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The Irish Sun
19 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Irish Sun
The more comical the action at women's Euros, the more woke BBC get – one pundit's pearl of wisdom was red card offence
A SIMPLE equation is at play with the BBC and ITV's coverage of the women's Euros – the funnier the football gets, the more earnest the pundits must become. To the point, when things go really haywire, they sound more like they're dissecting Garry Kasparov versus the Deep Blue chess computer than the latter stages of a football tournament. 7 BBC's pundits during the England/Sweden game 7 Pundit Gabby Logan for BBC Sport Credit: Instagram/gabbylogan 7 Ian Wright during ITV's coverage of England/Italy semi-final Credit: Pixel8000 A sly reference to the exquisite mayhem of the England/Sweden penalty shoot-out, in Eventual winners A challenge eventually ended by Smilla Holmberg, who nearly landed her effort on base camp at the Matterhorn. So long had this farce been going by that point, however, there was no time for the Beeb team to do anything more than agree with co- commentator Rachel Brown-Finnis's assessment that it had been a penalty shoot-out, 'worthy of any final'. Final of what? She didn't say, but I'd like to believe Rachel was referring to the carnage of It's A Knockout's old pan-European spin-off Jeux Sans Frontieres. It seems unlikely, though, as absolutely everyone at the BBC and ITV is in a state of denial about this tournament's wretched quality, aided and abetted by dozens of useful media idiots who've cast themselves in the Sir Galahad role and will go to any credibility-knackering lengths to protect the honour of the women. A self-deceiving charade that reached new levels of condescension, in one broadsheet newspaper, after the You treat readers like mugs, you get the response you deserve, which in this case was the comment: 'You won't get laid trying to be their ally.' You're also missing an easy trick, though. For just as the great Jock Stein said, 'without the fans, football is nothing,' it's also nothing without laughter. And for once, I really know what I'm talking about here. Lionesses celebrate after bonkers Euro 2025 penalty shootout win over Sweden For I have seen Scotland play in 31 countries and lose in seven different time zones, since 1986, and frankly it's only the laughter that's kept me going. It's the very last thing you'll hear on either channel in Switzerland though, where instead of taking the light-hearted approach they've gone to the extraordinarily controlling lengths of reinventing the pundit lexicon in an attempt to disguise what's really happening here. ITV's 'Yes, Sweden will much prefer the transitional game,' agreed Fara before Ellen White butted in to say: 'It's frustrating when you're conceding on that transition and Sweden really do like to play in that transition.' Which was the cue, apparently, for Jonas Eidevall to chip in with his observation that: 'If the game is played in transition, it's advantage Sweden.' At no point, however, did anyone ask: 'Transition? What the f*** is the transition?' A huge shame as someone would've been forced to admit it just means losing possession and the reason they were trying to blind us with science is because, in this tournament, it happens roughly every second or third pass. Pull at the honesty thread, everyone clearly believes, and the whole of women's football unravels. It's not the case, obviously. Viewers will watch football, no matter what the quality. Ten million tuned into ITV's coverage of the England/Italy semi-final, on Tuesday. Most of them, like me, probably praying it would end in more penalty shootout mayhem. It was narrowly avoided, sadly, but the night did at least benefit from the presence of Ian Wright and the absence of the terminally tedious jobs . Less gracious men than Wrighty would've told ITV to shove their invite, after they left him out of their original roster. But he was present, adding more passion, honesty and animation than the rest of them had managed in the previous 34 games combined. Given TV is so lost to the cult of woke, though, my worry now is it'll simply cut and paste the dull, pompous, dishonest, language-mangling insincerity of the women's game over to the blokes. Especially when Wrighty left a pregnant pause on Tuesday night. 