THE WEDNESDAY WHINGE has a new look but won’t be dispensing with the theme and focus on the THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE UGLY side of what is happening in racing. The Whinge will continue to provide an opportunity for The Cynics to Have Their Say. Thanks again for your support for the most read column on this website and one of the most read on racing websites in the country. Our popularity continues to grow despite the bagging it cops from some high profile officials, especially in Queensland, who cannot cope with constructive criticism of any kind. We encourage supporters – and critics – to continue to contribute but plan to restrict the Whinge to less than 10 of the best items each week. Our message to those who continually bag us is simple: IF YOU DON’T LIKE WHAT YOU READ, THEN DON’T REVISIT THE WHINGE.
SO THESE BUSH KNOCKABOUTS DIDN’T GO TO ‘DOODLE-PULLING PRIVATE SCHOOL’ 
THIS story in the FAIRFAX MEDIA prompted an instant response from one of our regulars PERCY SMITH of MELBOURNE, which read:
‘THESE bloody mugs with a license to look down their noses at a couple of country ‘knockabouts’ who didn’t go to some up-market, doodle-pulling Grammar School piss me off.
Just cop this one and the writer of this story got it right when he said history was made but those making the speeches weren’t in the least bit interested or were simply reading from a prepared speech.’
THE story by KRISPEN HALL for FAIRFAX MEDIA reads:
NOT since 1977 – almost 40 years ago – has a governor-general performed so poorly at the Melbourne Cup.
In 1977 Sir John Kerr got a bit plastered and was out of control.
Not so in 2015. Sir Peter Cosgrove was in total control. So much in control that he was utterly controlled by what seemed to be a pre-prepared speech.
Just fill in the blanks with the name of the jockey, trainer and owner.
He completely missed the point of history.
Why didn't he just chuck away his prop – his prepared speech – and seize the moment of history. For the first time in the 155 years of its running, a female jockey won the Melbourne Cup.
Yay.
You wouldn't know if you listened to the Governor-General. Or worse, the speech from the corporate sponsor's lackey. The Emirates man was worse. His speech seemed like an obvious "fill in the blanks" script.
Even the trainer, who should have had more empathy, thanked the owners, the staff and even the strapper before even mentioning the real historic heroine of the moment – Michelle Payne, the first female jockey to win the Melbourne Cup.
Payne was magnificent. Panting and bouncing in the saddle while returning from the win she told of her fight against a misogynous industry and a battle to fight off moves to take her off Prince of Penzance a couple of weeks before the moment of glory.
Typical. Woman does hard yards. Bloke takes over at the winning moment. But not so on this occasion. She fought to keep her ride and won on it.
Riding back to the pavilion she said this about males who thought a female could not win the Melbourne Cup, "You can all get stuffed."
Meanwhile, back at the pavilion, the miserable, frightened, beholden set-piece speakers spoke their set-piece speeches. Ironically, they imagined that this would be safe. Their PR speech writers propping them up from any possible faux pas.
Well, the safe, offend-no-one approach backfired this time.
The glossy failure of the Governor-General and the Emirates representative to seize the moment of history illustrates the desperate poverty of a large part of public life in Australia today: safety, bum-covering, offend no-one, no spontaneity.
The obverse is of course, inspire no one. And if ever there was a moment to capture imaginations and inspire Australians it was the day the first woman jockey won the Melbourne Cup.
MICHELLE – A ROLE MODEL – NOT ONLY FOR WOMEN IN RACING BUT IN THE WORKFORCE 
JULIE ANDERSON of MELBOURNE felt strongly enough to pen this email to the Whinge only hours after the Melbourne Cup was run:
‘THE winner might have been a $101 despised outsider but might I suggest that the success story behind this year’s Melbourne Cup was one for the ages and long overdue.
The internationals, raced by some of the richest owners in the world, were forced to take a backseat role to Prince of Penzance, a $50,000 bargain buy that had defied career-threatening injuries and even a near fatal colic attack and twisted bowel.
