Of Diamonds that are Blue

Here's a little bit of trivia.. I've never had a diamond ring, or a diamond of any sort.  Gifts of jewellery, or other precious items, have been few and far between.  

What makes me speak of diamonds????  Tomorrow I have to get up at 4am to catch a plane to take me to Caulfield Racecourse.  The race meeting in question is what makes me begin this post talking about diamonds (or the lack thereof in my case).  It's Blue Diamond Stakes Day at Caulfield tomorrow.  I've photographed this race every year since Paint won the race in 1996, missing only Nadeem in 2006 with baby Jessica being so little that year.

Blue Diamond Stakes Day is a great days racing and despite the fact that the day will again be warm, there are some really wonderful horses racing at "The Heath" tomorrow.  None more so than the Famous Pony Black Caviar's half brother, a lovely strong colt called All Too Hard.  He's bred by my friend Rick Jamieson, of Gilgai Farm fame, and is out of the blue chip mare Helsinge, and by the Flying Spur stallion Casino Prince.  I've photographed just about every member of this illustrious family, so I feel like I have a real connection to the family as a whole.

I still haven't packed my bags, so will shortly turn my attention to this task.  I went out today and bought some funny comedy DVDs so that my house is a funnier and happier place at night, and I'm watching Rowan Atkinson, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie and Tim McInerny in the 4th season of Black Adder (sigh, Hugh Laugie - "Permission to speak, really quite urgently Sir!!!!".  Then Stephen Fry "Damn and blast your goggly eyes, will you stop interrupting George.... Makes you want to jump over the top and yell 'yah boo sucks to you Fritzy!!!!'" - it's a funny show.....).  I was hoping a friend would be there tomorrow, but he's going to be at one of his fancy farms, and will apparently be watching for me on television, so I had better pick out a pretty dress to wear!

All Too Hard (Casino Prince - Helsinge)
Miracles of Life (Not a Single Doubt - Dazzling Gazelle).  "Barbie" is one of the favourites for the Blue Diamond.
 




Comments

  1. The OwlFebruary 24, 2013 at 3:08 PM

    An amazing win and nice to see one happen for all the right reasons!!!
    Singles is proving to be a boy on the rise . . . first Karuta Queen and now baby Barbie! They look like sisters and they've got the same blistering speed. I think Singles has the flaxen chestnut gene ...

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Joyous Family

Image
Another famous and successful thoroughbred family that I have a reasonably complete library of is the family of the champion racemare, More Joyous.  She is a bay mare, foaled in 2005, which makes her a year older than Black Caviar. More Joyous is by the great American black stallion (and one of "my Boys") More Than Ready.  She's out of the Sunday Silence mare Sunday Joy, who was out of the grand broodmare Joie Denise (who died not all that long ago). Sunday Joy won the AJC Oaks in and is a half sister to Tuesday Joy. All 4 mares were/are owned by John Singleton and reside at his gorgeous Strawberry Hills Farm at Mt White, NSW. More Joyous and Nash Rawiller.  Futurity Stakes, on Blue Diamond Day.  26 February 2011.  One of my favourite images of the great mare. More Joyous, like her contemporary Black Caviar, is now closer to the end of her career than the beginning. But it is one I've chronicled in a similar fashion to the way I have documented the
Read more

The Legacy of Eight Carat: From the Vault Volume I

Image
We have been back in lockdown here in Victoria. Lockdown 5.0 to be precise and as a result it made us go back to feeling like sad sacks.  After having seen off Lockdown 4.0 a teeny tiny bit triumphantly, where we saw off both Delta and Kappa variants (evil beasts that they are - curse you stinky COVID - curse you), we had literally only just gotten back to work before being very suddenly plunged back into Lockdown 5.0 after the visit of those very nice removalists.   'Thanks very much!!!!' we all shouted indignantly!!!!  A key difference with Lockdown 5.0 was that half the country also into lockdown at the same time which made us feel slightly less sad.  The Victorian Government doesn't muck about anymore when it comes to outbreaks.  Their reaction is swift and severe and not at all namby pamby.  I just wish the same logic would be applied to Sydney which continues to deteriorate, much to my dismay.  This week we took our first tentative steps out of Lockdown 5.0, hurrah f
Read more

The physical drain of riding horses

Image
Most people agree that the life of a jockey is a difficult one.  There are a handful that rise to the top, and do extremely well out of the Sport of Kings.  The vast majority however struggle with their weights, and do their best to avoid and/or overcome injury.  Anyone who has ever been pelted off a horse would know that it doesn't tickle!  And of course the older you get, the more it hurts!  We used to fang around on our ponies, bareback, in headstalls and leadropes, never wearing a riding hat.  Completely fearless, and I am sure that on the odd occasion I parted company with my horse, I used to bounce.  In fact I rarely used to fall off, unless the horse came down as well, I guess all those years of galloping around bareback meant my balance and ability to swing my body with the horse was pretty good.  I'd like to say that I could still ride the same, but age and the maturing mind catches up, and you start thinking of the consequences of 'what if I come off', which
Read more