It's March 2005 and the long awaited merger between Tabcorp and Tablimited has begun. Effective from March 2005 Tablimited's Spinner and Superfecta bet
types have been deleted. At the same time STAB's Duet or place Quinella will now be available on Tablimited. This should be a merged pool from the beginning and add some respectability to the dividends. At the moment because of the small pools the dividends are all over the place.

The Golden Slipper markets are up, the Doncaster and AJC Derby speculation has started and the stories about Australia's attack on the International Racing scene are with us. Since Choisir won in England last year, a much larger mnumber of horses are to contest races there. The big payoff is in winning our horses an International reputation to enhance the viability of our breeding stock.

Makybe Diva and Fastnet Rock are probably going to be our best known exports but of course this also means that they wont be here to add colour to our own meetings once their early assignments are complete.

I am looking forward to the Australian Cup in March which is turning into an Autumn version of the Cox Plate and the early arrival of Easter this year means that the action is heating up sooner. Immediately after that we go to Doomben for their Carnival and Adelaide for the Adelaide Cup in May. Bring it on!