The Roar
The Roar

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When were the races this good?

Warwick Farm racing - the best fun you can have on a farm! (AAP Image/Dean Lewins)
Editor
27th September, 2017
13

Racing is so good at the moment across our classic distances that it’s making for an unmissable spring season.

And we don’t even need to rely on Winx to find great performances at 1600m and beyond.

The likes of the ‘H’ horses has been one of the talking points across the past weekends – starting with Hartnell a few weekends ago, followed by high-calibre performances from Humidor and Harlem.

Harlem ran close to track record time, while Humidor showed he has improved considerably from the autumn. The pair go into the Caulfield Cup as hot hopes.

Combine that lot with Almandin’s sizzling performance in the Japan Racing Association Trophy at Flemington, Bonneval in the Dato’ Tan Chin Nam, and with Gingernuts in New Zealand winning a Group 1 over 1600m and like a real Kiwi danger, we seem to have more horses with their hoof on the ’till than in quite some years.

The Group 1 Metropolitan (2400m) at Randwick on Saturday will shake out the best of the Sydney stayers, and will aid comparisons with the Melbourne horses.

Four Victorians have made the trip north, although all of them are short of their best at the moment. Team Williams has sent Amralah and Foundry to contest, while Darren Weir’s pair of Big Duke and Loresho will also line-up and hope for the handicap conditions to beat Chris Waller’s Libran, Antonio Giuseppe, and Life Less Ordinary.

Hartnell is flying and is a huge chance in the Cox Plate

(AAP: Julian Smith)

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Amralah hasn’t done a thing this preparation, while Foundry has been ok but is taking a big step up, even in a handicap. If Loresho wins for Darren Weir I’ll give up, but stablemate Big Duke is a decent hope. He had been building up before a fairly plain run last time, and is backing up from last week. But on class and ability alone he’ll be kept safe. I’d keep Chocante in mind if it rains, though the forecast doesn’t look good for him there.

We also get a bonus of two city meetings in Victoria across the Friday/Sunday split around the AFL grand final on the Saturday, and Cam Rose will touch on the big Moir Stakes sprint in his column tomorrow.

Between the Sydney races, Moonee Valley JRA Cup, the Underwood Stakes, Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes and a 1700m Handicap on Sunday, we will see plenty of good horses, and a few Cup hopes go around as well.

The best duel looks set to another battle between Hartnell and Black Heart Bart in the Group 1 Underwood Stakes (1800m). The pair were upstaged by Humidor last time, and could be again with the low-flying Bonneval in the race.

James Cummings did talk about giving Hartnell a rest off his tough run in the Makybe Diva but he must’ve pulled up well to be back after just a fortnight. Bart won this race last year by a good margin and is kept very safe accordingly. Hartnell was undone by a crazy early pace in the Makybe Diva, and we shouldn’t see that tempo here.

There are a few Cup hopefuls who will be looking at least to be hitting the line well – the likes of Canberra’s Single Gaze, Team Hawkes’ Inference, and Abbey Marie, backing up from an average run in the Naturalism Stakes (2000m).

The Arc
There’s also the little matter of a certain Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in Chantilly this weekend, with two days of strong racing just north of Paris. The Roar will have preview of the main race from an Aussie perspective closer to the race.

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