First race start. 1100m Maiden at Geraldton

The Dog had a spell after that first trial and came back in top form. His first race came up and drew a great deal of excitement amongst us all. He drew gate 11, and ran a slashing 3rd by a head with Chris Usher on board. He did everything right in the run and gave us a glimpse that he would be a handy type.

I was in London visiting friends Connie and Nic, with my mate Chris. I woke up early and listened in over the telephone via dad. This was to become the norm in his early career as racing radio had not gone to air. The results are here.

First Trial

After his first prep, we put the Dog into his first trial at Ascot. The only thing we wanted was that he behaved himself. Well he did, walked straight into the stalls with Robbert Quartermaine on board. It was a good show of behaviour. He ran 8th by 10 1/4 lengths and that trial field was nothing to write home about. There were 9 starters, and excluding Tapdog they have raced 121 times for just 6 wins, and only 3 of the 9 had a win!

Yearlings out in the paddock

Clive and Dad flew over to the Scone yearling sales to pick up our first batch of babies. Dad had always wanted to have a crack at picking out his own breeding lines and decided Scone was the place to go. Clive is the master at legs and he traveled with dad. The first year they picked out 3 babies, who were to go on and be named Tapdog, Hurrying Home, and Commanche. Here they are in the paddock in the first year back.