Melton 30/1 Victoria Cup

JayJay · January 2016

Huge program at Melton with the Cup, Victoria Derby, Trotters Championship etc. Did a double take when looking at the form in Fridays West....Smolda drawn 4 and quoted at $51???? Someone has screwed up. Great Cup field with Lenny, Flaming Flutter (from 1, an excellent place chance after winning the SA Cup), Smolda etc....My Hard Copy got the vistors draw of the extreme outside....not as big an issue as it would be for some horses but will be interesting to see how he goes.....Smolda, especially at $51 hahaha for me. Sprinter also drawn awkward in 7...will need as good a drive as his heat win to figure, especially up against Lazarus and Don't Hold Back. And then you have the mighty Monbet in the Trotters of 20m. I like Nike Franco to beat Yankee Rockstar in the first. Should be great racing.

Ridersonthestorm33 · January 2016

A silly roughie for the place in the Victoria Cup #8 Hotasel... was hitting the line ok last run...inside of the back row a chance of a place and if getting 3 back the pegs should run on well @33/1. Wouldn't right off My Hard Copy running into the money, they may go a bit hard up front and if they do is a big each way chance. Got a feeling this maybe a pressure race which will bring him right in to calculations.

Ridersonthestorm33 · January 2016

Bling It On is another chance off the back row , if the pressure is on along way from home will be thundering home. Outside of the 2 faves , like My Hard Copy , Bling It On and Hotasel the best 'smokey'.

worstpunteronearth · January 2016

Can't see delightful Lana not leading and from that scenario should be winning. $3 a touch of overs. Might be a pegs beats peg scenario with the 1 and 8 the main dangers

worstpunteronearth · January 2016

Other bets tonight.

My Valerie
Power Of Red (place)
Ohoka Punter
Lenny The Shark
Endsino.

Best bet : Power Of Red (place)

Also take it to run second to Lazarus ...

Endsino at $2.80 is a steal. Just wins.

Good luck punters

lame · January 2016

johny rock

worstpunteronearth · January 2016

Didn't expect Craven to lead and drifted off the track a bit and made a good thing of four needed. $3.8 into $2.30 delightful Lana and it was tear up your tickets once it was held out.

worstpunteronearth · January 2016

Cruz Bromac will be anything in 12 months what a battle down the straight at menangle

worstpunteronearth · January 2016

Cockburn pulls they're pants down at Albion as McMullen puts in a shocker on the endeavour. If he wasn't hanging in I'm not sure what the explanation would be because he had a lot of horse.

worstpunteronearth · January 2016

Not a good day so far.

Standing Ohoka Punter out with Savesometimetodream & five star anvil for second in trifecta's & first four's

worstpunteronearth · January 2016

Lively hero please kick up behind the hot pot!

worstpunteronearth · January 2016

Dear oh dear almost gallops off the arm

worstpunteronearth · January 2016

Danielle Hill going for 4 in a row at globe derby and I'm loading up on Bianca Tang

worstpunteronearth · January 2016

Monifieth was huge in defeat. No luck and flooded home behind the champ Beautide.

worstpunteronearth · January 2016

DESTREOS!

Offthebit · January 2016

Another snore fest at Melton in the Victoria cup. Why the hell is it a 2200m race? If a good horse finds the front over that distance, the race is all over. Most owners, trainers and drivers would not agree with this but the race should be over 2700m and be a pref draw. Punters and harness fans would love it. Imagine if smolda was drawn 12 and Lenny 13. It would have been a great betting race with divided opinions. FFS victoria is there any chance you can put on a group 1 race that is actually a "contest" rather than a snore fest.

JayJay · January 2016

Often, a potentially big night fails to deliver.....not the case at Melton tonight. Yankee Rockstar was super impressive, Lazarus was ...well....Lazarus, great type, the Cup was a show of toughness and Smolda had every chance but you have to give it to Lenny and Alford, he is a lot tougher than I gave him credit for, a very worthy Grand Circuit champ, cant accuse him of not trying, fantastic horse and Monbet, well say no more. Was a pleasure to watch such great racing.

Ridersonthestorm33 · January 2016

Can see the benefits of preferential barrier draws for sure. Also the argument against it too. But a preferential draw sure would make it more of a contest and bring some of the horses that don't have a hope once they draw badly against the quality of Lenny and Smolda types.

JayJay · January 2016

Distance? Yes, I agree with you that 2200m is too short but the Grand Circuit Races being PBD, no way ....these are races for the best and should be RBD. Can you imaging a PBD in the Melbourne Cup of the Cox Plate?. Minor races, yes, I can see the logic of PBD but to penalise the champs because they are good, I can't agree with that. I didn't think it was snooze fest at all but that's just my opinion. I was on Smolda and hoping like hell he could get there but he didn't, that's okay, thought it was a great contest between the best two horses in the race..

Offthebit · January 2016

The 3rd set of heats in the perth inters were brilliant contests. They were pref draws, just sayin...............

Offthebit · January 2016

Technically the greatest race this nation has is a "pref draw" The Melbourne cup is a handicap. To make the Victoria cup a pref draw would essentially "handicap" the best horses and give the punter a contest, just like the Melbourne cup does.

