The old house and stables at No. 68 Kambrook Rd are gone. Now there's just rubble and weeds next to a gated entrance to the Melbourne Racing Club's members' car park. The gate has shields with VATC on them-for Victoria Amateur Turf Club, the former name of the club that races at Caulfield.

Clark was one of hundreds who trained off-course at Caulfield, a number that has dwindled to one with Geoff Wheeler, at 15 Manchester Gr on the other side of the track, the last man standing. Peter Moody, Victoria's champion trainer for the past two seasons from his on-course Amalfi Lodge, actually set up in stables in Kambrook Rd when he came to Victoria from Queensland.

Wheeler, former neighbour Tommy Lanyon (now at Deniliquin), Lanyon's mate Paul Gorman (now at Benalla), Colin Little (who trains on course from Lord Lodge), Bobby Scarlett (who rode and trained at Caulfield), retired clocker Jim Meek and Clark, both octogenerians, helped Inside Racing prepare a map of where many of the stables were, their memories fresh with most, hazy with some.

Clark showed Inside Racing through heritage-listed stables near Kambrook Road, in the backyard of 1 Bond St, and pointed out that the property was sold recently for $1,625,000 by Lee Parkinson. It had been owned by the trainer Bill Parkinson (Lee's father) before him. Les Carstens, who had the good horses Marmion and General Grant, trained from the yard in the late 1960s, and in recent years track-based trainers used the stables as their overflow boxes.

There are no horses there now, but unlike other backyards where horses were stabled, this one won't disappear-there was a heritage overlay on the sale. There's a rough chance there's cash among the remains, too, Clark recalling that Bill Parkinson used to hide his winnings in a chaff box, and perhaps elsewhere.

Clark and other Caulfield "lifers" are aware of the significance of horses and horse-housing in the history of the area around the track, extending for kilometres in several directions. Jack James, for example, used to walk a string of 20 horses from Mackie Rd, East Bentleigh, in the 1940s.

Meek, 84, who grew up in Alamar Ave, Glen Huntly, recalled that in the Depression years of the 1930s "everyone had horses" and horses provided work when children were old enough to bring in extra pence.

Meek worked for Mick Crossey, in Epsom St, as a kid and said "Mick had two good ones" (Sir Romeo and Similar, who won the 1944 Australian Cup) and that when disqualified for a year trained his horses from a balcony near the track. And Meek said that in the late 1930s that Bill Jeffries, in Manchester Gr, had one that "always saluted when the cupboard was bare". "Lady something" was as much of the name as he could recall ...

More stories of the off-track trainers, and a map showing where they had stables near the course, are in the February edition of Inside Racing, out now at newsagents or by subscription. Inquiries: phone 1300 139 401 or email cfcc@racingvictoria.net.au

Before that Williams was Western Australia's leading harness racing trainer and driver. He continues to hold a dual licence, and regularly trains and drives winners at Gloucester Park.

Western Jewel, a daughter of the 1994 Melbourne Cup winner Jeune, produced a brilliant burst from the back of the field to give Williams his first win in the Cup and the Peters' their fourth-they previously had won with Field Officer in 1993, Crown Prosecutor (2005) and Lords Ransom (2010).

The win also was a reward of faith in star apprentice Kyra Yuill, who was unlucky on the mare in last year's Perth Cup, and had been out of form this season.

Williams and his wife, and assistant, Alana, a former leading apprentice under her maiden name Alana Sansom, were given a small contingent of arguably moderate horses to train from the Peters' sizeable team of thoroughbreds in what was probably a test of their talent.

Williams seized upon that small window of opportunity and his success has snowballed to such an extent that the combination of Williams and Peters has had a huge impact on racing in WA in the past 12 months.

The Williams-Peters team cut a swathe through the 2011 WA autumn carnival with outstanding 3YO filly Dreamaway, who won the Group 3 Champion Fillies (1600m), the Listed Ascot 1000 Guineas (1800m) and the Listed Natasha Stakes (2200m) before a brilliant victory in the Group 3 WA Oaks (2400m) and a stunning win over Playing God in the Group 1 WA Derby (2400m) a week later.

