Whileco Looks Like A Banker
Sydney Morning Herald
19 June 1987
KEN CALLANDER
My bank manager informed me yesterday it would have been cheaper for me to have spent the winter in Monte Carlo or Hawaii.
I had dropped in only to try to support the poor fellow's loans business, but in his usual negative way he was more intent on looking at past performances rather than considering the almost certain ways of making money in the future, especially at Randwick this afternoon.
Do not think I did not point out that Whileco was working sensationally and met Impoverish 2.5kg better for beating him a length-and-a-half at their last meeting.
That was my opening gambit, but it might as well have been Chinese algebra as far as this hard-hearted bastion of institutionalised living was concerned
Truly, how are they going to beat Whileco, and because of the engagement of A. Cowie for the horse you are going to get odds.
Don't worry too much about Alan Cowie either.
He is no Mick Dittman but he is a promising, competent apprentice and Jack Denham would not be putting him up if he was not confident.
Whileco is certainly going to carry what I can muster in the Fred Imber Handicap - race six - and if the silly old bank manager does not want to risk his silly old bank's money then that is his Waterloo.
Even if a horse is a noted mudlark it is difficult for him to win first up from a spell on a heavy track.
Horses get hard fit with racing, not on the training track, and because soft conditions take so much out of them it is difficult to win when short of absolute peak fitness.
With this in mind, I thought I Wish's run to finish fifth to Classic Hand on a slushy track at Randwick two weeks back was a beauty.
It was his first run for five months and he was beaten by only three lengths.
In the Jack Ward Handicap today I Wish meets a couple of horses he opposed that day on better weight terms and I think he will be difficult to beat.
You will find the first-up run improves him more than a good PR man improves a politician, and he has Malcolm Johnston in the saddle to boot.
In their latest runs, admittedly in different races, Magic Gleam gave Grand Gaelic 1.5kg, Plum Shore gave Grand Gaelic 2.5kg and Timothy gave Grand Gaelic a whopping 4.5kg.
Today, at Randwick, Magic Gleam is handicapped to give Timothy 4.5kg and Plum Shore has to give Timothy 4kg.
With the use of your calculator, you will now note that through Grand Gaelic, Timothy has 7.5kg on Magic Gleam and 6kg on Plum Shore.
On the other side of the scale, Timothy has three lengths to make up on Magic Gleam and two lengths on Plum Shore, but it does indicate that Timothy is weighted to win in the John Schofield Handicap this afternoon.
On top of this, I can tell you that track clockers have been quite surprised by the times registered by Timothy over the last fortnight and, at double-figure odds, he is what I call value.
Latest Word, a three-year-old colt from the Jack Denham stables, is a bit like Geoff Boycott or Greg Chappell ... when he strikes form he is hard to get past.
Last time in training Latest Word struck a purple patch in October and November and he notched up four city wins in successive starts.
This time in work it has taken the youngster a while to hit his straps, but the way he performed in a five-lengths' blitzing of a smart field at Randwick on June 8 shows he is certainly back to his best.
That being the case, he is going to take a lot of beating against average Welter horses in today's Bert Lillye Handicap.
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