New Zealand Racing

[_ed_]

New Year's Day was one of the best days of racing I've been to in my life! It was a hot, sunny day, the track was perfect and the racing was unbelievably good.

Eclipse Stakes: The favourite was the impressive San Bernardino, but it was a gutsy little filly with a big white face who took out the G3 Eclipse. Lady Alberton, who has never been further back than 3rd in her career, hit the lead at the top of the stretch and fought so bravely. Very strong win.

Dunstan Championship: Cross Roads won his 5th from 8 career starts when he got his nose down at just the right time in a 3-way photo to win the Championship against a deep field. This has been a good race for finding top stayers of the future in the last few years, I think Cross Roads is another one. Genuine contender for the Auckland Cup in March.

Royal Stakes: Satinka did the double! The Eight Carat on Boxing Day and now the Royal Stakes 6 days later. Kaatoon and Keffiya were impressive too, but the winner was way too good. One of the best performances of the day.

Rich Hill Mile: The best effort by any horse all day was Sir Slick, who carried 60.5kg (134 pounds) and missed by a neck. Full credit to Fiscal Madness though, he had the second highest weight and ran a great race, a well-deserved G2 win after being 2nd and 3rd in so many in the last few months.

Railway Handicap: Imananabaa looked like one of the best sprinters in NZ this time last year, like when she was unlucky in coming 3rd in this race last year. After that she had some injury problems and went missing for 9 months, but she bounced back to winning form today. Brilliant. Needuask was brave in 2nd, he's definitely a genuine G1 horse.

There was a fall in this race, the horse was fine but the jockey broke his collarbone. Hope Tomohiro has a quick recovery.

City Of Auckland Cup: PASTA POST! He's a star. He's now won 7 out of 8 in his career, and this was his best performance so far. One of the strongest handicap fields of the year, and he killed them, running away with his ears pricked.

Here's Pasta Post enjoying the applause:

[my miss storm cat]

Originally Posted by _ed_

New Year's Day was one of the best days of racing I've been to in my life! It was a hot, sunny day, the track was perfect and the racing was unbelievably good.

Eclipse Stakes: The favourite was the impressive San Bernardino, but it was a gutsy little filly with a big white face who took out the G3 Eclipse. Lady Alberton, who has never been further back than 3rd in her career, hit the lead at the top of the stretch and fought so bravely. Very strong win.

Dunstan Championship: Cross Roads won his 5th from 8 career starts when he got his nose down at just the right time in a 3-way photo to win the Championship against a deep field. This has been a good race for finding top stayers of the future in the last few years, I think Cross Roads is another one. Genuine contender for the Auckland Cup in March.

Royal Stakes: Satinka did the double! The Eight Carat on Boxing Day and now the Royal Stakes 6 days later. Kaatoon and Keffiya were impressive too, but the winner was way too good. One of the best performances of the day.

Rich Hill Mile: The best effort by any horse all day was Sir Slick, who carried 60.5kg (134 pounds) and missed by a neck. Full credit to Fiscal Madness though, he had the second highest weight and ran a great race, a well-deserved G2 win after being 2nd and 3rd in so many in the last few months.

Railway Handicap: Imananabaa looked like one of the best sprinters in NZ this time last year, like when she was unlucky in coming 3rd in this race last year. After that she had some injury problems and went missing for 9 months, but she bounced back to winning form today. Brilliant. Needuask was brave in 2nd, he's definitely a genuine G1 horse.

There was a fall in this race, the horse was fine but the jockey broke his collarbone. Hope Tomohiro has a quick recovery.

City Of Auckland Cup: PASTA POST! He's a star. He's now won 7 out of 8 in his career, and this was his best performance so far. One of the strongest handicap fields of the year, and he killed them, running away with his ears pricked.

Here's Pasta Post enjoying the applause:

Took me a while but it sounded like a great time!

* * *

Good luck, Carlisle Bay (wow it's hard not to call him Best Gift)!!!


