New Zealand Racing

[_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.

[_ed_]

The 2007 2000 Guineas winner - THE POOKA


Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNBRlkm1bi8

This was an incredible race. The Pooka and Alamosa, side by side, in an awesome duel all the way down what both riders would agree is an extremely long Riccarton stretch. In the end it was The Pooka, who had run well against the older horses earlier in the year, who had the head in front at the wire.

Rios and Pierre Joseph both finished off strongly and will be better over more distance. Those two horses, and The Pooka, are heading for the Derby in March.

THE POOKA
Tobougg - The Banchee

Trainer John Wheeler says this 3yo is "the 4th best horse I've ever trained". That might not sound like much, but the 3 best horses he's trained are champions Rough Habit and Veandercross and Cox Plate winner Poetic Prince. So it's actually a pretty big call!

In September he finished 4th behind undeniably NZ's 3 best older horses - Seachange, Sir Slick and Princess Coup - in the G1 Stoneybridge Stakes at Hastings.

We weren't really sure how he'd go against his own age group, but we found out today. It was only a narrow win, but hugely impressive.

He's now won 5 out of 12 starts, with 1 second, 1 third, 1 fourth and 1 fifth.

I still haven't got over how good this race was.

[my miss storm cat]

I'll watch the replay when I'm awake... thanks for posting it!

[_ed_]

First entries for the Derby:
http://www.nzracing.co.nz/Meetings/M...474/1#raceLink

254 entries. You can get more information about any horse by clicking on its name.

Leading trainers:
John Sargent 9 entries
Richard Yuill 9
Murray Baker 9
Mike Moroney 9
Lance O'Sullivan 8
Mark Walker 7

[_ed_]

4 stakes races at Ellerslie this Saturday.

G2 Counties Cup (2100m handicap) - Featuring Shariat's On Fire, Stand Tall (Zabeel - Grand Archway), Gaze, Kerry O'Reilly, Figure Of Speech, Ombre Rose and Altesino.

G2 Auckland Breeders Stakes (1400m fillies & mares) - Featuring Dorabella, Irlanda, Zerello, Prize Lady (2007 Auckland Cup winner), Ististar and Penny Florence.

First Sovereign Trust Stakes (1100m handicap) - Featuring Crossyourheart (6 starts, 5 wins), Martini Red (3 starts, 3 wins), Imananabaa, Magic Tryst, Brianna, Pinsoir and Devoted.

Murdoch Newell Stakes (1100m 2yo) - Featuring Vincent Mangano, Khaspa and Key Message.

The undercard also has some really good horses running, such as Genuine Offer (undefeated this season), Derby-bound Thumbs Up, and quality horses like Black Panther, Chettak and The Cosmob.

Looks like a great day of racing. I'll be there, but I'm not quite as excited as I should be...on Friday night I see my favourite band, Muse, here in Auckland and on Sunday night I see them again down in Christchurch. Busy weekend!

So I probably won't have time to be on here much in the next couple of days.