Those Riverboats

I mean how can I fail to comment on this: the race horse Chautauqua, won its third T.J. Smith Stakes in a row. And has as a consequence taken its earnings to higher than that of the greatest horse we have seen in modern times - Black Caviar. 

The T. J. Smith is named after one of the greatest, maybe three or four in fact legendary Australasian trainers of all time, Tommy Smith. The race itself has a total purse of $2.6 million with $1.5 million going to the winner, who now has amassed $8.36 million in career earnings overall.

Chautauqua after it won the Chairman's Sprint in Hong Kong

How can I fail to comment now when I told you about this horse, perhaps, what more than two years ago? Probably I'm exaggerating but It's a while ago anyway. 

So how can you tell a truly great horse right at that early stage... I will get onto that shortly, but let's face it, nothing's ever really easy - even for millionaires like the horse's owners who do nothing but pay the feed and vet bills and cut a bit off the top for the trainer and the jockey and the stable-hands and track-workers when the cheques clear.

Yesterday, this horse played an April Fool's Day joke on everyone and must have sent the owners into paroxysms as it went around the track perfectly last behind a big ruck of good horses. Two hundred meters out I gave the horse no chance of running a place, a hundred out some chance of maybe running fourth, and by fifty out I realized the thing had already won it on momentum and it was still three lengths behind the leaders.

It isn't an overly big horse, and it
has a large head from this profile and it dances, rather
than walks or runs

It was easily one of the most dramatic wins I have ever seen and one of the fastest finishing runs.

If you ever get to count your money on the plane (or riverboat) out, this is the way to do it. 

There is no thrill in life that comes even close to having your own race horse win big money. The feeling is inexplicable and one can only understand what others in that situation might feel if you've been there yourself and I have.

Great race horses are 'visible' early on as yearlings. They have a style of behaving when you place them together with other horses of their own age. And they are what's called 'good walkers.' Well, they don't walk and they don't run - they dance.

Great race horses have a dancing style of movement and it's very obvious to the schooled eye. And there's always 'something' about their face, and their eyes...

But from this angle, you can see it's head cuts the wind and it has a
naturally aggressive but confident look about it