The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, Ascot April 18

The Western Watchdog | Metropolitan Racing | Mon 20 April, 2015

The Good

Renewed Zest for Racing - Great to see old warriors win, and always a testament to good trainers and patient owners, but as a side note I'll have another whinge. He'd already earnt over $300k, he shouldn't be able to hack around until he drops enough points to win again (he was a 95 at one stage and won this as an 85, as well as claiming.) I don't think this helps encourage new owners, or encourages people to buy new horses. They should consider caps for the ratings system. My guess is one cap at 70 and another at 90, once you hit that mark you can't drop below again. Anyone else got any ideas?

Westspeed - Doesn't really need to be stated how beneficial this can be, even if your horse is limited it can be the difference between breaking even and buying another one.

Shiedel - Another solid performance by leading, stacking them up and sprinting away. I'd like to actually see her in a 'race' before I proclaim her greatness though.

The Bad

2yo's - I'm the first to crow about the high quality of our 3yo bunch this season (and they weren't very promising as a 2yo bunch). If the current 2yo's didn't include Lucky Street (and a tip of the cap to Showy Chloe), I'd suggest this current crop is a very average one. Maybe (hopefully) they are all a bunch of late maturers and we'll see much better when they return as 3yos. Let's hope so.

The Ugly

Bombs Away - Bomber Bay has huge upside, but was impossible 30m after the start. I'm sure the best is yet to come for this steed.

Magnifisi-no-show - I'm deliberately being harsh here, this mare always improves from racing and work so I'd be expecting a large improvement next start.

Take it on the Chinetti - Like a long suffering housewife who stuck with her man, I gave this steed one more chance to deliver on the grounds of the easy lead I had him getting. I figured, worst case scenario, I'd get a good sight for my money coming around the home corner on a leaderish track. As the gates opened this horse magically grew a middle finger and gesticulated in my direction. This classy animal obviously has problems, the best of him would've won that race comfortably.

Stable Riding Gone Wrong - Durrant had three runners in race 6. They settled third last, second last and last. They stayed there. I thought they had 1400m Lark Hill trials for that? To be fair, this positioning was only really uncharacteristic for My Bonny Lad.

Stable Riding Gone Right - She could not have held Benito any slower to ensure the fave had an unchallenged lead, and also gave Marchand a nice hip and shoulder and kept it 3WNC. Plenty knew it wasn't leading if the $19 Betfair price is any guide.
 

2 Comments | 1 decade ago