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Spring Review
Saturday, November 22, 2008
The Caulfield Cup was a big surprise to all with All the Good winning. The performances of runner-up Nom Du Jeu, third placegetter Barbaricus and fourth placed Mad Rush were all seen as big pointers, but none featured in the placings in the biggest attraction of all, the Melbourne Cup.
The honours there went to Bart Cummings for the twelfth time with Viewed, forgotten after his win in the Brisbane Cup and allowed to go around friendless at $41 and better. Bauer was second, a lip away, after proving his credentials in the Geelong Cup. Moatize, which sneaked in after his good run in that race and a last stride win in the Saab, ran well enough to suggest Bart might still have another on the way up.
This spring Weekend Hussler showed once and for all he does NOT stay. Too many punters' dollars went into the bookies' bags on the strength of the hype surrounding this great miler's invincible stature.
C'est La Guerre ran a very nice third at Flemington, and maybe should have finished closer, while Zipping had no show after being barrelled by Gallopin (which choked up) and losing five or more lengths. Zipping would show a fortnight later at Sandown in their Sandown Classic that he is a class act. And as to the tactics of the three Irish riders, and one must assume their trainer? Well, everyone saw it, everyone knows what happened, and everyone knows they ignored all local advice and went too hard early. The fact that there were no Aussie jockeys within five lengths of the three tearaways at the half mile spells it out. Mass suicide. Who'd have thought it?
Courtesy of a wonderful ride by Michael Rodd, Maldivian brought tears to the eyes of many hardened old punters when he led for most of the trip and controlled the race many see as the real championship of Australasia, the Cox Plate. What happened to Princess Coup will forever remain a mystery, but she looked so good and ran so badly (twice) that she must have trained right off. Maybe she just didn't want to do the travelling? Maybe on another day Zipping would have won this race too, but on the day that counted, the right horse won.
Whobegotyou turned out to be a young star, along with Samantha Miss. He missed out on the boys' prize (the Derby) whilst she just blew them away in the Oaks. Both will go on to greatness. Miss Scarlatti and Rebel Raider can also be noted as potential four year old topnotch stayers.
Theseo had a well deserved win in the Mackinnon. Barbaricus showed his placing at Caulfield was no fluke, but on the Tuesday he ran like a horse that just didn't get the distance.
All Silent emerged as a potential champion sprinter. He demolished two strong fields and looked to be still getting better when the carnival finished. Hot Danish and Forensics, the two Sydney mares, showed their quality at Flemington with big wins, whilst the win of All Silent was franked last Saturday by Sniper's Bullet's great run at Ascot. Spare a thought for the connections of Sunburnt Land. He probably should have beaten Hot Danish, then was struck by lightning and killed in his own back yard.
We can't mention them all, but there we have some of the cream. The best run of all? That's an individual thing, but let's suggest that the most satisfying was the win of Maldivian in the Cox Plate after that terrible mess-up in the Caulfield Cup last year. And for Mark Kavanagh, some sort of justice! Best emerging talent? That has to be Samantha Miss.
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