Bartley and Peck

One equine identity had the right idea on how to overcome disappointment with the gee-gees.

Tracey Bartley from Mudgee in NSW was on the beautiful island last week to get over her nag’s defeat at Ascot.

Sniper Bullet didn’t win the Group One Railway Stakes but her owner took it in her stride.

“Right now I have Simon Marshall (former leading heavyweight rider and now racing television commentator) trying to push me off the gang plank onto the boat and Joe Janiak (of Takeover Target fame) is on board and I’m looking at a day relaxing on Rottnest,” she told the Mudgee Guardian.

She wasn’t the first person to be entranced by Rotto waters: we loved this anecdote from longtime TV critic Robin Oliver in the Sydney Morning Herald:

“I remember the hotel staffer who thought I might be interested in Gregory Peck, who was holed up in the Perth Travelodge to be with the film crew for The Dove. Perth, that most star-struck of cities, had been unaware of the famous man's presence. He had come to WA because the unusual wave patterns off Rottnest Island were exactly what his round-the-world yachting adventure required. ‘Sure, come around,’ he said.”