By MIKE DILLON
Eddie Wilkinson has been looking to the breakers of a Far North beach to wash away the stress of big-money Singapore racing and reckons it is working.
The former Kiwi jockey has returned to his native Kaitaia for two weeks between Singapore racing seasons and says the surfing is what he has been hanging out for.
After three years as one of Melbourne's most sought-after jockeys, Wilkinson has ended up second on the Singapore jockeys' premiership in his first year.
But with it came the stress.
"In Melbourne there was stress because I was riding five or six days a week, having to do the form for each of the fields I was riding on race morning, then travelling all day to the races. That was tough.
"In Singapore you've only got the two racedays a week, but the stress comes from the big betting. The owners want to have a bet and the pressure is right on."
Get it wrong, he says, and you know about it.
"If you get it wrong, it starts to go bad pretty quickly."
Which makes the solitude of a west coast Northland beach very appealing.
Wilkinson must be handling the pressure reasonably well to finish second on the premiership.
"I am very pleased with the result because the winner, J Saimee rides freelance, while in my first year I was riding exclusively for my sponsored stable."
The proprietor of the stable is former Melbourne trainer Donald Baertschigel.
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Bluebird The Word will be set for the $A500,000 Brisbane Cup despite missing last weekend's Rotorua Cup.
The Takanini stayer was yesterday flown to Brisbane where on Saturday he will further his 3200m build-up in the 2200m Metropolitan Handicap at Eagle Farm.
Yesterday the QTC handicapper allocated Bluebird The Word 53kg in the Brisbane Cup, a handicap which looks fair, despite being only 3kg less than joint topweights Cronus and Sharscay.
Bluebird The Word had his Adelaide Cup campaign aborted in Melbourne when he contracted a low level virus in February but co-trainer Frank Ritchie said the horse has thrived recently.
"I haven't got a jockey for him on Saturday. It is only a quality handicap and as a group one winner he'll probably get close to the maximum 60kg topweight so I'd like a heavyweight jockey so he doesn't carry too much dead weight."
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If hearing Graham Hughes calling a women's netball game, Ian Smith describing Scottish hurling and Grant Nisbett doing his best with the toughest sport racecaller Keith Haub can come up with, then the Kings Of Sport Dinner at Ellerslie on June 1 is for you.
For a night of sporting and racing fun and entertainment, Smith, Hughes and Nisbett team up with Haub and former top English jumps jockey, BBC broadcaster, novelist and world authority on racing, Richard Pitman.
Smith, Hughes and Nisbett will be required to call a televised sporting occasion chosen by Haub.
"I won't be declaring what the boys will be calling, but I've got some devious ideas," says Haub.
Pitman is the Auckland Racing Club's special guest for the Great Northern jumping carnival.
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Monday's abandoned Adelaide Cup has been uplifted and will be run at Victoria Park on Saturday.
"The scratchings have been re-instated and we start from scratch again," said SATRA chief executive Ian Hart yesterday.
Hart could not put a monetary figure on what the re-scheduled programme has cost Adelaide racing, but says it is significant.
"There is not time to re-erect the sponsors' marquees at a new venue and really this is just a gesture for owners and trainers.
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The opposition may not be lining up, but the New Zealand TAB is when Fusaichi Pegasus takes on Sunday morning's $US1 million Preakness Stakes.
The colt was so devastating winning the Kentucky Derby, most of his rivals have shied away.
Fusaichi Pegasus became the first favourite to win the Kentucky Derby since 1979 and will attempt to become the 12th horse to win the coveted Triple Crown, the third leg of which is the Belmont Stakes.
The TAB will operate betting on Sunday's race and Trackside will cover the race live starting 8.30 am.
Racing: Isolated beach just the tonic for riding stress
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