Well friends, it was another solid Saturday at the races, with Zaaki joining the likes of Rough Habit, Might And Power and Shogun Lodge as a winner of the Hollindale Stakes on the Gold Coast, and as if lightning had struck twice, Crazy Craig’s Each-Way bet ran a place in an Adelaide Group 1 at good odds, and the Pick of the Day bloody well found a way to run 2nd by a very narrow margin.

I suppose that’s what happens when you pick a horse named April Rain while it’s running in May.

Still, Let’s Karaka Deel’s big run in the SA Derby continues the decent of Crazy Craig’s Each-Way picks, which always seem to go well without actually winning, and if my mathematics are correct, that’s now 5 placings from the last 7 Each-Way picks, and the Pick of the Day has run in the placings in each of the last 5 Saturdays without winning.

It’s going like Greg Norman at every Major… except two.

Nevertheless, another payout means that on a technicality, I can sound THE LUCKY LIPS VICTORY TUNE!

Let’s Karaka Deel E/W in the South Australian Derby at Morphetville – 2nd ($3.40 the place)

He may have drifted from 10-1 out to 15-1 late in the market, but it ended up being a very pleasing performance by Let’s Karaka Deel, as Ben Allen dropped back from the wide barrier and made the smart move of latching onto the stablemate & favourite Explosive Jack in the three-wide lane early on, and he just followed Jacky all the way to get a cart into the race and set up a Maher/Eustace/Allen quinella as the favourite exploded to life, and I suppose you could call it a gap job, because 3rd-placed Nobel Heights was officially 2.8L off Let’s Karaka Deel, and 5.2L off the winner.

Still, the fact that Explosive Jack had to travel 3-wide no cover, and still put a healthy space on the pack, should tell you how much ability he had on the field, and this does mean that the colt by Jakkalberry becomes the first horse in the Group 1 era of Australian racing (1979-) to win 3 Derbies in a season (Tasmanian, Australian and South Australia), and it also means John Allen has ridden his fourth SA Derby win in the last 6 years, and I’ve lost count of how many staying races Maher & Eustace have won this season, but they’d comfortably be No.1 in the country by a healthy margin.

Regardless, $3.40 the place for Let’s Karaka Deel, who has now run 2nd at his last 3 starts, but anyway, it’s a profit, so can’t complain!

April Rain in Race 9 at Gosford – 2nd

Well, despite just about being the $2.15 Best Bet at Gosford (Disregarding the favourites who actually won), it turns out April Rain couldn’t win 1st Up in May, as Tommy Berry had to go back from the wide barrier in what seemed like a no-win situation, then she was caught wide and a good 10L off the leaders in the run while lugging the 60kg, which was always going to be a big ask, but she did pick up late and charge home out wide, but it was ultimately Stellar Pauline, who didn’t have a cushy run herself, that held on to win by a head in a minor upset.

That’s now 5 weeks in a row that Crazy Craig’s Pick of the Day has run a place as the favourite….

As Maxwell Smart would say, missed it by THAT much!