Fillies With The X Factor

It is early in the season but do not be surprised if the outcome of the clash between unbeaten two-year-olds Ruud Awakening and Bounding at Pukekohe this Saturday reflects divisional honours come August next year.

While they may only have had an accumulative three raceday starts, both fillies have displayed a rare ability to work at both ends of a race and still hit the line strongly.

Ruud Awakening won easily on debut at Avondale, leading all the way. She was equally as impressive at her next start in the Listed Wellesley Stakes at Trentham, taking a sit before accelerating away at the 200m to beat the well regarded fillies Dancers Tale and Princess Sophie . That form has been franked with Almanza, beaten over six lengths at Avondale, coming out and winning his next start at Te Rapa, while Dancers Tale won the Listed Welcome Stakes at Riccarton last Saturday.

A $90,000 purchase from the 2012 Karaka Premier Sale by syndicator Albert Boersma for his Go Racing partnerships, Rudd Awakening is a natural two-year-old type, not big and only lightly framed but well balanced and athletic. Her sire, the shuttler Bernardini, has had an exceptional start to his stallion career in the NH and while his impact downunder has been considerably more subdued, he has some promising types, particularly the Snowden pair of Meidung and Solemn.

The distaff of Ruud Awakening, American in origin but with recent roots in Australia, has a distinct affiliation with speed. Dawn Almighty, the dam of Ruud Awakening, is a Danehill full sister to the dam of the dual group winning sprinter Ruud Vann Slaats- she recently delivered her first foal, a colt by Rip Van Winkle.

Bounding debuted at Ellerslie on 27 October in a race that should shape as a very strong form reference. The 880m event featured the debut of the much hyped Catalonia, and it says a lot for the reputation and trackwork of the Ken Kelso trained filly that she closed a $3.60 second favourite to the even money quote for the Te Akau runner.

The Lohnro filly crossed quickly from her wide draw to sit outside the pacemaking Catalonia before popping the question to the Commands colt at the 300m. She drew clear of the favourite, beating him easing up by two lengths, with, significantly, three and a quarter lengths to third.. While the field contained mostly debutantes, it's strength should not be underestimated with seven of the nine starters having won at the trials.

It is not hard to see why owner Gary Harding had to part with AUS $425,000 for Bounding at the Sydney Easter Yearling Sale. Pierro, by Lohnro had won the Golden Slipper two days before the Sale started and she was the first foal of a juvenile stakeswinning Exceed And Excel mare who in turn is from an American family rich in black-type. As a type she is not too dissimilar to her arch rival on Saturday, possibly just a trifle taller and with a deeper girth.

The female family of Bounding is on the move. Kuroshio, a full brother to Bounding's dam Believe N Succeed, won the Listed Maribynong Trial Stakes at Caulfield last month.

The Danny Green versus Shane Cameron boxing fight has dominated the sporting headlines this week, but unlike that stoush, do not expect these fillies to lie all over each other and only come alive in the closing stages. Saturday's Murdoch Newell Stakes will be a great contest, and while it maynot be a knockout victory, the split points victory to Bounding I'm predicting will be better value than $39.95.

Cup Goes to Best Sprinter

Although the Cup continues to build momentum largely around a growing international audience, it has been slightly tared as a competitive contest in recent years by a brush of rather lenient handicapping, poorly thought out qualification races and some suspect track irrigation practices.

Therefore when one of the strongest fields in Cup history faced the starter this year, hopes were high for a contest befitting some of the classic staying contests seen in the races iconic 152 year history. Sadly a farcical race tempo rather spoiled this years event as a contest, although many Australians at least will have been buoyed that the winner Green Moon was locally trained.

Green Moon won this year's Cup in 3.20.45, well outside the race record of 3.16.30 set by Kingston Rose in 1990 on a similarly fast track - this year's track which started the day a Dead 4 but was upgraded after race 2, saw a number of fast times recorded in the supporting races.

From seventh on the turn the Cup winner ran home in 33.6/22.6 and 11.66 with his last 1000 in 57.94.

Little wonder that those back of mid-field failed to play any part in the finish. The efforts of Jakkalberry and Mt Athos were outstanding. Jakkalberry closed off in 59.58, while Mt Athos, who received a check at the top of the straight and had a slightly more interrupted passage than the third place-getter, ran home in sectionals of 57.96/33.55 and 11.46.