His jockey, Michelle Payne, had defied the odds as well to become the first lady jockey to ride the Melbourne Cup winner. She didn’t mince words speaking of the chauvinistic hurdles that confronted women in the racing industry and won plenty of friends of both sexes with her suggestion: ‘They can get stuffed’.
But behind that tough talking, angelic faced 30-year-old, who boasts a competitive will of iron in the saddle, there is a soft heart as evidenced by her love not only for her ‘favorite’ horse, Prince of Penzance but also for the brother she shares a house with who suffers from Down Syndrome. Stevie, who legged her aboard the Cup winner with the quip, ‘you had better win, I’ve backed him’ was as much a part of this success story as champion trainer Darren Weir, his history making jockey (the only female with a mount in the big race) and of course their horse that most punters preferred to ignore.
This wasn’t to be a Cup won by one of the Big W’s – Waterhouse or Waller – nor was the richest slice of the stakes headed off-shore to international owners, most of whom have enough already. It would go into the pockets of a group of far from wealthy owners – several racing a horse for the first time. They had been under pressure at times to sack Payne – she fought hard to retain the mount. In her corner was Darren Weir, the bush trainer, who also fulfilled a lifelong dream.
It was a win that hopefully will change a lot of things. Life will never be the same for Michelle Payne – although one gets the impressions it won’t change much for the way she and Stevie live their lives. It will probably only make her more determined to press ahead with plans to hold a joint trainer-jockey license. One thing that this first Tuesday in November will be remembered for is the race that struck a blow for ‘girl power’ all over the globe and how Michelle Payne became a role model not only for young women wanting to become jockeys but also for females facing adversity in the challenge to succeed in a male dominated work force’.
EDITOR’S NOTE: THIS is a lengthy story but because it relates to the above email and is so excellently written by ANDREW RULE of the HERALD SUN we felt it was worth reproducing. It is a great read – enjoy:
MICHELLE AND HER PRINCE RIVAL ELIZABETH TAYLOR AND NATIONAL VELVET 
YOU couldn’t make it up. Sack the scriptwriter who comes up with the sort of outrageous fairytale that unfolded at Flemington.
It goes like this. One of Australian racing’s saddest stories found the happiest of endings when a motherless girl rode into Melbourne Cup folklore on a cheap Kiwi-bred horse owned by ordinary Aussies, trained by a Mallee kid who taught himself to be a world-beating horseman.
Not only was Michelle Payne the only female rider in the legendary race, she was the first to win it.
Of course, the scriptwriter insisted it be an omen bet: the race marked the 100th anniversary of the first female Cup winner, Edith Widdis of Rosedale in Gippsland, who owned the 1915 Melbourne Cup champion Patrobas.
The script also called for outrageously long odds against everyone involved.
Jockey Payne and trainer Darren Weir have both succeeded despite odds even longer than the 100-1 quoted against their horse, Prince Of Penzance.
Let’s start with Michelle. The 10th and youngest child of the transplanted Kiwi horseman Paddy Payne can’t remember the mother she lost when she was barely six months old.
Mary Payne was killed in a car crash not far from the family stables outside Ballarat in 1986, not long after the clan had crossed the ditch.
The Payne family could have fallen apart but it didn’t. They stuck together and looked after each other as best they could.
Big sister Brigid was 16 then. She helped raise her baby sister. But that’s not all she did. Under the eye of their canny Kiwi father, the Payne girls learned to ride racehorses the way their brothers Patrick and Andrew did, and they rode them very well. Eight of the 10 Payne kids were licensed jockeys.
“Old Paddy” had learned to ride in New Zealand in rodeos and over fences and he knows plenty about anything with hoofs, not to mention horns.
The Payne boys got heavy and went training and the girls retired from the saddle. All except Michelle.
She survived a potentially career-ending smash some years ago to become Australian racing’s finest female jockey, a career pioneered in no small part by her big sister Brigid.
If the story was all about happy endings, Brigid would have been there to see her kid sister beat a man’s world, but she couldn’t. She died of a heart attack in 2007 at 36, after recovering from a heavy fall from a young horse.
