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** Official Cricketweb Horseracing thread **

andyc

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
A kid in my year bet $30 on the trifecta of Makybe-On a Juene-XCellent.

He's now got $231,000 as an 18th birthday present
 

nibbs

International Captain
benchmark00 said:
Its a fair call, i think its ridiculous they watered the track, certainly just to make sure Makybe and Vinnie would run, but to be honest i think the horse is so good that it wouldnt have mattered, might of altered the minor placings though, i know Freyer (the trainer of Leica Falcon) wasnt happy at all, along wih other top trainers such as Waterhouse. Guess we'll never know what could have happened though.
xcellent is more suited to hard tracks as well ffs
 

benchmark00

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andyc said:
A kid in my year bet $30 on the trifecta of Makybe-On a Juene-XCellent.

He's now got $231,000 as an 18th birthday present
That makes me sick.

I got $4.6 for Makybe off a bookmaker, put only $40 on the nose, come up with about $185. One of my mates got the same odds and put $100 on it, this was a week after he put $500 on the nose of it in the Cox Plate.
 

_Ed_

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nibbs said:
xcellent is more suited to hard tracks as well ffs
Indeed. He wouldn't have beaten her though but would certainly have been 2nd.

As well as losing a shoe, some of his foot came off at the 1600 when he got his foot stuck in an especially soft part of the track. What a hero.
 

thewizard1o1

International Debutant
benchmark00 said:
Its a fair call, i think its ridiculous they watered the track, certainly just to make sure Makybe and Vinnie would run, but to be honest i think the horse is so good that it wouldnt have mattered, might of altered the minor placings though, i know Freyer (the trainer of Leica Falcon) wasnt happy at all, along wih other top trainers such as Waterhouse. Guess we'll never know what could have happened though.
Don't think it would have mattered the way the race was run, the super quick tempo set it right up for Makybe...
 

Blewy

Cricketer Of The Year
One thing people need to remember about the watering of the track issue, is that if the track wasnt watered there would have been alot of horses pulling up injured...

The track before watered was relatively hard and with such a hot day it would have dried out quite alot meaning that injuries were a certainty..

Another thing people are forgetting is that tracks are always watered... The reason all the hype is because this time the water suited the favourite and that favourite is one of the best in history, People are looking for any reason to bring her down.. Its always the nature people want to peg the people at the top down...

Yeah other horses might like firm going but Firm and rock hard is a big difference in racing...
The track was dead at the start of the day and the info i got from a trainer who had a horse in the race after the Cup was that it was as close to good as could be without officially being there...

People need to stop making excuses and sit back and admire this champion like she deserves...
No other horse has won 3 Melbourne Cups, not even the great Phar Lap... to run in 3 is a feat on its own...


Makybe you are a Legend!!!!
 

howardj

International Coach
Can't cop people comparing her to Phar Lap, though. It's a modern day thing that really bugs me - people think that the current champions have to be the best, and that nothing in the past could have ever have been as good. For instance, I remember back in April 1997 when Tiger won his first major, and people said he was the greatest golfer ever, even though Jack Nicklaus had won 12 majors! Anyway, back to the horses....Phar Lap raced 51 times for 37 wins, and was placed in five of the other races. Astonishingly, he was unplaced in his first four starts.
 

luckyeddie

Cricket Web Staff Member
Anna said:
R.I.P. Best Mate :angel: :horse:
This is something that always intrigues me (you can tell that this is going to be in really bad taste, can't you, just because it's me?)

What happens to the great racehorses (but not the absolute top of the pile) when they turn their hooves up? I appreciate that Red Rum was buried by the winning post at Aintree and had a life-size bronze statue erected at the course, and that no-one really knows what happened to Shergar (although Irish Stew has never tasted so good).

Arkle (the other 3-time Cheltenham Gold Cup legend, and the greatest racehorse of my lifetime) got a nice, dignified burial too, as I suppose Best Mate is bound to really, but what of the others?

Anyway, if Best Mate isn't immortalised in the next few days, watch out for adverts for 'Kennomeat Supreme', 'Pal Plus' or even 'Mr Dog Gold (Cup)' and shares going up in the pet food industry.

You have been warned.
 

_Ed_

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howardj said:
Can't cop people comparing her to Phar Lap, though. It's a modern day thing that really bugs me - people think that the current champions have to be the best, and that nothing in the past could have ever have been as good. For instance, I remember back in April 1997 when Tiger won his first major, and people said he was the greatest golfer ever, even though Jack Nicklaus had won 12 majors! Anyway, back to the horses....Phar Lap raced 51 times for 37 wins, and was placed in five of the other races. Astonishingly, he was unplaced in his first four starts.
Indeed, and Phar Lap carried 62.5kg to win the cup as a 4yo, before of course going over to America and breaking the track record in winning their biggest race of the time.

I don't think you can compare horses from separate generations, better to just accept that they're both great.
 

