Nico, I was inspired about your reference to "where there's smoke, there's blue cod". So I looked it up. Apparently it's attributed to the Dennis Cometti of horse racing, Bert Bryant (1927-1991) a famous race caller: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bert_Bryant. I suspect you're familiar with him. Among his other famous colourful expressions are:


  • A no-hoper in a race: couldn’t pull the skin off a bread and butter custard.[4]
  • A horse bandaged on all four legs was: carrying enough bandage to start their own field hospital.[5]
  • A racecourse tout had: more tips than a can of asparagus.[5]
  • Good form coming into a race suggested: Where there's smoke, there’s blue cod.[6]
  • An erratic runner was said to be: hanging like granny’s tooth.[1]
  • A bold front runner had: a wing on every foot.[1] or had gone for the doctor.
  • A horse tailed off at the end of a race would: need a lantern to find the way home.[1]
  • A horse racing wide on the home turn was: covering more territory than Burke and Wills or: covered more ground than the early explorers.[1][3]
  • A horse that was racing fiercely was: pulling like a Collins Street dentist.[5]
  • If a longshot got up Bert remarked: You deserve a gold bike if you picked this one.
  • In a busy finish Bert remarked: They came like a swarm of ants... and didn't they march to the line in no mean order.