RAMORNIE HANDICAP TRIP PHOTOS....Part 2...plus a few ring ins

By Phil Purser

20/07/2010

You don't see many female bookies gracing the racetracks of Australia but Grafton has one - and her name is Kerrie Borger. Kerrie told me she hails from Port Macquarie and that she is one of the Grafton Carnival's longest serving bookmakers. What's more Kerrie was one of the bookmakers that led the charge out on topweight Border Rebel in the Ramornie. In fact I noted she was the second person in the ring to go to $4 when I took this photo. Kerrie will be fielding at the Port Macquarie TAB meeting this afternoon.

Readers will note Forestreno was $16 on Kerrie's board when I took this photo - and a stack of $17 each way was bet on course on ths day, however in some Darwin outlets the horse was $18 into $11 - before clocking in second to Pinwheel.

After Kerrie Borger went to $4, Goondiwindi based bookmaker Graeme Scheu trumped her at $4.20 - and the charge to get the horse out was on. Funny how bookies know isn't it?

Graeme Scheu kept Forestreno to himself as his travelling group had drawn the horse in the Calcutta at the Yamba Bowls Club the night before and I'd told him the horse could win as he'd run the fastest last 600-metre sectional in Hay List's race. He told me later that Pinwheel's victory over Forestreno had made a $7,000 difference in his book - compared to if they had arrived the other way round.

Then this bookie who could surely get a part in a Hollywood western movie - M. J. Sylvester - blew all the rest of them in the ring away when he went to $4.80 Border Rebel just as the horses arrived at the barriers. I got out of the area real quick before I had the temptation to have a bet on him if the top class sprinter went to $5. Was the horse missing a leg or something?

What other bookies were fielding at the meeting?

Well Robbie Waterhouse was up from Sydney. Notice he's paying a quarter of the odds for the place and his place odds are displayed? Remember that bit of information.

And Vince Aspinall was down from Rockhampton and was actually praying when I took this photo. Wonder has he got his own private jet these days, as he sure gets around. Vince's charming wife Judy was with him, working out the back of the stand, so that's another couple of Queenslanders who were in town for the shindig.

Here's another bookie board - that of John Cramp - and he too is betting a quarter of the odds for the place, with the place odds displayed. Remember that bit of information - are you starting to see a pattern here?

But then I came across other bookies who were fielding at the Grafton Carnival who had signs up saying they were only paying "one fifth of the win odds for the place". One such bookie was Pat Kilkenny from Bega - and these are Pat's boards. I'd like to know why some bookmakers in 2010 are paying one quarter of the odds for the place and others are paying one fifth, as it makes a big difference to the punter. Furthermore, I wonder how long the rule has been in place which allows bookies to do it any way they please (eg one quarter, or one fifth) for the place? So be aware of that when you are betting on course, or where you are betting with an on-course bookmaker. Why would a punter have an each way bet with a bookmaker betting one fifth of the odds for the place when they can have a bet with one a few metres away betting one quarter of the odds for the place? I was told by a few people on course that if the bookmaker wants to pay one fifth of the win odds for the place he must advertise that fact - and Pat Kilkenny was certainly advertising that fact even though the photo doesn't show it. A red worded notice came across his boards advising the fact.

This was the good size crowd in just one part of the betting ring that I photographed from the Grafton members area. Can't get crowds to the races hey? Garbage.

Dan Nikolic was snapped being interviewed on course after he'd returned to scale aboard Sir Lago following that gelding's victory in Race 4 at $3.60.

Back at beautiful down town Yamba and this was the Calcutta board at the Yamba Bowls Club after Tuesday night's Ramornie Calcutta. Some people paid big money for horses with no hope as you can see. In fact Kennys World was bought on a single bid of $300. That would have nearly bought the whole horse. Then they all wanted horses with no hope like The Sixties - but anyway, to each his own.

First prize was $3,300 and that would take you a long way in a bus. Graeme Scheu and the blokes from out there drew and kept Forestreno, hence "Texas" is the name next to that galloper.

At Yamba this place - the Moby Dick Motel - was a nice place to lay the swag down. Stick with me and I'll show you the view from the apartment window first thing the next morning.

How's this for a wonderfully peaceful view to welcome Ramornie day? The pelicans lined the Moby Dick Motel's private jetty, where guests can fish off - for the Justracing camera. Thanks a lot - you gorgeous creations of nature.

Interesting some of the number plates you see around the traps on a trip like going to the Ramornie. This one I spotted at Yamba - and it features an interesting mix of numbers and letters and it's actually named after a business, as per above the numbers and letters.

On arrival in Grafton you can see that people come from all over the world for the big sprint. James Bond obviously flew in for the Carnival - and he didn't even try to mask his identity. No one would have spotted him in the older style car - if only he hadn't brought his personalised plates with him.

