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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-AU link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72"><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#1F497D'>Re-send<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b><span lang=EN-US style='mso-fareast-language:EN-AU'>From:</span></b><span lang=EN-US style='mso-fareast-language:EN-AU'> Tony Moffat [mailto:tonymoffat@bigpond.com] <br><b>Sent:</b> Monday, March 12, 2018 8:53 PM<br><b>Subject:</b> Drover, the blue whale of the District<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black'>There are a few racecourses in Victoria, some with training facilities. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black'>I worked for a man in central Victoria for a while and he had racehorses, his family did. He was not connected with their training, or anything too much really, that was the job of the trainer, picking the races, getting a jockey, feeding, watering, exercising, the things that trainers do. All of this means, or requires organisation, and it seems this trainer didn’t have that. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black'>The Boss horses were brown, and that was the total of their similarity, one was a mare, the other a gelding, one had a white fetlock, the other three, one was twice the size of the other. It was that last trait that caused some laughter in the stewards room once.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black'>Rover, the girl, and Drover, the gelding were their stable names.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black'>Rover was entered in a race one day at a different town although it depended on some variables if she got a start or not. She could be balloted out. She was this day, excluded, one reason being she had no jockey, non-declared, up to 11.00am. The plan by the trainer was to find some kid when he got there, he said that, he told the stewards, the other being she was the last horse nominated and did not meet the form criteria for the race, for horses with up to two wins in the District, and she had no wins anywhere. She was not on course at the required time also, they had to be in the stalls a couple of hours. They had a full field, 14 may be, there being no spare kids, Rover was balloted out. The trainer stayed for the races, left Rover, tethered and thirsty and meant to return home in the cool evening. The owner found this out, the trainer had not informed him that Rover was being nominated, to be excluded.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black'>Rover had been entered in a second race, the next day, on her home course, as a back up to anything preventing her running the first day, the day when there was no jockey, insufficent form, out of class, late arrival. The second nomination, the second day, was never supposed to be a backup for the first calamities. The trainer spoke to a kid at the first race meeting and they struck up a deal for him to ride Rover the next day, he was going to be there for other rides, so yeah, pleased to. So he used the race secretary fax and fired off a form, confirming Rover running, with a jockey, in tomorrows race, he was a day late, but it was done.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black'>The owner found the following out, the trainer had not informed him that Rover was nominated for this upcoming race.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black'>The trainer tried to get away, in the cool of the evening, but there was the social aspect, then they asked to borrow his float, two horse size and they would be back pronto, promise. By 2.00am the party was winding down for day one, the trainer had been asleep in the back seat of his car, when his float was delivered to him, and thanks all round. Rover was ok, moved out of the wind, watered, a feed, a good feed too, borrowed from one of the big boys down river, and well, he, the trainer, was so tired. So he went to sleep with the best intentions of leaving first thing, an easy run on a good road, straight to the course, meet the staff there, he had other runners and a good supervisor. He slept on until the birds made it impossible to do so.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black'>He woke up in the sunny morning and went to check on Rover and she had moved, she was now picking at the grass near the fence of the car park and played a little game with him before acceding to capture and loading on the float. He was late, he knew it, and he rang the yard and spoke to his man. It seems an indictment, a blight really, that the next thing occurred, the three stable employees were involved. They took Drover to the course as Rover, not to undertake the race, just be the four legged requirement in the runner stalls and not incur the wrath of the stewards, yesterday they warned him, perhaps not again today. It was dumb what they did, but they did it. Essentially they took Drover from his nap after a feed, Drover, the blue whale of the District, he is big, he is big and known, and today he was Rover, even bandaged on his front feet, like Rover is on race days, and Drover is never bandaged, he is clean legged all year.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black'>The first inspection came and went, all good, stall R6, a brown horse, discernible mark on shoulder, dimple on neck, strapper in attendance. Second walk through stall R6, farrier in attendance, filing, plate decision unknown, plates on. No mention or recognition that Drover was a male, and Rover, absent at present, was a girl, a horse with a girls name, something, something Thora, truly.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black'>The trainer was on the way, in fact, he came off the ridge just then and he could see the silos in the distance and the course is in their shadow, all good. He parked outside and unloaded Rover and tied her to the float, he went and got Drover, and quietly walked him around the back to a row of stalls and tethered him there. He went and got Rover and took her through the washing bay, just a refresher, the legs, the belly, she likes the hose on her neck, she is a bit skittish, she is a bit worked up, ready to race really he said. Poor Rover hasn’t worked a muscle for a couple of days, had grass for breakfast, although she had the best horse gourmet last night. