Rawiller rides the finest line between pleasure and pain The enforcer: Nash Rawiller (white cap, centre) drives juvenile Pitcrew to victory in the first at Warwick Farm on Saturday. The Nash Rawiller push that goes even beyond shove has become a vital tool in his already powerful artillery over the concluding stage of a contest. With his head getting unfashionably low, you wonder whether the knee of a high-actioned horse will strike his chin. Yet he is producing precious centimetres in a tight finish, emphasised by his triumph on Pitcrew at Warwick Farm on Saturday. Most figured Pitcrew had been beaten but the Rawiller technique came into play in the last couple of strides, prompting former top jockey Brian York, now a TVN comments man, to quip he could thrust the bit out of his mouth with the enthusiasm. Rawiller, in career-best form, is now balancing the fine line of daring and careless that the greats of my time navigated. It came unstuck by protest on Clever Boy (in the fourth) but his tactical ploy in creating a chain reaction early in the straight on Charing Cross (in the sixth) gave him a significant advantage over runner-up Sacred Flyer, trained by Chris Waller. Ironically Waller, who has benefited greatly from the premiership-challenging jockey's drive, came out of the Warwick Farm battle scarred, as he prepares Clever Boy and Sacred Flyer. Randwick off limits Why was Saturday's meeting at Warwick Farm and not Royal Randwick, the venue for this Wednesday's program? Saturday is the prime racing day and surely punters are entitled to the best possible surface. Trainer Gai Waterhouse described the Farm as "chewed up," while Randwick has hardly had the same wear and tear. "Construction considerations at the time of programming," Darren Pearce, the Australian Turf Club chief executive, answered regarding the question. Two more floors on the new Randwick grandstand will be completed this month and another in August. Pearce said big changes would not be made to the much-criticised "Theatre of the Horse," the back of the house presentation area. Most want it shifted to the front for better and more comfortable viewing and access for all. However, only "fine-tuning," Pearce says, is likely. Money doesn't talk Lord Of The Sky, successful in the 1000-metre juvenile at Caulfield on Saturday is yet another rags-to-riches story and, in this episode, downed a $1 million yearling buy. Trainer Robbie Laing disclosed he received a $500,000 Hong Kong offer for the colt earlier in his career but turned it down. "I leased the mare [Princess Abassi] for nothing and got a free service to the stallion [Danerich], so it wasn't a bad earn," he said, regarding the two-year-old's lineage. Lord Of The Sky downed Monkstone, a Fastnet Rock colt which had yearling buyers in a frenzy. Monkstone, from the Peter Moody stable, was slow to begin and struck trouble early but was beaten 3½ lengths. Lord Of The Sky was handled by Kayla Nisbet, another example of how apprentices thrive with David Hayes at Euroa. Backhanded rule Jockeys don't lose power applying a backhander with the whip, research by the University of Sydney's Faculty of Veterinary Science reveals. "Our findings point to a loophole in rules that currently place no limit on the whipping technique that can do the most harm - backhand strikes with the jockey's dominant hand," said Professor Paul McGreevy, lead author of the study, published in the Journal Of Veterinary Behaviour. Apparently the study indicates that the backhander, applied with the dominant hand, lands with more power than a "forehand strike." Perhaps the whip rules, regarding the height of application and strike number, have taken the sting out of the forehand. Anyway, pushing in a finish, emphasised by Nash Rawiller, is becoming more of a fashion than hitting, but the whip is still an instrument of necessity for a jockey. Not Hugh's bag Hugh Bowman recently returned from Ireland surprised that John Murtagh, with 40 horses under his care at The Curragh, has a dual jockey-trainer licence. However, it isn't unique in Australia as John Miller, one of the saddle greats, was once in the same situation as South Australia had a similar rule. Miller pulled off a coup in the 1960s with Vin Rose, which he rode but the horse had to be transferred to another trainer on the day, at Hawkesbury before going on to handle the 1966 Melbourne Cup winner, Galilee. Later Miller was successful in Ireland and subsequently became a top, if controversial, trainer in Perth. Bowman has no intention of following the example. Sacred Flyer was beaten a length by Charing Cross in the 1600m sixth and Warwick Farm on Saturday but should have finished closer. Being by High Chaparral, the gelding will appreciate longer. Three top fancies on Saturday, Happy Galaxy and Mrs Onassis in the Monash at Caulfield and Short Shift ($1.90 in the juvenile) at the Farm, failed miserably because they couldn't handle the wet.