The chances of Yucatan racing against Yucatan increased a fair bit yesterday, although still unlikely.
And as it did, race caller Terry McAuliffe made a faux pas that raised eyebrows.
In short, the Aussie-bred YucactanΒ (Domesday-Folk Rock) strolled in at Strathalbyn in Adelaide, winning as he liked by nearly 4 lengths at just his 2nd start in a race. He gave every indication he would get a trip too.
McAuliffe said as he was eased down to record the win, “Yucatan wins impressively. Good effort first-up from the Melbourne Cup.”
Stunned listeners were not sure whether he was joking or had made a genuine mistake. But on twitter he said that, “I sort of cringed when I said that, thinking it was a weak line.”
The import Yucatan (Galileo-Six Perfections) is now domiciled in Australia too, after winning the Gr 2 Herbert Power by a huge margin in the spring.
On the official Australian racehorse registrar, BOTH horses appear with the same name.
Could the unthinkable happen and they go head to head. And if so who should keep the name Yucatan? Something people laughed at when the registry outlined it as a possible issue after Yucatan IRE won the Herbert Power Stakes.