HARPO ’ s MARKS
First off , I ’ ll give a $ 1000 – no , make that $ 1 million to the Unknown Soldier ’ s Mother if anyone can tell me the winner of the men ’ s doubles at the 2021 Australian Open tennis .
In fact , there ’ s a zillion buckeroos to the person who can tell me the last three winning pairs in the tournament .
Frankly , who gives a rat ’ s rectum who wins the doubles !!!
But everyone will remember the 2022 winners , not because of their win – I ’ ve never heard of anyone they beat in the road to winning the tournament – but their antics on the courts .
The so-called “ Special Ks ” or as I refer to them , the “ Twin Cs ”, went on like drop kicks every time they stepped onto the court .
And what about the imbeciles in the crowd !!
Their behaviour was akin , me thinks , to how citizens of Rome reacted when gladiators were slashing , slicing , dicing and chopping opponents and animals in the Colosseum .
I ’ d love to slip the slipper into each and every one of those wombats .
Oh , for the days of Rod Laver , Ken Rosewall , Roy Emerson , Fred Stolle , John Newcombe , Arthur Ashe , Tony Roche , Margaret Court , Evonne Goolagong , Billie- Jean King and Chris Evert and the tennissavvy fans who watched from the stands . Fans who appreciated the skills of both players out on the centre court - not like these football-type hooligans who paid their freight at the gate at the 2022 championships .
Here ’ s Harpo ’ s Humdinger bet for the spring thoroughbred racing .
Laws of Indices is a classy four-year-old stallion out of the Annabel Neasham yard and I ’ ve been counting sleeps until he sported silks again .
SPORT
The horse previously did his racing in England , Ireland and France where he won three of his 12 outings , racing against Group company .
The horse had three months off before making his Australian debut against many of the country ’ s best gallopers in the $ 7,500,00 Golden Eagle ( 1500m ) at Rosehill on 30 October .
The horse drew wide than Clive Palmer ’ s “ Tijuana ” and was forced to race four-wide towards the rear of the 18-horse field all the way to the home turn .
Despite a torrid run , Laws of Indices still kept finding the line to be beaten less than two lengths behind the very smart I ’ m Thunderstruck .
Annabel immediately turned him out for a good spell to get him ready for the big spring races .
Pssst ! A friend of a great mate is close to the Neasham camp , and the good oil is that Laws of Indices is at least the equal of stablemate , Zaaki , vaunted as the best galloper in the country .
Laws of Indices will have been to the track before you read this , but whatever he has done , keep following him !
Last month I immediately got on the blower to old mates and mentors , Ken Callander and Max Presnell , to congratulate them on Racing NSW naming a race in their honour at this year ’ s Sydney Spring Carnival .
Also honoured by Racing NSW were two other long-time friends , race-callers , Johnny Tapp and Ian Craig .
The Stan Fox Stakes has been renamed the Callander-Presnell in honour of racing media ’ s two living legends .
The Callander-Presnell will be run at Royal Randwick over 1600m for threeyear-olds , on Saturday , October 22 , with prizemoney of $ 1 million .
When I commenced my career in journalism at the Daily Mirror on March 8 , 1968 , “ Deafy ” Callander was a member of an extensive racing staff which included Tommy Brassell , Ossie Imber , Johnny Holloway , Andy Vincent and Jack Lawson .
Maxie Presnell was covering the neddies for The Sun and since it followed The Mirror to that newspaper graveyard in the sky , he ’ s plied his remarkable skills for the Sydney Morning Herald .
The Tapp-Craig , run over 1400m for 3YOs at Royal Randwick on Saturday , October 8 , will be worth half a million buckeroos .
Four great blokes and thoroughly deserving of the honour bestowed on them .
John “ Chook ” Raper ’ s passing last month knocked the stuffing out of all of his generation .
A great rugby league player , larrikin and hero to all who followed league .
There are a million yarns about Chook and here ’ s my favourite .
The late , legendary journalist and boxing promoter , Bill Mordey , was the chief league writer on The Daily Mirror when I kicked off my career scribbling for a living .
