James McDonald and Chris Waller miss group 1 glory at Caulfield, as Henry Dwyer goes from Longchamp to Hamilton.
Brave sprinter Asfoora led trainer Henry Dwyer around the world.Credit: Getty Images
far from paris
Less than a week after becoming the first Australian trainer to win a group 1 in France, humble horseman Henry Dwyer, who celebrated with an elaborate meal of “escargot, foie gras and frog legs”, was stopping for chicken pot pie at Dunkeld’s Izzy’s Café on his way to the Hamilton Cup.
“I love these domestic cup meetings, I’ve been going to them since I was a kid,” Dwyer said on Sunday.
It’s been a whirlwind 18 months for the popular Dwyer, who surprised the racing world in June last year when his powerful mare Asfoora won the 1000m group 1 King Charles Stakes.
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Since then he has shaken hands with King Charles, won the group 1 at York and secured Asfoora’s history-making victory in the Prix de l’Abbaye at Longchamps last week.
But the contrast of dining out in Paris and being at Hamilton Racecourse on a Saturday afternoon was not lost on Dwyer.
He said the philosophy behind the Ballarat-based boutique training operation had always been to do things differently.
“It’s hard to think that with a 50-man squad you’re going to win Melbourne Cups and coaching championships and things like that, so you pick the things you can do and we thought getting Asfoora there and winning group 1 was an achievable target,” he said.
“But we never thought we would win three group titles.”
Not bad for an unwanted one-year-old forgotten in the sales.
Dwyer said Asfoora had been left in the UK for a while to prepare him for further training at Royal Ascot before releasing him into the breeding paddock next year.
For the record, Dwyer’s runner Chasing Aphrodite suffered a head knock in Saturday’s Hamilton Cup, while he won an earlier race with the six-year-old Northern Barrage, who won only his second race in 22 starts.
“Of course he’s not going to go to Europe and win the group 1s, but they (winners) can come from anywhere and that’s the exciting part,” Dwyer said.
Brayden Star (right) wins the Herbert Power Stakes at Caulfield.Credit: Getty Images
‘The toughest horse ever’
The fallout from last year’s Melbourne Cup safety protocols, which saw five horses scratched over eight drama-filled days, continues to reverberate 12 months later.
One of these horses, Brayden Star, won the 2400m group 2 Herbert Power Stakes at Caulfield on Saturday.
The seven-year-old horse was ruled unfit to race in last year’s Melbourne Cup by Racing Victoria vets because CT scans showed he was at “high risk of injury” and “unfit to complete”.
At the time, assistant coaches Trent Busuttin and Nat Young said they were “confused” by the decision.
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“Our team is extremely disappointed as our horse has never been happier, healthier and in excellent shape externally,” Brayden Star’s ownership group said in a statement.
However, there were no such concerns on Saturday after those who remained competitive crossed the pole in first place.
“He’s the toughest horse you’ll ever see,” Busuttin said of Brayden Star.
“There have been no cortisone injections, of course the Melbourne Cup is of different standards and so are the scans.
“But when he was scratched from the Cup we were as flat as ever because we knew there was nothing wrong with the horse. And as you can see, there is nothing wrong with him now, so it’s simple.”
Racing Victoria continues to maintain that stringent safety protocols have ensured the Melbourne Cup remains immortal since its introduction in 2021.
No tracking of horse deaths
If a horse dies in a race and there is no footage or subsequent review, does that horse really die in the race?
Racing Victoria continues to walk the tightrope between genuine animal welfare concerns and brand protection in its ongoing dealings with mid-race deaths.
Last month, the Ciaron Maher-trained gelding Chorlton Lane became the latest horse to be euthanized at the course after suffering a serious leg injury during the group 1 Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes at Caulfield.
There is no suggestion or finding that the untimely death was anything other than a racing accident, but once again there was no publicly available evidence.
Images of the injured Chorlton Lane generally disappeared. As is common practice at Racing.com, the industry’s media arm, horse falls and horse deaths are edited from replays. Race is a form of censorship.
However, what is more worrying is that after each of these racing deaths, although the public was told that “the incident would be forwarded to the Caravan Veterinary Services Department”, no findings were disclosed.
Racing Victoria has been contacted for comment.
John Kanga has resigned from the Melbourne Racing Club board.Credit: EddieJim
Kanga left a spare seat in the panel
John Kanga’s shocking resignation will continue to cause ripples throughout the racing industry throughout the spring.
Kanga had left, along with billionaire owner Jonathan Munz, to sit on a five-member panel to interview candidates for two vacant positions on the Racing Victoria board in the coming weeks.
But his decision to step down as chairman of the Melbourne Racing Club on Friday means the interview panel is suddenly one man short. Suitable candidates are recommended to Racing Minister Anthony Carbines, who appoints them to the board.
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The panel usually consists of a rotating group of stakeholders: one member from a major metropolitan club, one member from Country Racing Victoria, one member representing the Minister for Racing, the Racing Victoria chairman and one member from the remaining groups such as trainers, owners or jockeys.
It’s the Melbourne Racing Club’s turn to fill a seat this year, so it remains to be seen whether Kanga’s replacement as MRC president, the relatively inexperienced Cameron Fisher, will fill the vacancy.
Interestingly, Munz, president of the Thoroughbred Owners Association, retained his seat on the panel for two years, although normally the turn would pass to the next stakeholder.
As it stands, the RV board will spend the spring with two directors missing, following the resignation of deputy chairman Sharon McCrohan last month to join the AFL and the decision not to fill the vacancy left by Mike Hurst, who retired in June last year. Tim Rourke was named the board’s new vice president.
Safety in large numbers
Safety numbers were in place at Caulfield on Saturday and hats off to the Melbourne Racing Club for ensuring more than 18,000 people got onto the course without incident.
MRC members had complained at the last annual general meeting over concerns that Caulfield Racecourse had reached its final deficiencies in terms of its liquor licence.
Photos showing coffee cups and water bottles being confiscated at the front door were shared on social media, while an elderly member complained of being sternly told to empty the contents of her thermos on the floor before being allowed inside.
However, MRC has assured this imprint that the Caulfield liquor license is not under threat and will continue to “operate in full compliance with all licensing obligations under Liquor Control Victoria”.
It’s hard to disagree with this. The extra security detail is a small price to pay in the battle against the scourge of underage drinking that plagued the Caulfield Cup carnival more than a decade ago.
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