WEDNESDAY racing in SYDNEY has become a BASKET CASE – an absolute embarrassment and a national joke.
Take yesterday for example when doing the form was a mission impossible and once again James McDonald got beaten as a $1.25 favorite in the JOCKEYS’ CHALLENGE.
Most Wednesday’s without horses from the powerful Chris Waller stable the main midweek meeting in Sydney would struggle to program a seven-race card.
Heavily-backed favorites continue to be beaten, questions are asked but little is done about it and some of the rides of so-called top jockeys beggar belief.
Yesterday the Quadrella at Canterbury paid what many believe to be a record for a Midweek meeting – over $114,000 in NSW and $125,000 in Victoria. IN Queensland it paid only $57,000 which shows how bad the turnover is in that State.
The winners were: OVERTOOK $26, UNSTOPPABLE $6.50, DOWON $21 & FEDERAL RESERVE $21. Favorites beaten in the four legs included: OAKFIELD NEPTUNE $3.8 (beat two home), CAPTURE ME $2.35 (beat three home), INIOUE $2.6 (ran 4th) & BARKING MAD $2 (ran 3rd). Not one of them rated a mention in the Stewards’ Report.
Stewards’ reported:
OAKFIELD NEPTUNE: Began only fairly. Passing the 1000m was inconvenienced when
taken in by Tigroni. James McDonald reported that as notified to Stewards, the intention had been to settle further forward, ideally behind the leaders. He said that after obtaining a position behind the leader Tigroni in the early stages, Oakfield Neptune was taken back when Jenni The Jet was able to cross Tigroni and assume the lead near the 800m. He added that Oakfield Neptune was under pressure rounding the home turn and only finished the race off fairly. A post-race veterinary examination of Oakfield Neptune did not reveal any abnormalities.
CAPTURE ME: Chad Schofield reported that due to the moderate tempo, Capture Me
raced keenly through the early and middle stages. He said that Capture Me failed to
finish off in the home straight as expected. A post-race veterinary examination did not reveal any abnormalities.
Here’s the last start performances of the Quaddy winners and it’s not difficult to understand how punters largely ignored the foursome as likely winners:
OVERTOOK actually rose in class after finishing 9th over the same track & distance.
UNSTOPPABLE might have been a $6.50 chance but even Waller stable foreman ‘Sir Charles’ Duckworth joked with the SKY host after the win that it was ‘his 17th run from a spell’. The horse hadn’t won for 591 days and has been up for what seems like an eternity.
DOWON had been placed at two of five starts since a spell in much weaker company and had not won for 410 days.
FEDERAL RESERVE needed the trip after a 1st-up 4th in weaker company at Wyong so some might say was ‘overs’.
NOT one favorite won on the seven-race card. The shortest was CHEVAL DE BOIS at $1.5 which led and ran third.
WALLER had three beaten favorites – his only winner on the day was the enigmatic UNSTOPPABLE at $6.5. Jmac was $1.25 to win the Jockeys’ Challenge and didn’t ride a winner but was still a hope until beaten into third place on the heavily-backed Bucking Mad $2 in the last. Combined their losses would have poured hundreds of thousands of punter’s dollars into the pockets of bookies.
YOU won’t read this type of report in the mainstream Sydney racing media or hear about it on SKY. These protectors of the interests of the punting public, which keeps racing going, are too busy ‘spin doctoring’ the main events of Sydney racing, like The Everest, ensuring they don’t up set the Racing God PVL and enjoying the rewards of doing their jobs by holding down second job on radio or TV.
And as for the SKY commentators at the Canterbury midweek meeting who steered clear of any controversial comments about the beaten favorites or form reversals, Elly Moseley was more content at the end of the day discussing an upcoming junket to the Birdsville Cup meeting with one of her colleagues.
