Tag Archives: Melbourne Cup

United Kingdom

Windsor’s Watering Disaster

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Another winner today – Crowned Eagle (advised @ 2/1) won at Windsor despite never really looking overly comfortable. He certainly seemed not a straightforward ride, yet class got him over the line in a race that had a profound impact on the meeting.

In the grand scheme of things in the world of racing this Windsor Handicap was only a footnote. Though for the raceday itself it was the beginning of the end:

Comrade Conrad, ridden by Harry Bentley, slipped badly on the bend before turning for home which cost him every chance to win the race but ultimately could have resulted in a bad injury to horse and rider.

After the next race a delegation of jockey, trainers and course staff went out to inspect the track and subsequently decided it was not safe to continue.

Remarkably: this is the second year running that this exact meeting – which features a Listed contest – had to be called off halfway through the card for this very same reason!

No coincidence! In fact it is down to the shambolic watering policy of the track which is a common problem. Sure, it’s not easy for the clerks, I’ve all the sympathy in the world for them. However it is their job to provide safe ground. Fair enough, they have to make decisions and sometimes can get it wrong but over-watering happens way too often.

And that was the issue here at Windsor tonight: why watering a track that is good to form the evening before – so perfectly acceptable conditions –  with rain forecast the next day? It’s from my perspective – my armchair perspective that is – plain stupid.

…..

Anyway, on to nicer things: the excellent Beyond The Game TV uploaded a nice little film on the living racing legends in Australia – some of the most popular thoroughbreds of Aussie racing enjoy retirement at the Living Legends facility near Melbourne.

Well worth to watch the film (below) and of course visit these champions if you ever have the chance – I’m going to be “Down Under” next month and have this trip firmly on my agenda:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuQAXieWkPo

……..

2.00 Beverley: Novice Stakes, 5 furlongs

Mark Johnston’s Kodiac colt Go Now Go Now looks an overpriced individual in this race. The colt was very green on his debut last week at Ayr where was sluggish at the start while then very keen during the race and disorganised when it mattered most.

However under a clearly educational ride he finished the race nicely and responded quite well to a tender flick with the whip.

He ended fourth in what appears to be a half-decent maiden against more experienced rivals and should have learned plenty. He’s entitled to improve from that run, particularly for the switch to Beverley where his sire Kodiac enjoys a very good success rate.

Selection:
10pts win – Go Now Go Now @ 11/1 Bet365

Racing Talk

Chauvinism alive?

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Paul Carberry

IT’S NOT been a great couple of days for women in racing. It started with a bang: Al Shaqab taken horses out of Criquette Head-Maarek’s yard! The trainer, famously known for guiding Treve to back-to-back triumph in the Arc, angrily suggested that this decision was all about gender.

This morning then news emerged from ‘Down Under’: Michelle Payne, last years Melbourne Cup winning jockey, has been taken off Prince Of Penzance – she won’t get the chance to steer the horse home on his Cup defending mission.

Chauvinism?!!!!

Well, hang on for a minute. Let’s first ask the question: do women find it generally more difficult to be successful in horse racing? Yes, they probably do. That’s probably fair to say.

But there is a simple reason for it, in fact a simple physical component plays the key role here. Undeniably women don’t have the same physical strengths as men – it’s a simple truth: men and women are different. Psychologically as well as physically.

That doesn’t say women can’t be great jockeys. History has proven they very much can. Only go as far back as last weekend to go to see some strong female riding performances at the Shergar Cup. Wasn’t Hayley Turner’s ride on Early Morning a brilliant piece of riding? Yes it was!

So there it is: women can offset for what they are lacking in pure power and strengths with excellent tactical awareness and forging strong emotional bonds with their equine partner.

However you cant begrudge a trainer who prefer pure strengths in the saddle. Whether one agrees with that or not. It’s their decision to make.

And let’s not forget: male jockey are taken off horses every day; horses moved out of yards too. Ask Luca Cumani, who lost his stable star Postponed not so long ago… chauvinism probably was not the reason, though.