Dreamaway was ridden by stable jockey Willie Pike, while Yuill has settled into the position as number two rider.

Until recently, the great form of the autumn hadn't transferred into the new season. Stable star Ranger was luckless at Group 1 level before he was spelled and Lords Ransom showed he was struggling for form that also forced him out of the Perth Cup.

Things took a turn for the better when Yuill snapped out of her form slump with a winning treble at Ascot on December 17, including an upset victory aboard Moonlight Bay for Peters and Williams in the Listed WA St Leger .

Yuill followed up a week later with a near perfect ride on Western Jewel, when the 5YO scored a comprehensive win in the ATA Handicap (2200m) at Ascot on December 24.

It was a performance that indicated the mare was right on target for the Cup and ready to atone for her luckless effort in last year's race, despite drawing barrier 16.

With a confident Yuill riding to instructions, Western Jewel settled near last before looping the field on the corner and unleashing a barnstorming finish to beat God Has Spoken and Senhor Da Gama. Yuill is the first female rider to win the Perth Cup and the third apprentice, joining Pike (Crown Prosecutor in 2005) and Peter Knuckey (Field Officer, 1993).

Williams had four starters in the Cup, all owned by Peters-the others were Pike's mount Tranquility (4^th), Moonlight Bay (7thy, Marco Chui) and Battle Emblem (8^th, Paul Harvey).

The disappointment of the race was the $4.20 favourite Kincaple, who settled back and finished 12^th. Jockey Dwayne Dunn reported that Kincaple was sore.

It was a red -letter day for WA's harness fraternity with former leading harness trainer-driver Justin Warwick-another dual-licensed trainer that is really starting to make an impact upon WA's thoroughbred racing-preparing his emerging mare Rosie Rocket to an effortless victory in the Listed $80,000 La Trice Classic, the final leg of the rich WA summer carnival series for mares.

It was a training triumph for Warwick, who in a little over nine months has guided Rosie Rocket from winning a provincial maiden to be a two-time Stakes winner.

The barrier draw almost certainly ensured the 2400m Cup will develop into an intriguing tactical battle in the early stages after other leading chances-God Has Spoken (barrier 13 and to be ridden by Steven Parnham), Battle Emblem (15, Paul Harvey) and Western Jewel (16, Kyra Yuill)-also drew poorly.

Harvey particularly faces a real dilemma whether to chance his arm at the start with Battle Emblem, who has the capacity to settle in a forward position, but also has a tendency to pull very hard if he becomes stirred up in running.

In stark contrast, the remaining two hopes of the powerful combination of owner Bob Peters and trainer Grant Williams, Tranquillity (William Pike) and last start WA St Leger winner Moonlight Bay (Marco Chui) have drawn well in barriers 8 and 6 respectively.

Veteran stayer New Spice, to be ridden by regular rider, apprentice Ryan Hill, is likely to ensure a solid tempo throughout and could take some catching after he drew ideally in gate two, and in his current form is capable of causing an upset result.

The rejuvenated eight-year-old returned to something resembling his top form at his two past starts-when a shock upset 60/1 winner of the Listed Tattersalls Cup, over 2100m at Ascot on November 19, and at his most recent outing when he was run down in the shadows of the post for a long-neck third behind Veracious in the Listed JRA Trophy (2200m, Ascot) on December 3.

Western Jewel, despite her poor draw is probably the least affected of all the fancied runners as her regular pattern is to drift back and be ridden quietly, and the likelihood of a solid speed will ensure that with average luck she will be thereabouts at the finish.

After having little luck at her past two outings, Western Jewel bounced back to her very best form for regular rider Yuill and trainer Grant Williams when she powered home to score impressively in the ATA Handicap (2200m, Ascot) in her final Perth Cup lead up on December 24. The mare also will appreciate a 4.5kg drop in weight from 57.5kg to 53kg.

