The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, Ascot March 21

Perth Turf Talk | Metropolitan Racing | Sun 22 March, 2015

The Good

No Caution Required - When ridden correctly, Proceedwithcaution has a lethal turn of foot. Saturday's conditions suited him down to the ground and he delivered.

Free Education - During race seven I'm pretty sure I saw The Pontiff explaining to Lucy Warwick some of the finer points of holding your position during a race. Lesson learnt.

Smokin Jo - Judged the tricky conditions better than most, and it showed in his results. Four rides for three wins and a second. Impressive.

Ask Me Nicely - Looks like he should be escorting younger horses to the barriers, but the old boy is flying, super in the Bunbury Cup and went very close again on Saturday.

The Bad

Without the Cream the Coffee Tastes Like...... - When you remove the best jockeys in the state, too many holes start appearing. Saturday we had no Pike, O'Donnell, B Parnham; and Paul Harvey only rode in two races. The thinning of riding quality meant gaps appeared everywhere in the straight and throughout races, it also ensured for muddling and alternating tempos, a form analyst's nightmare. A number of horses can be forgiven from Saturday due to being ridden by glorified track riders. On face value (and with the horses that actually won) most of the results appear normal, but on closer inspection you'll pick up many hidden gems for next start if you watch your replays.

The Ugly

Race Four - Great to see an old warrior get another win, but I'd be very cautious in any evaluaton of that race. It was a farce. Tiger Pete was the horse in the right spot, three wide with cover, where exposed horses battled to show any sprint all day long, and they went too slow for anything else to make up ground. They covered the first 600m in 37.3 seconds, and these slow tempo races continued for the rest of the day. That is until the last race which seemed a ridiculously fast tempo (and having only one horse breaking 37 secs for the last 600m confirmed that).

Pinjarra - Full brother to Gloucester Park. If you don't hold a prominent position early, more often than not you can't win. We need more Danny Miller clones riding there.
 

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