Well the weather wasn’t overly kind to Sydney, but the Championships were run and won and the racing quality was outstanding.
I’ll start with Day 1, which was run on Monday – pushed back from Saturday due to the wet weather.
The feature race was the Doncaster Mile, and that man again Glen Boss showed the racing world that even in your 40s, you can still beat the best of the best with an outstanding steer on Kermadec. Kermadec ploughed through the mud to win, ahead of the Japanese raider Real Impact, who was enormous in defeat.
Royal Descent ran third, and she was also great in defeat given she was four and five wide no cover for the entire. Rudy ran up to his betting support and ran fourth, just ahead of Pornichet who was probably a couple of pairs further back than what McEvoy would have liked.
Chautauqua stamped himself as the best sprinter in the world with a world class win in the TJ Smith Stakes (1200m). He was the only horse on the day that made significant ground, and to say it was significant is putting it kindly.
He came from last at the 400-metre mark and rounded up Lord Of The Sky to grab victory. I won’t claim Chautauqua as a Sydney horse, but it should be a worry that a 1000-metre horse like Lord Of The Sky can beat the likes of Lankan Rupee and Terravista.
The Kiwis stole the last two legs of the Sydney three-year-old triple crown, and Mongolian Khan did the near impossible by winning the New Zealand Derby and then winning the Australian Derby (2400m), outstaying Hauraki and fellow Kiwi Volkstok’n’barrell in a thrilling finish.
Mongolian Khan will be now set to defy history and win the Derby-Melbourne Cup double. Last horse to do it? A nag called Pharlap in 1930. I think the likelihood of Volkstok’n’barrell winning the Cox Plate is more logical, though I’ve already had a little something on Vancouver to win the WFA championship of Australia.
Day 2 was highlighted by the highlight race of the entire Sydney Autumn Carnival, the $4 Million Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m), and it was won in absolutely dominant fashion by Criterion, who took advantage of his good draw to sit right on the speed. From the 600m mark, you only wanted to be on one horse. Red Cadeaux – gee you got to love him. He was hopelessly pocketed in the straight before charging into the clear and finding the line powerfully.
No doubt in my mind he’ll go close again in the Melbourne Cup. Royal Descent ran her usual honest race for third after sitting wide and out the back. As for Adelaide, I think the fact he was on a wet track, and first up at 2000 metres, it was always going to be an impossible task. Forget To The World’s run. Didn’t handle the wet track at all.
The word ‘retirement’ has never been far away when it comes to Jim Cassidy in recent times, but the Pumper showed his greatness when he steered Grand Marshal to a surprise Sydney Cup (3200m), nailing stablemate Who Shot Thebarman right on the line. The runner up was ridden a treat by Blake Shinn, and seemingly looked home, but he just couldn’t hold off the stablemate. As for the beaten favourite Hartnell, I think Tommy Berry and/or Godolphin got the tactics badly wrong.
He rode the track, not the horse, and that early effort told late – though I will say he did have his chance.
Highlight
Toss up between Criterion and Chautauqua. Leaning towards the latter given the crazy on speed bias that afternoon and he came from last to beat up a high-class sprinting field. Gee he is going to be exciting for the next 12-18 months.
Lowlight
I’d say it was the poor showing from Joao Moreira as a whole during the Championships. He had a howler of an afternoon on Monday, most notably Grand Marshal and Royal Descent, and he was just OK on Saturday. Given he is the world’s best, he’ll come out and ride five winners at the next Honkers program.
Horse to follow
Volkstok’n’barrell clearly for mine. Probably had enough by the time he ran in the Derby yet ran so well. Very serious Cox Plate contender here given he has tactical speed and just so much natural brilliance.
Horse to forget
Lankan Rupee. He had the sash as the world’s best sprinter, but the likes of Terravista and Chautauqua have taken over and will dominate WFA sprint racing for the next 12-18 months.
Adam Page
Roar Guru
Had a peanut on him Phil ;)
Casper
Guest
yes, the Randwick track is a disgrace but hasn't it got lovely amenities for those fortunate members. Half the people in the stands wouldn't watch a race and that's the problem with Australian racing, catering for the once a year event attendees.