In stark contrast, Kincaple's nightmare draw has shattered the confidence of trainer Mark Reed and the former Victorian is expected to drift markedly from his current quote of $3.60 with TAB Sportsbet, which is looking decidedly "unders".

The versatile Pentire 6YO faces a near suicidal task if rider Dwayne Dunn presses forward aggressively with a number of runners drawn inside him also likely to be pressing forward at the start. The likelihood of a solid tempo could see Dunn opting to ride the horse more conservatively.

While Kincaple is rock-hard fit and he possesses the staying capacity to sustain a long, searching run, he is going to need all the breaks to go his way and it will require a masterly ride from Dunn.

Kincaple's bad luck at the barrier draw was the second telling blow to his Perth Cup hopes in as many days after the gelding rose 3kg from his original 53kg to 56kg when the top weights, the Peters-owned pair Ranger and Lords Ransom, were both scratched before final acceptances-God Has Spoken also rising 3kg to become the new top weight with 57kg.

In just his first WA preparation under the guidance of Reed, also a leading harness racing trainer, Kincaple has already taken out the Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie Cups, and the stable wouldn't have had its confidence of winning the Perth Cup diminished when he lumped 59kg to finish a slashing second behind God Has Spoken in the CB Cox Stakes (WFA, 2100m) at Ascot on December 17.

God Has Spoken, trained by Neville Parnham, is another who returned to something like his outstanding 3YO form when he staged a stunning form reversal to win the Cox Stakes, and, despite the fact he is now being forced to carry the mandatory topweight of 57kg, his class will carry him a long way. Look for him to firm from his current quote of $11.

The Stan Bates-trained Miss Tipsy Topsy emerged as a potential staying star during the early part of the winter and indicated she wasn't far off a return to her best form when badly held up for a run on several occasions in the straight at her most recent start in the St Leger. when unplaced behind Moonlight Bay-she should have finished much closer than 5 lengths from the winner, Moonlight Bay.

She is a much better chance than her current quote of $26 indicates, and she will be ideally suited by the likelihood of a solid tempo.

While the Perth Cup itself is now a wide open contest, the promising Tony Noonan-trained 4YO mare, Ladysea, who was balloted out of the Cup, only needs to jump cleanly to prove one of the best bets on the day in the second event on the card, while Caves Road, despite having his first attempt at 1500m, should send Dwayne Dunn's supporters home on a positive note in the last on the nine race program.

The $3.10 favourite Alfredo (b c 2, Symboli Kris S (USA)-Princess Camellia (JPN), by Sunday Silence (USA)) beat Meiner Robusto by two lengths yesterday after stalking the leaders and surging to the front about 200 metres out, with a half-length to Leo Active in third place. The time, 1min 33.4sec, equalled the race record.

It was Williams' first ride on Alfredo and his first ride for trainer Takahisa Tezuka. The jockey said: "It was a pick-up ride. Somebody recommended me to the trainer and owner."

It was Williams' sixth Group 1 win in the past three months. The others were in Melbourne (the Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes on Toorak Toff, the Caulfield Cup on Southern Speed, the Cox Plate on Pinker Pinker), in Perth (the Railway Stakes on Ortensia), and in Hong Kong (the Cathay Pacific Vase on Dunaden).

Of course, the "big one" got away when Williams (34) was suspended and missed the Melbourne Cup - Dunaden won for replacement jockey Christophe Lemaire.

Williams' will ride in Japan's unique G1 race, the Arima Kinen (2500m), worth almost $5 million, at Nakayama on Christmas Day before flying home at the end of another successful Japanese stint.

The race is unique because the field is decided by fans' votes, ensuring plenty of public support.

Williams will ride his G1 Japan Cup (2400m) runner-up Tosen Jordan in a field of 16 that includes Buena Vista, who beat Tosen Jordan in the Cup at Fuchu in Tokyo, and Japan's best and most exciting young horse, the Triple Crown winner Orfevre.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong's best jockey, South African Douglas Whyte, champion for the past 11 seasons, had a treble at Sha Tin on Saturday to re-emphasise his dominance - almost four months into the season he leads the premiership by 18 with 37 wins. Australian Brett Prebble and young local star Matthew Chadwick share second on 19.