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black'>Rover was installed, brushed, bandaged on her front and the trainer went to attend to other business, clients, horses, two others, the jockey. The stall steward, or whatever his title, wanted an answer regarding Drover. He is out of his stall, why, and he is not nominated to race today, why is he here. He is here for comfort for Rover and I tied him there while I dealt with business associated with training, he said. Oh well, the Stewards may hear about this. The Secretary said don’t worry about it. The stewards did come, and invited him back afterwards, about the late jockey nomination for starters, and well there were other things, we will talk about them with you then.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black'>The trainer wanted details there and then, he felt compromised, he felt he had done something wrong, terrible, the jockey factor was one, unavoidable really, there had been runners excluded because of the non-appearance of jockeys up this way before. The stewards were forthright, transparent, it is about Drover occupying Rovers stall, being Rover-like while the real deal was still arriving. The trainer felt strongly enough to say he would not allow his horse to run, he felt picked on, compromised, he had a slight delay getting on course, he had been warned about slackness, their word for lateness the day before, he had not meant to be contemptible, he did not trick the stewards, he was running a business and sometimes this requires decisions not normal. So they left him for the time being, and questioned the staff, why was Drover bought over, and of course they told them why, for what reason, and apologised for being stupid.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black'>Rover was scratched, the jockey got paid in the circumstances, just his fee. Drover got away and like his stable mate, had a nibble of the grass in the car park. The trainer was informed he should remain on course today, the stewards had questions. His other runners would be scratched as it was interpreted that the trainer wanted that, he said that, he had said he had finished running his horses in this District. He may have been rash in saying that, and denied he meant it to be, but the receiver of the tirade heard it, as did the secretary and the girls in the kitchen and probably some in the grandstand. So the stewards asked him separately for each horse, the others and not Rover, and he asked to re-consider, he had a public relations storm with 4 groups of owners if he withdrew and scratched everything else today, so they stayed in and ran. There was no joy from them.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black'>My boss, the owner of Rover and Drover, Exposure, Clover, Sober and some others known more for their real names and not the apparent espionage swapping of titles, arrived on course to be told by the trainer staff what had happened, and an apology. He laughed, it’s just a game he said, just an interest, until the hearing when he was told, in the pre-amble, that Rover, and perhaps Drover, could be outed, was there subterfuge or deception, was Drover going to run, he was bandaged, explain that, explain the thinking behind occupying a runner stall with the mammoth of the District, why is that not holding the stewards in contempt when the only reason, you say, was to inform the stewards by demonstration, that a runner purporting to be Rover was on course.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black'>There was some funny aspects to all of this, sadness too, which is may be what comedy is, sadness or tragedy re-visited really. The trainer said he had the best interests of his clients and his horses. The stewards maintained he did not. He had his best interests to forefront, and by substituting Drover for Rover had ridiculed the racing authority in the District. There were measurements mentioned, hands, weights, gender, the bandages, what were you thinking they asked his staff, tell us there is a problem then resolve it they said, don’t do that, don’t use Drover for that. The second steward is a big man, a full forward in a Riverina League some time previous, the stenographer is tiny, like 5 stone, and the steward got them to stand side by side for the benefit of the committee and he asked now, ‘which one is Rover’ and the trainer got it right, Rover is the girl he said, he was meant to add also something about the size but didn’t. The steward did, it was he that bought the ‘blue whale’ counter phrase to the hearing. They laughed, and laughed again when the trainer asked for it to be explained.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black'>He got fined, he had to be monitored for a few months by the racing department, he had to submit his returns on time from now on and not when he thought he might, or remembered, it was acknowledged he was a horseman with the best interests of himself and his client secondary to that of his runners, it had to be explained to him that this was a compliment.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black'>He was left with three horses total, but was hopeful of attracting new business. My boss moved his to Warracknabeal, and consolidated his racing operations there. It got going too, they had some country cup wins, always the hallmark of success. He took the staff on course on easter Monday, a big day locally, for a sit down meal and some terrible music and good racing.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black'>Drover remained a pet, hanging around the workshop, and sleeping on the veranda of the old house, He was big, and shiney brown, and nearly always watched and over saw the unloading of the dozer, then you backed up and followed him to the pit, and over took him, they are pretty nifty in reverse those TD25s, really. Rover was sold on, to become a broodmare somewhere.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:#1F497D'>Drover had a rival, size wise, when Rocker arrived in the District, trained by the school teacher in the one horse town further east, you saw those two trotting on the old railway embankment sometimes. He had raced, our Rocker, but he was a pet now. He was big too, the reason he is being spoken about really. Rockers parents had figured in Blamey Stakes and big efforts in Adelaide, Drover didn’t have a pedigree really, just a past.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black'>Cheers<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black'>Tony<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div id="DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2"><br />
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