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Vale Miller's Guide

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Tontonan View Drop Down
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    Posted: 26 Oct 2016 at 5:54pm
It needs to be mentioned somewhere.

After something like 145 years JJ Millers Almanac and Sporting Annual is no more.  

Dennis Huxley fought the good fight and tried to keep it alive in the 21st century (with a little help from Betfair) but the book the horse racing tragics called 'the bible' couldn't survive the digital age.  

I'd like to publicly thank Dennis for keeping it going for as long as he did.  

I think it is absolutely appalling that the racing industry has been prepared to sit on its hands and watch this institution crumble.  As something of a racing historian I can honestly say the Miller's Guide was more useful to me than anything the racing industry has ever done in terms of bringing forth the history and heritage of the Australian racing to new generations.

The web site which hosted all the Melbourne Cup, Caulfield Cup and Cox Plate results as well as a terrific archive of past champions race records has been taken over by Crown bet and given a 'facelift'  As is usual with such things the made over site is not a patch on the old one and the entire archive of past champions records has completely disappeared.

The Miller's Guide only lasted as long as it did because back in the day before computers (when the Cup nominations numbered well over 500)  it published the weights and all the form for all horses nominated for the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups as well as the results of all Australian principal races and loads of argument settling records of sporting interest. 

I miss it already.



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furious View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote furious Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Oct 2016 at 6:41pm
Sad for all Tontonan.  Books like that were worth their weight in gold.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Carioca Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Oct 2016 at 8:28pm
Wonderfull piece of work Tontonan, have one on my table while I post, with Racetrack.recently and now this great publication a sad time for historians of racing!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote saintly96 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Oct 2016 at 8:31pm
Very sad for the keen racing historians.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Mayor Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Oct 2016 at 10:09pm
Yep, another printed publication that couldn't survive in the digital age. I remember seeing my first Miller's Guide at my grandfather's house when I was a whipper snapper, and was hooked ever since. A wonderful resource to have on your desk, especially when arguing on internet forums about which horses were better from years gone past. I must admit I haven't purchased a copy for a number of years and was always surprised when I saw it on the newsagent shelves for another year. Thanks for the post Tontonan. 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote djebel Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Nov 2016 at 11:27am
Wish I'd seen this post earlier, My Newsagents that I got this from each year had no idea it was no longer coming.


reductio ad absurdum
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Jamal View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Jamal Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 Dec 2016 at 1:13pm
Here is a link to Millers Guide

https://millersguide.crownbet.com.au/
Australian racing is only good up to 1400m in terms of world standards when it comes to depth/quality in numbers
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote The Ear Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Dec 2016 at 6:43pm
The digital age is putting pressure on almost every printed publication, and most newsagents are only surviving on commissions from lotto tickets, as newspaper sales plummet. It is well rumoured that The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald's week day editions are to be discontinued. My favourite old paper was the Saturday Sporting Globe, delivered to newsagents about 6.30 pm, with a big crowd of punters around the paper shop awaiting the "pinkie" to arrive.
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Tontonan View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Tontonan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 Feb 2017 at 9:10pm
Good news !

While Miller's Guide is no more the old web site - including the full results of every Melbourne Cup, Caulfield Cup and Cox Plate and the library of past champions race records -  is still online at 


Happy days.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Passing Through Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 Feb 2017 at 3:23pm
It seems to have disappeared again 
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Tontonan View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Tontonan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 Feb 2017 at 1:54am
Whoa.  Bandwidth limit exceeded.  Maybe it was supposed to be a secret.  But it is certainly demonstrates that there is audience for the material that was on the site. 

Fortunately I managed to download the whole site before it disappeared.  One of my better ideas.  It fit into 75mb on my hard drive and works perfectly. 

 
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Tontonan View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Tontonan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 Feb 2017 at 2:34am
OK.  This is the entire Miller's Guide Past Champions Index loaded to Google Drive.  I haven't done this before but I have given it a trial run and it works perfectly - and is virus free according to Avast. 

To download it click the following link and right click the folder called MillersGuide.  It will zip the contents and transport to your computer. You can unzip them anywhere you like.  It occupies about 5.2mb.  In the folder is a file called Index.  This will open your browser on the familiar Milliers Guide Past Champions Index and links to the career records of over 200 champions including about 95% of all Melbourne Cup winners. 

Bookmark the Index page and you will be able to access the Index at anytime whether you are online or not. 

Here is the Google Drive link....