# FORM HORSE DRAW RTG WGT JOCKEY TRAINER
1 32983 Cog Hill 6 110 61.0 Opie Bosson Richard Collett, Pukekohe Park
2 2X7X5 Carlisle Bay 5 108 60.0 Chad Ormsby (a) Lance O'Sullivan & Andrew Scott, Matamata
3 44147 High Octane 1 101 56.5 Andrew Calder Gregor Robson, Cambridge
4 7X755 Desert Flight 3 99 55.5 Cameron Lammas Richard Coxon, Matamata
5 0X746 The Silence Sir 7 91 53.5 Neville Couchman, Cambridge
6 5X306 Primavera 8 89 53.0 Frank Ritchie, Cambridge
7 7X143 Golden Dollars 2 88 53.0 Derek Satherley, Cambridge
8 668X7 Fly'n' High 4 83 53.0 Royce Dowling & Linda Laing, Cambridge

[_ed_]

Carlisle Bay/Best Gift didn't go much better than last time. He's behaving really badly at the start at the moment, tiring himself out before the races even start! Don't know why he's doing that.

Sir Slick won another race yesterday, his 17th career win and he was carrying 62.5kg. Amazing horse.

And now, since I'm bored at work, it's time to have another look at the Derby. Let's see how the ones I talked about in my last post about the Derby are going...

BRUXAAR - 3 g Xaar - Kindergarten - 3 starts, 2 wins, 1 second
Trainer Allan Sharrock, who won the Derby last year with Wahid, rates this horse as "one of the best I've trained". This is a huge call. He's going to the Levin Classic (G1) later this month and is going to be very hard to beat in that.

His record is now 6 starts, 4 wins, 1 second. His last start was an easy win against a tough field at Woodville, and he showed some explosive acceleration that only pretty special horses have. He's 12-1 for the Derby. Distance is an issue for him, but if I had to pick a horse for the Derby right now it'd be Bruxaar.

BERIO - 3 g Zabeel - Abbaye - 1 start, 1 win
Huge debut win this weekend, looks like a big powerful boy who won't have any trouble with the Derby distance. Look out.

Oops. Got this one wrong. Not in contention.

THUMBS UP - 3 g Shinko King - Regelle - 1 start, 1 win
Went out at 44-1 on debut on Wednesday and was 4 lengths behind the 2nd last horse around the final turn...flew down the outside and won with ease. That field was probably not the strongest, but what a win.

2 times out of the money since this, so I might have this one wrong too...I still have hope for this guy though.

SIX O'CLOCK NEWS - 3 g Zabeel - Maurine - 2 starts, 1 second
Amazing breeding (son of multiple G1 winning mare), and is getting better as he runs over more and more distance. Another big powerful guy.

Yay! This is one I did get right! He's now had 6 starts for 2 wins, 1 second and 1 third, and that third was a fast-closing effort in the G2 Great Northern Guineas last start. He's 12-1 for the Derby too.

Rios, Nom Du Jeu, Pierre Joseph and The Pooka haven't raced since. I'm expecting them to appear again in the next couple of weeks.

There are some I hadn't even heard of when I did that post that are now the leading contenders now though...

PRINCE KAAPSTAD - 3 g Kaapstad - Brilliant Princess - 8 starts, 3 wins, 1 second, 1 third
G2 Great Northern Guineas winner, a very impressive effort and there's no doubt he'll get the distance. 10-1 for the Derby.

IL DIVO - 3 g Don Eduardo - Rubiton's Best - 5 starts, 1 win, 3 seconds
Closed nicely for second in that Guineas. 12-1 for the Derby.

STEEL - 3 g Zabeel - Tennessee Midnight - 4 starts, 2 wins, 2 thirds
This horse has been getting better every race, finishing nicely for 3rd in his first 2 races before clearing maidens impressively and winning again last start. Both of those wins were at the Derby track, Ellerslie. He's a Zabeel, of course he'll get the distance. 10-1.

