The first Group 1 of the season and the punters have emerged from the woodwork. There is a gale force south-easterly blowing and playing havoc with the temperament of horses and watchers alike. The sky is hazy and the wind carries the whiff of smoke from the East Gippsland fire grounds. The wind is so strong that I need one hand to hold onto the brim of my hat in addition to its usual anchor rope. That leaves one hand to hold the race book and no hands to hold the biro!
The good horses are starting to appear now. In the Orr I liked Scales Of Justice who was asleep in his stall. The blue army’s Avilius had no faults and the three-year-old Alabama Express looked striking. Hey Doc looked like a big strong horse, but eventually I crossed him out for being too big and strong and requiring the strapper to use two hands. Mirage Dancer was the obvious lay bouncing his fifth leg off his belly. Clearly his mind wasn’t on the job at hand. In the end it was too hard so I didn’t bet. The three-year-old colt blitzed them with the lay Mirage Dancer tailed off last. Fierce Impact and Kings Will Dream finished second and third and had no faults.
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- Alabama Express
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- Fierce Impact
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- Kings Will Dream
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- Scales Of Justice
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- Avilius
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- Mirage Dancer
I lost on the day with two fourths, Riverina Storm in the two-year-old fillies, and Mamzelle Tess in the mares. But I left the track in an agreeable state of mind. One punter thought that I looked like a Greek philosopher. Aristotle, he decided. I like that. The Aristotle of horsewatchers!
Geoffrey,
I would imagine these high class weight for age races consisting of older horses (apart from the one three year old) are not the easiest for finding a standout in a field of this size.
To have reached this level you would probably expect a horse (particularly geldings) to exhibit reasonably good behaviours most of the time, although as you pointed out there can be exceptions – Mirage Dancer, despite reaching the ripe old age of six, is still an entire.
I see you weren’t put off by Fierce Impact wearing blinkers (he won his previous two races with them on).
Yes, WFA races can be hard because they are all high class horses with a good attitude. And yes, I am prepared to forgive a horse’s gear if it has won with it previously.