Play A King won Race 5 at Grafton on Ramornie day and here is the King Cugat gelding strolling home easily at $6.50 for trainer Gerald Ryan and affable jockey Michael Cahill. Daylight ran second - and in this race a horse called Intoxicated ran ninth at 8/1 and I want to know why stewards didn't swab Intoxicated, as all they had to do was put a halter on him, walk him to the front gate - and ask him to "blow into this". Show you what I mean.

What a great idea this is for patrons - you can check if you are under the limit before you jump in your jalopy. Stewards could have seen if Intoxicted was in fact his namesake, but they didn't even try to walk him to the front gate. On a serious note, the local police did set up breathtesting down the bottom of the road in front of the entrance to the racetrack, so anyone who got caught had their chance to blow into this unit first.

Back to the score at the Test and this is Michael Cahill being interviewed on course after scoring aboard Play A King.

Oh - and by the way Race 5 at Grafton was not without incident - as soon after the finish line Newbold Prince collapsed on the track. Jockey Dale Spriggs, father of that young apprentice Blake Spriggs, who just happened to ride five winners at Rosehill last Saturday - bailed out just in time and can be seen standing to the far left of the photo. Would you know Dale Spriggs, who is a pretty accomplished jockey in his own right, if you were standing next to him in a Woolies aisle? Hang on then.

Well this is Blake Spriggs father - Dale - close up, from a file photo in Brisbane one day.

The Jackal's coat gleamed as he paraded for the Ramornie. Jockey Robert Thompson was deep in thought. Robert clocked in fourth on the Paul St Vincent trained galloper who makes his home at the country music capital of Australia - Tamworth. He's been everywhere to race The Jackal, so maybe the country music hit "I've been everywhere" - recorded by Lucky Starr in 1962, Hank Snow in 1963 and Johnny Cash in 1996 - would be appropriate to play upon his retirement. His fourth in the Ramornie took his prizemoney tally to $980,675 - so he's almost a millionaire thoroughbred. As a matter of interest he needed to run second in the Ramornie to take his earnings over the million dollars.

Here is a photo of some of the strappers returning to the enclosure after they had walked their charges out on to the course proper for the Ramornie Handicap. Can you identify any of the three males in the photo?

The answer is in the last photo.

Gold Coast based apprentice Michael Palmer rode one of the website tips - roughie Lifebuoy - in the Ramornie and they clocked in third. I snapped Michael checking in with the owner and trainer after the race. Lifebuoy started officially at 30/1, but they bet as much as 40/1 each way on course.

Back at Yamba and if you are going fishing out of Yamba harbour it is obviously a good idea to kiss the bride hooray, as well as the kids, as you board your boat - just in case you get shot.

The beach at Yamba has a beach pool you can swim in - when it isn't closed - and it is interestingly an olympic size swimming pool that is kept full by the ocean waves. It was "closed" when this photo was taken, but there were still people swimming in it. They got washed out to sea soon after this photo was taken - and were last seen passing New Caledonia, with their hand still raised the next day. Pity Kevin Rudd wasn't still Prime Minister - he'd have had them picked up.

The Ballina bypass works are progressing well at both ends of that town. That Ballina bypass work is mentioned in today's Justracing story - and this is a photo of some of the progress.

From last Saturday's racing in Brisbane who noticed the off side winker of the Kris Lees trained winner of Race 6 - Castellani - fall off the horse as they got to the 300-metre mark? That's the winker after it has just hit the ground. Could have been dangerous and caused a horse to shy, but in this case all's well that ends well.

On leading Brisbane rails bookmaker Lindsay Gallagher's report on Justracing yesterday, I made mention of how well Tonic had been tuned up by trainer Darren Weir for a first up tilt at Caulfield last Saturday after she hadn't raced since 29 August 2009. Young people, or new punters, need to have a real good look at what a horse that has done a stack of work for a first up tilt looks like - and go and have a bet on them if they fancy the horse, particularly when she'd changed stables since she last raced. This is her about to enter the barriers last Saturday at Caulfield and you can see what she's paying on all totes around Australia at the same time. Most horses that haven't raced for nearly a year would be fat both externally, as well as internally. Tonic certainly isn't fat externally by having that amount of rib showing, so get on - with at least "a spec bet". Darren Weir is obviously a good conditioner of a horse as proven by the fact that horses he trains win plenty of races over ground. Some trainers can only train sprinters, whilst many can train neither sprinters or stayers, but I can't put their names up here, or we'll all be in court. Thanks Darren, what a great tonic to an otherwise ordinary day of punting.

ANSWER: The first male, in the suit, in the Grafton strappers photo above is apprentice Tim Bell who is suspended - and he strapped Border Rebel in the Ramornie.