THE NUGGET DIARIES

Monday 1 August 2005

Gday. My name is Nugget, although I am shown in the racing books as Pinknuckle ch.g. 4yo Opera Prince Gold Nugget. I am a racehorse and today is my birthday. Im told its the birthday for all horses so we should have a good party in our barn.

Im in boarding school at the Canberra Racecourse where Im majoring in racing. I was born not far from here at Meriden, a nice farm on the Walaroo Road, just out of Canberra. Thats where Lyn and Bob live and a lot of my aunties and cousins and other relatives. My Mum died a year or so ago and I hear my Dad died to although I never knew him a common occurrence amongst us racehorses. I love going home for school holidays although last time I was injured so it took me a few days to be able to run around the place.

Life at the stables is busy we have to go on the walking machine and go and swim and run around the track and all that stuff. Ive got two Peters looking after me one is the trainer and the other we call the racing manager they are pretty cool. And then there are my owners my human Mum and Dad Lyn and Bob, their friends Mick and Jan, then theres Bob and Gloria, and Kaylie and Bronwyn and Gail Gail is always brining me carrots so I rather like her.

Ive had a couple of races and done quite well I won my last race in class record time so that was satisfying. It was also nice because Matty was riding me and Matty and I get on well I never tried to buck him off. Matty also understands that I want to get in front of those other horses and tell them how to run properly. But the last time we went to race my back was hurting and Matty saw this and the vet said I couldnt race, so that was a pity but I did go home for a nice break after that.

Theres a lot of other people around our barn and people who look after me first there was Mick who taught me lots of things, and then Libby who looked after all my early training, and then Gary who helped Peter look after me for a while and all my horse friends.

Tuesday 9 August 2005

A ball!!!!! They gave me a bloody ball for my birthday Im a horse, not a footballer for heavens sake. Mind you Dodgem used to play with his ball and now they cant find it so maybe hell buy this one off me.

There is always something happening in our barn. This morning they pulled me off the walker and got me all groomed and it looked like something interesting was going to happen and then I had to go outside while this guy took photos of me something to do with Gail and the papers. So I just had to stand there and move this way and move that way while I could see other horses out having a nice jog around. But she gave me some carrots so I guess it was OK.

Anyhow they say that we are going to the races in Goulburn this Friday and Ill get to ride in the horse float. Ive done this a couple of times before the first time I was very young and all of us at the farm had to go in to the race course stables because the bushfires were very close. That was all smokey and horrid but Im told I behaved myself very well.

Last Friday my next door neighbour Solar Spirit went to Goulburn and won a race he said it was quite good fun. Not as much fun as my neighbour on the other side had hes Joshs horse and when he went to the swimming pool he didnt know how to swim and instead of walking down the ramp until you start swimming he jumped in and went under the water! He came back looking like a gi-normous drowned rat.

And Emgee bucked off Russell the other day Russell didnt look so good after that, and Emgee then went and injured himself too hes now got big purple sploges on his grey coat.

This morning Josh was having a ride on Dodgem and Dodgem decided to have some fun with him and went flat out down the straight. He pulled up OK but poor Josh isnt a jockey and this was a bit of a shock. Dodgem was laughing all the way back to the barn.

Yesterday morning Mick took me for a nice gallop I really enjoyed that and everyone said I had done really well. So now I really want to go racing roll on Friday.

Its just started raining everyone says that will make the track at Goulburn nice and comfortable for us when we are running. Its nice watching rain better than trying to work out what Im supposed to do with that ball.

Thursday 1 September 2005

Its supposed to be Spring today thats what Gail and her friend Mayumi said when they brought me some carrots at lunch time. However I cant see any real difference it was warmer last weekend. I think Mayumi might be a jockey she is very small but I havent seen her ride any of us horses. Shed certainly be lighter than Mick.

Well, Ive now been to the big smoke and quite frankly I cant see what all the fuss is about. Soley said he went to the real big smoke the week before to Randwick which he says is an OK place, but I went to Warwick Farm and he says that is just the outer suburbs. He said the Sydney horses were pretty tough and mean and he wasnt kidding I wanted to get near the fence but they wouldnt let us through so I was racing out on this horrible ground that kept shifting around and it was pretty scarey and I really didnt enjoy that race all that much. The horse that won it broke the class record and Id like to meet him again and try to really take him on, but he would have to come up here where there is a decent track.

However everyone says I am now famous as they were filming a TV show called Home and Away and I may be in it! The journey wasnt all that bad just long and rather boring but Im told I will have to get used to that. It was quite fun to see young Peter all dressed up in a suit and tie he looked quite the city slicker!

I hope next time I go somewhere I can go with a mate like when I went to Goulburn with Soley that was good fun.

Soley is funny he doesnt really know how to eat carrots but Dodgey can eat them OK in fact he finished off my carrots at lunch time. He still has my ball and Im waiting for him to show me the colour of his money.

Lyn came to see me yesterday she said she and Bob are going on holidays so she wont be here for my real birthday and she may not see my next couple of races. Ill miss them because Lyn is like my human mother. And I dont see why they cant have their holidays at home on the farm like me, but then Ive got a lot to learn about humans.

Thats about all I have to report for the moment it is just back to the usual routine of walking, swimming and running, being bathed, eating and all that stuff.

13th September 2005.

Ive been feeling a bit under the weather the last few days. Peter has been fussing round and Jack the Vets been to see me and taken a blood sample that wasnt so nice but having my temperature taken was worse! Im feeling a bit better now, but I didnt go to Goulburn to race yesterday which probably wasnt a bad thing as the weather was awful. Mind you when it rains that isnt so bad as the track gets sort of nice and springy and doesnt jar my legs so much, but yesterday it was cold even with my two rugs on.

Last week I did some work with Mick on Thursday morning and everyone came to see me except Lyn and Bob Im told they are travelling. And Gail says she is travelling too so she wont be able to help me with my diary for a couple of weeks. That probably means I wont get a lot of carrots either. Oh well.

On Sunday it was my real birthday Gail came and gave me four carrots because she says I am now four and that Ive got to start behaving in a more mature manner. She has to be joking!

Today it is still cold but the sun is out and Ive had a bit of a run around with Mick so I hear I am going back to Sydney next week but to a place called Rosehill. I think Dodgem has been there so I will have to ask him to tell me about it, except Im not sure Im speaking to him because he still hasnt paid me for my ball, and I hear hes flattened it too.

Editors note

Ten days after his fourth birthday Nugget went to Sydney to race at Rosehill, one of the top tracks in that city. He was in the sixth race at 4.20pm. By 4.30pm his brief life was over. He broke a pastern and there was no medical solution.

We think he had a happy life, and it was a life that promised much. His owners had been looking forward to having him race for several years. He was still growing, still maturing and with everything before him. Certainly he was always surrounded by love.

Now Soley has an empty stall beside him, and Dodgem may be regretting not having paid Nugget for the ball. Im sure Nugget would forgive that debt. His friends in the barn will be wondering what happened to him.

He seemed to enjoy being a racehorse, but above all as an individual he had that extra quality which can only be described as noble. This is the time of year where foals are being born in Australia. Our small consolation is the hope that his spirit will live on in one of these foals and a new Nugget may appear.

Vale Nugget.