Monday, April 14, 2008

Autumn Racing Carnival – Week 11

Having followed the carnival from the first Group One race of the season in February to the present, and with several more meetings to go, this autumn carnival appears to be never ending. Mostly this extended season is due to a rescheduling of the Sydney carnival from its program of past years. This is in part was caused by the equine virus crisis and the early advent of Easter.

Still, for racing fans it is a good thing having the carnival stretch from summer to early winter.

I missed posting my preview last week – no time – but there were three Group One races on the cards last Saturday. These were the South Australian Derby and the Goodwood in Adelaide, and the Rosehill Guineas in Sydney.

The results of these races were in the main unexpected with outsiders Shadoways winning the Goodwood and Dealer Principle winning the Guineas. The wonderful filly Zarita beat the boys in the Derby. She’s certainly become a potential star this autumn having won her last three starts. Another filly Grand Journey won the Western Australian Derby the weekend before last.

The coming weekend of the 19th April sees the running of the premier two year old race, the Golden Slipper, always an interesting race often with unexpected outcomes. Last year’s winner Forensics has proved her metal this autumn by winning her last three starts after being disappointing last spring.

Also on the program next Saturday is the BMW and the George Ryder Stakes in which Weekend Hussler will be trying to emulate the achievements of the mighty Kingston Town by winning 6 Group One races in a season.

Even though this race meeting will be televised I doubt I’ll have a chance to watch as Basement Discs will be celebrating International Record Store Day on Saturday and I feel obliged to attend the event for a short while at least. I can probably nick out to a nearby TAB outlet and watch the races if the event clashes with one of the races I am keen to watch.

Record Store Day is an initiative involving independent record stores around the world, to encourage people to continue buying CDs rather than downloading music. Good idea, I think, as I haven’t got an iPOD or MP3 player myself (much as I’d like one) I prefer to listen to music on a home stereo, where the quality of the music can be heard in all its intended glory.

The Basement Discs
will be hosting an extravaganza of live music with several local artists donating their time to perform a few songs. Included in the line up are Lisa Miller, Jeff Lang, Chris Wilson and Spectrum, to name a few. Check out the Basement Discs web site for more information.

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