But there’s more to the Payne story. Michelle’s brother Stevie was born with Down syndrome.
But like baby Michelle and the others, Stevie was raised to work with horses. Few work harder or are better at their job.
Stevie Payne is now a vital component of the Darren Weir training empire. He is renowned for his attention to detail, loyalty and hard work. That’s why he was strapping Prince Of Penzance on Cup Day.
That’s why, on a cold May morning at Warrnambool’s Lady Bay, you see Stevie wading through freezing water to lead horses in and out to stablehands swimming horses behind a rowing boat.
That’s why you hear him “going crook” at a fellow strapper: “The boss will kick your arse if he sees you do that.”
There’s not much glamour at that end of racing. In an industry built on dreams, the strappers are the factory labourers. But occasionally dreams come true, the way they did when Stevie was thrust centre stage with his instantly famous sister and “the boss”.
Darren Weir could easily be mistaken for a farmer, a farrier or a horse breaker.
He’s a strong bloke who prefers action to words. When interviewed on radio, hours before the greatest moment of his career so far, he laughed in embarrassment at being described as “a super trainer”.
But Weir talked sense. He said he wasn’t in the habit of entering horses in the Melbourne Cup to “make up the numbers” and would be disappointed if Prince Of Penzance didn’t finish in the first 10. He was right.
Those who know him best are not surprised at the inexorable rise of the kid from Patchewollock. Such as the former instructor from that well-known Mallee institution the Sea Lake Pony Club, who declared yesterday that the Weir kid could always “ride anything”.
There’s a strong streak of Irish — not to mention Kiwis — in Australian racing. Anyone who has followed the story of the Cummings dynasty, or of the O’Leary family with their horse Who Shot Thebarman, knows that.
Banjo Paterson, the galloping poet who knew racehorses as well as rhymes, once wrote a verse called Father Riley’s Horse, about a race in a country district where “the folk were mostly Irish round about” and had all backed a mystery galloper “lent” to the local priest.
Paterson wrote about the dark horse: “…the hopes of all the helpless, and the prayers of all the poor, will be running by his side to keep him straight”.
That’s how it was at Flemington as the Ballarat Irish barracked for their local champions, the O’Leary clan barracked for Who Shot Thebarman — and all the other Irish yelled for the “jumper” Max Dynamite.
Max Dynamite’s wise trainer Willie Mullins will be sad to miss first prize — and a betting coup plotted in Ireland.
But if he had to lose the Cup then it couldn’t have gone to a better home than the Paynes and Weirs and their yelling, cheering, crying owners.
There’ll be some sore heads around Ballarat on Wednesday.
PUNTERS SERVED UP AN ABSOLUTE DISASTROUS TRACK AT FLEMINGTON 
FLOYD WILSON of SYDNEY writes:
‘PUNTERS are a tough breed. Whilst the Cup result was an absolute disaster for most they still enjoyed the feel-good story of the win by a horse that cheated death, his battling syndicate of owners, a bush trainer who continues to be catapulted into the big race spotlight, a lady jockey who created history and the support and love from her Down Syndrome brother.
But one thing that did get up their nose on Derby Day and again on Cup day was the state of the Flemington track. Hot on the heels of what was served up at the Valley on Cox Plate day the time of year when Victorian racing should be basking in glory has developed into a public relations and punting disaster.
HERE are two examples of the damning emails that we have received on this subject:
GLEN MUIR of BENDIGO writes:
‘WHAT is the point of Victoria having the best racing in the country if their tracks perform so badly during the Spring Carnival?
Cox Plate day saw a fast lane on the fence with the three that filled the placings in the big race all staying up against the rail.
Flemington was worse on Saturday and again on Tuesday with some stables conceding before big races were run that they had no chance. It was heavily biased against the back-markers.
It’s really not good enough to have what is arguably the best quality race meeting of the year in Australia not being run on a level playing field.’
LICENSEES PENALISED FOR MAKING MISAKES – WHAT ABOUT COURSE RANGERS? 
