Over the former period Saturday’s Doncaster and AJC Derby at headquarters still glow, followed by the Sydney Cup on Monday but the action this year has been exceptional and the Australian Turf Club should be well pleased.
Steve McMahon has justifiably been appointed CEO of the ATC, under siege from Racing NSW, gifted with unfair wealth distribution which should be rectified.
Now Racing NSW is dropping the financial support for Sydney Morning Herald form guides, retribution according to the Financial Review for an “excoriating report on how Racing NSW has been managing tax payer funding projects”. Required reading.
It is “a commercial decision on value received”, Racing NSW maintained. Anyway, I’ll mention it further in “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,” next week. Read “Ugly”.
The turf, though, takes precedence over shoddy Racing NSW politics.
By comparison with the good, old days when the Royal Easter Show featured Jimmy Sharman’s Boxing Tent and Side Shows, the Sydney autumn extends with quality.
Perhaps the Group One All-Aged Stakes doesn’t have the staying power of Sir Delius, cutting the beauty and fluency of Autumn Glow down to a flounder, but the maestro Chris Waller is band leader to mares, Angel Capital, Fangirl, and Lazzura spiced with three-year-old colt Beiwacht plus Kovalica, the rank outsider but that doesn’t necessarily rule him out.
Waller also has a strong influence in the Group One Champagne Stakes, with favourite Campione D’Italia particularly prominent. The Champagne is a better race than the Golden Slipper, the world’s richest event for two-year-olds.
Recently a correspondent questioned my opinion that the Golden Slipper was not in the 10 top Australian races.
As a promotion it rates in the trifecta with the Cox Plate and Everest. The Magic Millions on the Gold Coast barks on their hooves. With history and excellence, the Melbourne Cup has always been self-endorsing.
But Rosehill’s 1200 metre dash for green youngsters doesn’t enthuse me like the substance required for Champagne Stakes that dates back to 1861, that commenced five years earlier than the All-Aged Stakes.
Yes, the Golden Slipper has greats but not as many as the Champagne Stakes. Both have slack episodes. Even though, when it was 1200 metres before the extension in 1972 to the metric mile, the Champagne had after-taste as well as vintage.
The Rosehill sprint, with barriers important, lacks a sequence comparable with the Champagne’s four winners from 1957. Todman, successful in the Golden Slipper became a champion, Wiggle (1958), won a Stradbroke as a two-year-old, and later in the United States, Noholme (1959) triumphed in a Cox Plate followed by winning in the United States, and Sky High (1960), notched in the Golden Slipper and Victoria Derby as well as other majors that saw him topweight in a Melbourne Cup.
Once the emphasis was breeding top horses who started young. Now the emphasis is on early speed but grit is lacking.
Yes, it will be argued two-year-olds downed in the Golden Slipper scored in the Champagne, the situation Campione D’Italia subsequently winning the Sires Produce, confronts this year.
I found him at $41 in the Skyline before he was beaten with lack of experience in the Golden Slipper. The colt is much better and seasoned now but at shorter odds. Every race is a gamble. Short prices terrify me.
A major rival, Zambales, struck trouble at his last two attempts. The colt would not have won the Golden Slipper but finished closer than a 4.3 length fifth. In the Sires Produce he ended fifth, with plenty of daylight between him and the winner, but jockey Damian Lane lost his five-star rating with me for the navigation.
Still is Zambales a magnet for trouble? Consider, too, Sumac: Best Bets reported regarding her four races: “thumps”, “no run at vital stage” and “badly held up”.
Against them Waller’s strength is headed by Campione D’Italia, under James McDonald, Fireball, problem prone, too, and Diameter, lacking the depth of stablemates but improving.
And his Waller band in the All Aged opposes Half Yours, so good taking the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups.
Resuming over 1400 metres? Staying power is only speed extended. Two starts at 1400 metres reads 1-2. First-up reads 3-2-1. Tuned by the McEvoys? Top Horsemen.
Intriguing. Giga Kick and Magic Time are previous All Aged winners. Beiwacht should be in front, out of harm’s way, in the hands of Nash Rawiller, a major plus.
If only the guidance from Racing NSW was as good. Recent efforts indicate it should be charged with excessive use of the whip.
Hi Max,
It would be a remarkably self-destructive decision if RNSW were to prejudice the future of the SMH form guides by withdrawing its financial support. Punters trust them and rely on them.
Peter Mair