Melbourne’s best trainers

Who are the premier trainers in Australia and how do you assess the best of the best?

Using unfiltered statistics such as number of wins (in isolation) is not a true indication of a trainer’s ability. To counter that, we have compiled what we believe to be a fair statistical analysis of the premiership leading trainers this racing season and for a better measure of success we have only looked at horses starting at 5/1 or less. The reason we have done this is because it’s unfair to gauge a trainer’s performance on horses that are unsuited due to the track condition, distance, stage of preparation or any other factor. So we have concentrated on horses who were in the market and therefore expected to perform well.

Another key statistic we looked at was the ability of a trainer to maintain a horse’s winning performance. That is being able to back a horse up from a win and being able to win again next start. Click Here To Read More

Eagle Farm review

Race 1 Listed 2yr old Fillies 1200m
Very much a leader dominated affair. The winner PARRIWI was able to dictate in front and the race time was moderate with the last 600 in even tempo. BIANCA JEWEL was a good run again to get as close as it did in the circumstances but it does get back and do this quite often. The Bart Cummings youngster ARDECHE showed better manners this time and ran on well against the tempo and is an improving type with obvious ability. It will win soon. PYROGRAPHY found the grade too strong for now. Click Here To Read More

South Africa and France to start strong

South Africa $3.00 – Mexico $2.72

Home win for this writer. I would be prepared to accept Mexico as favourites on neutral ground, but not in Johannesburg. No way! S Africa stay unbeaten in twelve friendly games and their Brazilian coach Parreira has built himself a nice little side, not great, but worth its place in the cup. They usually use a 4-2-3-1 formation with Mphela favoured upfront. Pienaar, Dikgacoi, Modise and Tshabalala are all very useful midfielders, Mokoena and M Booth run their defence with Masilela and Gaxa as wing backs.

Mexico have also played numerous friendlies. They have won eight of their twelve matches. Their two losses were against expected top sides England and Holland. How will their young strikers Dos Santos, C Vela and J Hernandez handle the almost insane atmosphere in the stadium? Or will veteran striker Franco be preferred to J Hernandez? Not many supporters in the world are making the kind of noise that the S Africans fans are known for and they say that it is almost impossible for the players to communicate in the stadium. At the end of the day I expect the home advantage to decide the outcome of this match. S Africa to win. Why not 1-0! Click Here To Read More