Meeting Results Summary

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A disappointing result over at Flemington as we fail to see any return combined with some very strange runs and failures of jockeys to control their lane and make smart decisions around placement.

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Our late price didn’t give us the same benefit as our other bets today as #10 Diplomatic Measure largely maintained to come in at $8.00/$8.65 in R4 as we shot out early hugging the rail.

It wasn’t until a little later that we looked to be making moves as we came into 4th just in the 1000m mark with a tough placement at the 600m meaning we were heading quickly towards a critical issue around traffic and an inability to get back to the middle of the straight.

The attempt to cross came too late to fill the hole at the 400m as #4 Reserve Street denied the effort, with a wall of 6 runners pushed up against the rail meaning it was all but game over for #10 Diplomatic Measure as #9 Sikorsky took full advantage of the slow down to come through the outside.

With an official margin of 5.75L, you’d be quick to assume the run wasn’t that great, but outside of a silly decision from German to try to get the 2nd based with the rail it wasn’t a terrible performance; just given zero chance to get out, and then pulled back completely when it was obvious that there was no getting through.

Although #9 Sikorsky got it, the opposite could be said here – the run was average at best, but the wall of runners tripping over themselves in the late half of the run meant there was a wide open gap up the middle as Miss Eaton very nearly gets a hoof to the face at the 260m.

The sourest grapes would be those coming from #1 Black Sail and #8 Main Stage who gave up their early efforts by joining in the scrum.

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Speaking of sour grapes, it was R6 which was the weirdest race for us today as we got out well in #7 Too Close The Sun with a late $7.00/$7.82 looking very mint against the $5.00 mark we were hovering at earlier.

Getting out early we managed a very sturdy lead through the first turn with #10 Sopressa and #6 Norway leading close behind.

Hitting the 1200m and it’s still looking solid as we show only a small sign of the effort of leading the entire pack, as #10 Sopressa stops the head bob and begins to put in her own bit of pressure with #12 Oceanex settling into 3rd with a couple of lengths of margin to work with.

We get to 900m and #1 Runaway goes for a risky sandwich as #12 Oceanex lets the traffic play to her advantage with the pressure really coming in at 600m as the pack condenses in the middle to give us some breathing room.

But it’s the 300m where it’s as if they let the clutch out and the speed drops out completely as both pack leaders fall back completely and #12 Oceanex pushes the clear field to gain the lead.

We’re a bit salty about this one, with the official margin clocking in at a ridiculous 23.85L with #10 Sopressa looking dodgy at 58.85L.

We’re not sure what happened here but it’s some very funny business to see nothing in the horse that looks set to communicate an issue so we’ll be following this one up to see what the official query ends up being – no doubt there will be some questions upon review.

For us, it’s an incredibly frustrating result as we sat very comfortably through the majority of the race and to see nothing to suggest an injury (as well as being vet cleared) is some salty lemon to suck on.

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As if R7 wasn’t enough of an upset, our runner #11 Schabau came in well at $7.00/$7.41 and put up a massive fight to trade down to as short $2.04 in-play (against our rated price of $2.99) before #13 Chapada came in to $1.63 and then both runners were taken down by a jump from #5 Super Titus at a margin of 0.10L.

We managed a decent run early with a hug on the rail to sit 3rd at the 1500m with very little margin between us and the leaders as crowd favourite #4 Rupture leads early at $1.90.

There’s not much in it as we come to the 700m with the pack compressing against us as Bates attempts to split through the hole – without much success – between #4 Rupture and #2 Kentucky Breeze.

#4 Rupture starts to show signs of the stitch as the traffic in front of us doesn’t give us much to work with as our 2nd attempt to get out from the fence comes just in the 300m, but it’s the speed from the middle of the field which has us slip back in the margin as the roughies get the best position and go at it.

With nothing left to grab, the speed comes down and we slip back to finish 3.50L behind.

This is another case of a terrible decision to get into the rail. Whilst it’s great for the early run, hoping to sit behind the favourite is probably the worst decision you could take, and failure to fix this critical position earlier is really what led to #11 Schabau having zero chance to get away and out to a clear run.

Surprisingly, #4 Rupture gave very little reason to support the short price, finishing an extra 2 lengths behind us as the 6 year old failed to fire.

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Over-all, it’s a disappointing set of runs at Flemington with all 3 bets being let down in the late run.

Obviously the most frustrating trend today being a rail hug which turns into a wall of runners that keep us down in the dirt and unable to fully turn on the boosters. Jockeys should really be paying attention to the lane trends and it’s pretty obvious to anyone with a pair of eyes that the best dirt was to be found late up the middle.

#7 Too Close the Sun the obvious special mention with a horrendous final result still pending investigation into the “why”, so we suggest keeping the ear to the ground as we will no doubt have further explanation come through shortly as there will be plenty of punters wondering the same thing.