Flemington review compiled by Rick Williams
Race 1. 1400M Blackwoods Plate
STRALIA DAMIAN OLIVER 1st $3.20EF
DISPATCH STEVEN ARNOLD 2nd $3.20EF
ESCADO BEN MELHAM 3rd $4
Aoki Lee took up the running with Dispatch in 2nd place and Oliver following Dispatch on Stralia. Escado settled at the tail of the 8-horse field. Stralia went up 3 wide early in the straight and really did it well. Looks a very nice horse in the making. Dispatch stuck on pretty well for 2nd and Escado was the widest runner in the straight. He found the line well but Stralia had the race in his keeping pretty early and the step up in distance proved no problem at all.
Worth noting: Stralia had improved from debut win
Race 2. 1000M Mark Taylor Handicap
STAR LANI BRAD RAWILLER 1st $2.45F
LOVEYAMADLY BEN KNOBEL 2nd $3.10
DELEGANCE DAMIAN LANE 3rd $7.50
Delegance led from She’s Ellie with Leoncita not far off them in a line of 3. Approaching the 400 Loveyamadly took an inside run to go up to Delegance and looked to be travelling like the winner with Star Lani coming down the outside. At the 200, Star Lani put in some big strides and went up to Loveyamadly. Those two fought it out right to the line with the well-backed Star Lani doing too well.
Worth noting: Top 2 might have a bit on this field.
Race 3. 2000M Stirling Mortlock Handicap
STREAKY FELLA GLEN BOSS 1st $8.50
GALILEO GOLD DEAN YENDALL 2nd $2.60F
SKY RAIDER MATTHEW NEILSON 3rd $8.50
Fictional Account led from Galileo Gold, Sky Raider and Streaky Fella at a genuine tempo. Uneventful race to the 600 where the four leaders rounded the home turn in a line. Galileo Gold went to the front and quickly put a length on Sky Raider and Streaky Fella. Galileo Gold looked to be holding Streaky Fella up the straight but that horse got going in the last 50m to go home better in a grinding finish.
Worth noting: Not much between this lot.
Race 4. 1100M Bob Skilton Handicap
SHANGHAI WARRIOR GLEN BOSS 1st $6.50
BELZEUS LINDA MEECH 2nd $21
BARON DOURO BEN KNOBEL 3rd $5.50
Madica’s Pleasure led from Nodrems, Mighty Light and Instalment. Shanghai Warrior settled just in behind the speed and sprinted quickly at the 250m to take the lead and quickly put a couple of lengths on them. Belzeus ran on well for 2nd to finish just in front of Baron Douro who also ran on well. Instalment dropped out and finished a disappointing 6th.
Worth noting: Shanghai Warrior won like it was supposed to 2 weeks ago. Baron Douro is much better over 1200m than 1100m
Race 5. 1400M Sporting Chance Cancer Foundation Handicap
THE LONG ROAD DWAYNE DUNN 1st $7.50
PRINCESS DIABLO JARROD FRY 2nd $26
MAROTTA CRAIG NEWITT 3rd $20
Gossip Girl jumped straight to the front at good clip with Wallace aboard. Cold Steel Rein went amiss at the home turn and inconvenienced Marotta and Let’s Be Happy. Princess Diablo took on Gossip Girl just after straightening and and looked the winner at the 200. The Long Road didn’t look to be travelling at all in the straight but seem to find a length here and then a length there and then really got stuck in over the last 50 and got up in the last stride in a strange run.
Worth noting: Marotta and Let’s Be Happy did well to run 3rd and 4th given the interference from Cold Steel Rein. Wallace (on Gossip Girl) as a judge of pace? Makes me nervous.
Race 6. 1600M Fujitsu Air Conditioning Handicap
PRINCE OF CAPERS MATTHEW NEILSON 1st $7
NOBLE PARK MICHAEL WALKER 2nd $3.60F
MANNOPOLY CHRIS SYMONS 3rd $16
Saptapadi led from well backed Noble Park with good speed on. Prince of Capers settled 5th with cover. At the 300 any of 7 horses could have won it with Noble Park in front but going strongly. Prince of Capers got out at the 200m and sprinted quickly to go up to Noble Park and these two came away with Prince of Capers going home better to win by a length. Mannopoly did well to hold on for 3rd.
Worth noting: Prince of Capers in top form and beautifully ridden.