AND this one, from RALPH RASMUSSEN of ADELAIDE, which didn’t pull any punches:
‘IF a trainer takes a horse to the races with a drug in its system he is in hot water. If a jockey causes interference in a big race he faces the wrath of stewards. Both are regarded as offences which in one way or another contribute to punters not getting a fair go.
But what happens to a course manager who serves up a track that isn’t a level playing field. The poor old punter has no recourse if he does his form believing in good faith that the one he likes will have every chance of winning.
That hasn’t been the case during this spring carnival in Melbourne. After Saturday’s Derby day disaster, when the Flemington course manager took the blame for the fast lane on the fence, there was a promise that the problem would be corrected for Cup day.
It wasn’t and once again punters did their money cold. If a jockey fails to position his horse to give it every possible chance he faces an inquiry. Should the course ranger not face a similar inquisition or for that matter perhaps his hands are tied when the club expects horses to work on the course proper leading up to a major meeting and presents him with a track that cannot be properly prepared because of damage done and bad weather soon after?
Anyone who had a bet on the straight six race on Cup day and looked at the helicopter shot from above would have felt badly if they backed one of those runners that came down the grandstand side. They had no hope and punters had no chance of collecting.
When top jockeys give one of the best tracks in the country a one out of 10 rating on the biggest day of the year the club has a problem. It’s something we would expect of a backwater like Queensland has become while Eagle Farm has been sidelined for redevelopment.
Steps need to be taken to ensure this will never happen again. But I guess never say never is a big ask in this new age of horse racing and track preparation.’
ABSURD MILLIONS STAKES MONEY MAKES MOCKERY OF MELBOURNE CUP 
ALBERT WILLIAMS, of REDCLIFFE, a regular critic of Racing Queensland, penned this email:
‘THE thought that Magic Millions prizemoney will be allowed to upstage the major meetings of the spring, including the Melbourne Cup, shows the absurd state racing in Australia has been allowed to degenerate to.
When the stars of the turf, including the internationals, are racing for less prizemoney than some of these ‘goats’- sorry MM graduates – that will contest the richest race day ever run in this country, something is horribly wrong.
You might say it could only happen in Queensland where not only is the financially fly-blown control body helping finance Gerry Harvey’s Gold Coast dream but are considering reducing the stakes ($2 million to $1.5 million) for the Stradbroke Handicap.
Perhaps there is a valid argument that a $2 million Stradbroke will not attract any more classier horses than $1.5 million, but when restricted two and three-year-old sales graduates are racing for $2 million in each of their classics and five other races are worth $1 million, it’s an absolute farce.
Good to see the Brisbane Racing Club is on the front foot objecting to any cut in stakes for the Stradbroke and they should be using the Magic Millions financial backing from RQ as part of their case.
There is no way that a Magic Millions race should be worth more than the best race in Queensland let alone the Gold Coast meeting offering more prizemoney than Melbourne Cup day, Derby Day or The Championships in NSW.
To make matters worse in Queensland this extravagant waste of money on the Gold Coast will see more prizemoney paid in a day than bush racing in the Sunshine State receives in any entire year.
How can any Government allow a control body to oversee this to happen? It just goes to show how out of touch those making the decisions are, not to mention how they are allowing their pants to be pulled down by one of the richest men in the land in Gerry Harvey.’
SHANE DYE FAR FROM A HIT WITH STAY-AT-HOME CARNIVAL VIEWERS 
DOUG ABBOTT of MELBOURNE sent this email:
‘WHATEVER they are paying that little ‘imposter’ Shane Dye to make a guest appearance on the new Racing Channel during the Spring Carnival it is far too much.
Dye is an absolute bore, little what he says makes sense and he even admitted to not doing his homework one day because he got home at three in the morning and couldn’t complete the form before he went to the races.
Surely there was some other personality of the past – even Mick Dittman – that they could have engaged who wouldn’t have proved such a turn-off for the stay-at-home punters.
