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By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Gr.1 New Zealand Derby (2400m) winner Willydoit (NZ) (Tarzino) will be racing for a spot in the Gr.1 Australian Cup (2000m) when he lines up at Flemington. Willydoit and stablemate Holymanz (NZ) (Almanzor) contest the Gr.2 Blamey Stakes (1600m) on Saturday as the pair look to enhance their claims of further autumn riches. Now in his second preparation for the Ciaron Maher stable, Willydoit is yet to strike the form that saw him win the New Zealand Derby at Ellerslie last March. Maher’s National Assistant Trainer Jack Turnbull said the stable had learned a lot about the now four-year-old following his first campaign in Sydney during the spring. Willydoit resumed at Caulfield on February 7 and beat only one horse home in the MRC Foundation Cup (1600m), but the stable has again called for blinkers on the gelding after suggesting the gelding was a ‘little plain’ first-up. “When the race was run the way it was, it was brutally run, and with a horse like Light Infantry Man winning it, sitting second, it says a lot about the race shape,” Turnbull said. “For him, who was back, no headgear, floating along, he just never got involved. “His splits late were positive enough, but he should have done something because he did nothing for the first three-quarters. “He’s had a couple of good gallops, he gets on the bigger track, the mile again, headgear on, there’s a lot more going his way this week.” Turnbull said Willydoit had been one of the better staying three-year-olds having also finished fourth in the Gr.1 Australian Derby (2400m) at Randwick last autumn, but as a spring four-year-old the stable decided to chase spring riches. It included finishing ninth in The Golden Eagle (1500m) after running seventh in the Alan Brown Stakes (1400m). “He was a dominant staying three-year-old, but he’s not slow, so coming to Sydney last campaign, with the weights, we were willing to try him in the big features which didn’t work,” Turnbull said. “A prep on, we know a bit more about him and I think 2000 (metres) will be his go. “The Australian Cup is on the plan, but if he was not to fire at that class and weight scale, then there are races like the Mornington Cup (Listed, 2400m), but we’ll just see, but his main early aim, after this run, is the Australian Cup.” Turnbull described Holymanz as an ‘old marvel’ who came off a freshen up to finish third in the MRC Foundation Cup at his last start. “We could have gone to the All-Star Mile (next Saturday), but we’ve decided on the softer option to get him to be winning again,” Turnbull said. “It’s not a race that’s out of his reach and if he can run up to his last run, he’ll be right up there again.” View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Group Two performer Checkmate (NZ) (Mongolian Khan) will head to his home track of Matamata this weekend for a mile test before trainers Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott look to step him up over more ground. The Okaharau Station-bred and raced gelding returned to form when third in the Gr.2 Rich Hill Mile (1600m) at Ellerslie on New Year’s Day before running fifth in the Gr.3 Aotearoa Classic (1600m), and his trainers were intending on testing him over 2000m in the Listed Kaimai Stakes at Matamata a fortnight ago, but those plans were curtailed by wet weather. His conditioners have opted to keep him to a mile on Saturday in the Colchester Engineering 1600, but they are still keen to test him over 2000m at his next start if he performs up to expectations this weekend. “We were going to run him over 2000m in the Kaimai Stakes, but when the track came up like it did we thought it wasn’t going to give the horse a fair crack,” O’Sullivan said. “We tried him over 2000m once before in the Rosehill Guineas (Gr.1, 2000m), but it was at the end of his prep and we didn’t really get a line. We will probably look to step him up to 2000m after this race, but let’s see what he does.” O’Sullivan has been pleased with Checkmate’s work in the lead-up to Saturday and he is expecting a bold showing from his gelding. “He should be very competitive, we will be disappointed if he is not hard to beat,” O’Sullivan said. “He is going to get a nice track, he has worked well, he looks good and he should run well. “He was a bit unlucky last time, the jockey (Damian Lane) felt like he was going to run a lot closer than what he did if he hadn’t had copped a bit of a buffeting or been held up just after straightening. “The horse is going well and in 12 months’ time he is going to be a real racehorse.” Wexford Stables are set to be represented by nine other runners on their home track on Saturday, including Tristar (NZ) (Exceedance) and Hankee Alpha (NZ) (Proisir) in the Ancroft Developments 1200. Four-win mare Tristar heads into the race off the back of three consecutive placings, while Hankee Alpha has placed in two of her three starts this preparation, and O’Sullivan is expecting both mares to feature on Saturday. “Both are going well and both will be very competitive,” he said. View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
A pair of jockeys made significant moves up the championship table, a premiership-winning trainer continued his red-hot start to the year and Ka Ying Rising smashed more records in February. The SCMP analyses the jockeys and trainers who had a month to remember or one to forget, as well as the most outstanding victory and winning ride. Who’s hot? It was a rare month when Zac Purton didn’t return the biggest winning haul, with Jerry Chau Chun-lok and Andrea Atzeni sharing that honour with nine...View the full article -
All the programmer/handicapper has to do, for example, is put in a condition that, for example, in a rating race, any horse that has won more than 10 races, or a certain amount of money cannot start. Seems it's too hard. -
There is no perfect handicapping system, never has been, never will be. If you set it up to advantage one group of horses, you disadvantage another group. The answer is in innovative programming, which can be done under any system, including the current one.
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