I completely forgot the Moora Cup was on today, and every time I say Moora, this is all I can think of:

Well friends, I’d say the story of Caulfield Guineas Day was that the Cox Plate market was blown wide open with Zaaki going under at $1.28 in the Might And Power, a mere week after Verry Elleegant put in a stinker in the Turnbull Stakes to send Zaaki into the red at $1.80 for the Weight For Age classic, but after that stinker, Zaaki is now $2.50, as Probabeel and Nonconformist wound up fighting it out in a great Group 1 finish:

Just watching it unfold, I felt Homesman going early is what did Zaaki in, because Craig Williams had to start the run much earlier than he’d have liked, and another point of contention was that being an older European horse on a firm, fast deck, he was way out of his comfort zone, a point Michelle Payne made in the mounting yard pre-race on Channel 7.

Then come the Caulfield Guineas there was Anamoe, who was always going to have come via the carpark if he was any hope of winning, but after going winless through the first 7 races at The Heath, Damien Oliver, so often called ‘The Thief’ by my mate The Gabster, willed James Cummings’ star colt over the top of Captivant to win the race, 31 years after he won the race, which came a few weeks after his maiden Group 1 race win for Bart Cummings:

That’d make Ollie one of the few riders in history to win major races for Bart, Anthony and James Cummings, because we know with certainty that as of 2020, Glen Boss has won Group 1s for the 3 of them, so that’s an esteemed bit of Australian racing history for The Thief.

And among the Randwick Ruckus, there was Richard Litt’s Profondo, the Deep Impact colt that cost $1.9m as a yearling last year, who absolutely pissed in the Spring Champion Stakes, and if only Robbie Dolan had it that good last week when he was on Icebath, but nonetheless, the Irishman from Ireland only had to wait an extra week to get his maiden Group 1 winner, and to cap it off, it was only Profondo’s third career start…. You wouldn’t even know it looking at that final furlong:

And the most important part for Crazy Craig…

THE PICK OF THE DAY WON, SO WE CAN PLAY THE LUCKY LIPS!

Each-Way Pick of the Day: Vangelic in Race 7 at Randwick – Second Last

A pretty tragic set of circumstances in the Silver Eagle, because just as Vangelic was about to get off heels and present in the straight, the leader Triple Ace put in a bad stride and suffered a catastrophic leg injury (On the near-fore leg), sparking a chain reaction that almost sent Vangelic crashing to the deck, and took half a dozen other horses out of contention due to that massive loss of momentum, while Count De Rupee was probably the unluckiest of the lot, because the incident shoved him out via the cape, and wouldn’t you know it, he ran 3rd, beaten by just under 3/4 of a length to Aim and Ellsberg.

As I said, a pretty tragic turn of events, and there was absolutely nothing Tim Clark could do once it unfolded directly in front of him, and on the grounds of safety for the horse, Clark eased the mare out of the race, which I completely agree with, even as Vangelic had no abnormalities post race.

In case you’re wondering, here’s a small selection of the inconvenienced runners from the Racing NSW website:

Triple Ace: Approaching the 400m suffered a catastrophic injury to its near-foreleg when
racing in the lead and was eased down from the event.

The following runners were hampered to varying degrees as a result:

Vangelic (T. Clark) severely checked, stumbled badly and almost fell. T. Clark reported that after receiving this interference he did not continue to ride the mare out to the end of the race as he was concerned that there may be something amiss.

Tramonto steadied to avoid the heels of Triple Ace and was bumped on the hindquarter by Vangelic.

Ellsberg checked from the heels of Vangelic and shifted out.

Count De Rupee severely checked from the heels of Ellsberg, shifted out abruptly, became unbalanced and
lost significant ground.

Exoboom hampered and bumped by High Supremacy.

High Supremacy checked from the heels of Triple Ace as that runner continued to give ground.

Prime Star checked from the heels of Triple Ace as that runner continued to give ground.

Blondeau checked from the heels of Prime Star; Equation checked to avoid the heels of
Vangelic.

Amish Boy checked from the heels of Equation and shifted out to avoid that runner’s
heels.

Aim steadied from the heels of Count De Rupee.

And Sammy inconvenienced when awkwardly placed on the heels of Count De Rupee.

Yeah, it’s not a pleasant race to think about.

Pick of the Day: Delphi in the Herbert Power Stakes at Caulfield – WINNER

The big turn of events on Saturday morning was that favourite Floating Artist was scratched by Ciaron Maher so he could instead line up in the Coongy at Caulfield on Wednesday, where he’s now the unbackable favourite, and in turn that made Delphi the even money favourite for the Herbert Power, and the aforementioned D.Oliver had the race won at the 600m when he sent the stallion into the lead, and the horse that had a 2400m win back in his native Ireland had more than enough in the tank to sustain hold out the late charge of The Chosen One and Hasta La War, and it was a good gap back to the rest of the field, who quite frankly didn’t deserve to be in the race in my book.

So that’s Delphi’s ticket booked into the Caulfield Cup if the Freedmans bother to go there, which they probably will, and Delphi appears to be a live chance at a Top 3 finish as a bare minimum, because even if Oliver can’t ride the horse due to weight restrictions, the son of Galileo will go in with 52.5kg, which is 3 kilos fewer than Incentivise, who will probably lead and try and do a Might and Power, and based on today, Delphi won’t be too far off, and he can clearly sustain a gallop over the 12 furlongs, which is a promising sign for those dumb enough to back him…

Who knows, I could be one of them.