What it did for me was make me hit the mute button and tune in to Carnival on RSN to listen to the best ratings men and tipsters in the business in Dean Lester (from the mounting yard) and Vince Accardi for his Daily Sectionals assessment of the races.
What I also like about the Carnival coverage on big race days is that Vince and Ralph Horowitz are not scared to criticize when it is necessary.
They certainly don’t take a step back in describing racing in Sydney as the joke that it is on many occasions. Saturday was another occasion when they bagged a jockey on a highly fancied horse that gave it no hope while a stablemate won.
It prompted some criticism via Twitter and as they said: “We’re not here to pat people on the back. We’re here to keep the punters informed”.
I read a year ago where Ray Murrihy, the Chief Stipe, was hanging up his binoculars. Surely his use-by date is well passed.’
SEND OFF AT FULL MOON THAT FINANCIAL OFFICER ISN’T EXPECTING 
BILL WHITEHOUSE, a one-time great supporter of racing in Queensland, vents his anger at a departing financial officer from the Deagon Bunker:
‘FOR those in the racing industry in Queensland wishing to farewell one of the most disliked figures for a long time, there is a shindig at the Full Moon Hotel, Brighton, on Friday 6 November 2015 at 1pm.
Rumor has it that a few of the old brigade, both Bentley and Dixon eras, may be planning to attend the farewell ceremony to vent their frustration at the damage that they believe this individual has caused to their reputations through his financial work at RQ. I also understand that some stakeholders are also considering attending.
For those unaware of what has happened, I have highlighted a few matters below:
1. This long-standing RQ financial administrator assisted in the preparation and dissemination of information following the departure of the Bentley board, which led to the calling of a Commission of Inquiry, rumored to have cost Racing Queensland upwards of $2 million. The end result was that the Commission found nothing and all this whole sordid affair did was further damage the reputation of our once great industry, and rip millions of dollars from its coffers.
2. THIS long-standing RQ financial administrator, according to reports from industry insiders, has assisted KPMG guru Ian Hall, the Interim RQ CEO, in preparing figures disseminated in Parliament relevant to the financial position of Racing Queensland at the time the Dixon led Board left office. This has allegedly led to immeasurable damage being caused to our industry’s reputation, and that of those Board members. Our industry has been left with not one shred of credibility. From my understanding, no stakeholder fully understands the current financial state of Racing Queensland, and although major rationalization has been earmarked to be implemented from 1 January 2016, not one person understands what this means to them. From a breeding and ownership perspective this could not have come at a worse time.
From my perspective I will be heading to the Full Moon on Friday to give this bloke the send-off he so rightfully deserves. In my opinion he has done more damage to our industry than anyone I can think of in the modern era. Our industry is looking down the barrel of an uncertain and bleak future, and although I have moved my interests interstate, I will certainly be letting him know the impact he has caused me.’
‘IF THE DOMINOS NOW FALL WHAT WILL THIS COURT RULING COST RQ? 
WE have received a stack of emails concerning the Supreme Court ruling on the seizing of greyhounds by Racing Queensland in the wake of the ‘live baiting’ expose and questioning whether one of the genius advisors at RQ was responsible and whether his head (a German one at that) should roll. Here are the two that we have chosen to run that hopefully get the general message across:
SANDY JOHNSON of GOLD COAST sent this email:
‘HAS this Supreme Court ruling against Racing Queensland set a precedent and what will it cost Racing Queensland when other trainers seek similar compensation that has been awarded in this Supreme Court decision?
Justice Jean Dalton ruled in favor of banned trainer Deborah Arnold that the control body had no power to retain possession of her dogs. Word is she and her owners will receive well in excess of $1 million in compensation.
Other trainers are engaging lawyers and the dominos are about to fall. RQ is already in financial strife. What will this do for their balance sheet?
More to the point were these dogs seized on legal advice or simply the actions of an over-zealous administrator who has over-stepped his mark so many times that the axe must now be ready to fall.’
