Synthetic the way to stay on track
Our racing reporters revisit the main talking points from a the weekends racing on both sides of the Tasman.
One: What plans are in place for a synthetic track? Two more thoroughbred meetings in the North Island had to be abandoned over the weekend because of tracks being unable to cope with deluges of heavy rain. Thankfully Rotorua’s premier meeting and Waipa have been rescheduled but with one on a Monday and the other on a Sunday, turnover will be down, preparations will be affected and trainers, owners as well as the two clubs will be out of pocket. It’s hardly a secret that extreme weather events are becoming more common so that means abandonments will be too. Nobody expects a synthetic track to miraculously pop up next week but given one is so badly needed surely there should be constant updates to stakeholders of what is being worked on and welcoming feedback and funding ideas. Obviously finding the funding will be difficult but nothing good comes easy and a much needed synthetic track is no exception.
Two: New Zealand threeyear-olds way too good The Group III Rough Habit Plate win of Shocking Luck at Doomben on Saturday continues an outstanding series of results in major Australian three-year-old features for New Zealand-breds, following the Group I victories by Karaka graduates Gingernuts, Jon Snow and Bonneval. Throw in the win of Pentire’s son Volatile Mix in Saturday’s A$600,000 Group I South Australian Derby (2500m) at Morphettville and the power of Kiwi sires is obvious. Shocking Luck has now had seven starts for two wins and two placings, earning more than $110,000 in prize money while Volatile Mix has now had nine starts for three wins, two placings and more than A$400,000 in prize-money. Shocking Luck was bred by Whangarei’s Terry Archer and Grant Currie, and it was Archer who bought Shamardal Luck at Karaka in 2010 with Shocking Luck her first foal. A homebred for Australian owners Graham and Linda Huddy, Volatile Mix has a pedigree chockfull of staying blood. He is trained by Darren Weir who famously won the Melbourne Cup with another son of Pentire - Prince Of Penzance.
Three: Holly heads big day for apprentice jockeys Winter’s heavy tracks give apprentice jockeys the chance to make good use of their weight claims. Saturday at New Plymouth was an example with apprentices winning seven of the nine races. Alfred Chan, Rebecca Goldsbury and Holly Andrew scored doubles. Andrew had an amazing day winning the opening race on the Tony Bambry-trained Allure and had hopes of book-ending the programme on Sakura. By the middle stages of the final event, her thoughts were on getting through the race safely. The jockey who survived horrendous injuries in a car accident four years ago and then suffered a shoulder fracture and concussion in a race fall last November was faced with a difficult predicament, a slipped saddle. She had to let Sakura move around runners and hope for the best, concentrating on staying on the horse’s back but still thinking she should take her chance. By the home turn when Sakura was in a challenging position, Andrew decided to give it her best and her resilience paid off with a remarkable victory.
Four: Victorian stakes increase could impact NZ spring Racing Victoria has announced a $15.5 million increase in prize money for the 2017-18 season with a total of $214 million on offer. Prize money levels at Saturday city meetings along with country fixtures have received a boost as have some feature Group I races. The first Group I race of the season which coincides with the start of the Melbourne spring carnival, the Memsie Stakes at Caulfield on September 2, will be worth $1 million, up from $500,000 in 2016. Other enhancements include an extra $250,000 for the Makybe Diva Stakes to $750,000, the same rise for the Underwood Stakes while the Caulfield Stakes has had a $400,000 increase to $1 million. Three-yearolds have also been catered for with the Caulfield Guineas doubling in prize money from $1 million to $2 million, the Coolmore Stakes doubling to $1 million and the Australian Guineas receiving an extra $250,000 to $1 million. Minimum prize money for threeyear-old races at a Saturday meeting will increase to $120,000, the same level as a Listed race, as it will be for races over 2000m or further. When it’s considered that spring racing features in New Zealand carry considerably less prize money it begs the question how many more Kiwi trainers will choose to head to Victoria with their top gallopers.
Five: Another All Star day coming up Harness racing’s big day of nine Group I races looks to be all about one stable again in 2017. The All Stars stable of Mark Purdon and Natalie Rasmussen has won ten of the last 18 races at the annual Harness Jewels. That means for the last two editions of the Jewels, every other trainer in the country has been fighting over just four races. This year they could be scraping for just three races. The power stable holds favouritism in all six of the pacing markets and in all six events have stablemates that will be close to second favouritism. Purdon and Rasmussen will contest one of the trotting events but they aren’t expected to test the Greg and Nina Hope trained Enghien in the threeyear-old Ruby.