'England can't quite find enough in . . . in . . . ' In the transition, Ian. The sacred bloody transition. UNEXPECTED MORONS IN THE BAGGING AREA TIPPING Point, Ben Shephard: 'Blue morpho and Western pygmy are species of which flying insect?' Shaz: 'A dandelion.' Ben Shephard: 'Which letter that appears in the word for a song of praise known as a 'hymn' is silent when spoken out loud?' Richard: 'P.' And Impossible, Rick Edwards: 'Which settlement is situated at the southern tip of Loch Ness?' Callum was given the choice of 'A) Fort William' or 'C) Fort Augustus,' but chose 'B) Fort Lauderdale.' TV LIES AND DELUSIONS GREAT TV lies and delusions of the week. Love Island, Meg: 'Lauren, you're not an idiot.' Celebrity Antiques Road Trip, Tim Wonnacott: 'Tez Ilyas is a celebrated satirical giant of comedy.' And John And Lisa's Weekend Kitchen, John Torode: 'We thought, 'What if friends come round for lunch?' ' They won't, John. Not any more. RANDOM IRRITATIONS THE new Royal Mail advert provoking us with BBC2 putting a 'no longer active' disclaimer on Live Aid's 1985 phone lines. Channel 4 newsreader Cathy Newman even sounding smug banking money on The Weakest Link. And Good Morning Britain starting every show with half an hour of Labour Party PR from Kevin Maguire, who is the very last thing TV needs right now: A complete irrelevance disguised as a minor nuisance. LOOSE Women, Monday, Charlene White: 'You will never guess Janet Street-Porter's summer holiday job.' 7 Janet Street-Porter on Loose Women, where Charlene White said we'd never guess the star's summer holiday job Credit: Shutterstock Editorial Pulling tourist carts round the Fez medina? Giving Princess Anne her next ride at Trooping the Colour? Mounted crowd control at the first Old Firm game? Actually, you're right. I give up. C4 LOST PLOT ON KNIFING 7 Weyman Bennett is billed as 'Stand Up To Racism, Secretary' in Channel 4's documentary One Day In Southport and portrayed as very much an 'honest broker' Credit: Alamy THE title of Channel 4's documentary One Day In Southport has to be the most grotesque misnomer of the year. Just seven minutes and 30 seconds, plus a brief sentencing update at the end, was devoted to No time at all, apparently, was available to discuss the systemic failings of the state preceding Rudakubana's savagery or indeed anything that happened before July 29, 2024, other than a And if you even begin to doubt this was because the network was engaged in a political crusade, rather than the moral one the victims' families deserved, you need only question the undue prominence given to a counter-protester called He's billed here as 'Stand Up To Racism, Secretary', and portrayed as very much an 'honest broker' but is also a hardcore member of the Socialist Workers Party and, indeed, part of the central committee infamously accused of covering up rape allegations against a far-left ally. All of which means there is still a huge gap in the network's schedules for a proper documentary about But as well as dropping its infantile political agenda, that would require Channel 4 to find its moral compass, and I'm not entirely sure it ever had one in the first place. URGENT clarification required Re: A cosmetic surgery consultant called Cindy Jackson, who looked 'Cos that's all natural, Cindy, and I'll challenge anyone else who says Olivia's stupidity isn't God given. LOOKALIKE OF THE WEEK 7 Love Island's Yasmin, left, and Morticia Addams, right Credit: Supplied THIS week's winner is Love Island's Yasmin and Morticia Addams. Emailed in by Michele M. GREAT SPORTING INSIGHTS ELLA TOONE: 'We kept going until the first minute.' Ellen White: 'Winning is everything but it's not.' Rachel Brown-Finnis: 'You have to draw a line behind what's happened before.' (Compiled by Graham Wray) Telly quiz Who said the following, this weekend: 'These doughnuts have gone slightly dark. They're really puffed up?' A) John Torode on ITV. B) The BBC on John Torode. TV (NOT QUITE) GOLD 7 John Wayne in the classic The Searchers Credit: Alamy NOTHING really deserved the description 'TV Gold' during this terrible TV week. But I feel I should mention BBC2's Top Gear repeats and screening of The Searchers, with Plus, Martin Lewis, of all people, making a genuinely unexpected cameo on the new series of Mandy (BBC2) to deliver the line: 'Just give her a paper receipt, you dirty wet wipe.' And ITV2's Love Island: Unseen Bits, which is the last reminder this show used to be quite funny, rather than simply soul-destroying, and made a point of flagging up Tommy's breakfast preparations, on Saturday: 'How the f*** do you squash avocado?' Conor: 'You literally just . . . mate, that's not an avocado. That's a lime.'