Two of Whyte's wins (Mentor and Glorious Days) were for Australian trainer John Size, who with 25 wins is on track for his seventh premiership in 11 seasons in Hong Kong. Size is six clear of the pack, headed by Tony Cruz (19), a former champion jockey in Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong colt Bear Hero ($2.30), who flopped (last behind Sepoy in the G1 Coolmore Stud Stakes over 1200m at Flemington) at his only start on a trip to Victoria in the spring, resumed at Sha Tin with second placing to $2.20 favourite Fionn's Treasure in the Griffin Trophy (1400m).

In Singapore (where, unlike Hong Kong, the season runs for the calendar year), South African Barend Vorster tipped Australian Vlad Duric out of second place in the jockeys' premiership when he rode the last two winners of the season.

Vorster finished with 84 wins; Duric, who quit Singapore racing after a three-month suspension for failing to ride one of his mounts "with sufficient vigour and determination in the straight", had 83.

Brazilian Joao Moreira made the title a one-horse race with 153 wins.

South African Patrick Shaw, for whom Vorster is stable rider, won the trainers' premiership with 78 wins from local Leslie Khoo (66), New Zealander Laurie Laxon (64) and Australian Steven Burridge (62).

Other Australian trainers: Michael Freedman 56 wins, Cliff Brown 55, Don Baertschiger 52 and Brian Dean 40. Jockeys: Danny Beasley 42, John Powell 42, Ronnie Stewart 37.

The Singapore Turf Club announced yesterday that it had licensed Baster for six months, to June 30.

Baster (37) has more than 1000 winners to his credit, including 11 Group 1s. This season he has had 18 wins statewide, but only two in the city.

He is one of four riders granted licences by the Turf Club. The others are: Opie Bosson (31), New Zealand's 2009-10 premier jockey; Britain's Alan Munro (44), who will move back to Singapore from Japan; and Jose Verenzuela (43), who will be returning.

The club is looking to build up senior numbers next season with Vlad Duric and Ronnie Stewart returning to Australia.

Singapore's 2011 season ends with tonight's and Sunday's meetings at Kranji.

Brazilian Joao Moreira (153) is a runaway winner of the jockeys' premiership. South African Barend Vorster (82) has the rides to overtake Duric (83) in second spot.

Stewart sits in ninth place with 37 wins, just behind Danny Beasley (eighth, 39). The other Australian riding there, John Powell, is sixth with 42.

South African Patrick Shaw takes the trainers' premiership with 76 wins. The Australians: Steven Burridge, 62; Michael Freedman, 55; Cliff Brown, 55; Don Baertschiger, 51; Brian Dean, 40.

In Hong Kong tomorrow, the 3YO Bear Hero resumes after his Flemington flop - last behind Sepoy in the G1 Coolmore Stud Stakes (1200m) on Derby Day.

Brett Prebble will ride Bear Hero (by General Nediym) in the $HK2 million (about $250,000) Griffin Trophy (1400m) at Sha Tin.

Victorian Prebble rode Lucky Nine to win the G1 Cathay Pacific International Sprint (1200m) at Sha Tin last Sunday and had a double at Happy Valley on Wednesday, but remains a distant second to South African Douglas Whyte on the jockeys' premiership - 34-19 - almost four months into the season. Whyte has won the past 11 titles.

Another Victorian, Craig Williams, winner of the G1 Vase (2400m) on Melbourne Cup winner Dunaden at Sha Tin, has the mount on unbeaten colt Alfredo in the G1 Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes (1600m) for 2YOs at Nakayama in Japan on Sunday.

And this time, unlike in the Melbourne Cup, Victorian jockey Craig Williams was along for the ride.

Williams was ecstatic, as was his father, Victorian trainer (and former Group 1 winning jockey Allan), who had come to Hong Kong to watch Craig make up for missing the Melbourne ride because of suspension. Williams snr held back tears as his son kissed him after weighing in.