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Tontonan View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Tontonan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 Feb 2017 at 2:37am
If anyone actually tries this and it works for them please let me know. 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Passing Through Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 Feb 2017 at 6:51am
Thanks Tontonan, Thumbs Up worked fine. I had copied most of them to Word files as well as the stuff on Racehorse Talk, but had missed a couple of dozen, mostly internationals. I will take this opportunity to copy the rest 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Tontonan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 Feb 2017 at 12:02pm
Excellent.  

I have the Cups and Cox results as well but that is a bigger download (about 75mb) but I will get around to putting it on the Google Drive.

If you are into collecting champions race records I presume you have also been to 


It is the mother lode.


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Passing Through Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 Feb 2017 at 12:05pm
Yes thank you. I got the link from your profile page Excellent resource 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Summer Regent Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Nov 2019 at 11:24am
I'm not certain whether this has already been covered, but BetEasy has revived the old Miller's Guide. I haven't seen the print edition but there's plenty of old racing records (full results of major races like the Doncaster back to the first running and others back at least a few decades) at https://beteasy.com.au/millersguide/




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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Passing Through Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Nov 2019 at 11:26am
They had a couple of copies of it sitting on the desk of the racing,com show with Ross Stevenson last night. It looks to be about 3 inches thick, a lot bigger than the last one I bought about 6 years ago.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Xavier Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Nov 2019 at 11:36am
I’ve got a box full of them and other racing stuff in my shed that were left to me by my late grandfather.
I need to sit down and go through them all one day.
Karl and Susan Kennedy are my heroes
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Passing Through Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Nov 2019 at 11:38am
If you have old Turf Monthly and Racetrack magazines, they are fantastic. I threw out boxes of them about 20 years ago and have regretted it since.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Summer Regent Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Nov 2019 at 11:46am
I sold my old 70s and 80s copies of Turf Monthly on EBay for a good price many years ago, but I've regretted it as well. At least I photocopied some of the articles. 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Carioca Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Nov 2019 at 11:49am
Originally posted by Passing Through Passing Through wrote:

If you have old Turf Monthly and Racetrack magazines, they are fantastic. I threw out boxes of them about 20 years ago and have regretted it since.

silly man.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote acacia alba Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Nov 2019 at 11:52am
I have an old tin trunk under the house ( in an enclosed area ) full of them.  Just hope the mice havnt got in and made baby beds out of them.
animals before people.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Xavier Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Nov 2019 at 12:01pm
I reckon I’ve got probably 1000 different things shoved in this giant box, they were just gonna send it to the tip!! Sorting them is on my neverending list of things to do
Karl and Susan Kennedy are my heroes
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Summer Regent Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Nov 2019 at 12:07pm
In Turf Monthly, there was a great series by Warwick Hobson in the late 70s called the Racehorse Register, potted biographies/career records of 100s of greats and not so greats from Abercorn to Ziema. It's a pity there's no market for a similar type of magazine combining punting and history today.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Passing Through Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Nov 2019 at 12:10pm
And they broke them down into categories...the best sprinters, best milers, best stayer, mares etc going back to the 20's 30's and 40's. Fantastic resource for history nuts.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Carioca Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Nov 2019 at 12:14pm
Never a comic to be seen in the stables when I was a lad, just Turf Monthly , Racetrack and Sports Novels, they were like a raggedy old hat by the time the young und got their hands on them, a great read, like mums mashed potatoes sadly missed.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Mayor Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Nov 2019 at 6:50am
Sad times when the Miller's Guide is no more. Possibly the first ever words I read were from the Miller's Guide. School kids of today will never realise the absolute joy of spending your lunch money on the shiny new Miller's Guide that you purchased at Flinders Street station.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Baghdad Bob Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 Dec 2019 at 4:15pm
Millers Guide is somewhat similar to all the hundreds of racing and sporting books, many are hardbacks, I have accumulated over the years. Time has caught up with books and newspapers. Many years ago I appeared on the old World of Sport on a segment Beat The Champ, at at that time I established a library of sporting books from cricket to golf to racing to tennis to you name it,  but as the years have passed I now do not know what I am going to do with them as my wife says " they are cluttering up the house and when we downside from our four bedroom they will have to go." My sons ( millenniums, who have moved out ) are not interested in such books, I will probably give them to an opportunity shop as I cannot be bothered putting them on EBay.  

BTW, another forumite "Colonus" also appeared on Beat The Champ,with quite a bit of success.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Carioca Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 Dec 2019 at 5:36pm
Was that about the time Ron Casey was in charge Bob? I recall big Jack and Lou had a segment , watched it regularly when time permitted ( racehorses, always busy) many laughs fwiw.
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