What a thrill it was to watch two brothers go at each other down the Randwick straight on one of the biggest days of the year.
PRIVATE EYE and KING’S SECRET tackled Saturday’s G3 Hall Mark Stakes (1200m) and punters were keen to back both. PRIVATE EYE, a dual Everest placegetter, went off the $3.30 favourite. KING’S SECRET was backed from a top fluc of $8.50 into $7.50 – this push against this field tells you the respect smart punters have for the progressive 4YO.
The Hall Mark Stakes was a high-pressure race – more so than any contest on the day. In fact, when I look at my Race Shape data only this race and the Champagne Stakes were true pressure races. So, when people complain the track suited leaders, remind them 8 of the 10 races were run evenly or slower.
Back to the Hall Mark – PRIVATE EYE prefers a moderate tempo at 1400m, that’s what we’ve learnt about him this season. He didn’t get that here. And KING’S SECRET was forced to produce a career peak rating to beat him home when a close 2nd to MAZU. The winner, typical of Joe Pride’s stock, has found a new lease on life this prep as an older gelding. If you had told me he’d produce a rating like this on a dry deck at 1200m at this stage of his career, I’d have smiled and walked away thinking you’re a looney.
While KING’S SECRET goes for a break to prepare for an exciting spring, PRIVATE EYE pushes on to the Brisbane winter carnival. There is no reason he can’t be competitive in a Kingsford Smith although I’m hearing he will take a shot at the Doomben 10000 first.
The thrill of watching our brothers go toe to toe in a feature event was matched by OCEAN ZAR’s victory at $31 in Brisbane.
Eagle Farm was playing off rail and our pre-race report suggested the moons were somewhat aligning for this ageing mare (are we allowed to say that in today’s world?!). She was third-up and seemingly taking a little longer to hit her straps this campaign. A cushy run in transit coupled with a race that was below-par for the grade, allowed OCEAN ZAR to find the winners’ circle for the 5th time in this BM70 contest. Not including her debut prep where she had just one run, this mare has won a race in every campaign bar one – some feat and justification for owners who allow this mare to continue her career as a racehorse instead of selling her to breeders – shoutout to OBSERVER and TENTYRIS! (both retired this week to ensure they don’t ruin their stud value).
The week began with CHAMPAGNE LANE and SOLOACT at Doomben on Wednesday. CHAMPAGNE LANE lost just about all hope at the start of her 1100m contest when she was hampered and spat out the back of her 8-horse field. Only 2 of the 9 winners at the meeting came from outside the top 5 at the 600m. She was forced to come around them (rarely a good thing at Doomben in sprint trips) and got baulked again in the straight. She clocked the best last 800m of the day and really couldn’t have done much more from where she was.
SOLOACT was poor when stepping up to 2040m. No doubt he will improve with a run at the trip but a 22-length beaten margin is hard to excuse.
I hated the run SHOT OF WHISKEY got on Thursday at Ipswich. If there’s one thing we’ve learnt about this boy it’s that he needs room and despises being underneath horses. It’s easy being an armchair jockey and I wouldn’t want to criticise the ride because there was nothing wrong with it under normal circumstances. But I reckon approaching the 600m is where we lost it. We kicked up underneath CONCESSION and that eventually left us in a pocket. SHOT OF WHISKEY goes lengths better when he’s allowed to make his run to the outside of horses or leads on the fence. Instead, he got cluttered up and was trying to rally underneath horses late. The overall time was almost 6L inside standard. Back him next start if he maps to get the run that suits his idiosyncrasies.
WILD THOUGHTS got the above average tempo he needed at Kembla but again was disappointing in the BM64 1500m event. He had every right to attack the line as the $4.40 second elect but laboured with his last 200m almost 2L below standard. To be fair, he was racing in restricted room for the majority of the straight and has never really gone on with it since that Heavy 10 win last year.
The debut run of WEEKDAY FLYER was that of a horse who will appreciate further. They went hard in front, the overall time was only fair but she clocked the best last 200m of the race which also ranked 9th for the meeting.
Hopefully some of you got a bit out of MATIAS last weekend. He rated well in his dominant Frank Packer Plate victory. Another run at 2000m will confirm whether he’s a genuine Qld Derby contender. For mine, he wouldn’t be out of place in a Doomben Cup.
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.