134th New Zealand Derby - Feb 29, 2009

[my miss storm cat]

Originally Posted by _ed_

Tell A Tale's obviously near his peak. Today he did a gallop between races with Red Ruler (G2 winner, placed in G1 AJC Derby in Sydney), and beat him by 3 lengths.

Good news.

Hey how are the odds on Sufficient right now?

[_ed_]

12-1.

Some people are worried because in the last 2 weeks he's had to scratch from races because of wet tracks. The trainer says he'll be fit on Derby day though.

[_ed_]

The weather forecast for Saturday is really bad. It's going to be fine all week, then rain comes along late on Friday night. Just like last year.

I hope it's wrong. The long-range forecasts often are.

[_ed_]

The field:

1 11542 Tell A Tale (AUS) 1 56.0 Michael Walker Mark Walker, Matamata
2 31186 Le Baron 5 56.0 James McDonald (a) Donna, Dean Logan & Chris Gibbs, Ruakaka
3 15231 Down The Road 18 56.0 Michael Coleman Ken Kelso & Thomas Russell, Matamata
4 11353 Coniston Bluebird (AUS) 19 56.0 Scott Seamer Bede Murray, Kembla Grange
5 21322 The Meista 7 56.0 Chris Johnson Peter & Dawn Williams, Riccarton Park
6 87993 Spontaneous 15 56.0 Robert Priscott, Te Awamutu
7 83510 Court Ruler 10 56.0 John Wheeler, New Plymouth
8 27X37 My Scotsgrey 9 56.0 Noel Harris Shaune Ritchie, Cambridge
9 8211 Easy Ryder 12 56.0 Steven Arnold Roger James & Paul Mirabelli, Cambridge
10 16211 Jungle Boots 14 56.0 Vinnie Colgan Roger James & Paul Mirabelli, Cambridge
11 03570 Izonit 11 56.0 Troy Harris Vanessa & Wayne Hillis, Matamata
12 31444 I Robot 20 56.0 Craig Grylls (a) Mike & Paul Moroney, Matamata
13 06175 The Spaniard 2 56.0 Robert Hannam Adrian Bull, Hunterville
14 73431 Late Addition 3 56.0 Trudy Thornton Graeme & Mark Sanders, Te Awamutu
15 59X12 Sufficient 6 56.0 Leith Innes Bruce Wallace, Takanini
16 07535 Heza Karma Karzi (AUS) 21 56.0 Jason Waddell John Sargent, Matamata
17 62605 Juice 17 54.5 Chad Ormsby (a) John Wheeler, New Plymouth
18 38123 Puttanesca 8 54.5 Sam Spratt Vanessa & Wayne Hillis, Matamata
19 34138 Fears Nothing 16 56.0 David Haworth, Foxton
20 02910 Carchelo 13 56.0 Danica Guy, Matamata
21 3160 Diamond Glitter (AUS) 4 56.0 Yves Seguin, Cambridge

The top 18 will start. 17 of those 18 have either won or run 2nd or 3rd in a stakes race. Very strong field.

[_ed_]

Odds:

Tell A Tale - 10
Le Baron - 9
Down The Road - 7.50
Coniston Bluebird - 9
The Meista - 12
Spontaneous - 41
Court Ruler - 41
My Scotsgrey - 9
Easy Ryder - 7
Jungle Boots - 6.50
Izonit - 51
I Robot - 41
The Spaniard - 21
Late Addition - 21
Sufficient - 14
Heza Karma Karzi - 41
Juice - 51
Puttanesca - 41

Fears Nothing - 51
Carchelo - 101
Diamond Glitter - 101

[_ed_]

An old friend will lead out the field for the Derby...

http://www.thoroughbrednews.co.nz/nz....aspx?id=39244

[my miss storm cat]

Originally Posted by _ed_

An old friend will lead out the field for the Derby...

http://www.thoroughbrednews.co.nz/nz....aspx?id=39244

OH MY GOD THATS GREAT NEWS!!!!!!!!

Tell the rain to go away.

[my miss storm cat]

Originally Posted by _ed_

Sufficient - 14

I didn't know he was out.

[my miss storm cat]

Coniston Bluebird? Really?

[my miss storm cat]

(I'm talking to myself here, I swear)...

With Sufficient out, I've narrowed it down to 5.

Juice
Easy Ryder
Down the Road
Tell a Tale
I Robot

[_ed_]

Those 5 make sense.

Yeah, postponed 24 hours. And I work Sundays so I can't go. I only started this job last week, wouldn't look good if I had a sick day!

I've been to every Derby since my first one in 1992.

[_ed_]

Actually my amazing boss let me work today, so I'm going to be at my 16th Derby tomorrow.

The weather's improved a lot, it should be fine tomorrow. The track will still be wet, though. Probably in the Slow range. The Derby time will probably be in the low 2:30s.