Race 7. 1000M Monjon Australia Handicap
GOLDEN ARCHER LUKE NOLEN 1st $4.60
FREERETURN BEN MELHAM 2nd $9.50
BEYOND PARDON MICHAEL RODD 3rd $13
Canali (showing tremendous speed) jumped straight to the front from Queen Delight and Shock Value. Night War messed the start and settled worse than midfield. Canali shook off Queen Delight at the 200 with Golden Archer coming quickly. He sprinted right up to his Sepoy form and won well. Freereturn got home late for 2nd just in front of Beyond Pardon and Morant with Canali eased down for 5th.
Worth noting: Night War never got into it and should be forgiven.
Race 8. 1700M Commotion Creative Handicap
DAYITA LUKE NOLEN 1st $3.60F
HE’S A STEAL CRAIG NEWITT 2nd $20
IMOTO DAMIAN OLIVER 3rd $3.80
He’s A Steal led from Harmonic. Dayita settled midfield on the outside. Imoto ran up to the leaders rounding the home turn to make it a line of 3 with Dayita on his back. Dayita sprinted quickly at the 300 to come away with He’s A Steal and in a great finish Dayita outstayed He’s A Steal with Imoto 3 lengths back in 3rd.
Worth noting: Dayita relished the weight drop, wide barrier draw and outside trail to win well.
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Rosehill review by Todd Burmester
1st Australian Star Adam Hyeronimous
2nd Nocturnelle Corey Brown
3rd Kuhreihen Kerrin McEvoy
Queenian wasn’t great out in the first, where as Al’s Magic Miss was the first to jump. Fast And Sexy led initially but was then taken on by the favourite Kuhreihen. I am not convinced that leading was the way to go with this fellow, but he did get it fairly easily in front it seemed. Nocturnelle and Art Thou Ready that both had support in betting got cosy runs just behind the speed. In the straight Kuhreihen didn’t find a great deal and ground into third. It was Nocturnelle that looked the likely winner, but Australian Star which had been at the rear came with a powerful run to take victory in what looked a very good effort.
Follow: Nocturnelle
Race 2
1st Matiya’s Pride Alysha Collett
2nd Shadow Minister Corey Brown
3rd Natch Catch Brian Ward
Madam Nash sprung out of the gates in the second and went straight to the lead. The race was run fairly genuinely which meant there was no change to the order until they straightened. Matiya’s Pride, a stablemate to Madam Nash had had the cold sit on the fence in third all the way, and sprinted well once in clear running. All credit had to go to her for a good win. Shadow Minister put in a good sprint down the outside for second, and Natch Catch, which was off the bit at the 600m kept plugging away for third. Madam Nash found nothing, and First Look may be amiss as it was a long last.
Follow: Natch Catch
Race 3
1st Skytrain Chris Reith
2nd Murray’s Sun Kathy O’Hara
3rd Youthful Jack Matt McGuren
Kirinata and Welkom Gold briefly disputed the lead, but then Welkom Gold crossed to a clear lead at a very genuine tempo. The speed here was evidenced by the fact that the winner and second place getter came from second last and last in the field respectively. It was a great ride by Chris Reith to take inside runs with a lap full of horse on Skytrain, and she went to the line well for a good win. The bolter, Murray’s Sun took a while to come out from behind horses and didn’t race all that tractably in the straight, but did finish off well to run second. It was a blanket finish for the minor placings.
Follow: Murray’s Sun
Race 4
1st Norzita Glyn Schofield
2nd Seaside Kerrin McEvoy
3rd Clever Boy Nash Rawiller
The Snowden Filly, Seaside was sent out a well backed favourite in the two-year-old event, and settled third on the fence in the run, behind Outback Dream, which set a fair pace, and had Dormello outside of it. The eventual winner Norzita settled midfield and was brought to the outside at the top of the straight. Shortly after it ran to the front, and then Seaside was trying hard to come through on the inside. Norzita was a bit green in the run to the line, but had the momentum up, and realistically nothing was going to catch her. Clever Boy and Grand Business came to the line quite well, but in the case of Clever Boy, his racing pattern is often going to bring him undone I suspect.
