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11.25am
Portarlington Joel Speedie is a Caulfield Cup tragic.
“It’s a great day, why wouldn’t you come out?” he said.
He’s betting on Land Legend for the Cup.
“He was in the Melbourne Cup last year, looks like he’s up for a good run.”
Punters arriving at the 2025 Caulfield Cup.Credit: PENNY STEPHENS
11.20am
There’s no number on the fence and no car in the driveway. This flat block of wet soil and tufty lush grass has a kind of bare and unfinished air, as if Michelle Payne’s old, white, weatherboard house was just plonked in the middle of a lonely paddock. The retired jockey’s farm sits somewhere north of Ballarat – a regional centre that always seems like the coldest place in Victoria – and it’s predictably, painfully frostbitten on this arctic August afternoon.
The whole chilly windswept patch is honestly so far removed from the pomp, pageantry and warmth of Melbourne’s spring racing carnival – the fabulous Flemington Racecourse roses, and champagne-soaked marquees, and fops and fillies stumbling drunkenly in all their hatted finery – that I briefly wonder if I’m in the right spot. I’m actually doubtful once I reach the front door, because it’s capped with a big pile of dried bird poo.
Michelle Payne at her home, a farm north of Ballarat.Credit: Josh Robenstone
I rap my knuckles on the threshold anyway and with a delayed rustle and click she eventually emerges, the first and only female jockey to win “the race that stops a nation”. That was 10 years ago, of course, when Payne, then 30, sat atop the longest of longshots – 101-1 chance Prince of Penzance – yet won the day with a stunning ride, giving rise to a memoir (Life As I Know It) then a movie (Ride Like a Girl).
These days she’s a trainer and greets me with a high ponytail and shiny face, having scrubbed up after a bitter morning in and out of the stables. Leading me down a Baltic pine hallway to her lounge room, Payne chit-chats about the frigid weather in a thin, surprisingly tremulous voice, then perches on a cushy couch, knees hugged into her chest. Her feet snug under a warm brown blanket, a gas heater kicks on in the corner and the timbre of her voice deepens.
Payne’s got a tale to tell, and it’s not the gumboots-to-glory story you might expect following her famous victory.
11.16am
Royal Randwick rated a Good 4 surface after storms yesterday dropped just 1.5mm of rain on the track.
It’s good news for Everest favourite Ka Ying Rising, which has raced brilliantly on predominantly dry tracks at Sha Tin while building a record of 14 wins in 16 starts. He is a $1.90 favourite with Sportsbet.
It’s mostly sunny weather predicted with a top of 22 degrees today.
11.12am
Stuck together on a boat for three hours for The Everest barrier draw on Sydney Harbour, amid the glitz and glamour, it was a case of life jackets or flak jackets for Sydney’s warring racing officials.
On one table at the front sat Racing NSW chief executive Peter V’landys and guests, including National Rugby League CEO Andrew Abdo. On another were members of the board of racing’s wealthy controlling body. Close by were directors and executives of the Australian Turf Club, the operator of Sydney’s four metropolitan racetracks, including Royal Randwick, the venue for Saturday’s sold-out running of the world’s richest race on turf.
Peter V’landys launched The Everest in 2017 to take on Melbourne’s spring carnival.Credit: Stephen Kiprillis
The atmosphere at the on-water function on Tuesday night was described as “cordial” amid a tense lead-up to Sydney’s biggest race day in which Racing NSW has threatened to appoint an administrator to the turf club, taking aim at its financial management, commercial acumen and corporate governance.
The extraordinary action and its timing have gone down like a beaten favourite among many within the $3.3 billion industry, cast variously by critics as revenge against club directors who opposed the $5 billion sale of Rosehill Gardens for housing development, a ploy to install a compliant board and a simple power play.
Those assertions are dismissed by V’landys, who says Racing NSW was forced to put the club on notice when alarm bells were raised about its outlook and practices.
11.05am
The sun is out, caterers are busily preparing and a steady stream of racegoers are filing into the gates at the Caulfield Racecourse.
Somerville’s Lisa McMahon has been an MRC member for more than 10 years and believes the crowd numbers have increased from previous years.
Jacqui Gomm, Carla Henrikson, Loretta Iverach and Bridget O’Donnell at Caulfield on Saturday.Credit: PENNY STEPHENS
“It’s the younger kids coming too. You get us old ducks, but the younger kids come out here as well,” she said.
“I love the fashion. The atmosphere, the drink. Love it all.”
Her friend Leanne Gomm raced a couple of racehorses a few years ago.
“We don’t just do Caulfield. We love spring racing season.”
A Nup to the Cup protest, run by the Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses, planned from 10.30am hadn’t kicked off, with about 30 people expected up to 1pm.
10.55am
Two years ago, on the day of the Caulfield Cup, I was on edge.
Our horse, Without A Fight, had been struggling with a virus for two weeks, and we were uncertain if he would even make it to the starting line. While post-race celebrations often paint a picture of smooth sailing, our reality was quite the opposite.
Trainer Sam Freedman (right), jockey Mark Zahra and Without A Fight after winning the 2023 Caulfield Cup.Credit: Racing Photos
For 10 long and stressful days, the prospect of him making it to the Caulfield Cup barriers had hung precariously in the balance. I still remember anxiously waiting for his blood results each afternoon. It was a daily dose of agony.
If just one of those emails from the laboratory revealed a spike in his virus, we were going to be in strife.
Such challenges are not rare in racing stables, yet they always seem to catch you off guard. We didn’t see this one coming.
10.54am
James McDonald is taking no notice of the doubters when it comes to Ka Ying Rising.
As the only jockey to have ridden a winner against the Hong Kong superstar, McDonald knows better than most what the Everest field is up against on Saturday.
James McDonald, who will ride Joliestar in Saturday’s Everest, at Rosehill on Thursday morning.Credit: STEVEN SIEWERT
“He’s a weapon,” McDonald said. “He’s very good, from what I’ve seen in Hong Kong. I’ve ridden against him several times, and he’s superb.
“I think he’ll set up well [from gate seven]. He’ll just pop in behind them or whatever Zac [Purton] decides to do with him. That’s what makes him so good. He’s very push button.”
McDonald, ranked the world’s top jockey, edged out Ka Ying Rising twice aboard Wunderbar, then known as Before Crypto, back to back in ratings 80 races over 1200m at Sha Tin in January last year.
10.53am
G’day everyone and welcome to our racing blog for a huge day of action as The Everest is run in Sydney at 4.15pm and the Caulfield Cup is run in Melbourne at 5.15pm.
We will have all the races, the fashions and the big moments across one of the biggest days of the spring.
I’m Roy Ward and I’ll be helming our coverage from Melbourne while Frances Howe will be doing the same in Sydney while our leading journalists will be on course at both Randwick and Caulfield.
The first races begin just after midday AEDT.
Enjoy the day to come.
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