The Sun
19 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Sun
The more comical the action at women's Euros, the more woke BBC get – one pundit's pearl of wisdom was red card offence
A SIMPLE equation is at play with the BBC and ITV's coverage of the women's Euros – the funnier the football gets, the more earnest the pundits must become. To the point, when things go really haywire, they sound more like they're dissecting Garry Kasparov versus the Deep Blue chess computer than the latter stages of a football tournament. 7 7 7 A sly reference to the exquisite mayhem of the England/Sweden penalty shoot-out, in Zurich, on BBC1, which has to be a contender for the funniest ever climax to a quarter-final. Eventual winners England seemed determined to turn it into a Gentlest Back Pass contest, while the slightly more gung-ho Swedes were playing a game familiar to every nine-year-old boy on the planet: Who can kick it the furthest? A challenge eventually ended by Smilla Holmberg, who nearly landed her effort on base camp at the Matterhorn. So long had this farce been going by that point, however, there was no time for the Beeb team to do anything more than agree with co- commentator Rachel Brown-Finnis's assessment that it had been a penalty shoot-out, 'worthy of any final'. Final of what? She didn't say, but I'd like to believe Rachel was referring to the carnage of It's A Knockout's old pan-European spin-off Jeux Sans Frontieres. It seems unlikely, though, as absolutely everyone at the BBC and ITV is in a state of denial about this tournament's wretched quality, aided and abetted by dozens of useful media idiots who've cast themselves in the Sir Galahad role and will go to any credibility-knackering lengths to protect the honour of the women. A self-deceiving charade that reached new levels of condescension, in one broadsheet newspaper, after the Sweden game, when a journalist argued that gross incompetence wasn't so much the issue as 'goalkeepers improving'. You treat readers like mugs, you get the response you deserve, which in this case was the comment: 'You won't get laid trying to be their ally.' You're also missing an easy trick, though. For just as the great Jock Stein said, 'without the fans, football is nothing,' it's also nothing without laughter. And for once, I really know what I'm talking about here. For I have seen Scotland play in 31 countries and lose in seven different time zones, since 1986, and frankly it's only the laughter that's kept me going. It's the very last thing you'll hear on either channel in Switzerland though, where instead of taking the light-hearted approach they've gone to the extraordinarily controlling lengths of reinventing the pundit lexicon in an attempt to disguise what's really happening here. ITV's Karen Carney has a particularly grating habit of saying 'vertical pass' when she means forward, but the real blood-boiler is the BBC's maddening use of the T-word which made the quarter-final pre-match banter sound more like a cult meeting. Gabby Logan kicked it off by saying: ' Fara [Williams], an area you're worried about is the transition.' 'Yes, Sweden will much prefer the transitional game,' agreed Fara before Ellen White butted in to say: 'It's frustrating when you're conceding on that transition and Sweden really do like to play in that transition.' Which was the cue, apparently, for Jonas Eidevall to chip in with his observation that: 'If the game is played in transition, it's advantage Sweden.' At no point, however, did anyone ask: 'Transition? What the f*** is the transition?' A huge shame as someone would've been forced to admit it just means losing possession and the reason they were trying to blind us with science is because, in this tournament, it happens roughly every second or third pass. Pull at the honesty thread, everyone clearly believes, and the whole of women's football unravels. It's not the case, obviously. Viewers will watch football, no matter what the quality. Ten million tuned into ITV's coverage of the England/Italy semi-final, on Tuesday. Most of them, like me, probably praying it would end in more penalty shootout mayhem. It was narrowly avoided, sadly, but the night did at least benefit from the presence of Ian Wright and the absence of the terminally tedious Eni Aluko, who'd accused him of 'blocking women' from punditry jobs. Less gracious men than Wrighty would've told ITV to shove their invite, after they left him out of their original roster. But he was present, adding more passion, honesty and animation than the rest of them had managed in the previous 34 games combined. Given TV is so lost to the cult of woke, though, my worry now is it'll simply cut and paste the dull, pompous, dishonest, language-mangling insincerity of the women's game over to the blokes. Especially when Wrighty left a pregnant pause on Tuesday night. 