If you ever doubted how difficult a race the Cup is to win then spare a thought for the English trainer Luca Cumani. His charge Purple Moon runs second to one of the best Cup winners in recent memory in Efficient; two years later in 2009 his next runner Bauer is beaten a nose, then he does a wonderful job of getting Mt Athos into this years contest with a winnable weight, only to strike interference during the running and a race pattern best suited to Lightning Stakes performers.

In all 21 of the 24 starters broke 1 minute for their last 1000m so any horse that made ground over the closing stages did very well.

Sure the Cup eve Yarra Valley wine tour played it's part in the authors demise but no amount of study would have unearthed this years Cup result.

Pussiance De Lune: Justified Hype

In a week littered with beaten short priced favourites and where the media focus had drifted to the sordid underbelly of the sport, it took until the second last race of the Carnival and a washy grey with little real physical presence and lead-in form of a win and a second placing in the country -the placing coming at the sleepy Victorian coastal hamlet of Warnambool - to ignite the 2012 Melbourne Cup Carnival.

Whichever way you look at it, Pussiance De Lune's win in the Group 3 2600m Queen Elizabeth Stakes was impressive.

Jockey Glen Boss must be seeing a cranial osteopath this week so prounced where the twists of his neck as he looked back on at least three separate occasions at the opposition over the last 300m. And while Boss can be prone to hyperbole, his statement that he felt like he was riding a Newmarket Handicap winner has validity when you consider PDL's sectionals; despite being eased up appreciably by Boss over the closing stages the four-year-old stallion ran his last 600m in 34.17 and his last 400m in 22.14.

Amidst all the media hype from the win, one journalist, arguably only doing his job properly, questioned PDL's form, including the strength of Saturday's field. He raised these points he said simply because he felt the level of improvement in PDL from his French form and since his arrival in Australia was too difficult to comprehend. Methinks it was more scare mungering in light of the current publicity around illegal performance enhancing practices in Australian racing.

A closer look at PDL's background reveals some insight into his improvement. Purchased for 100,000 guineas from a tried racehorse sale in France by Australian bloodstock agent Robert Roulston, who also bought Americain for PDL's owner Gerry Ryan, the story goes that despite a promising enough record - a win and a second from just three starts - his connections were less than enthusiastic about his young Mike Tyson like personality, so decided to quit him.

He was only a three-year-old when sold, so physically and mentally he was open to considerable improvement. Darren Weir his new trainer, has a very good reputation as a horseman, especially with stayers, and it is conceivable that Weir's satellite stable base at Warnambool, with its ready access to the beach has done wonders to help PDL's attitude towards life.

Almaraad, Kingston Rose, Jeune and more latterly Manighar are just some examples of stallions relocated to Australia from the northern hemisphere whose race performances improved out of sight under local conditions.

On paper the Queen Elizabeth form this year was strong. While it has been won by Might and Power and the incomparable Maykbe Diva - the year before her first Cup win - it tends to draw the second tier stayers as the Cup itself is run four days prior.

But most of the best second tier stayers lined up on Saturday. Last years winner the consistent Ironstein was back to defend his crown, while Folding Gear, Vatuvei and Shahwardi were all coming off stakes wining performances at the Spring Carnival, with the later considered unlucky by many good judges to have missed a start in the Cup.

On reflection it is conceivable that Shahwardi and Folding Gear did not run to their best form on Saturday but there is no hiding from PDL's sectionals. The days of Kotare Chief running hard from the jump seem a thing of the past. The key attributes for winning the big Cups now are an ability to relax on the speed and reel off Oakleigh Plate sectionals.

The way Glen Boss carried on post race gave one the feeling that PDL only has to turn-up to win next years Cup. Boss maybe racings equivalent of Graham Norton but as his assessment of Ocean Park proved, he knows the feel of a good horse.

Following last Tuesday's result Qantas were going to have to charter extra flights to Great Britain and France for all the Australian owners wanting to check out potential Cup contenders. PDL's performance on Saturday may mean they will have to build airports near Newmarket and Chantilly as well. What impact will this have on our sales at Karaka? A lot will depend on how greedy the British and French are I suspect.