24/06/14
Tatt’s day in Brisbane has, for some strange reason historically degenerated into a bookmakers benefit and yet again last Saturday it’s a no brainer that bookies had the better of the two-way contest with punters.
The horror day for punters started in Race 3 when Fixation won at 25/1. He’d gone like a crippled soldier crab at his previous start just 21 days earlier yet by the time the sun set over the horizon on Saturday night he’d become a Listed winner as a Maiden. That’s “jump off the Gateway Bridge using your umbrella as a parachute” stuff for the average punter. Truly, as the earner of just $1,350 average prizemoney per start in his career-to-date before last Saturday, even if a half inebriated punter was using “the dartboard method” for his or her selections, it would be impossible to come up with Fixation.
No wonder Fixation won the Breakfast Creek Hotel Stakes as punters who backed the short priced favourite Limehills needed to head to a bar somewhere for a double scotch on the rocks, after the colt went pathetically. Hopefully he’s been gelded by now, so that he is never allowed to attempt to improve the thoroughbred gene pool. Limehills had beaten Fixation home 4.5 lengths at their previous start and then Fixation – meeting him at exactly the same set weight in both races – then beat Limehills home by about a length-and-a-half last Saturday, so by my maths, the turnaround is just six lengths. Terrific stuff.
So after the running of the Breakfast Creek Hotel Stakes, no punter that backed the Paul Messara trained Limehills would be able to afford one of the expensive steaks on offer at the Brekkie Creek Hotel for the remainder of the year. And nor would the punters who backed the thing all “the boys” wanted to get on the bandwagon of – the filly trained by “champion trainer” Gai Waterhouse – Bayrock. That filly went missing in action and nearly held up the next race, clocking in stone motherless last, beaten just 8.5 lengths. Thankfully I was able to send out Brisbane Sectional Times clients a race morning email advising them to steer clear of the filly.
Later in the day another “champion trainer”, this time Chris Waller, sent punters Australia-wide to the bar for another double scotch when his mares Red Tracer (5/1) and Catkins (9/2) never looked likely in the Group 1 Tattersall’s Tiara. God knows how much punters lost Australia-wide on those two mares in that race when they both failed to run a place. Probably hundreds of thousands of dollars. Nevertheless mainstream media later Saturday afternoon was on about how many winners Waller had prepared at Randwick. With such big numbers in a race in Sydney, my 14YO granddaughter could train winners there.
Back to Eagle Farm and The Inventor reiterated what I’ve been writing for many months to be true, namely “I’ve never seen a worse bunch of horses in over 45 years of watching Brisbane racing” when he progressed from winning that awful Provincial Cup on Ipswich Cup day just seven days earlier, to winning the Group 3 Tattersall’s Cup. They bet 100/1 about his chances in Darwin and someone took that, but as Lindsay Gallagher says in his report, you can’t get on for any money there, so maybe someone had $5 each way on him and good luck to them – at least they were backing a last start winner.
The Inventor’s win wasn’t the only effort to highlight how pathetic the middle distance Open company ranks are in Brisbane, as Dodging Eddie won the $20,000 total prizemoney Gatton Cup at his previous start and he only got beaten 3.5 lengths officially in theTattersall’s Cup. Prior to his Gatton Cup victory, he’d won just one race in the previous 26 months – and that was a $12,000 total prizemoney race at Toowoomba.
In victory, The Inventor beat Wish Come True (one win and that was in a photo) since fleeing Rome. The third horse to The Inventor was Pretty Pins. She’d need to have pretty pins, a real good personality and lots of other pluses – as her CV says she’s won just two races in the last 30 months.
The fifth horse, Denwood, hasn’t won for over 12 months. The sixth horse, Garud, hasn’t won for 19 months. The seventh horse, Raeburn, has won just two races in the last 42 months, one by a nose and the other by a neck.
Need I go on? No, I didn’t think so.
To show how pathetic that Provincial Cup race from Ipswich Cup day is, I went back and reviewed the result from 2013 to see what the placegetters from the 2013 version had done since. Handsome Dane beat How Fairdinkum and King of the Forest. Handsome Dane started six times since for no wins, albeit he did run one placing in those six runs – at Murwillumbah. Second home was How Fairdinkum and he’s started 10 times since for one win – in a $15,000 total prizemoney race at the Gold Coast. Third placed King of the Forest has had 16 starts since his Provincial Cup placing and he’s won just one race and that was in a Doomben mid-week event with total prizemoney of $17,000 and he’s also run just one further placing. So in summary, the three placegetters from the 2013 Provincial Cup have started cumulatively 32 times since for just two wins or a win strike rate of 6.25%.
And it wasn’t only roughies getting up all over the place that ruined the day for punters. The Sky Channel camera work at some races at both Eagle Farm and Moonee Valley was what I’d call “pathetic”. In Brisbane Race 2, as per the above photo, the camera person didn’t even have the well fancied runners Palmera Lad and Splendora remotely in camera view from the 700 to the 500. How can a punter, owner or trainer know how their horse is travelling if they can’t even see it , given most punters, owners and trainers – even those on course – watch television monitors these days? And it wasn’t only Brisbane Race 2 that had a problem, as further problems surfaced in Brisbane Race 5 and Moonee Valley Race 7, which I’ll put up photographic proof of on the Brisbaneracing website either tomorrow or Thursday. It’s basic astute business acumen for all industry participants to be able to see every horse that is contesting a race at all points of the event.
On a positive note, I must say that the last few Saturdays have produced some exciting racing down south with jockeys going out with big leads on horses. Firstly there was young Taylor Marshall’s ride on 80/1 chance Astro Avalanche on 7 June at Randwick. By the time the line was reached, the kid was wrong by only half a length. I thought the race was a great spectacle, even if it stuffed up a few people’s speed maps about the race. Then last Saturday Sir Biggelsworth took off at Randwick and at least made it an interesting race. Then The Cleaner did what he does best by breaking plenty of hearts when he strutted his stuff in the sixth race at Moonee Valley. It sure makes for exciting racing and maybe, just maybe, if we had more jockeys who would attempt to run the opposition off their legs in middle distance and distance racing more punters would be interested in the product? Too often – about 90% of the time in fact – it’s a walk, trot and canter – and a sprint home. Wake me up after the last race will you, after we’ve had to endure a meeting like that.
To be continued ……..tomorrow when I look at some fantastic rides from last Saturday.
Today on www.brisbaneracing.com.au there’s the popular What’s In A Name segment. On www.sydneyracing.com.au David Clarkson writes about his visit to Royal Ascot and has his trademark wonderful photography accompanying the story, whilst on www.melbourneracing.com.au Matt Nicholls looks at the tragic passing of trainer Danny Bowen last Friday.