On The Money - Last Day of the Season

Matt Rigby | On The Money | Mon 1 August, 2011

The Bolter:

Russell Road left bookies on a winning note in the last, coming from nowhere to save them a decent payout on the well supported Rocking The Blues. Russell Road eased from $17 to $26 on course while Rocking The Blues was specked from $26 to $17. Russell Road has of course saved bookies before, nailing the heavily backed Carooned in the midweeks back in June when starting at $17.

The Plunge:

Trustee Brown has certainly found some of his early three year old form but from the wide barrier and with the big weight, looked to have his work cut out on Saturday, at least on paper. The stable knew different though, as Trustee Brown was smashed from $7.50 to $5.50 in the most confident move of the day. He came from the back and covered them easily, giving the bookies no hope from about the 200m mark.

Wide of the Mark:

Kelia was backed with confidence from $6 to $4.60 in the last. Once again, despite the wide barrier, punters backed him without any fear. Once backed so heavily, it was evident he would get an easy lead and that he did, but still wasnt good enough to hold out the three placegetters.

The Good Thing:

Its seems everyone was crowing the chances of New Image and it was surprising that $3.50 was bet in pre-post markets. On the day, she got no further than $2.70 and was solidly backed into $2.45 on course. As per usual, at times she looked out of her ground, but like a very smart horse, she picked up Timely Queen and won with ease. She is a very smart mare and we may be lucky to see odds in the black about her again.

Where There's Smoke:

Nomad was specked from $19 to $15 and ran second to Trustee Brown in the sixth. Before failing last start, he ran a close up second after sitting deep the entire trip behind Starlight Lady. One would think with the support on the weekend, Simon Miller just about has this Danetime gelding at his peak.

Unwanted:

Go Jorj eased throughout betting from $4 to $5 and was very hard to lay. He sat third the fence and went backwards from the turn. Likewise Gracetown wobbled from $7 to $9.50 in the third but won convincingly despite the drift, a welcome relief for bookies after the first two results.

As Cold As Ice:

Black Felix has put in two less than characteristic runs since resuming for Stephen Miller this campaign. They crunched him first up to beat New Image and he let his followers down badly. There was money for him again on Saturday ($7 to $5.50) and he left the money with the bagmen once again.