The ATA Cup at Asc on boxing day...Daka's Gem streaks them

Although racing well out of his class, we headed to the city for an important continuation of the campaign. We drew up against Daka's Gem who looked a weight certainty. He certainly won like it, rounding up the field on the corner and sprinting away. Daka gem followed this up with a 2nd in the Detonator Stakes, then 4th and 2nd in the PINJ and BUNB cups respectively. The Dog ran a nice race and copped a bit of interference. We went home pleased and ready for one more run before

Another Cup and Win # 12. The Christmas Cup over 1800m

We continued the campaign at Geraldton with a step up to 1800m and the Dog lumped 60kg to get up by a length. This was a really tough win, giving 7kg away to the fast finishing Pagan Prince. A 1/2 length win at the end and the Dog had brought up his 4th Cup win. We were certain to meet a few of these again in the Gold Cup just a month away, so this win gave us a good deal of confidence that we were right in with a chance.

Peter "bear" Day was on hand to collect the trophy with his wife Jeanette.

Back to Gero for a 1600m open

The campaign continued back at Gero in an open 1600m. The Dog jumped a $2.6 fav again, with 60kg on his back. Without winning, it was a solid run again with the weight and the prep was on track for the Cup.

1600m at Asc on 12 Nov 2005

After the saddle mishap we were back to the city over 1600m. We drew the grandstand in br 14, but the Dog needed this run in his campaign towards a second Gold Cup so we took a claimer, and rode for luck. Harvey had drawn in gate 13 and we were sure he would go forward. The riding instructions were to follow Harvey and see. That's just how it panned out, but Kim Invader with Harvey on board took all before it and won well. The Dog finishing in 7th place 3 3/4L from the winner.

Off to Ascot...and the saddle slips

The Dog was racing as well as ever over the shorter distances, so we lined him up for a city run over 1400m. We opted for a claimer to get weight relief and improve our chances. All our plans came unstuck when the saddle of Jessica Valas slipped at the 1000m mark. This was not a happy day. Traveling down all that way for such a silly mis-hap had Clive without words. A little digging around we found out that there were quite a number of apprentices sporting new fly weight saddles with elastic webbing. They had been banned unofficially. Our hard-earned hit the dirt with not even a story to tell.

Win # 11 the Diab Engineering Sprint, 1200m

After 1 run then a trial, we lined the Dog up against the Gero sprinters. Although he carried 59kg
he still jumped out as $2.9 fav and was always traveling well enough to win. Coming around the bend he was just off the pace, then took the split through the fanning pack and punched through to win.

Sep 17th 2007 at Carnarvon over 1200m (2nd)

This was his first start for the 2005 summer and he carried 63kg at CARN and sprinted well fresh. Just failing to catch Irish Henry and running 2nd.