'England can't quite find enough in . . . in . . . ' In the transition, Ian. The sacred bloody transition. Shaz: 'A dandelion.' Ben Shephard: 'Which letter that appears in the word for a song of praise known as a 'hymn' is silent when spoken out loud?' Richard: 'P.' And Impossible, Rick Edwards: 'Which settlement is situated at the southern tip of Loch Ness?' Callum was given the choice of 'A) Fort William' or 'C) Fort Augustus,' but chose 'B) Fort Lauderdale.' RANDOM IRRITATIONS THE new Royal Mail advert provoking us with Judi Love, Josh Widdicombe and Micah Richards so soon after the Horizon IT scandal. BBC2 putting a 'no longer active' disclaimer on Live Aid's 1985 phone lines. Channel 4 newsreader Cathy Newman even sounding smug banking money on The Weakest Link. And Good Morning Britain starting every show with half an hour of Labour Party PR from Kevin Maguire, who is the very last thing TV needs right now: A complete irrelevance disguised as a minor nuisance. LOOSE Women, Monday, Charlene White: 'You will never guess Janet Street-Porter 's summer holiday job.' 7 Pulling tourist carts round the Fez medina? Giving Princess Anne her next ride at Trooping the Colour? Mounted crowd control at the first Old Firm game? Actually, you're right. I give up. C4 LOST PLOT ON KNIFING 7 THE title of Channel 4 's documentary One Day In Southport has to be the most grotesque misnomer of the year. Just seven minutes and 30 seconds, plus a brief sentencing update at the end, was devoted to Axel Rudakubana 's barbaric murder of three young girls at a dance class, while the rest was consumed by the bone-brained riots that followed the outrage. No time at all, apparently, was available to discuss the systemic failings of the state preceding Rudakubana's savagery or indeed anything that happened before July 29, 2024, other than a Tommy Robinson march, two days prior, which had zero bearing on subsequent events but seemed to vex the C4 production no end. And if you even begin to doubt this was because the network was engaged in a political crusade, rather than the moral one the victims' families deserved, you need only question the undue prominence given to a counter-protester called Weyman Bennett. He's billed here as 'Stand Up To Racism, Secretary', and portrayed as very much an 'honest broker' but is also a hardcore member of the Socialist Workers Party and, indeed, part of the central committee infamously accused of covering up rape allegations against a far-left ally. All of which means there is still a huge gap in the network's schedules for a proper documentary about the Southport murders, which isn't afraid to point fingers at the Home Office and its anti-extremism Prevent scheme, which refused three times to deal with Rudakubana. But as well as dropping its infantile political agenda, that would require Channel 4 to find its moral compass, and I'm not entirely sure it ever had one in the first place. URGENT clarification required Re: A cosmetic surgery consultant called Cindy Jackson, who looked ITV2 's Price Of Perfection host Olivia Attwood straight in the face and said: 'I think there are a lot of ways you can lower your visual IQ and come across as someone who's not very bright.' 'Cos that's all natural, Cindy, and I'll challenge anyone else who says Olivia's stupidity isn't God given. LOOKALIKE OF THE WEEK THIS week's winner is Love Island's Yasmin and Morticia Addams. Emailed in by Michele M. ELLA TOONE: 'We kept going until the first minute.' Ellen White: 'Winning is everything but it's not.' Rachel Brown-Finnis: 'You have to draw a line behind what's happened before.' (Compiled by Graham Wray) TV (NOT QUITE) GOLD 7 NOTHING really deserved the description 'TV Gold' during this terrible TV week. But I feel I should mention BBC2's Top Gear repeats and screening of The Searchers, with John Wayne (a classic). Plus, Martin Lewis, of all people, making a genuinely unexpected cameo on the new series of Mandy (BBC2) to deliver the line: 'Just give her a paper receipt, you dirty wet wipe.' And ITV2's Love Island: Unseen Bits, which is the last reminder this show used to be quite funny, rather than simply soul-destroying, and made a point of flagging up Tommy's breakfast preparations, on Saturday: 'How the f*** do you squash avocado?' Conor: 'You literally just . . . mate, that's not an avocado. That's a lime.'
New Paper
11-07-2025
- Sport
- New Paper
Nock, Knock, who's there?
