Punt Drunk: Forgive or forget about Illation?

[Wandering Eyes]

Spring really is in the air now, with two Group 1 races run and won. There was plenty of quality horseflesh running at Caulfield and Rosehill Gardens over the weekend, while a fan favourite wound back the clock at Morphettville. The Punt Drunk team has your Monday morning racing fix covered.

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TELL IT HOW IT IS, GATOR

David Gately has built a reputation during his time as a racing media personality as both a bloody good tipster and someone who isn’t afraid to tell it how it is. If a horse is no good, he’ll say that in his preview. If a time was slow, he will tell you that the horses in that race won’t be winning Group 1 races. He’s a pleasant change from most. When a protest was fired in at Caulfield on Saturday from Generation against Shooting For Gold, it’s fair to say that ‘Gator’ had a few thoughts of his own.

There was hardly a bump in it, but connections thought there were grounds for protest. In his usual style, Gately – quite bluntly – suggested the protest would be dismissed. It didn’t take long for the stewards to dismiss it either.

What are the grounds? Allegedly being too fast over the last 100 ???

— David Gately (@GatorGately) August 27, 2022

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UNCHARTED TERRITORY FOR DALASAN

Some horses just don’t know how to win. Tom Melbourne led that charge for years, Kementari was in it for a while, and Landsborough Lad is the new leader of the club, but the latest graduate is cult hero Dalasan. The South Australian was arguably one of the best three-year-olds of his year, starting favourite in a Caulfield Guineas, but but he has since struggled to deliver on that early promise.

After winning the Group 3 Chairman’s Stakes at Morphettville in 2020, it would take Dalasan over two years and 21 race starts to return to the winner’s circle. In that time, he placed four times at Group 1 level, but he couldn’t quite break through. On Saturday, the now six-year-old stepped out on his home track as a $2.40 favourite in Listed company, which proved to be the key. He roared home down the middle of the track to get the job done in the Leon Macdonald Stakes – a race named after his trainer. Can he go on with the job now?

Leon Macdonald has won the Leon Macdonald Stakes!

Dalasan is BACK! @RacingSA pic.twitter.com/65k7gHMaMT

— Racing.com (@Racing) August 27, 2022

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FORGET OR FORGIVE?

There were a few bubbles that popped on Saturday. Frumos had every chance and was beaten again, Fire went down as an odds-on pop, and boom colt Best Of Bordeaux was plain in his first-up run, but there might not have been a bigger bubble burst than Illation in the Memsie Stakes. The Mick Price & Michael Kent Jnr-trained four-year-old had some excuses from the wide gate, but he barely fired a shot, tailing off to finish last.

Jamie Kah said the horse made an abnormal breathing noise in the concluding stages of the race, but the post-race vet check didn’t find any abnormalities, so it’s hard to put a finger on what went wrong. Could it be that the horse just isn’t up to Group 1 weight-for-age races off the back of some Listed wins in South Australia. If so, consider us shocked…

SNAPDANCER leads throughout to win the G1 Memsie Stakes! @cmaherracing @Brown_ethan8 pic.twitter.com/vYxyANjFee

— Racing.com (@Racing) August 27, 2022

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About Punt Drunk

Welcome to Punt Drunk – our daily column covering all the latest horse racing and punting controversies, dramas and headline news. Have a story or gripe or issue that just grinds your gears? Just hit us up in the comments or contact us page and our jaded, punt hardened Punt Drunk staff will give it the Punt Drunk treatment it deserves. Don’t expect pleasantries or typical racing media fanboy gloss from Punt Drunk – we’re on the punt and we don’t have time to bullshit; the next is about to jump…

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