Follow: Norzita
Race 5
1st Coup Ay Tee Hugh Bowman
2nd Soledad Kerriny McEvoy
3rd Madibagold Glyn Schofield
Shamus ran straight to the front in this race, with Soledad the odds on favourite sitting second in the run. There were two keys to this race. One was that the eventual winner Coup Ay Tee was ridden absolutely cold at the tail of the field, and the second was that Shamus set up a good pace in front. Around the bend Soledad didn’t really sprint, but did continue to grind away in the run to the line, I wouldn’t sack him just yet, and I wouldn’t get carried away with Coup Ay Tee, as the race was run to suit. Madibagold ran it’s regular race to get third, but tends not to win out of turn.
Follow: Soledad
Race 6
1st Kaypers Corey Brown
2nd Forty Thirty Chad Schofield
3rd Brian’s Honour Brenton Avdulla
A good line out for the 1500m sixth event. Forty Thirty, the Victorian visitor took it up in front after 100m. Dunrossil was second in the run and a seemingly eratic Nothing Like Luca was third, three wide. Forty Thirty slipped them a bit on the turn. The favourite in the race, Stout Hearted came to the outside once they straightened, but was a fair way off the lead. Also coming to the outside was Kaypers, but much closer to the lead, and had had a nice run on the fence. Kaypers sprinted well to take the win, but the effort of Forty Thirty to keep fighting on for second I thought was good.
Follow: Forty Thirty
Race 7
1st Brave The Way Kathy O’Hara
2nd Kelinni Glyn Schofield
3rd Thebigiam Tommy Berry
Lethal Arrow, which led all the way last start tried to do the same here, but did take a bit longer to get to the front, and that may have proved costly. Kelinni was sent out a short priced favourite here, but got well back out of its ground. If I am taking these sort of odds, I like to know they will race on the speed. The eventual winner, Brave The Way had the best of runs in transit, three back on the fence, and when the opportunity presented at the 500m to come off the fence, he was there to challenge the leaders on the corner. Kelinni did its best to come after Brave The Way, but having to come 5 and 6 wide around the field told the difference. It was a lovely ride by Schofield on Brave The Way. Thebigiam ran on well, and the effort of Our Barney deserved a pass mark also.
Follow: Kelinni
Race 8
1st Key West Nash Rawiller
2nd Mon Soleil Corey Brown
3rd Dehere Hunter Hugh Bowman
Key West led them up, and I must say it was great to see yet another race with a decent pace on. A very well judged, Rosehill, front running ride, by Nash Rawiller. He had a lap full of horse on the corner and slipped away with a winning break. Dehere Hunter was heavily backed here and did its best to make ground along the inside, with Mon Soleil trying hard down the outside. They got reasonably close in the run to the line, but realistically were never going to run down the winner.
Follow: Dehere Hunter, Mon Soleil
Specials From The Meeting: Nocturnelle, Norzita, Forty Thirty
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
May I point out to Todd Burmester that Brave the Way was not ridden by Schofield! Is this yet another example of the male chauvanism that seems to permeate so much of our racing media.
It was a simple mistake John and how you can connect that with male chauvanism is beyond me.
Hi, I read these reviews each week and appreciate the valuable information.
One query I have this week would be with Todd’s review of Rosehill, in particular Race 5 won by Coup Ay Tee. Todd seems to be basing his conclusions out of this race on the tempo of the race. He clearly indicates it was truly run.
According to my figures out of the 8 races on the program this was in fact the SLOWEST lead time of the day. On my figures the par lead time for Rosehill 1350metre races is 45.3. The lead time in race 5 here was 47.2. This difference of 1.9 seconds was , on my database, the slowest of the day (the next slowest being Race 7 at +1.4).
MY assessment would therefore be that Coup Ay Tee had the tempo very much against him and hence I would consider his run to be first class in winning.
I am interested to know on what Todd is basing his assessment – this is certainly not meant as a criticism just wondering how I could arrive at such a vastly different assessment that Todd.
Regards and thanks again for the excellent service provided
Russell
Hi Russell
Thanks for your feedback and I apologise it has taken some time to respond, you have caught me at a particularly busy time of the year.
I’ll be 100% honest in my response also – I am not a “times man” so your analysis I imagine is very accurate, and in that sense I stand corrected. Previously I’ve written an article in the newsletter regarding my methodology for analysing the replays, which is largely based on observation. In the particular race in question, it certainly appeared to me that the pace was genuine, and favoured the winner. I’ll be very interested to see what Coup Ay Tee does at its next appearance. I’ll stand by the fact that I am prepared to lay it as I believe things worked in its favour in the race we are referring to that it won. Cheers, Todd.