Well Roadies, The Ray White Glenelg, Mouse Cup has been run and won!
On an exotic and balmy night at the prestigious Edwardstown venue four races were held in high anticipation of an evening full of suspense and drama. The drama came on fashions on the field, however more to that later!
SNAP Printing, Hot Press Handicap
In front of a small crowd that eventually “exploded” through the night, there were several strong contenders with Green Horn II being the early favourite, gaining top dollar with The Courier being late as usual, the best value in the field. Dionysus, still looking for cheese in the barriers and probably a wee bit tipsy, did not leave the barriers smartly, while Dinner For Two stopped just shy of the finish line trying to take a seat at his table. Green Horn II had a great start, however the ever-reliable Courier, on time whenever he can be, raced past Green Horn II and took the honours. We now had our first finalist for the owner S Club 77. Yes, that’s right, last year’s syndicate winners in the final again through smart, shrewd and astute buying.
MIDAS Golden Slipper
Well, I’d like to say this race was uneventful, but… After auctioning with Ol’Reliable being a gift as the cheapest mouse in the race and Winning Forever, Losing Never being bought by his trainer Caine at a very princely sum all contenders, the other two being George Santayana and The Hound, jumped up for the barrier draw. In something never witnessed before at the Mouse Cup, Cainye Long West refused to take his allotted barrier number and insisted on barrier 1, yelling “F%^K the spirit of Mouse Cup, I’m a winner give me barrier 1! This caused George Santayana to sing along in his high-pitched screech and the owner of The Hound started howling to the tune. At this point Ol’Reliable owners volunteered an honourable answer: “we don’t care about the barrier, take 1 but just shut George’s trainer up!” So this is exactly what happened and unfortunately Winning Forever, Losing Never, failed to finish under the expectations and much to the embarrassment of Cainye with Ol’Reliable limping to an easy victory over The Hound. Now we had two finalists.
SA Buzz Life Member Stakes
This race was one of the more controversial of the night! One mouse, Gone but Never Forgotten, was euthanised as he had his leg caught in the barrier by a starter who was prominent in Fashion on the Field, not mention names Matt Altus. Meanwhile Heat in the Street, Heat in the Streets, is still wondering the track somewhere looking for his now forgotten and euthanised partner. Anyway, the bargain basement buy was Blonde Beard The Pirate, who put up a strong showing for second place, however firm favourite through the bidding was The Champ and rightly so. The Champ started very dozily, however set a 1 metre track record at the end of the race, meaning he was just warming for his spot in the final!
ATOM Supply Edwardstown Derby
This was a much-anticipated race prior to the final. The track committee had heard big money was coming for one of the night’s favourites. This proved correct with the last mouse auctioned, The Arka-Mouse, going for a record on the night to the syndicate named ‘Bowls’, which ended up being the same syndicate (with slightly different names on the owners bill each time) to snap up 120BPM and John Daly, under alias syndicate names for moderate amounts. Unfortunately, when it did come to the race, Arka-Mouse appeared very dazed and somewhat drunk? So you can join the dots. This event proved to be lacklustre and not live up to the hype, however Pavarotti started singing early and was victorious still singing out of tune as he crossed the line on several occasions, as his trainer does, and then finished as the winner.
Fashions On The Field – The Catwalk
There were many entrants, some more than once, in this highly contested and famous catwalk event. We had everything from Gigantes Jockeys in attire way too small for their ever-expanding midsection, to modern Marilyn Monroe wannabee’s. This event was so hotly contested, the smoke alarms went off, twice!
After much scrutiny, involvement from the audience through hand clapping both fast and slow, it really came down to just two entrants. Matthew “Alluring” Altus and B, who had entered the event under no less than three alias and had several costume changes through the night. Both “models” and I use that term very lightly, made claims to being the new Mrs. Richie. WOW, you miss one event and everyone wants the mantle, so I apologise on behalf of all the candidates for their despicable actions trying to grapple to the top in the absence of the queen.
Anyway, with Allure Altus, as we now know him, gaining raucous applause from many in the crowd chanting “keep it on, keep it on”, Allure started to de-robe. At this point, with seemingly the crown his to lose, he did just that and retired from modelling effective immediately, meaning Miss B was inaugurated as the Mouse Cup Super Model 2022. When interviewed B was overwhelmed and thanked her stoic supporter, Eshan, stating “I knew I would win this by myself”. B attempted to gain Mrs Richie’s crown through several entries with a variety of entrants, including Eshan who she brushed for the final.
Now what we are here for The Rod Smitheram Ray White Finale
Well, the barrier draw was hustle, bustle, however when sanity took place the outcome was:
Barrier 1 – The Courier, and favourite if he is on time with a quick start.
Barrier 2 – The Champ, drawn tight so needed to get away quick to be any chance.
Barrier 3 – Ol ‘Relaible, seriously could he get through another race?
Barrier 4 – Pavarotti, all right, stop it already my ear drums are bleeding!
So, the mice were in, when Pavarotti’s trainer complained there was no national anthem from the 72 countries represented through mice, owner, and trainer heritage. This was quickly put to rest by Jake Marshall the mice steward on the night, explaining that quite frankly no one cared and please shut up, which all trainers then did and turned their attention to the track.
The race started, The Champ flew the lids, greyhound racing terminology folks, never got past a canter, disappointingly as a new track record was in sight, and easily won the night from Ol’Reliable, who had to be euthanised as the only micely thing to do to this mouse, from a fast finishing The Courier with the search party still out listening for Pavarotti. The margins were 24 lengths by a very short nose. In fact, the steward, Jake, was questioned whether Ol’ Reliable still had a nose, which led to the euthanasia event. The syndicate of The Champ, Parafield Parimutuels were ecstatic and rightly so, with 103 of them in the syndicate led by Devarsh Fadia, they were in for a big night spending their spoils once split! RK as usual had nothing to say, however Jainil was forth coming with thanking the trainer Nathan Ross, who has now set up a Mouse Cup record training two consecutive winners. Nathan later at the bar that night was heard to mutter, “Three in 23 for sure for me”. We are just unsure on whether Nathan meant the Mouse Cup or his best bowling figures for the season?
Anyway, for those that attended The Rod Smitheram Ray White Glenelg Mouse Cup, thanks to Rod and his team, it was another successful event! For those that couldn’t the next event is to wrap the Roadie’s Season Up with our Presentation Night on Friday the 22nd of April 2022. Please watch out for us on FB, stay engaged with Discord and of course all details will be on our website as soon as they come to hand.
DISCLAIMER: No mice were harmed on the night; however many punters’ wallets suffered some fatal injuries!
Yours in racing,
The Masked Mouse
Thankyou to Rod Smitheram Ray White Glenelg for sponsoring the Mouse Cup 2022