————-

Happy retirement Paul Carberry! Injuries have taken its toll – its over for one the best jump jockeys of all time! But there’s really nothing to be ashamed of – the 42 year old had a glittering career, albeit with some ups and downs, some more more downs rather outside the race track than on it.

A 14 times winner at the Cheltenham Festival, plus a ton of other big race successes, Carberry always strikes me as a cool, calm and collected rider. Holding on to his mount for as long as possible, preserving as much fuel as possible for when it really matters – you got to have a cool head for that. And I admired him for this trait.

Here’s hoping he finds a new opportunity in life which keeps him happy and occupied now that his racing career is over. We know it can be difficult for jockeys to adjust to life after decades in the saddle, when they only know this one way.

————-

Wednesday Selections:

2.50 Salisbury: Point of Woods @ 10/1 Coral
4.30 Beverly: Space Mountain @ 6/5 Skybet
6.40 Kempton: Subatomic @ 6/1 WH
7.10 Kempton: Northern Thunder @ 5/1 WH

Global Racing

Preview: Melbourne Cup

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Jockeys Joe O'Brien

Four hours…. then it’s Santa knocking on the door! Well, kind of… at least if you’re a racing fan, like I am. I love the Melbourne Cup to bits, my favourite race of the year. The build-up to the big race is sensational, the atmosphere surrounding a packed Flemington racetrack leaving goosebumps on my neck year after year… quite simply: it’s the race that stops a nation! One day I’ll be there and take it in all in flesh.

Not this year though, that’s for sure. But maybe backing the winner tonight could be a stepping stone to finance the flights for 2016? Let’s wait and see. I never backed the winner, although had a couple of each-way selections placed in the last number of years….

It looks a wide open race in my mind. Nonetheless you see some mad short prices in the betting market. That says I can’t have the Japanese runner Fame Game at all. He may have a good draw and some big form, but how does this translate into the race the Melbourne Cup is? 4/1 or shorter seems a mad price in my mind.

Trip To Paris is second favourite, currently a 7/1 chance. He has not the kindest of draws but it could have been worse. He impressed me in the Caulfield Cup and I really like him. He’s a tough, genuine stayer. But hardly value at his current price. Unfortunately.

I really don’t understand why a National Hunt horse is a short 7/1 third favourite to land the Melbourne Cup. Sorry. Willie Mullins is a great trainer and Max Dynamite an excellent horse under both codes, he has strong form in the book but had an absolute dream run in the Lonsdale Cup – this is a completely different ball game, in my mind. I can’t see it happening.

Last years Victoria Derby winner Prefermant is hot on the machines. I don’t wanna pretend to know him well. Could be anything potentially, depending on whether he stays the trip. Class is there it seems, good draw too. But at 10/1? Not for me.

I absolutely loved the way Almoonqith won the Geelong Cup recently. But that was only a Group 3 and much more is required here. He might be found out for class. Same could apply to The United States. Formerly a Group 3 winner in Ireland, he landed the Moonee Valley Gold Cup. Others are better treated.

Criterion has been in top form lately but the trip should find him out off a big weight. Multiple German Group 1 winner Our Ivanhowe had a great preparation to the big race since arriving in Australia. A wide draw and doubts over this stamina let me shy away from him.

Now, there is one horse that stands out of the crowd in my mind: Bondi Beach. When this lightly raced stayer won a Group 3 at the Curragh earlier this year, a day I was there and saw him in flash battling hard with stable mate Order Of St. George who subsequently landed the Irish St Leger in brilliant style, I thought this lad is the real deal if is about a staying prospect.

He subsequently lost two big races in the stewards room, most importantly the English St Leger after appeal weeks after the actual race. That doesn’t take much away from the fact he is a proper Group 1 stayer, proven in fact. Now he has to take on older horses but you can argue that he weight he receives doesn’t stand in the right context to his class and what he should actually carry.

There aren’t too many proper Group 1 horses in this race, and less than a handful are Group 1 stayers anyway. Bondi Beach is. At 16’s he looks a massive price. Granted he gets a run. The draw isn’t ideal and he’ll need luck. But favoring that into the price I still don’t get my head around this price tag.

Bondi Beach @ 16/1 Paddy Power – 5pts Win