SYDNEY Apprentice jockey Braith Nock has announced himself as a rising talent this season and he has another strong book of rides at Randwick. Just over six months ago, the Scone-based rider headed to Sydney on a three-month loan to trainer Peter Snowden with little more than a desire to improve his riding. The stint proved so successful that he readjusted his goals and set his sights on claiming the Sydney junior riders' crown, a title he has now sewn up with three weeks of the 2024-25 season still remaining. A double at Canterbury on July 9 took Nock to 38 metropolitan wins this term, 14 clear of nearest rival Molly Bourke, catapulting him into ninth place on the Sydney jockeys' premiership. The moustachioed rider has booted home 109 winners state-wide, second only to Aaron Bullock (114) and still a rough chance of capturing New South Wales riding honours. Such accolades did, however, look a remote possibility at one point of his life when he took a slightly different career path, despite boasting a racing pedigree. The son of former jockey Greg Nock and Tamworth trainer Jane Clement was a natural rider from young, but at first channelled his skills into bull-riding. After a relatively successful career in that area - including a Top 10 ranking in the professional league and stints in America and Canada - he was eventually lured to the more lucrative bigger cousin that is horse racing in 2022, joining leading Scone trainer Brett Cavanough as his apprentice. The switch to Snowden has opened doors to the "Big Smoke" from the leading Sydney trainers, which will be the case at Randwick on July 12. Two scratchings have reduced his full book to eight, but he will still be sporting silks for the likes of Ciaron Maher, Annabel and Rob Archibald, and Bjorn Baker. Nock, who had his first Group 1 ride in the Sydney Cup (3,200m) in April and finished fourth on Mostly Cloudy, admitted he sometimes had to pinch himself. "It has been a little bit surreal," said Nock. "But it's good to get the opportunities and make the most of them." His four rides for the powerful Maher operation include It's A Knockout in the A$160,000 (S$134,000) TAB Handicap (1,400m) at 2pm Singapore time. Nock is confident the Dundeel mare can go on with the job after he partnered her to a dominant win at the same course and distance on June 21. "She has only got to run up to that and I'm sure she is going to take improvement off the first-up run. She really came up underneath me that day," he said. Nock could have actually extended his tally with another bright chance in distance specialist Katsu for the Hayes' Lindsay Park in The Agency Real Estate Handicap (1,000m), but the five-time winner over the journey was one of his two scratchings. Despite his current rich vein of form and the rigours of traversing the state from Scone, Nock is not planning a permanent move to Sydney just yet. He enjoys the quieter lifestyle the Hunter Valley offers and is content to put in the hard yards. "There is definitely lots of travelling but if there are a couple of days of racing in the same area, I try to stay down so I'm not back and forth so much," he said. "I dare say at the end of the season I might take a week or two off. "I know I have a bit of momentum but hopefully I've got the connections to help me get straight back into it." SKY RACING WORLD
The Age
10-07-2025
- Sport
- The Age
Nock eyes break then shot at back-to-back city titles from the bush
The son of trainer Jane Clement, Nock has let his riding do the talking from a young age growing up in Bendemeer, near Tamworth. His passion for rodeo took him to the international stage on the Professional Bull Riders circuit and delayed his move to race riding, but now Nock appears here to stay in the Sydney jockey ranks. 'It wasn't originally the goal,' he said of winning the apprentice title. 'It sort of happened when I was having pretty good success while I was with Peter. I went home really not thinking much of it. 'I had the momentum built up, I was in striking distance, so I thought I'd give it a go. It's always good to win something like that as an apprentice. 'I dare say towards the end of the season I'll take a week or two off, then build the momentum back up. I've got the connections to then hopefully get straight back into it.' Nock passed up opportunities to stay in Sydney after his loan stint, and he is keen to remain in Scone, a three-hour drive from Sydney, with trainer Brett Cavanough. 'I think at this point I'll stay in Scone, I kind of like the style of living there,' he said. 'It's definitely a lot of travelling, but when I have a couple of days of racing around the same area, I stay down here. Brett is pretty versatile with all of that sort of stuff.' Down to only a two-kilogram claim in town, Nock knows defending his title next season will be a challenge, but he is up for it. 'It would be a good thing,' he said. 'But it's going to be tougher. It's always hard to run down a three-kilo claimer.' Ben, Will and JD Hayes are using Nock's claim with Katsu ($4.60 Sportsbet), which will still have to cart a massive 64 kilograms in the seventh, a 1000m benchmark 78 handicap. A five-time winner for Grahame Begg, the five-year-old was second on debut for the Hayes brothers at Sandown over 1000m on June 14. It will be Nock's first ride for the famous Lindsay Park stable. Loading 'It's only ever won over 1000 and, like [trainer] Joe Pride says, the weight doesn't seem to really matter unless it's over 1400,' Nock said. 'So just as long as they go quick, which over a 1000 they generally do.' Maher provides perhaps Nock's best two chances on the program, in four-year-old mares Piggyback and It's A Knockout. Nock took Piggyback to a midweek win first-up, but they have since been third twice in Saturday 78 grade. It's A Knockout cruised to a four-length victory last start for Nock at Randwick. Piggyback was $4.20 in the fifth from gate 10, while It's A Knockout was $3.20 from three in the ninth. 'She just needs a little bit of tempo,' he said of Piggyback. 'She's been a bit unlucky in slowly run races and getting a little tight for runs.
