Racing and breeding love their rags-to-riches stories, like the black Bletchingly colt passed-in at auction who became a king, or the $20,000 yearling filly who reigned supreme on Slipper day in 2017.  But occasionally we’re in thrall when the big guns come out, the giants of the game looking to make their powerhouse empires more... Read More

Ron Gilbert turned away from the pitiful sight before him, and stared into the Darling Downs hills to gather his thoughts.  It was a scorching Queensland February day. Half an hour earlier Gilbert was sitting down to watch the 1999 edition of a breeders’ “must-see” – the Blue Diamond Stakes. A phone call from a... Read More

“It’s called line-breeding when it works, and in-breeding when it doesn’t,” is the old line, the sardonic joke that salves some of the wounds from the capricious lottery of making horses.   Fine lines indeed.   They’re being put under the microscope again, and in this instance starting to bear results, with a horse named Significance –... Read More

As a punter, if you get overs, you’re often waiting for a rude awakening: those despised words as you confirm your bet – “Win odds have changed” – or the dreaded scratching of the favourite at the barrier, and its loathsome companion, deductions.   Similarly, when you’re buying horses and you score unders, you might be... Read More

Sometimes in breeding and racing you’re rewarded for your own judgement. Sometimes other people’s decisions work for you.  The latter is the case concerning former WA Supreme Court judge Robert Anderson and Elite Street, who completed an undulating journey in rising from fourth in a Pinjarra maiden six months ago to becoming a Group 1... Read More