_Ed_

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Seachange continued her unbeaten record with an impressive win in the $275,000 One Thousand Guineas at Riccarton today...four from four now and Aussie jockey Gavin McKeon makes the trip over to ride her every time she starts, looks a pretty talented filly.
 

thewizard1o1

International Debutant
_Ed_ said:
Indeed, and Phar Lap carried 62.5kg to win the cup as a 4yo, before of course going over to America and breaking the track record in winning their biggest race of the time.

I don't think you can compare horses from separate generations, better to just accept that they're both great.
spot on Ed...also after winning the Melb. Cup @ 62.5 he was given 68kg the next year :wacko:

Both are great horses and will be remembered for a long, long time.
 

nibbs

International Captain
thewizard1o1 said:
spot on Ed...also after winning the Melb. Cup @ 62.5 he was given 68kg the next year :wacko:

Both are great horses and will be remembered for a long, long time.
that 68kg year, wasn't that when they weren't going to start him cause the weight was so crazy, but then they were dealt a very harsh threat if he was pulled from the cup???
 

_Ed_

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Bit of a dig, but since I'm bored I just thought I'd ramble on about an awesome day of racing. No one needs to bother reading it. :laugh:

Today was one of the best days of racing seen in New Zealand in the last decade. Labelled 'Super Sunday', the day at Auckland's Ellerslie Racecourse had no fewer than six feature races. With the weather finally co-operating after a less than ideal start to the carnival, international jockeys such as Alan Munro, Scott Seamer and Craig Williams taking part, a perfect track and a big crowd, it was close to perfect even before the first horse set foot on the hallowed turf.

The first race seemed a bit ominous for the favourites as talented hot favourite Temple Hills went down by a neck to a 17-1 shot in Primavera. As it turned out, upsets weren't to be a pattern of the day but the close margins were.

In the first of the day's stakes races, the Eclipse Stakes for two year olds, million dollar Danehill colt Don Garcia went out hot favourite. The 2005 sale-topper won his first two starts in the Central Districts impressively but failed at his third start, with a slight back injury used as an excuse. This was to be his toughest test to date. He loomed up at the 300m outside leader Jesterchine and looked a certain winner. But he just didn't accelerate, finishing sixth seemingly without an excuse as the obviously talented filly Chant recorded her second stakes win.

Boxing Day's Eight Carat Classic for three year old fillies was an amazing race between two top-class horses in Shikoba and Pulcinella, with Shikoba narrowly prevailing on that occasion. Today's Royal Stakes, at 2000m four hundred metres longer than the Eight Carat, was the rematch between two horses so obviously a class above the rest. But again, Pulcinella ran into a filly just slightly better as Shikoba made it 2-0 in their head-to-head clashes.

The City of Auckland Cup was the time for a talented but unproven gelding to rise to stardom. Zarius. Remember the name. By Zabeel out of a Sadler's Wells mare, the four year old had the breeding. And today, after missing the start badly, he produced an incredible finishing burst to come from last at the 500m to win comfortably, his fifth win in nine starts. Looks the one to beat in the Auckland Cup in March, and the owner has Melbourne Cup aspirations.

New Zealand's premier sprint race, the Railway Handicap, for surely one of the first times ever started with the horse drawn the outside at the difficult Ellerslie 1200m as the favourite. But Baldessarini is just so far ahead of the rest of our sprinters at the moment the result never seemed in doubt, despite the fact that he raced three wide throughout and in the end only won by the smallest of margins. The win was Lisa Cropp's second major win of the day, as she also rode Zarius.

Cog Hill has always been one of New Zealand's most talented gallopers, but he had shown a habit of letting one horse past in the final stages, having recorded 12 second placings in his 21 starts before today's Rich Hill Mile, a race that drew an absolutely top quality field. But with a slight change to his racing gear preventing him from seeing opponents that he would allow to pass, Cog Hill has turned the corner with a big win in the Coupland's Mile at Riccarton and again today, overcoming some bad luck in one of the most impressive performances of what was a superb day of racing action.

Well that was a bit long-winded. Yes, I do hope to be a racing journalist. :laugh:
 

luckyeddie

Cricket Web Staff Member
_Ed_ said:
Well that was a bit long-winded. Yes, I do hope to be a racing journalist. :laugh:
Today......... was....... one....... of....... the....... best....... days....... of....... racing...... seen...... in...... New...... Zealand...... in...... the...... last...... decade....... Labelled...... 'Super..... Sunday.....', the..... day..... at..... Auckland's..... Ellerslie..... Racecourse..... had..... no..... fewer.... than.... six.... feature.... races..... With.... the.... weather.... finally.... co....-operating.... after... a... less... than... ideal... start... to... the.. carnival.., international.. jockeys.. such.. as.. Alan.. Munro.., Scott.. Seamer. and. Craig. Williams. taking. part., a. perfect track and a big crowd, it was close to perfect even beforethefirsthorsesetfootonthehallowedturf.

First paragraph rewritten in horseracingcommentaryese.
 

_Ed_

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thewizard1o1 said:
Just skimmed over your ....report :D, but was that the same program that the mascot race was held at?
It was. Bean Man is a champ.
 

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