Christophe Lemaire, who won at Flemington, was required for French colt Vadamar (10^th), so trainer Mikel Delzangles reinstated Williams, who had won the Geelong Cup on him before his suspension.

Williams said after today's brilliant ride: "We decided to have him up as close as we could, and he produced so much when I pulled him out ... I really love this horse."

Delzangles said: "He is an amazing horse because it is difficult for them to travel that much and yet peak at the right moment-twice."

Dunaden, owned by Sheikh Fahad al-Thani of the Qatar royal family, has an unprecented three-from-three record on his journey from France to Victoria to Hong Kong.

He will go for a spell and, although connections are not announcing next year's targets yet, the Sheikh's racing manager at Pearl Bloodstock, David Redvers, said Dunaden showed he was a horse of Arc (le Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe) standard.

Dunaden beat Red Cadeaux "by a pixel" at Flemington and today the English horse, with Englishman Ryan Moore replacing Michael Rodd, was in another close photo-the camera couldn't split Silver Pond and Red Cadeaux for third. Thumbs Up was second, three-quarters of a length behind Dunaden and the same margin ahead of the dead-heaters.

Victorian Brett Prebble rode Thumbs Up, and went one better in the next Group 1 race, the $HK14 million (about $1.8 million) Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Sprint, 1200m, on local horse Luck Nine.

It was his third win in the big race, scoring on Absolute Champion in 2006 and Sacred Kingdom in 2009.

Results in the other headline races ...

The $HK20 million (about $2.5 million) Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Mile, 1600m: Able One 1, Cityscape 2, Xtension 3.

The $HK20 million (about $2.5 million) Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Cup, 2000m: California Memory 1, Irian 2, Zazou 3.

The $4.40 second favourite California Memory's Cup win was popular with the locals, despite the failure of $2.10 favourite Ambitious Dragon (fourth), because it was the international Group 1 breakthrough for young Hong Kong rider Matthew Chadwick.

In the Mile, roughie Able One upset the more favoured John Moore-trained horse, Xtension, favourite at $2.50 and ridden by the stable's No. 1 jockey Darren Beadman. South African Jeff Lloyd, who rode successfully in Sydney a few seasons back, was on the veteran Able One, winner of two Group 1 Champions Mile races but scratched at the barrier when favourite in this race last December.

Australians had success in minor races ...

The Beadman-Moore combo won the third with $1.70 favourite Captain Sweet;

Tim Clark won the sixth on Viva Freedom for Andreas Schutz; and Lloyd and Moore did it again with Majestic Falcon in race nine.

But it was Williams who will dine out for a long time on his fabulous spring-early summer: in Australia with other majors on Southern Speed (Caulfield Cup) and Pinker Pinker (Cox Plate); in Japan with his brilliant ride for second on Tosen Jordan in the Japan Cup; and now in Hong Kong on the day the Hong Kong Jockey Club calls the greatest show on turf.

That talk was that Australian-bred Rocket Man had the score on the international board and that the unbeaten Australian Black Caviar needed to do likewise to be regarded as the great that she has become.

Shaw is still talking the talk, but after October's defeat in another GSC leg, the G1 Sprinters Stakes (1200m) at Nakayama in Japan, then a "good ordinary" win on the Polytrack at Kranji and unimpressive trackwork at Sha Tin this week, it is talk of a more defensive ilk.

It has been to hose down suggestions that Rocket Man, by Viscount, is off his game ... and he needs to be on it to go one better in Sunday's G1 Cathay Pacific International Sprint (1200m), the G1 GSC leg he lost by a short head last year. It was South African flyer J J The Jet Plane who nutted him, with Hong Kong's best sprinter of recent times, Sacred Kingdom, less than a length back third.

Throw in a bad barrier draw (14 in a 14-horse field), and it is no wonder the drums are beating a message that Rocket Man "has issues".

Shaw, who has a brilliant 18 wins and four seconds (all narrow losses at G1) from 23 races with Rocket Man, said he hadn't heard the drums - although he was surprised others had - and he wasn't worried about them.

