The victory of BROADWAY STREET last week further emphasized the importance of economical runs in fast tempo races.
Kembla had a rare chance at a Wednesday meeting – quickly it was determined the rail was inferior with the winner of the first three races using lane 8 or wider.
By the time ‘Broady’ lined up in the Maiden Handicap over 1200m, jockeys were going via Rosehill coming into the straight.
“Never underestimate a rails run in a true test”, my grandfather quipped at me back in 1992 immediately after a grey mare called OFFICE charged along the inside rail landing a healthy collect.
The thrill of watching a horse go from last to first is unparalleled. SUPER IMPOSE got me hooked on racing with his 1991 Epsom Handicap win. The hefty impost of 61.5kg didn’t stop him from creating an illusion the entire field had stopped like a Bali watch.
Both SUPER and OFFICE made an inside attack, which meant after doing less work than any rival in the race, they also had the luxury of not having to go wide to make their run. So, in essence, they had a lot more in their tank when the field reached the 200m and in turn finished harder.
Fast-forward a lazy 35 years and the same principal still holds true. BROADWAY STREET was first-up last week, taken back from a wide gate and let the others do the work. And boy did they work – the first 600m was more than 8L above standard. What compounded the issue for most of the chasers was they fanned around the bend searching for that better ground.
Coming deep on the corner requires energy, something most of these had little of at this point. Meanwhile, Nash Rawiller just hunted up the inside on BROADWAY STREET and arrived at the furlong marker with enough in the tank to offset the inferior ground (and some) before cruising to an impressive victory.
Only 1L inside standard time isn’t great given the tempo but we were first-up and our last 200m was a lot weaker relative to class expectations than the 400-200m split.
This is a horse that will improve a stack. I hate to dampen the mood but this win may have been flattered by some average rides from rival hoops.
SOUTHERN GRACE raced earlier in the day and her run had plenty of merit. Finishing 4th in the Maiden over 1000m, she clocked the best last 400m of the day and is another that will improve with the outing. A slick 10.6 from the 400m to 200m shows she can really dash when required, despite being bred to get over further.
At the same meeting BANG ON TIME found a hot Class 1 to end her first prep of racing. The winner was 3L inside standard and for now, this was a tad beyond her but her rating was good enough to pick up your average Class 1 at the provincials. She also has plenty of natural improvement to come next time in.
SHOT OF WHISKEY was again a forgive run. Stewards noted he was inconvenienced at the start and charted a wide course initially before leading. And that’s when something else happened that you won’t see in the stewards report but hugely impacted his performance. After clocking 10.3 from the 1000-800m he was then restrained to a leisurely 12.2 between the 600-400m. This allowed his rivals to catch up without having to work hard and more importantly mean they loomed to his outside, which is exactly what he resents. In scenarios such as this, you either make the decision to ride aggressively and keep going or you drop in at the 1000m and take the trail that was available one off the fence and then chime in around them on the turn.
Fortunately, the week got better on Friday when FLYING BANDIT found some form again. He’d had excuses this prep with wet tracks and gaps between runs. But in the Wagga Gold Cup he had none of that. It was D-day.
The Cup rated almost 3L faster than your usual Wagga Gold Cup and the BANDIT snared the 5th fastest last 200m of the day when 3rd. Perhaps the short gap followed by a quick back-up works well for this horse?
Nothing went right for IN FLIGHT in the Group 2 Victory Stakes at Eagle Farm on Saturday. She was slowly away and never in the hunt from the outside barrier. Her last 200m in a sluggish 12.96 suggests she is vulnerable at 1200m if conditions are testing. Expect her to be kept to shorter going forward.
CHAMPAGNE LANE pulled up with a poor recovery after never travelling in the heavy Eagle Farm conditions, let’s forgive her for this.
Finally, WILD THOUGHTS found some sort of form over 1900m at Newcastle. It was a strange watch – he looked gone but rallied again for the 3rd.
Great to see HALF YOURS head to the Gold Coast for the G2 Hollindale Stakes (1800m) this weekend. The last horse to win the Hollindale – Doomben Cup double after taking out the Caulfield – Melbourne Cup double was MIGHT AND POWER in 1998. He went alright and oddly enough was the reason I switched from backing last to first horses to finding frontrunners. Ahh the great game.
Nic Ashman is a form expert who has developed his own times rating system to assess races. He is the host of The Beaten Favourite podcast and appears on several other racing media outlets. For a more detailed summary of the past weekend’s racing, you can listen to ‘The Monday Podcast’ episode by The Beaten Favourite HERE.