New Zealand Racing

[_ed_]

The 1000 Guineas winner for 2007 is - INSOUCIANT


Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TItXMsq2wro
(There's a nasty spill early in the race - both horses were OK. One jockey sprained his wrist, the other rode the winner of the next race! Lucky no one was seriously hurt).

Now here's some information about our first Classic winner for the 2007-08 season.

Pedigree: http://www.pedigreequery.com/insouciant4

By reasonably young sire Keeper (who was also the sire of 2nd placegetter Keepa Cruisin, the half-sister to Seachange), Insouciant is a homebred from Pencarrow Stud (actually all of the first 3 were homebreds from dominant studs in NZ, with Keepa Crusin from The Oaks and Lovetrista from Cambridge) out of their Palace Music mare Loudenne.

She won her first race by 10 lengths at Taupo, but then went straight into G3 company at Hastings and her inexperience cost her. She moved from 8th to 3rd with a stunning burst of speed but then kept ducking in towards the inside and in the end finished only fourth behind Diamond Deck. Back in a lesser race a couple of weeks later, she coasted to an effortless 5 length win.

Insouciant's fourth start was a memorable stretch duel with the then undefeated Anna Bek, with the latter just prevailing after an epic battle. Insouciant had worked hard in the lead throughout this race and tired in the final stages, but we got a first glimpse of her toughness when she refused to lie down. (Anna Bek found the mile too far in the Guineas and faded to finish 6th)

And 1000 Guineas day was her day. Given a beautiful ride at the front by Michael Walker, the filly's kick at the top of the straight was too strong for her rivals, and she left them in her wake.

It doesn't look like she'll go much further than a mile, unlike 3rd Lovetrista and 4th Double Or Nothin. But I'm sure she has plenty of wins ahead over distances up to and including a mile. Pencarrow have probably the best horse they've had since Caulfield-Melbourne Cup winner Ethereal.

Guineas week continues on Wednesday with a G3 race for mares, a G3 sprint and a G2 mile. The 2000 Guineas is run next Saturday. Can't wait.

[my miss storm cat]

Thanks for all the answers and the updates.....

[_ed_]

Was pretty good racing on the middle day of Guineas week today, despite a rain-affected track.

The G3 Stewards Stakes ended in a dead heat between Coup Bloomsbury and O'Cartier, with Superalloy only a nose away in 3rd! Great finish.

And a consistent performer got a well-deserved in the main race, the G2 Coupland's Mile. Final Reality (39:9-9-4) has been placed in so many major races, including the Derby and 2000 Guineas two seasons ago, and this was his first win at anything higher than G3 level.

His stablemate Benelli ran 2nd, a great performance by trainer Michael Pitman.

Also, there was an exciting performance on the undercard by a 3yo called C'est La Guerre. He was favourite after impressively winning his only previous start, but looked hopeless after dropping back to last on the turn for home. But then he accelerated amazingly, hit the lead half way up the straight and comfortably held off some late challenges. Now he's 2-for-2, looks like an exciting horse.

Now we look ahead to the 2000 Guineas on Saturday. The field:

1 Alamosa
2 Eel Win
3 Hold It Harvey
4 Letsleeponit
5 Pierre Joseph
6 Rios
7 The Pooka
8 Yao
9 Zlato

Small field, but very high on quality. PPs to come tomorrow.

[my miss storm cat]

Rios!

[_ed_]

Rios and The Pooka are both 3-1, Alamosa 4-1 and Pierre Joseph 7-1.

PPs: https://www.ebetonline.co.nz/forms/2..._M6_R9_Ext.pdf

[theiman]

Originally Posted by _ed_

Rios and The Pooka are both 3-1, Alamosa 4-1 and Pierre Joseph 7-1.

PPs: https://www.ebetonline.co.nz/forms/2..._M6_R9_Ext.pdf

Ed,

Have you ever seen our Daily Racing form PP's.
If so, do you think NZ and Oz will ever have the info that we offer?

Also, do you watch tapes before handicapping? Are there anything like the sheets #'s in NZ?

Just curious what New Zealanders use to handicap the races vs in the states.

Thanks

[_ed_]

I have seen your PPs, certainly much more exhaustive than ours and I doubt ours will ever be as good as that.

We have a couple of websites that provide detailed sectional times (we focus on how fast horses run the last 600 (3 furlongs) rather than times from the start), but I think the main tool bettors use here is the NZ Racing website, which has video replays of every race. Time-consuming, but it's a popular method.