"I'm happy that he's as good as he was," Shaw said yesterday. "In Japan there were things which interrupted his preparation and I think in Singapore the second horse performed well above average."

Rocket Man's work for race jockey Barend Vorster on the all-weather track at Sha Tin this morning had more zip, and it would be foolish to discard him, especially as Sacred Kingdom, at seven a year older than him, clearly is on the decline.

The Sprinters Stakes winner Curren Chan is in the field, along with a group of even but emerging local sprinters such as Little Bridge, Lucky Nine, Entrapment and Admiration, and a few Europeans who appear to be racing for minor money at best.

Sportingbet has Rocket Man as the $3.70 favourite, which appears to be "unders", especially with the drums beating.

TVN will show all 10 races from Sha Tin on Sunday with a coverage that runs from 3.25pm-8.50pm EDST.

The markets for the four Group 1s, with eachway/value bets in bold type, are:

SPRINT: $3.70 Rocket Man, $6 Sacred Kingdom, $7 Little Bridge, $7.5 Curren Chan, $8.50 Lucky Nine, $10 Bated Breath, $11 Entrapment, $18 Admiration.

VASE (2400m): $5.5 Dunaden, $7 Thumbs Up, $8 Sarah Lynx, $8.5 Vadamar, $9.5 Trailblazer, Red Cadeaux.

MILE: $6.50 Jimmy Choux, Xtension, $9 Sahpresa, Cityscape, Sichuan Success, $9.5 Destined For Glory, $10 Beauty Flash.

CUP: $2.6 Cirrus Des Aigles, $2.7 Ambitious Dragon, $7.5 Byword, $8.5 California Memory.

He is a Group 1 entertainer, and his star jump is the star jump, the best and most recognised celebration of a big victory; or, as was the case when he rode all seven winners at Ascot in England way back in 1996, victories.

Last night at Happy Valley in Hong Kong, and just a week shy of his 41^st birthday, Dettori showed he was still capable of landing the star jump as well as landing winners.

He did it after winning on Travel Guide in the first of four heats of the 12-man Cathay Pacific International Jockey Challenge, then again after rounding out the competition with success on Regency Winner.

Photographers had to back away to make room for the first jump in the mounting yard at Happy Valley, and even more of them spread further to make space for the second. Two of them who got in each other's way exchanged harsh words and almost came to blows.

Dettori's winning blows, and a second in another heat, gave him the $HK200,000 (almost $25,000) prize and his third success in the competition, albeit the others were in 1999 and 2001-his visits have been less frequent because of school pre-Christmas commitments with his five children.

The Italian's wins last night provided the spark the Hong Kong Jockey Club hoped for to kick start the Cathay Pacific carnival that culminates with four Group 1 races at Sha Tin on Sunday, a meeting the club promotes as "the greatest show on turf".

The prelude's racing at Happy Valley had eight races full of so-so horses, but the four key events provided plenty of action, headlined by the rides of Dettori, young New Zealander James McDonald, who finished second and earned $HK100,000 after a win on Sunny More and a second on Joyful Winner, and third-placed Christophe Lemaire, who won on My Home Town. (Frenchman Lemaire won this year's Melbourne Cup on Dunaden.)

Australia's Luke Nolen had no joy (9^th, 4^th, 10^th, 9^th), nor did the Aussie representing Hong Kong, Brett Prebble (5^th, 7th, 12^th, 3^rd).

Barriers were drawn today for Sunday's Group 1 races:

Dunaden drew three in the Vase (2400m) and Red Cadeaux, beaten a whisker in the Melbourne Cup, drew seven;

Ageing favourites Rocket Man (13) and Sacred Kingdom (14) fared badly in the Sprint (1200m);

New Zealand's (or Australasia's) Jimmy Choux drew a nice gate (2) for the Mile;

And hot favourite Cirrus Des Aigles (2) fared well in the Cup (2000m) draw.

Sunday's races will be shown on pay television in Australia-EDST times are 5pm (Vase), 5.40pm (Sprint), 6.50pm (Mile) and 7.30pm (Cup).