For many people – and certainly for me – horse racing is an enjoyable sport to follow because it challenges you to make assessments on what you see.
Sometimes when you watch the races you’ll witness a performance from a progressive racehorse that is so incredible it defies belief.
If the performance is truly incredible, it will only be properly understood in time.
But that won’t stop racing’s followers from trying to assess that performance immediately after the race. The beauty is that, in time, those assessments will either be upheld or be made to look silly. It’s part and parcel of following racing.
In my opinion, the most incredible performance in Australian racing in 2013 came from Bull Point in the Golden Rose (1400m, Group 1, three-year-olds).
I don’t think it was the best performance of the year – in fact, I’d say it was a long way off – but for sheer ridiculousness it was unmatched.
In a race won by Zoustar, the colt who has since proven to be perhaps the best sprinter in Australia, Bull Point couldn’t keep up.
With 900m left, he was at least six lengths off the second-last horse and probably 60m of the leader.
If watching the race you thought he was injured, then you had the same thoughts as me. Actually, he was tailed off because he couldn’t keep up. He was too slow in the early part of the race, plain and simple.
Just for the record, Bull Point showed sufficient early speed to be the front-runner in his Golden Rose lead-up.
In those circumstances, to run third to Zoustar in the Golden Rose, beaten only a few lengths, in a race that saw the on-pacer Dissident hold second, was unbelievable.
To assess the Golden Rose was incredibly difficult. In the end, I concluded Bull Point’s run was only possible because the pressure of the Golden Rose was so bruising that initially Bull Point was out-paced but that same pressure paved the way for him to storm past most of the tiring pack in the straight.
I thought the run of Dissident therefore, to ride the pace and hold on for a narrow second, was incredible.
It’s an interesting side plot but in hindsight you could certainly argue I got that initial assessment wrong.
Because if Dissident was the best run in the Golden Rose then why did he follow it with a sixth in the George Main (1600m, Group 1, weight-for-age) and fourth in the Caulfield Guineas (1600m, Group 1, three-year-olds) when the two great swooping runs in the Golden Rose came from Zoustar and Bull Point, who are undefeated since the Golden Rose?
Zoustar won his next start (1200m, Group 3, three-year-olds) effortlessly by half a furlong before claiming the Coolmore Stud (1200m, Group 1, three-year-olds) emphatically, and probably the title of the Australia’s best sprinter in the process, on Derby Day.
Bull Point, on the other hand, returned to the races on Saturday, first-up after the Golden Rose, to win the Manfred (1200m, Group 3, three-year-olds) by about a length against a bunch of relatively well-regarded three-year-olds.
In six months I’m not sure how we’ll view the 2013 Golden Rose. But I’m confident we’ll still say it unearthed two of the stars of Australian racing – Zoustar and Bull Point.
And make no bones about it, Bull Point is a shooting star. He entered the racetrack as a two-year-old after being sold for $960,000 as a yearling. He won on debut after using a sharp turn of foot in the final furlong at Randwick.
He would then meet Eurozone at Rosehill in a race we at The Roar predicted would be a clash of two promising horses.
Eurozone out-sprinted Bull Point to win by less than a length and he would later taste Group 2 success in September’s Stan Fox (1500m, three-year-olds).
Bull Point then smashed some second stringers before finishing a dour fourth to Eurozone at Randwick in August.
He would tune up for the Golden Rose with a fighting second to the promising Stamina, who has not been seen at the races since.
In the Golden Rose, Bull Point built off that good second to Stamina by running that famous third but a few weeks later trainer Gai Waterhouse decided to abort a trip to Melbourne for the Caulfield Guineas.
Bull Point, instead, would spell.
On resumption at the weekend in the Manfred, Bull Point looked a better horse than before. I can’t wait to see him in the flesh to gauge how he’s improved physically but athletically he looks lengths better.
Bull Point showed his best early speed to take up a handy position just off the lead. And then in the straight he sprinted powerfully over the 1200m distance to take the lead and hold off any late challenges.
Bull Point is a much better horse in 2014 than what he was last year basically because he is faster. He has more speed.
On Saturday, Bull Point looked like a sprinter and that’s a pretty awesome asset to find in the armoury of a horse that looked certain to get a mile last spring.
With added acceleration and tactical speed he could be a force over a mile.
It seems unlikely Bull Point and Zoustar will meet again because while Zoustar will be aimed at sprints in the Sydney autumn, Bull Point will be contesting the Australian Guineas (Group 1, three-year-olds) over a mile next month and may not race over a sprinting trip again this season.
Nonetheless we should see Bull Point form a rivalry with the Cox Plate (2040m, Group 1, weight-for-age) winner Shamus Award and I’d say he’ll also get a chance to meet Eurozone again.
Right now the sky is the limit for Bull Point.
Behind him on Saturday, the runner-up and long-time leader Worth A Ransom was good in a race where there was no disadvantage to be on speed.
The Quarterback, in third, was very good. He was tailed off at the 600m but picked off more than half the field to grab some ‘black type’ prizemoney for his owners.
He’ll be a winning chance in anything he contests over 1400m or even a mile.
Prince Harada, who ran fourth, has suffered from the enormous boom he has lugged since his soft debut victory.
While he has only won two races (his first two starts), and may’ve been expected to do better on Saturday, I’d say a good autumn awaits.
He was simply too one-paced between the 400m and 200m marks at the weekend but was strong enough late to indicate he would show his best colours when stepping out to 1400m or the mile in the coming weeks.
We can’t be so optimistic about Fast ‘N’ Rocking. He has banked over $500,000 in his career, and was being set for a Group 1 sprinting campaign but he was average in fifth, beaten five lengths.
After a promising start to his career that netted three top-five finishes at Group 1 level, a Group 2 second and a Group 3 victory, he has disappointed at each of his last four starts, running tenth of 16 in the Golden Rose, seventh of 13 in the Caulfield Guineas Prelude (1400m, Group 3, three-year-olds), last in the Coolmore Stud and fifth on Saturday.
If this son of Fastnet Rock doesn’t improve soon, he’ll be shipped off to stud.
At least Fast ‘N’ Rocking can take solace in the fact he has done enough to earn a chance as a stallion in favour of the dreaded operation he otherwise would have to suffer.
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