Picture this.
It’s 4.30pm on Saturday, the sun is shining in the world’s most livable city (sorry Melbourne) and the best jockeys and trainers in the country are doing their best at Morphettville.
The beers are cold and the Diva Bar is pumping. There’s no Neil Diamond or Daryl Braithwaite blaring through the speakers.
The G1 Australasian Oaks has just been run and the horses are in the yard for the G1 Robert Sangster Stakes.
Your pockets are full because you’ve been following Mitch Lewis’ tips on the Betsy tipping hub.
Life is good.
It sounds too good to be true but it’s a reality on Saturday.
These days, racing in Adelaide rarely gets the spotlight and interest of its rich, glamourous cousins in Melbourne and Sydney but for the next three weeks, the eyes of the racing world will be fixed firmly on SA.
JMac, Willo, Melham, Zahra and co will roll into town, while locals like Clarken, Hickmott and Jolly will be doing their best to ensure some of the cash stays at home.
The fields are huge with all-comers from Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Perth chasing a slice of the $1 million on offer in each of the G1 races.
The weather forecast for Saturday looks elite and the track should be perfect too. It’ll start as a Good 4 with the rail back in the true position. As is often the case with Morphettville in autumn, they will edge off the fence as the day goes on but most will have their chance to win.
While the task of attracting large crowds to the SA Carnival has been a challenge in recent years, there’s plenty of optimism from administrators that good weather, a rare appearance by gun jockey James McDonald and no direct clash with AFL at Adelaide Oval can prompt locals to get trackside on healthy numbers.
If not, the upside is you won’t have to line up for a beer.
For what it’s worth, Getta Good Feeling wins the Oaks and Super Smink can get over the top of them in the Sangster.
Get at it punters!
