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Caulfield Thoroughbred Cup Day

April 30th, 2016 2 comments

Do you think the world is heating up? Here we are on the last day of April and Caulfield is a balmy 24 with a blustery northerly. Zandarral is in a muck lather. I rarely see this, even in the height of summer.

My views on sweating are quite well-known and normally sweating up is not a problem if the ambient temperature is greater than 20 degrees. But there are exceptions, especially if the horse shows other signs of anxiety or fear. Zandarral had the nose roll, which rules him out straight away in my book, but also had his head up and was changing stride, forcing the strapper to use two hands. And I noticed the horse dumping and head-shaking. A pretty obvious lay. It was showing $1.50 the place on the tote which raised my heartbeat, but on firing up Betfair it was $2.78 the lay! Way above my $1.80 limit. Too bad! Everyone has seen him! The horse faded in the straight to finish eighth. And yes, I do think the world is warming.

 

2 Responses to “ Caulfield Thoroughbred Cup Day ”

  1. Greg rae says:

    Hi , what are your thoughts on horses that are on there ‘toes ‘ in the parade ring. I’ve heard it’s good but the horses I’ve seen I have my doubts . Regards Greg

  2. Geoffrey says:

    Hi Greg,
    There is a discussion of this in the first book. I have no variable for a horse “on its toes” but I do have a variable for a horse that is “changing gait” from a walk to a jog (trot) and back to a walk. If the horse has its head up as well I would cross it out straight away. Head-up, changing gait. Essentially, a fractious horse. If a horse is trotting with a very high action I would score it as “prancing”. This is probably what most punters regard as a horse that is on its toes. If the neck is arched as well and the head is under control it could be a good bet, if there were no other faults.

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