One weekend , Bill ’ s then wife , Shirley , had gone country to visit her parents and he invited me to stay the weekend at his place in Randwick . It was a weekend to remember ! Friday night involved pub , Harold Park trots , two-up at the Cauliflower Hotel , then up to the Cross to Joe Taylor ’ s ( illegal ) gambling club and finally , a few drinks to round off the evening at the famed Mandarin Club .
When we were leaving about 3:00am , down the stairs came a small group of people with Chook in their midst , propped up either side by two women .
When we got outside the club , Bill told me to remind him the next morning about seeing Chook at the Mandarin .
Which I did when we finally surfaced and then Bill grabbed the blower and rang ( one of ) his bookies and called off a $ 500 bet he had on St George to win that afternoon ’ s match-of-the-day against …. whoever .
“ Raper was Douglas Bader ,” Bill explained . “ He ’ ll be a passenger for the Saints and if he ain ’ t at his best , they can ’ t win !”
Of course , Chook eventually made it home , had a few hours ’ sleep and headed over to nearby Carss Park and ran and ran and ran and ran all that grog out of his system .
Sure as eggs is eggs , Chook came out and won the man-of-the-match award !
Chook was a superb tackler , deft with ball in hand but it was his work-rate which made him into a League Immortal .
He was the fittest player in the game because he trained harder than any other .
The longer a game went , the better Chook played – he was just getting warmed up while others began to wilt .
SAD MARKS : Chook ’ s passing . The only detriment to growing into old age ( apart from creaking joints ) is the continuous mourning of people with whom you shared a life . Aah Chook , you were one in a zillion !
SAD MARKS 2 : The passing of New Zealand Rugby League international Olsen Filipaina . With ball in hand , he was an excitement machine – akin to a bulldozer with legs .
WITH PATRICK STAVELEY
Hawkesbury seals cricket win against Penrith
The Hawkesbury Cricket Club have had an enjoyable month at the club , seeing promising results and key players showing consistent signs of progress and improvement . While there were losses to UNSW and St George , it was the Round 12 matchday against Penrith where
Hawkesbury players celebrate following their win over Penrith .
four out of five grades tasted success in a triumphant day for the Hawkesbury Cricket Club .
In Round 11 , Hawkesbury ’ s batsmen couldn ’ t withstand the UNSW bowling attack led by ex-Australian International Chris Tremain despite Connor Mizzi ’ s
51 . Bilal Qureshi was also a standout performer picking up 3 / 28 in just his third game of first grade this season .
Hawkesbury sealed a brilliant win in first grade against Penrith on the first weekend of February as they chased down a score of 269 with just 10 balls to spare . It was the partnership of veteran Dale McKay and Connor Mizzi that ultimately laid the platform with McKay plundering an unbeaten 104 off 91 which consisted of 12 boundaries , while Mizzi ’ s 79 off 86 was also extremely effective .
Qureshi played for second grade against Penrith where he pitched in again with three wickets before adding 15 runs at the top of the order as Hawkesbury chased down 155 . Third Grade was the only side where Hawkesbury failed to overcome Penrith as their total of 126 was beaten .
Hawkesbury ’ s suffocating bowling prevented Penrith ’ s run chase from ever threatening Hawkesbury as they fell 83 runs behind the target . Perhaps the most convincing victory of all the grades in Round 12 was the result in fifth grade . The opening partnership of Ahmed
Badat ( 68 ) and Ben Boxshall ( 63 ) was all that was required by Hawkesbury as they sealed the result after just 25.4 overs .
Round 13 was a mostly rain-affected matchday as Hawkesbury faced Parramatta with three sides picking up a draw as a result . In first grade it was a star performance from fast bowler Luke Courtney who ended up with the stellar figures of 7 / 68 . Round 14 witnessed HCC defeat St George in third , fourth and fifth grade .
The fourth grade victory in particular was a huge scalp , with the 15 th placed Hawkesbury scoring an upset over the 4 th placed St George . Despite setting up a lowish total of 149 , it was Nixon Inskip who starred as he absolutely picked apart the lower order of St George to achieve the figures of 5 / 28 as they were bowled out for 141 .
The fifth grade side overall continues to be the highest-achieving in terms of ladder progression .
As they sit in seventh place and one point outside of the top six , they have the highest chance of all five grades at making the finals this season .
40 ISSUE 142 // MARCH 2022 theindependentmagazine . com . au THE HAWKESBURY INDEPENDENT