AROUND THE WORLD
Volume 1 | Week 6
🏆 TOMMY’S REPORT
“Morning, everyone.
Finn appears to have gone missing in action.
I sent him overseas to keep an eye on racing around the world, and somewhere along the way he seems to have forgotten there’s a bloke back home waiting for his reports.
So this week I’ve called in a few favours, spoken to a couple of old mates and used a few other sources of my own.
Turns out you don’t need Finn to find a good racing yarn.
Don’t tell him I said that.”
A spark, a photograph, two young Aussies in Japan… and one little letter that changed a horse’s name
🇦🇺 🇦🇺 Australia - DIFFERENT GRAVY — ONE FOR THE FUTURE
Sometimes the best thing you can give a good horse is time
There’s something fascinating about racehorses.
They can be fit. They can be sound. Everything can look right on paper.
And yet sometimes that little spring in their step simply isn’t there.
Henry Dwyer knows Different Gravy has ability. Last spring the son of Ghaiyyath announced himself with a strong win at Flemington, but when he returned this year Henry felt something was missing.
Not physically. Nothing was wrong with the horse.
He just hadn’t quite come back as the horse they knew.
Then came the Queensland Derby.
Different Gravy finished fourth at Group 1 level and showed enough to suggest that some of the old spark was returning.
At the time, Henry told Terry, a racing fan who would later found Race Day Co, that it was good to see Different Gravy getting somewhere near his best again.
But there would be no rush.
Different Gravy headed for a good spell after Queensland, with Henry looking beyond the glamour of the Melbourne spring.
He said the idea was to bring him back in late spring for a race such as the Ballarat Cup before potentially aiming higher in the autumn.
Even that return would depend on the horse.
Because Henry already knows the ability is there. Different Gravy has won at Flemington and, even when everything hadn’t quite fallen into place during his preparation, finished fourth in a Group 1 Queensland Derby.
So perhaps this isn’t really a story about where Different Gravy races next.
It’s about waiting.
Waiting for a talented young stayer to come back in his own time.
Waiting for Henry to look at him one morning and see that familiar horse again.
And most of all…
waiting for that spring in his step.
🇬🇧 UK - THREE HORSES, ONE FINISH LINE — AND A TICKET TO MELBOURNE
York’s famous Ebor gave the judge a headache
Imagine racing nearly 2,800 metres, weaving through a field of 22 horses, reaching the famous York straight…
…and after all that, nobody can tell who won.
That was the Ebor.
Daiquiri Bay, Hopewell Rock and Opportunity thundered towards the post almost together, leaving jockeys, trainers and thousands in the grandstands staring towards the judge.
The photograph eventually gave it to Daiquiri Bay.
Trainer Alan King had pulled off the plan, jockey Rossa Ryan had delivered the ride, and their four-year-old had won one of Britain’s great staying handicaps.
But 17,000 kilometres away, Australian racing fans had another reason to take notice.
The Ebor carries a golden ticket into the Melbourne Cup.
Daiquiri Bay had just earned one.
Whether he actually makes the enormous journey to Flemington is another question. Connections have indicated Australia may not be on the agenda.
But that’s the wonderful thing about the Melbourne Cup.
Somewhere on the other side of the world, three horses can hit a winning post together…
…and suddenly Australia becomes part of the conversation.
Explore more: The Ebor & Melbourne Cup
🇯🇵 NZ - THE YOUNG AUSSIE AND THE 58-YEAR-OLD MASTER
Zac Lloyd went to Japan and nearly pinched the whole thing
Australia sent two pretty handy jockeys to Sapporo for Japan’s World All-Star Jockeys series.
Damian Lane we knew plenty about.
But 22-year-old Zac Lloyd gave Japan something to remember.
After the first day, Lloyd led the international competition after riding two seconds from his opening two races.
Then Japan’s old master went to work.
Norihiro Yokoyama, still riding at 58, won two legs of the four-race series and finished with 63 points.
Lloyd finished second with 58.
And just to make the Australian showing even better, Damian Lane finished third with 56.
So the podium read:
Japan.
Australia.
Australia.
For Yokoyama it was a record third victory in Japan’s international jockey series, 17 years after his previous win.
For Lloyd, it was another reminder of just how quickly his career is travelling.
Twenty-two years old, riding against some of the world’s best in Japan, and missing the title by five points.
Not a bad weekend away.
Explore more: World All-Star Jockeys
😂 ANDREA — THE RACEHORSE WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO BE ANDRE
One extra letter and there was no going back
Trainer Tony Ball and his wife Barbara had come up with a clever name for their $5,000 gelding.
His sire was Graff.
Tennis legend Steffi Graf married Andre Agassi.
So naturally…
Andre.
Perfect.
Except Barbara was filling out the registration paperwork one night and accidentally added one tiny letter.
Andre became Andrea.
By the time the mistake was discovered, the name had stuck.
Tony reckoned changing a horse’s name might be bad luck, so Andrea he remained.
There was even a perfectly respectable Plan B.
If he couldn’t be named after Andre Agassi, they could always claim he’d been named after Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli.
Problem solved. 😂
And Andrea doesn’t appear particularly bothered by the administrative identity crisis.
Tony says the gelding is still a big baby who wants to chew everything and play, but believes he has plenty of ability.
Some racehorses get their names from great champions, family history or carefully researched pedigrees.
Andrea got his because somebody accidentally typed an A.
And somehow we like his story better.
Explore more: Andrea