Sydney Morning Herald
21-06-2025
- Sport
- Sydney Morning Herald
Pride eyes Big Dance ticket after Headley Grange lands stakes win
Collett earlier won on Jason Coyle-trained Lulumon and Kerry Parker's Callistemon. It's A Knockout up for challenge The Ciaron Maher stable will target the listed Winter Challenge (1500m) with It's A Knockout after the four-year-old mare blitzed her rivals by four lengths off a freshen-up at Randwick. The stakes-placed daughter of Dundeel ($6) raced forward of midfield under apprentice Braith Nock in the 1400m benchmark 78 before idling to the front at the 200m and racing clear. Maher assistant trainer Johann Gerard-Dubord said the win was a boost for Steve Freeman, who owns a 70 per cent stake in the horse and has been hit hard recently by floods. Gerard-Dubord said the Winter Challenge, held on July 19 at Rosehill, looked a suitable target given It's A Knockout's liking for a gap between runs. 'She's got some black-type already, but she's not a stakes winner yet, so it's probably the right race,' Gerard-Dubord said. Fresh approach brings breakthrough The Chris Waller camp will look to keep Quantum Cat fresh and happy for his next assignment after he ended his Australian drought as part of a double for the premier Sydney stable at Randwick. Premierships leader Waller went to 170 winners in NSW and 132 in Sydney for the season with victories from Quantum Cat and Rotagilla. It was import Quantum Cat's ($2.80) first win in 13 Australian starts, while three-year-old Rotagilla made it a third career victory. Zac Lloyd gave five-year-old Quantum Cat, coming off a four-week freshen up, an ideal run behind the leaders in the 1800m benchmark 88 before he took over at the 250m mark en route to a three-quarter length win over fast-finishing Hollywood Hero. 'He's just a hard horse to catch,' Waller assistant trainer Charlie Duckworth said. 'His work always seems to be decent at home, but I think the key is to try and help him be fresh and make sure he's enjoying his work, and that seemed to work today.' Duckworth said Quantum Cat was a stable favourite because of his unusual, white-spot markings he developed as a younger horse when a bout of ringworm left scars and led to his hair changing colour. Earlier, Tim Clark-ridden Rotagilla overcame a three-wide run to win the 1600m benchmark 72 by the same margin. She's Unusual building to black type Co-trainer Tom Charlton wanted to see She's Unusual repeat her winning performance before looking to black-type level after she led and kicked clear for a dominant 1800m win at Randwick on Saturday. The five-year-old ($5.50), third up off two placings, won for the first time in 11 months, easily putting a space on her rivals in the benchmark 78 for fillies and mares for a one and three-quarter lengths victory under Tommy Berry. Charlton, who trains with John O'Shea, said She's Unusual had been hit with minor setbacks through previous preparations. 'If she can get up to that benchmark 88 grade, then she might be able to compete at that black-type level at a mile and a quarter, but I want to see her do it again,' Charlton said. 'I feel like we haven't had a proper crack with her yet. 'She was getting into her preparation and she had a little setback last time, and now off that hopefully we can build forward and get more racing into her.' Parker mare scores deserved win Kembla Grange trainer Kerry Parker was hoping for another Midway Handicap run with Callistemon after the four-year-old mare cruised to an arrogant win at Randwick on Saturday. Callistemon ($3.30) stalked the leaders in the benchmark 72 1600m Midway before powering to a one-length win over pacesetter Forecaster. It was her fourth attempt at Midway grade and followed two placings at the level at Randwick this preparation. 'When she landed where she did and just got left alone, it was just like watching a piece of trackwork really,' Parker said. 'She was due one of these, she's been racing really well. Hopefully the handicapper isn't too bad to her and we can get another Midway with her.' Parker, meanwhile, said the promising Flying Bandit was spelling in Queensland before a spring campaign aimed at the Metropolitan. Calico Miss on rapid rise after setback Patience paid off for Armidale trainer Stirling Osland when filly Calico Miss made the most of a rails run to break through at Highway Handicap level at just her fourth start at Randwick on Saturday. The three-year-old had almost a year off between her first two trials after suffering shin soreness, but she has since had wins at Quirindi and Scone, either side of a second at Inverell. Loading From gate one, Mikayla Weir gave Calico Miss ($4.40) a perfect run on the fence behind the leaders in the 1200m class 3 before she was strong late to defeat favourite Exit Fee by a half-length. Weir, who has ridden the filly at every trial and start, said Calico Miss had plenty of ability and more to come. 'She had a bit of a setback as a young horse, and that's why there's a long time between her trials and when she first kicked off, but I think she will keep progressing,' said Weir, who scored her first city win of the season.
