When larrikin Tasmanian trainer blamed his daughter for Cox Plate failing
MIGHTY Tasmanian warhorse The Cleaner won two Feehan Stakes but the daughter of larrikin trainer Mick Burles holds another racing memory closest to her heart.
It was the day that Carissa James copped the blame for the bold front-running gelding not winning the 2014 Cox Plate, the first that a Tasmanian-trained horse had contested.
The Cleaner was retired from racing in 2016 and his best mate Burles died three years later after a long health battle, but James has plenty of cracking stories about them both.
Firstly, that 2014 Cox Plate won by Aidan O’Brien’s international raider Adelaide, where The Cleaner finished ninth but was beaten less than three-and-a-half lengths.
“Dad used to ring me on those big race days and get me to talk to The Cleaner on the phone, so the horse would stay calm,” James says.
“I used to talk to the horse on the phone, but I actually have no idea whether it was the horse or Dad who needed calming down.
“But I got blamed for the horse not winning the first Cox Plate he ran in, because I didn’t answer the phone that day.
“It was the first time a Tasmanian horse had got in the
Cox Plate, but I didn’t pick up the phone, so it was all my fault afterwards.
“My dad was very superstitious. He used to wear a pair of green underpants to every race day.”
As racing folk ponder who will win Saturday’s Feehan Stakes at The Valley and earn a Cox Plate ticket, memories are flooding back for the Burles family.
The Cleaner won the Feehan in 2014 and 2015 and were major moments in the life of Burles, who had suffered from emphysema for many years.
Burles and The Cleaner were both true characters of the Australian racing industry.
“I was pleased to see Dad go in the end, because he was suffering,” James said.
“Dad was an absolute character and everybody reckons I am just like him – they reckon I am as mouthy and as bad-tempered.
“There is one special memory of Dad and Cleaner that I’ve got that really sticks out.
“One day I was walking past The Cleaner and Dad was sitting there with this evil grin on his face because I had a hoodie on.
“The Cleaner scruffed my hoodie and pulled me right into the stall with him. It turned out that Dad knew the horse had a real thing for hoodies.”
The Cleaner retired five years ago but there is another Tasmanian horse who can walk in his hoofprints at The Valley on Saturday.
Scott Brunton-trained Shot Of Irish is a $10 chance with TAB fixed odds to win the Feehan.