Zzzzzzzzzzzz....Trainer At Work

The Paddock Stakes. The hundreth and umpteenth example of poor planning and strategising by the training fraternity.

Firstly - They all went into hiding at the sound of the name IGUGU. Clearly they had never heard the words : INJURY, ILLNESS, SCRATCHING, ACCIDENT, SLOW AWAY, SADDLE SLIP etc. Nor do they appear to understand the term : PLACE CHEQUE. Perhaps that's because the basic training fees are a little too comfortable?

Secondly - They have all forgotten ( again! ) about the notorious Cape Crawl. Or naively believe that it will never happen to them.

Thirdly -The failure to enter a pacemaker by those trainers whose runners did or might have required them is criminal.

Result : A false result ( with respect and a nod to the winner ).

And for those planning to rebutt my comments : Terrance Millard almost always entered a rabbit when none was apparent in the balance of the field. By my guess he would have won a lot fewer Grade 1 events had he not done so.

Maybe a little less time on the golf course or slavishly following the vet around the yard is in order.

I can assure you that Thunder Dance would have appreciated a faster run race herself. Have a look at her three runs prior to today:
They all read ' handy,ran on '. This over a mile as well as 1400 and in good company. Always runs on stoutly and today wins over 1800m. Sign of a good horse that can race handy and still quicken up irrespective of the set fractions. She is worthy of her 100 plus rating ( interesting to see what she will get).My opinion, if they went quicker early on she would have won more comfortably. Only my opinion.

2oceansracing Wrote:

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> I can assure you that Thunder Dance would have
> appreciated a faster run race herself. Have a look
> at her three runs prior to today:
> They all read ' handy,ran on '. This over a mile
> as well as 1400 and in good company. Always runs
> on stoutly and today wins over 1800m. Sign of a
> good horse that can race handy and still quicken
> up irrespective of the set fractions. She is
> worthy of her 100 plus rating ( interesting to see
> what she will get).My opinion, if they went
> quicker early on she would have won more
> comfortably. Only my opinion.

I tend to agree with you and NOT only because i made some bucks.
I only had Emerald Cove as backup in exotics who I feel was worst affected by lack of pace

If the rules are like most other racing countries that allows trainers to accept on the week of the race we would not have had that farce

jockeys must take the bull by the horns , when there is no pace go out there and make it yourself !

The pace was undoubtedly farcical, but a false result? That is very much a matter of opinion. Thunder Dance finished almost exactly the same distance in front of Super Elegant as she had in both the Choice Fillies Championship and again in the Avontuur Fillies Guineas. Beach Beauty was weighted to reverse the Victress form with Super Elegant, and did.

I agree whole-heartedly that that was not a satisfactory way to run a Gr 1. The expected presence of Igugu obviously scared some would-be runners away, but trainers may also have been aware that running a place behind Igugu could earn a horse a considerable penalty, The problem is also that we do final acceptances for big races far too early in South Africa. What is the point of doing final fields for the Queen's Plate and Paddock Stakes four days before final fields for the rest of the card? Soodum is absolutely right. I don't think there is any other place on earth where final fields close more than a week before the race, and a completely absurd two-and-a-half-weeks before the race in the case of the July. That's half a freaking month!

It may be of some help for the handful of punters who want to get on early with doubles etc,, but the ante-post market for races other than the July is not great anyway.

However, I do agree with Garrick that a true-run race would have been infinitely preferable to the Saturday afternoon walk in the park that we saw, no matter what the eventual result was.

Let me say well done to the winning connections and I have no idea what the result would have been in a true run race but I am sure the majority of racing folk felt the "bumper" style start put a damper on the result and did no good for the image of racing.
It might just give us some corrective action for the future starting with final acceptance timing.

M Clower


M Clower

Kenilworth: TBA Paddock Stakes (Grade 1) 1m 1f, turf, 3yo+ f/m

The poor pace was all against 17-20 shot Beach Beauty who threw away her chance by fighting for her head and 9-2 chance Thunder Dance (Brett Crawford/Karis Teetan) took full advantage to lead a furlong and a half out and beat the favourite by half a length.

Teetan, 21, riding his first Grade 1 winner,said: "It turned into a sprint and I knew I would hold on because this filly has a turn of foot."

Crawford, who also won this with Bad Girl Runs six years ago, added: "When Igugu came out I thought I had a big chance. If she runs again this summer it would be in the Klawervlei Majorca on J & B Met day (January 28) but I want to speak to the owners because a mile is not her best trip and I think she has done enough."

Last year's winner Emerald Cove came back with eight cuts on her back legs and this, according to trainer Snaith, was a direct result of the slow pace.

soodum Wrote:

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> If the rules are like most other racing countries
> that allows trainers to accept on the week of the
> race we would not have had that farce

Final declarations are always done less than a week before the meeting except for some of the Major races..which is in line with the rest of the world..The final decs for Queen's Plate , Paddock Stakes & Politician Stakes where only done on the 29th becoz of all the public holidays..

Where in the world are fields for any race done more than a week in advance, Titch? I could be wrong, but I can't think of any. Not even the Derby, Breeders Cup, Arc, Dubai World Cup, etc.

in titches world anything is possible

What i was trying to convey is that in the main we are in line with the rest of the world in that we do our final acceptances within a week of the race..(extract from pirates best seller "The world according to Titch")