COSMONOVA delivered a valuable Group placing to headline the week for Proven. Meanwhile, Victorian filly SHEZA ALIBI stunned headquarters in Sydney.
Randwick was where it was at last Saturday. I had the rare pleasure of attending the races – anyone with two young kids knows this is no mean feat! The overall times of the Golden Slipper previews via the Reisling and Todman didn’t excite me but then SHEZA ALIBI said ‘hold my beer’. Wowee, what that filly did is something only the very best can do. She beat G1 standard time by more than 2L, which given she was second-up at 1600m, is exceptional. Her last 200m was 3L quicker than anything in the race. She has pulverised the Randwick Guineas. Let’s not forget the Caulfield Guineas winner, AUTUMN BOY, was in the race. Sadly, he looked second rate although I suspect he has improvement to come. For SHEZA ALIBI the question is where to now?
One box left to tick ahead of the spring is her ability at 2000m. If Moody’s filly stretches her brilliance to 2000m in similar style then a Cox Plate door opens. And that’s provided they can resist the lucrative Golden Eagle.
Not long after SHEZA ALIBI stunned Randwick, we got to enjoy a little in-house celebration when COSMONOVA grabbed 2nd in the G3 Wenona Girl Quality (1200m). It was her fourth attempt at this level and she was unlucky not to place previously.
The field crawled through the first 600m nearly 12L below standard, which helped COSMONOVA as she has proven a tad more effective at 1100m. It was nothing more than a dash up the straight with her last 400m almost 8L above standard. The winner, GANGSTA GRANNY, looks pretty smart and is worth following into better races.
Going right back to last Tuesday and BANG ON TIME made her debut on a bog track at Kembla. She drifted from $4.20 to $8 and while beaten, the market definitely didn’t gauge this mare’s ability correctly. She beat standard time by 2L and clocked the 3rd best 600m of the day. Keep in mind heavy tracks deteriorate throughout a meeting and she ran early in the card. Still, she’ll be winning soon off this.
The second fastest last 400 and 200m of the day belonged to our very own ALABAMA SHOWDOWN, who showed marked improvement from his debut. Beaten less than 0.5L when 3rd over 1000m, this gelding improved around 7L on our database ratings.
The disappointment of the day was WILD THOUGHTS, who on paper looked incredibly well placed in the BM68 over 1400m. Apparently a few other punters thought so too – he was $2.80 into $1.75 in the last 24hrs before they jumped. But he was one of the first horses beaten and finished last. We know he’s better than this.
IN CIRCLES went to Newcastle on Friday for start number 2 having come out of a weak maiden. Joe Pride found another ordinary maiden but the filly knocked up clocking one of the slowest last 200m of the race to finish 4th. That said, her overall rating lifted off her previous run and she hasn’t been beaten far both times.
Back to Randwick on Saturday and IN FLIGHT and THE BLACK CLOUD both lined up in the G2 Challenge Stakes (1000m). The pace was unusually slow with MAZU going 5L below standard through the first 400m. Our two girls were out the back and never had any hope. Their last 200m times were almost identical ranking 3rd and 4th in the race. A drop in weight into The Galaxy can give them a rough hope of a boilover.
Up in Brisbane OCEAN ZAR resumed at 1400m but off a slow tempo didn’t really finish off as we would’ve liked. She typically improves second-up and the beauty about a run like this, is you can get a price next start.
FLYING BANDIT went to Sunday’s Canberra Cup second-up but nothing really panned out for the talented stayer. He was shuffled back along the rail coming into the straight and worked home as well as you could expect after suffering interference on the turn. They ran along in front and you’d think he probably wasn’t quite ready for a test like that at this stage of prep.
Looking forward to seeing KING’S SECRET back at the races this weekend in the Maurice McCarten Stakes. He’s one of the most progressive Proven horses currently in work and being the half-brother to dual Everest placegetter, PRIVATE EYE, has a bit to prove for bragging rights.
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.