Of me hiring a cricket-loving, Indian, Accounts Payable clerk a few months before the Indians nail the Aussies 2-0 in a series and send us home with our tails between our legs?

Damn you Viral. You and your exuberant celebrations and outlandish predictions (many of which have come true) and your Bollywood shirts. Be very careful not to make any keying errors over the next few months. You have been warned.

PS – What the hell is going on in the above photo? I hope they are using a condom.

Good luck to the guys from MVRC who are participating in this year’s ‘Movember’.

My own mo growing days are long behind me – my pride is still dented after coming third of three in the Great ABCC Mo Comp of ’93. It wasn’t too bad to be beaten by the human gorilla (aka Barnesman), but to finish behind Col Gray is an embarrassment I have never been able to get over.

Anyway, if you’d like to donate a dollar or two to the worthy causes of Prostate Cancer and Depression, here’s the link to Craig’s fundraising page.

Glenn Boss after his ride on Samantha Miss, Cox Plate 2008

I was privileged enough to have the best spot in the house at yesterday’s Tatts Cox Plate at Moonee Valley.

I was rapt with some of the photos I took in the Winner’s Circle, including the one above, which shows the face of jockey Glenn Boss immediately after the race. Bossy had to lose 5 kgs in 9 days in order to ride Samantha Miss at 47.5kgs, and it really shows in this photo – he looks physically and mentally exhausted.

Maldivian was a worthy winner of the great race, and a good-news story after last year’s disaster at the barriers in the Caulfield Cup.

Click on the photo below for a slideshow of the rest of my photos from 2008 Cox Plate.

Cox Plate 2008

Thanks to Cam for the loan of his camera.

Just a quick update on Tarpins. He ran a solid fifth last start at Kyneton, led around the straight and ran on well. He was coming third 50 metres from the line, but the leaders cut him off and Rawiller had to stop riding. He finished only 1.7 lengths behind the leader. Trainer and jockey were both rapt with the run.

He’s racing again at Cranbourne on Sunday in a 2025 metre race. The stable expect him to give a strong showing, now he’s had two solid runs under his belt and is back to his favoured distance.

1.20 pm – Race 3 Horse 3 – Jockey is Brad Rawiller again and he’s out of barrier 5.

We’ll be heading out there on Sunday to watch.

Happy punting.

Congratulations to Wakes, who yesterday successfully completed the 100 push-up challenge.

Very sneaky she was too, didn’t tell me she was planning an assault on the summit. I was minding my own business in the shower when she came into the bathroom and shouted, “Yes!!!” – OK, it wasn’t really a shout, more of a breathless exclamation in between the huffing and puffing.

Anyway, straight away I knew that she had made the 100 and put me to shame in the process.

I gave up on my own challenge a couple of weeks ago (PB = 78), but Wakes loves nothing better than a fitness challenge and was determined to see it through.

The next challenge I’ve set her is the Triple Clap Push-Up:

Well done, Wakes, you are a champion.

Photo credit: Radiospike

was bruce clark a jockey in australia

Hate to disappoint you mate, but the last time I was under 60kg I was in grade 6…

This horse is hoping like hell I don’t hop on.

Tarpins in the mounting yard

Tarpins started off a fresh campaign with a run over 1400 metres at Bendigo yesterday.

Hopes weren’t too high – he’s being trained for 2000+ metres later in the spring, and it was a pretty strong Class 2 field.

He came in second last (10th of 11) but was only around 6 lengths from the winner and hit the line fairly strongly, which was what we had hoped.

We were fortunate enough to have gun jockey Brad Rawiller on board, fresh from his big win on Weekend Hussler on Saturday. I was very impressed with Brad – he conducted himself with the uiltimate professionalism, doing the meet and greet before the race then providing a detailed debrief after the race.

Next stop for Tarpins will probably be a 1700 metre race at Warrnambool on 23 September. Stay tuned.

Trainer Jamie Edwards and Jockey Brad Rawiller

More photos are here.

This is one of the most famous people in the world.

Can you guess who it is?

I’ll provide the answer later in the week if no-one guesses correctly.

Emma’s answer in the Comments section below is correct. (See how smart my fellow CAE students are?)

The photo is in fact a computer-genereated image of how Michael Jackson would have looked on his 50th birthday if he didn’t have that awful skin condition and all of that plastic surgery. Check out this site for more details, including a before and after shot.

A Fitzroy man who allegedly made 900 dirty phone calls in a week has been charged with being a serial obscene caller.

Police have appealed for further alleged victims of the 52-year-old to come forward after he was today charged with nine counts of using a telecommunication service to menace.

The man would allegedly breathe heavily into the phone and refer to himself as Bruce or David during the calls to businesses that he had randomly picked from the telephone book.

It’s not me, I promise!

A recent post of mine sledging Olympic rowing commentator, Nick Green, ended with the Iine, ‘Special = Retarded”.

Little did I realise that my comments would create a stir in Los Angeles – the next day activists protested against depictions of developmental disability and the use of the word “retarded”.

Or maybe they were referring to Ben Stiller’s latest movie, Tropic Thunder?

Speaking of Ben Stiller, he’s the subject of one of my favourite ever comedy lines, courtesy of Ricky Gervais, creator and star of the classic TV series, Extras.

Ben Stiller: And who are you?
Andy Millman: Nobody.
Ben Stiller: What?
Andy Millman: Nobody.
Ben Stiller: Exactly. And who am I?
Andy Millman: Either Starsky or Hutch, I can never remember.
Ben Stiller: Was that supposed to be funny?
Andy Millman: You tell me, you were in it.

And while we’re on the subject of comedy, and retards, here’s another classic, from Borat:

Mike Jared (Magnolia Fine Dining Society): I’m, er… recently retired…
Borat: You are a retard?
Mike Jared (Magnolia Fine Dining Society): Er… yes…
Borat: Er… physical or mental?
Bethany Weston (Magnolia Fine Dining Society): [to Jared] Retired…
Mike Jared (Magnolia Fine Dining Society): RETIRED! I don’t work anymore…
Bethany Weston (Magnolia Fine Dining Society): Stopped work…
Mike Jared (Magnolia Fine Dining Society): STOPPED WORKING!
Borat: [quietly across the table] Is very good you allow retard to, er…
[mumbles politely]