Aransan
Guest
Adam, good luck to the owners given the sums you are talking about. He sold for $70,000 as a yearling so his breeding doesn't sound too exceptional and he hasn't won beyond 1200m. His winning distances sound more like King's Stand than the Diamond Jubilee. I am not convinced about the breeding value of pure sprinters as stallions. We have Gay Poss, an Oaks winner, as the great great grand-dam of Lankan Rupee (and also Lonhro). Although I believe we have the best sprinters in the world we only seem to be able to maintain that with continuous infusions of overseas middle distance bloodlines.
Adam Page
Roar Guru
I think he is done. He is on the slide while the likes of Terravista and Chautauqua are there and ready to dominate WFA sprint racing.
Adam Page
Roar Guru
Unfortunately Aransan, I doubt we will get a true gauge on how good he can be because I am almost certain that he'll be retired after Royal Ascot. He's worth $25-$35 Million at the moment, a win at Ascot and that probably doubles. He won't be racing in Australia again.
Aransan
Guest
loverofhorses, I think you will find that many of the negative comments come from punters talking through their pockets. A horse is just a number in the TAB for them.
loverofhorses
Guest
Yes Adam, He is quite badly injured, so they have found out, and he is going for scans, to see just how bad.it is. Which is why punters and horse racing fans should hold off on dissing a horses bad run, and not get on twitter, etc and write the horse off, or go to town on it ,just because it went badly.Because there could be a very good legit reason as to why, that may not show up straight away. And yesterday after the race, just like in Lankan Rupee's case twitter lit up, with such negativity over Protectionist's run.Same thing happened when LR went bad. And seen it happen so often ,when a horse that is a Star, or has run some amazing races, that when it doesn't or it loses badly , you would think the horse has caused world war 3 to break loose ,the way some get into it.
andrew
Guest
inclusive carnival. all it proved was who were good wet trackers. i suppose one arm to being a top class horse is to handle a wet track. but moving forwards, the spring in melb is very rarely run on wet track, so i would be cautious declaring something who won the randwick heavy or potting something that failed looking to sept/oct/nov in melb. this will be the conundrum for punters moving forward. no denying, it was good racing and good fields, but you cant take an ispo facto parrellel with this form into the spring. for mine, fawkner is still the benchmark WFA horse in Aust and he usual cotton wool approach with no autumn run (but he did have a prep, just not race) means in the WFA races he will still be the testing material (but certainly not a stand-out). i agree, i think volkstok has the ingredients to make a WFA horse as does noble protector. a for the hcps, for mine apline eagle is a standout. he is no fully qualfieid for the caul cup and will get enough to weight to get a run as 4yo. 4yo's have a great record in the race, and no doubt he can stay. if he can just mature and improve his racing matters (as one would reasonably expcet him to) i think he looks a great caul cup prospect and all he has to do is run on heels of placegetters in the WFA races and this is a proven formula for a 4yo to then win the caul cup with around 52kgs.
BrisburghPhil
Roar Guru
Well done with your analysis of Grand Marshall Adam, superb stuff. Hope you made a nice profit out of him in the Sydney Cup. Hard to believe that Phar Lap was the last horse to complete that double. That is just incredible really.
Aransan
Guest
I think Brazen Beau will turn out to be our best sprinter, he didn't run in the TJ as he is being prepared for either the King's Stand or the Diamond Jubilee at Royal Ascot. The weather wouldn't have helped him in the TJ and he runs best in the straight.
Adam Page
Roar Guru
He pulled up very badly titch, injured and lost all action.
titch
Guest
Agree, LR tore a chest muscle in the Newmarket and perhaps hadn't recovered. They need to rip the track up and get the drainage right given every Easter it seems to pour in Sydney. Protectionist's run was a shocker. Either he couldn't handle the track or he's homesick.
pauliewalnuts
Guest
Yeah, too early to write off LR. Had a minor issue in the Newmarket and and perhaps never fully recovered. Also have a feeling that huge first up performance in the Lightning may have flattened him a little. Needs a good rest. On the Championships, the Randwick track is a disgrace. Clearly has drainage issues, should never have been a heavy with amount of rain it had in the preceding four days. And this was very detrimental to the racing yesterday, which was disappointing given the hype and expectation. It's a huge problem for the ATC.
peeeko
Roar Guru
not sure if Lankan is finished yet, i am going to wait until a good track