The Silly Season?

Did you read Richard Zachariah's article in the Sunday Telegraph last Sunday (December 16)? I didn't, I don't buy the Sunday Telegraph. Sorry Richard. You probably don't read my blog. But it was mentioned to me so I Googled and read it.

The Silver Haired One reported that Paul Fleming plans to sue the government over the lost prizemoney-winning opportunities suffered by his mare Just Dancing last spring on account of the EI outbreak. His trainer told him she would have been competitive in five valuable races. Competitive, that is, as long as Just Dancing didn't have a stone bruise, wasn't in season, didn't bleed, hadn't bowed a tendon, wasn't cut back too far by the farrier, didn't slip on the float, flip over in the barrier, didn't hold its breath, didn't go in the wind, didn't find the tracks too hard, wasn't drawn off the track, wasn't blocked for a run, hadn't trained off.... good luck.

There have been thousands of owners, rich and 'aspirational' (it's not nice to say 'working class' any more) deprived of the same opportunity. When Germany lost World War I it was made to pay, through the Treaty of Versailles, reparations to the victor nations for all the damage caused (which, incidentally, is credited with preparing the ground for the rise of Hitler). The Australian Government has made and is making EI reparations, even before the verdict's in.

If Paul Fleming's position has been correctly reported, his claims seem to me to be entirely speculative and indeed they hold true for every other would-be runner, including my useless twice-raced three-year-old filly that I was diligently setting for a maiden at Scone. If you take the proposition to its logical conclusion, the Government should be paying out prizemoney compensation to the connections of every possible runner eligible for the same races who might wish to claim. I'll stop there.

The EI outbreak has been the most hurtful occurrence in Australian racing. But we can't undo what's done. Remember that the racing clubs are basically still sitting on all that undistributed prizemoney and are going to have to dole it out - so we will still get a crack at it, plenty of it if you have a good horse like Just Dancing.

STOP PRESS: Racing NSW announces prizemoney increases.