{"id":5872,"date":"2013-07-31T20:00:36","date_gmt":"2013-07-31T20:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/archive.rockylhc.com\/2015\/elizapark\/?p=5872"},"modified":"2013-07-31T20:00:36","modified_gmt":"2013-07-31T20:00:36","slug":"why-oh-why-is-your-nose-so-short","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.rockylhc.com\/2015\/elizapark\/why-oh-why-is-your-nose-so-short\/","title":{"rendered":"WHY OH WHY IS YOUR NOSE SO SHORT?"},"content":{"rendered":"
I was confident. Over confident as it turns out. When Bel Esprit landed his 155th individual winner for 2012-13 just on a week ago, I\u2019d taken the fast track to cloud nine. And Brian Donohoe was floating adjacent. Only one more winner required for the all-time record.<\/div>\n
Now Brian, for those of you who don\u2019t know, was (still is) a part owner in Bel Esprit and if there is a person walking on this mortal coil that keeps a closer eye on a particular stallion\u2019s stats, then I\u2019d be surprised.<\/div>\n
In fact, look \u2018fanatical\u2019 up in your dictionary.<\/div>\n
Brian\u2019s the bloke that runs the Bel Esprit blog and rarely misses an Esprit event (except for perhaps a six week break a year or so back when Mrs Donohoe dragged him to the North Pole \u2026 I kid you not!).<\/div>\n
Anyway, it was Brian who alerted us a couple of weeks back that Bel Esprit was looming large and, to back it up, provided a comprehensive rundown of national premierships (by winners) for the past 12 seasons.<\/div>\n
Not only was Bel Esprit poised to overtake Commands\u2019 record (set in 2010-11), he was doing so with a superior strike rate. In fact, this champ’s winners to runners is the best in 10 years.<\/div>\n
So, in preparation for the big day, we double checked and triple checked. Lots of checks as a matter of fact \u2026 Brian Russell, the Stud book, Stallions publisher Andrew Reichard \u2013 even Jeff Kruger at Lyndhurst which stood one of the all-time great winner-getters in Celestial Dancer. All clear. 156 would be the most \u2026 ever!<\/div>\n
And we thought he\u2019d do it on his ear. Really. How could he not \u2026 I mean, he\u2019s been pumping out \u2013 on average \u2013 five wins a week, every week for 12 months.<\/div>\n
Surely there would be ONE more for heaven\u2019s sake. I was cocky too \u2013 even thought how nice 160 would look in print.<\/div>\n
I managed to drag a few compadres in \u2026 we\u2019d check the entries every day, size up their chances. Thursday and Friday were wipes, but all day Saturday, there I was, hunched over the keyboard \u2026 waiting, waiting.<\/div>\n
Eliza Park\u2019s noms lad, Phil Marshall, was actually smiling. Who knew he had teeth?<\/div>\n
But then disaster struck. Lemaitre finished second and so did Royal Request.<\/div>\n
A Facebook friend (the only ones I\u2019ve got) went off before acceptances by posting a \u2018well done\u2019 when Half His Luck won at Morphettville. Half His Luck? Try no luck! Half His Luck had won his previous race at Bendigo at 5pm on 2 August 2012 \u2013 just 41 hours into the season. Ouch.<\/div>\n
By Sunday arvo, Phil was getting wobbly and by Monday night, he\u2019d done what his fellow countrymen rarely do \u2013 he\u2019d walked.<\/div>\n
Indeed, he began to scoff at my suggestions that a $180 pop might just turn it all around.<\/div>\n
The clock was winding down and runners were few.<\/div>\n
Then out came The Hummel in the Aussie Mornington Plate over 1200m on Tuesday \u2026 30 July. Less than 33 hours before the end of 2012-13. Seventh line of betting in an 11 horse race.<\/div>\n
Now, I wouldn\u2019t have a clue what a Hummel is but when he started to put in the big ones near the finish line, I was seriously considering having the name tattooed on my left cheek.<\/div>\n
But wouldn\u2019t you know it, right on the wire he gets nabbed by the Tony Noonan trained Special Girls. Now Tony is a top bloke. Good trainer too. But Tony, you are not, repeat NOT, invited to my next birthday party.<\/div>\n
The Hummel missed by a nostril. If Bel Esprits were renowned for blinding speed AND big noses, the champagne corks would now be popping.<\/div>\n
So, 155 it is. Can\u2019t say we\u2019re totally shattered though \u2026 after all, he is the first Victorian stallion since way back when to win a national general sires\u2019 title and he went within a Hummel of becoming the greatest winner-getter in an Australian racing season.<\/div>\n
Of equal import, he even did it with less runners!<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

That\u2019ll do Bel \u2026 that\u2019ll do.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was confident. Over confident as it turns out. When Bel Esprit landed his 155th individual winner for 2012-13 just on a week ago, I\u2019d taken the fast track to …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5827,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.rockylhc.com\/2015\/elizapark\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.rockylhc.com\/2015\/elizapark\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.rockylhc.com\/2015\/elizapark\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.rockylhc.com\/2015\/elizapark\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.rockylhc.com\/2015\/elizapark\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5872"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archive.rockylhc.com\/2015\/elizapark\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5872\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.rockylhc.com\/2015\/elizapark\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.rockylhc.com\/2015\/elizapark\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.rockylhc.com\/2015\/elizapark\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.rockylhc.com\/2015\/elizapark\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}