High Sparrow

I noticed the astute Tony Pike and the equally-astute Nigel Tiley (a former top rider who is a master at setting horses for races) pulled off a nice double for the Kiwis at the Sunshine Coast races yesterday with Intrigue scoring for Pike and Tiley winning with Carrera To the Max, a debutante. Leith Innes rode both horses. Impressive training effort by Tiley to ready the daughter of Snitzel for this one first-up in heavy ground and the money came in bucket loads for her too. Hope they got plenty even at the short odds.

Well done to lynzim and Thepaw on a dominant performance, kicking to the front about three furlongs from home and sticking to their task doggedly. Thanks to my bracketmate Think Pink. We needed the run after getting stuck in that malfunctioning starting gate but all in all a class act ran out deserving winners on the day. Thanks again to Maria for a great comp. I really admire the way you calculate all that stuff so quickly. Brilliant work from Chestnut.

Good Luck to my No. 24 bracket-mate Think Pink. Hoping for the lightweights to Think Big! Here's my lot: Have a great Saturday people. Thanks again Maria for managing some great comps. 1. R5 Arawa Park 2.24pm – 2, and 11. 2. R1 Morphettville 2.41pm – 1 and 7. 3. R3 Caulfield 3.05pm – 1 and 4. 4. R7 Arawa Park 3.34pm – 10 and 16. BB. 5. R5 Doomben 3.50pm (Quinella Race) – 1 and 7. 6. R6 Doomben 4.30pm – 1 and 3. 7. R6 Caulfield 5.00pm – 6 and 9. 8. R6 Scone 5.25pm – 6 and 7. 9. R8 Doomben 5.50pm – 1 and 2. BB 10. R7 Morphettville 6.36pm – 2 and 3.

Apologies Maria(and thanks to Black Kirrama - top horse our Kirrama) as I've had a hectic week and missed the thread about the close off. Thanks so much for including me and teaming me up with Think Pink. Looking forward to it. Good Luck to everyone.

Maybe I missed something here around how the pairs qualified or were selected but can you just clarify for me whether that's the entire field or are there any other pairings likely to be available? Like High Sparrow and (well anyone basically)????? or is this an invitation-only field? Kind regards, HS.

Without wishing to tell my grandmother how to suck eggs Chris, can I suggest you consider trying him with a rubber-lined bit (the white 'circular' ones) as he seemed to be a bit keen at times and I've seen it settle their tendency to 'reef' a bit, as your fellow seemed to have a wee inclination towards that sort of keeness at times. I thought it a nice trial as he was always pretty much travelling in quite tight quarters and that can be pretty freaky for inexperienced horses, as you will know from your own long experience. Obviously still a bit to learn and tinker with but I liked the look of the way he traveled to the line when he finally angled for a bit of daylight when the trial was all but over - and it was the fastest trial of the day. Good Luck with him.

A generous offer Chris. Voltaire's Secret for me (Candide, who is Between You and Me's grandam, was also the name of Voltaire's first published work). Voltaire's estate was on the Swiss border and he was an 'ace' writer. Otherwise maybe through the tennis connection Fed's Secret Choice (This brings in the Redoubte's Choice connection with the other two names).

Thanks Maria. Looking forward to it as always. Got the blinkers on him today, so hoping for a better showing from Longshot Larry. RACE 1 : Gold Coast R3 2.35pm : 1 RACE 2 : Te Rapa R6 2.49pm : 1 BB RACE 3 : Gold Coast R4 3.10pm : 14 RACE 4 : Gold Coast R5 3.50pm (BONUS RACE) : 6 RACE 5 : Gold Coast R6 4.30pm : 9 RACE 6 : Gold Coast R7 5.10pm (BONUS RACE) : 4 RACE 7 : Randwick (Kensington) R7 5.25pm : 4 RACE 8 : Morphettville R6 5.56pm : 3 RACE 9 : Morphettville R7 6.36pm (BONUS RACE) : 6 RACE 10 : Morphettville R8 7.15pm : 4 BB

Exciting finish once again. Well done to Al and the other placegetters. Well-deserved.

Thanks again Maria for the opportunity. I might be one of the first to jump by the looks but given my form to date I wouldn't be surprised to hear George Simon saying: "High Sparrow is 100-to-one and drifting" quite soon. But you've got to be in to win. Good luck everyone. Kind Regards. HS. 1. Eagle Farm R5 3.08pm: 11 2. Te Rapa R7 3.28pm: 2 3. Te Rapa R8 4.03pm: 5 4. Caulfield R5 4.30pm (BONUS RACE): 5 5. Hawkesbury R6 4.50pm: 4 6. Eagle Farm R8 5.02pm (BONUS RACE): 14 7. Hawkesbury R7 5.30pm: 1 8. Eagle Farm R9 5.42pm: 1 BB 9. Hawkesbury R8 6.10pm (BONUS RACE): 11 10. Caulfield R8 6.30pm: 1 BB

The TAB fields display for Riverton (50 minutes out from the first) have no riders, no trainers and no track conditions. Racenet in Australia has them all (heavy track by the way). Unbelievable.

Brilliant stuff Scooby. I know the feeling only too well. I gave my bloke a freshen up but it made no difference whatsoever in the last round of the comp and he still finished worse than midfield after being handy early. Looking for the wet tracks maybe (he said hopefully). Have a great Easter for those punting.

What a fantastic gesture by the Hickmans. Catriona does a great job at the CatWalk Trust. Such a positive energy when she knows first hand how devastating such spinal injuries can be. Hope this filly turns out to a be champion.

Thanks so much to Chestnut, Maria and Scooby. The contests add some interest/enjoyment for me on Saturdays and especially so since I don't bet any more (I've pulled the plug after 55 years of involvement in the industry). It's my private protest at the contempt the TAB shows for punters. Their new website is a disgrace and I'm tired of battling the broken 'machine' that masquerades as a betting agency. What other betting agency produces some fields without form, riders or even track conditions in some instances and yet still expects people to bet on them? The faux pas that took the cake for me was the horse in some field from the USA who had allegedly not raced since 2009. It was listed as a three-year-old!

Yep and no track conditions either for Riverton 10 minutes before the start of the first race. Maybe they think we're all mushrooms - just keep them in the dark and keep feeding them sh%t. Four months down and we 're still being served up this rubbish. Disgraceful.