Ridersonthestorm33 · January 2016

That's the good argument that the pacers don't have to carry weight like the thoroughbreds so a preferential draw would bring the handicap into play. Can see the merits. Am not convinced but it sure would help to even things up a little. The point against is why penalise the best. Tricky one. :-?

JayJay · January 2016

Yep, Offthebit, I understand your view. Melbourne Cup was a bad example from me....I don't think it is such a "great race"...a great, traditional event but not a great race. The Cox plate in my view is the championship race in Australia at WFA and a RBD. PBD's have their place but in my view, not in Grand Circuit or Classics such as Derby's etc.Let the champs race and not be shackled in the great races.but certainly, I see your point.

worstpunteronearth · January 2016

Great night.

Beautide
Lenny vs Smolda
Cruz Bromac vs hand of faith
Lazarus
Monbet

And the old boy Destreos death seating.

What more could you ask from a night of harness

Markovina · January 2016

Ive got to say i thought the main race at Melton was a borefest like alot of New Zealand and Eastern States harness racing - all courtesy of a sprint lane . Like alot of races - everyone goes to sleep - they ought to actually ring the bell at the top of the straight to wake everyone up and watch Smolda and Lenny have a race up the sprint lane - Danny Malecki was spot on - its pegs pegs pegs again after one of the races

The driver of Smolda made no effort at all to keep the lead - in the straight i was hoping like hell that 3rd horse ( who was a great run ) would beat both of them

To me New Zealand harness racing is uncompetitive boring rubbish - and Victoria isnt far behind it - and the proof in the pudding is in the eating - i watched a NZ race a couple of months ago - Dexter Dunn ( a top driver ) was driving and im not suggesting anything untoward - but it was a 5 horse field - there was three 7 to 4 equal favourites and the other 2 were 100 to 1 . Guess what happened - the 1st 7 to 4 equal fav led - who handed up to the 2nd 7 to 4 equal fav - who in turn handed up to the 3rd 7 to 4 equal fav - what a joke - uncompetitive boring rubbish

Chariotsonfire · January 2016

Offthebit said:
Another snore fest at Melton in the Victoria cup. Why the hell is it a 2200m race? If a good horse finds the front over that distance, the race is all over. Most owners, trainers and drivers would not agree with this but the race should be over 2700m and be a pref draw. Punters and harness fans would love it. Imagine if smolda was drawn 12 and Lenny 13. It would have been a great betting race with divided opinions. FFS victoria is there any chance you can put on a group 1 race that is actually a "contest" rather than a snore fest.

Can see your point but unfortunately those entrenched in the industry will not.

Harness racing participants hate change in way shape or form even if it may be for the betterment of the industry long term.

Melbourne and Caulfield Cups are handicaps and even Weight For Age races have allowances for sex and age.

I would think most harness handicappers around Australia would embrace PBDs for every race but the majority of participants would have a coronary even though the majority would benefit long term.

G-Mac · January 2016

Amazing how far Lenny has come in 8-9 months.

The ID final on 1 March 2015, Lenny trailed the leader throughout. Beautide worked to the breeze and sat there for a lap. In the straight Beautide accelerates, Lenny gets clear and watches Beautide get smaller as he pulls further in front. If you had that race again today it would be a hell of a finish. In some part it is the horse reaching his potential. A large part is David Aitken's polish. He's always been a talented individual, now he is tough as old boots too.

As for the Vic Cup. I think it is at least a half a lap too short.

And as for the racing on the night. 10 races: 5 winners were leading at the bell, 2 were outside leader at bell, 1 was leaders back at bell. Only Yankee Rockstar came from well back (1x4 at bell) to win. The other was Monbet (freak) who was 3 wide without cover at the bell. I think the stats speak volumes.

JayJay · January 2016

Is it a symptom of the modern society that flash/bang/lights/action/excitement plus/events extra ordinary must occur before a race is considered a worthy race??? Is it not okay for the best horse to lead and win or work to the breeze and win? Who decreed it is not a proper race unless something charges from the back 5 wide and wins by 20m? Just asking. I mean Yankee and Monbet from the back, yes, very exciting but Lazarus and Lenny excite me because they are really good horses driven really well to win. Yes, there is a bad leaders bias at GP, so we go to Melton and that's a bigger track and I don't know enough of the stats to say but is it leaders bias again, so then to the huge Menangle and same story, leaders bias? Solutions? PBD? Make it mandatory for every driver to have a crack for the lead prior to the bell....obviously that's not being serious but I am just saying I reckon a well rated lead drive by the best horse isn't in my view auto snooze fest.

LooksLikeTrouble · February 2016

just watched the hunter cup I actually thought ss meant standing start not walk up start wtf

VillageKid · February 2016

If only MHC had of got a clear run a touch earlier. :((

Chariotsonfire · February 2016

Will have to check the replay but as it turned out he may have been better off sweating on a pegs run.

Still a very good performance given the track record and class of opposition.

G'day Punter!

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