THE SUNDAY MAIL EDITOR GOT IT RIGHT CALLING FOR HEADS TO ROLL AT RQ 
‘PETER Gleeson, Editor of The Sunday Mail, summed up the feelings of many not only in greyhound racing but also the other codes when he suggested heads should roll at the top at RQ.
In an Editorial at the weekend, Gleeson wrote: ‘Heads must roll at RQ over the way it has handled the live baiting scandal. A Supreme Court judge ruled this week that RQ had unlawfully taken trainer Deborah Arnold’s greyhounds after she admitted to taking part in living baiting, for which she received a life ban.’
As Gleeson suggested: “It is clear that the integrity unit of RQ is a kangarooa court. Trainers deserve natural justice. Racing Minister Bill Byrne and Interim RQ CEO Ian Hall need to clear out the deadwood in the stewards’s department, staring at the top.’
How right he is – and perhaps they should start at the top with the Acting Head of Integrity and Stewarding in Jamie Dart who, after all, was the Chairman of Stewards for Greyhound Racing Queensland when the live baiting scandal broke.’
A STORY YOU MAY HAVE MISSED IN MAINSTREAM RACING MEDIA 
HKJC COST TENS OF MILLIONS BY MYSTERY TOTE MALFUNCTION AT HAPPY VALLEY
A mysterious malfunction of the Hong Kong Jockey Club's eWin website for the duration of Wednesday's Happy Valley meeting has cost the club tens of millions of dollars and left thousands of punters bitter and angry after being unable to place bets.
ALAN AITKEN reports for the SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST that when something like this happens, it means that customer satisfaction with the experience of placing a wager with the club has been impaired.
The eWin web page, through which many Jockey Club customers access their betting accounts online, became "intermittently unavailable" just after the start of race one at 12.45pm, according to the club's executive director, customer and marketing Richard Cheung Che-kit and remained that way for the remainder of the card.
On-course terminals were not affected at all and, while punters theorised about hackers, faulty wiring and system congestion, Cheung said the reason for the issue was unclear.
"The landing page simply would not load properly and as a result people could not place bets through it," said Cheung after the meeting. "At some times, it was briefly able to load but just as quickly went down again. The technical side of the problem is under extensive investigation by our staff but we do not understand what happened at this stage so we can offer no explanation."
The club was swamped with inquiries and angry calls from customers wanting to know what had happened and responded by advising customers to access their betting accounts by others means, like Telebet or through alternative digital means like the club's smart phone apps, which were unaffected.
Nevertheless Cheung admits the club took a hit financially as eWin is a popular wagering gateway.
"There is no sugar coating it - eWin is the platform used to place around 22 per cent of our total betting turnover, so if that platform is down then, yes, a proportion of that betting might move to other platforms, but some will be lost," Cheung said.
"Turnover for the day was down by around HK$65 million, or 4.9 per cent, on last year's comparative meeting and we have to attribute at least part of that amount to the problem with eWin. So it has been an expensive problem, but to me it isn't even just about the betting numbers.
"When something like this happens, it means that customer satisfaction with the experience of placing a wager with the club has been impaired. We highly value providing a good experience and so that hurts us more in the long run than whatever turnover was lost on the day."
Cheung said the club also received complaints from customers on course at Happy Valley itself, where some of the restaurants and private rooms are equipped with tablet computers customers use to access eWin to place bets.
"We have all our technicians working hard to find the cause of the problem and just as importantly to fix it as quickly as possible so it doesn't have an impact on our simulcast of the Melbourne Cup race meeting on Tuesday," Cheung said.
Remarkably, the problem seemed to disappear as soon as the final race had been run, with some punters getting in touch with South China Morning Post racing staff to report that the eWin page and everything associated with it could once again be accessed as normal by 6pm.
DISCLAIMER: The views expressed in the above e-mails should not be interpreted as those of JOHN LINGARD, the owner-editor of the letsgohorseracing web-site. That is why he has added an ‘EDITOR’S NOTE’. Every endeavor is made to verify the authenticity of contributors. We welcome any reasonable and constructive responses from parties or individuals.
