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.