the top weight is trained in Australia.  That 53 - 54 range is filled up with the imports.  But I'd like to ask how a G2 placegetter in France over a distance gets over here and runs on 52 when an Aussie horse often wins a race over a distance and get weighted out of anything there after - unless your an iron horse like Destiny's Kiss.  He carrries 60 kilos to win over imports with stakes form carrying 53.  It's not hard to see ratings and weights don't always match.

Though the otherside can occur also with Boom TIme and Single Gaze on 52 and 53 in the Caulfield Cup last year beating Johannes Vermeer on 59.  Let's face it I just can't sort weights out in our handicaps.

It seems the Victorian Trainers are not happy at the moment as I read another story from Mick Price complaining about prizemoney differences between NSW and Victoria.  Well NSW had to go through a very tough time with EI then the court case to win the back of none TAB bookmakers.  Victoria didn't help carry the cost or even back the effort.  It was looked upon as a lost cause but it did set NSW's up for the future.

We have to stop seeing anything with any speed as a non stayer.  Can you imagine our racing history without the great Kingston Town winning stakes from 1000m to 3200m.  Just because you have speed doesn't mean you can't stay and staying is not a second class horse.  We need to keep our staying female lines healthy.  You need both but if you look at it the best recent broodmare in Australian history was the Oaks winner Circles of Gold.  Or look at Criterian's dam record also and he could go a distance and well as sprint.

Pure speed needs a grinder in the mix also every now and then to stop just getting 800m wonders. 

We don't know what our horses are capable of these days because no one seems to send them out over a distance.  We have a couple of young stallions capable of getting that 2400m (at least) horse so I hope they don't suffer from lack of effort to get them out winning over a distance.  It seems that the dearer the buy the least likely they will try to make them stay.  
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote furious Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Sep 2018 at 12:50pm
that should read backing of non TAB bookmakers
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (2) Thanks(2)   Quote furious Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Sep 2018 at 12:53pm
I might point out that Northern Hemisphere trainers have even got Exceed and Excels to stay.  Likewise you see Fastnet Rocks out over a distance (he had trouble winning at 1200m).
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Sister Dot Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 Sep 2018 at 12:05am
Originally posted by djebel djebel wrote:

Originally posted by SkyDancer SkyDancer wrote:

M Kent you genius!!

Such an honest little trier in his work, has had a really bad tendon injury - so great to see him back and winning. Also big congrats to M Walker on the win


And he puts him back onto the polyester surface. 

5/2, no thanks.


Surely on the comeback from bowed tendon, racing on synthetic does not bode well?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Gay3 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Sep 2019 at 6:42pm
https://player.whooshkaa.com/episode?id=423473

There’s a saying that you should never trust men in bowties or people who wear dark glasses on cloudy days.

Mick Kent is a bit of a hermit who rarely draws attention to himself, so there’s little risk of him popping up anywhere in a bowtie.

But Kent does wear dark glasses on gloomy days. (He says the sun burns his eyes, others reckon he likes to hide, or is arrogant).

Fortunately, Kent CAN be trusted, not just as a successful and imaginative trainer but as one of racing’s most astute “thinkers.”

Kent never does pre-race interviews, declaring them a mozz, and rarely sits still for long enough to be contained to a radio studio for an hour.

But the Cranbourne trainer was lassoed into the RSN studio for Open Mike this morning where he spoke expansively on a range of subjects.

Here are some snippets.

On the announcement this morning that David Hayes would return to Hong Kong to train, Kent, who spent a decade training in South-East Asia himself, said it was “probably a marriage made in heaven.”

“He has a good team of horses down here he can pull from and a lot of clients want to buy yearlings and make a profit selling them to Hong Kong. I think it’s a really smart idea.”

Of his seven years in Singapore (and later two in Macau), Kent said “I got there very green.”

“I just wanted everything to win. It just doesn’t work that way up there. You become a betting advisor.”

“When you say the horse can win, they (owners) want it to win obviously. You had to be pretty right.”

Kent said the art of setting up a horse for a punt up there meant that quite often “some of your lowest class horses are your best horses.”

Kent first stumbled across the “science” of training while in Singapore, via an expert in lactic recovery. The first guinea pig was a horse imported to Singapore from Aidan O’Brien.

Ridden in traditional style, the horse proved disappointing, even though its lactic recovery figures on the treadmill had been through the roof.

“I was lying in bed and had one of those Eureka moments. I sacked (Mick) Dittman, put Shane Scriven on, on the dirt, nine furlongs. I told him when you get past the first corner, as soon as the pace slackens, off you go. He won by eight. Next start at 2000m he won by about 10.

“I thought “geez, I don’t know anything about training horses.”

Kent later found a cardiologist who rated the heart scores of horses, a key to performance. “You’re not going to be elite unless you’ve got a V8 engine,” he said.

Of buying horses locally, Kent said “it still frightens me, the cost of a horse, for how many are any good. It’s a bad equation.”

Kent spoke of “speed genes” and a failed attempt to breed and prepare locally bred stock to win the Melbourne Cup.  Dubbed the “ANZAC Fightback”, the concept attracted enthusiasm but not investors.

Of breeding, owning and training local stayers, Kent said: “I think people have given up a bit.”

“I’m sure we have the blood, it’s just the approach (that’s lacking),” he said.

Kent continued his passionate push to save Sandown, saying he wondered if it was truly in the Melbourne Racing Club’s charter to sell it.

“I wonder about the legacy,” he said.

He spoke of the biggest bet he’d ever had – a Flemington winner at 25-1 – and also ventured into the delicate topic of female riders and the greater risks they face, at least statistically.

By Matt Stewart

Wisdom has been chasing me but I've always outrun it!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Foxseal Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Mar 2020 at 9:49am
Mick has been running pretty hot over the past few months - 13 winners from his last 50 runners.

Heard that he’s closed the Cranbourne stable at the end of Feb to take extended break of up to a year. Anyone know what the story is there?

Always been one of my favourite trainers & his views on the future of the racing industry whenever he’s been interviewed on RSN have been intelligent & on the mark.
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Champion
Champion


Joined: 25 Mar 2016
Status: Offline
Points: 9890
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Shrunk in the Wash Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Mar 2020 at 9:54am
I saw him at a pub in the Hawkesbury a few weeks back
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