Debut runners and big crowd don’t mix

Noise on a racecourse can be worrisome. It can lead to erratic behaviour.

We’re talking about for horses here, of course.

The noise at ground level coming from Ellerslie’s capacity crowd on Saturday was substantial. A King Country young horse who has seen only 20 humans in its life and was making its debut would probably have been in trouble.

Fortunately most horses these days are handled from day one and don’t scare as much.

But Ellerslie presents an unusual scenario. Horses who haven’t raced there previously turn into the home straight and a massive landscape of grandstands and people can spook them.

David Walsh has been around Ellerslie more than most and believes it is because the rise at the end of Ellerslie’s straight gives horses the impression there is no way out.

Two horses fell at Ellerslie on Saturday, but that had nothing to do with noise, both clipped heels. But debut runner Mongolian Falcon seemed to be sidetracked by the surrounding clamour in finishing a sound third in the juvenile event.

A visitor to Ellerslie on Saturday was former champion trainer Dave O’Sullivan. He prepared Shivaree to clash with an unbeatable champion in Dulcify in the 1979 Cox Plate.

“The Moonee Valley secretary at the time, Ian McEwen, advised me to bring Shivaree to Moonee Valley midweek because he said horses experiencing the amphitheatre that the track is for the first time can be put off their game.

“I told Ian it wasn’t possible because Shivaree was a delicate horse and wouldn’t have handled it. But then he didn’t handle the noise either.” Dulcify beat Shivaree by around nine lengths in that Cox Plate and Shivaree’s rider Roger Lang, also at Ellerslie on Saturday, said the wall of crowd noise when the pair turned into the home straight remains to this day the loudest he’s heard.

O’Sullivan: “I told everyone afterwards that Dulcify would never beat Shivaree by a wide margin again. A week later at Flemington in the Mackinnon Stakes, this time with no noise, Dulcify beat him by, I think, a neck.”

The atmosphere at Ellerslie on Saturday was stunning — Melbourne Cup-ish with a quarter of the crowd.

Another surprise visitor at Ellerslie was James McDonald. “I’ve taken a holiday from Sydney racing,” he said.

The track at Ellerslie was magnificent. The 19mm of rain Auckland copped on Christmas eve was so much better than irrigation.

Irrigation is random according to the wind and can set up raceday bias because the wind will drop it unevenly. Rain is even. Horses were comfortable racing on the evenness on Saturday and the fast times reflected that.