RED RULER - 3 g Viking Ruler - Ransom Bay - 3 starts, 2 wins, 1 third
The Derby favourite. What's he beaten? Absolutely nothing. But the way he's done it has been so impressive, 8-1 almost looks like good value.

This looks like a pretty talented crop. I hope so anyway.

[_ed_]

Some fantastic entries for Telegraph Sprint Day at Trentham, the first day of Wellington Cup week.

ANNIVERSARY HANDICAP
Final Reality
Ombre Rose
Shamrock Star
Avaroadi
True Valour
Fercertain
Black Fox
Point Guard

WAKEFIELD STAKES (G2 2yo)
Reuben Thorn
Fully Fledged
Fyfetheknife
Khamseen
Stand And Deliver
Captain Fantastic
Izonit
Sanjura
Viva Volksraad
Lady Alberton
Amazing Sky
Key Message
Solo Flight
Pure Strike
Hell Yeah
Joan's Chance
Seathepost
Awesome Planet
Encantada
Starring

WELLINGTON STAKES (G3 3yo)
Alamosa
The Pooka
Prince Kaapstad
Bruxaar
Run Like Al
Mission Critical
Nom du Jeu
Halfametreshort
Van Who

TRENTHAM STAKES (G3 wfa)
Xcellent
Delbrae
Kerry O'Reilly
Everswindell
Miles
Three Chimneys
Twinkling
Sakura Cluden

TELEGRAPH HANDICAP (G1)
Seachange
Dezigna
Clifton Prince
Kay's Awake
Irlanda
Imananabaa
Our Umaga
Rabkalajo
O'Cartier
Pinsoir
Brianna
Maximum Star
Accardo
Manten
Pinmdown
Leadership
St Verdi
Smartway
Victory Code
Mary Ellen

Wish I could be down there!

[my miss storm cat]

Of course i only know about a fifth of the names but looks like a great day.

[my miss storm cat]

Glad your girl Seachange won again.

[_ed_]

Everyone knows about poor Xcellent's career-ending injury at Trentham on Saturday, but apart from that awful moment it was a really good day, spent the whole day on the couch in front of the TV.

The first of the big races, the Wakefield for 2yos, is a good example of how quickly your luck can change in racing. A horse called Fully Fledged hit the lead and looked like it would kill them, but then for some reason it decided it wanted to jump over the rail. So Captain Fantastic (by Fantastic Light), Xcellent's stablemate, ended up winning!
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzacCr9-4Es

Then in the Anniversary Handicap, Fiscal Madness made it 2 big mile races in a row, and this was a nice win under a big weight.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UcLS-aWvC4

Alamosa's probably our best 3yo. None of the others have won a race as impressively as he won this Wellington Stakes against a very good field including Bruxaar, The Pooka, Prince Kaapstad and Mission Critical. He's a very impressive colt and has won 7 out of 15 now.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kwnsx8ok01E

Then it was the Trentham Stakes. At least Xcellent ended his career with a win. Apparently the injury happened early in the stretch, and they think he was in a lot of pain as he ran, but he was just so determined to win. That's how I'll remember him. We'll miss you X.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJFrTQ-s6X4

And the main race of the day, the Telegraph, was absolutely awesome. They said Seachange couldn't win with that massive weight against such a strong field...they were wrong. Look out Dubai, here comes one of the toughest little mares you've ever seen. And she's pretty fast too. Don't know if she's as good as some of the others who will be in the Duty Free, but I really hope she goes well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRg9zb1vRNU

[my miss storm cat]

Thanks for the links.

I had read about Fully Fledged..... geez, Antonius Pius-esque.

[my miss storm cat]

Originally Posted by _ed_

The first of the big races, the Wakefield for 2yos, is a good example of how quickly your luck can change in racing. A horse called Fully Fledged hit the lead and looked like it would kill them, but then for some reason it decided it wanted to jump over the rail. So Captain Fantastic (by Fantastic Light), Xcellent's stablemate, ended up winning!
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzacCr9-4Es

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRg9zb1vRNU

Was he a bit better behaved today?

Glad to hear he won.