Tag Archives: cox-plate

Gelding’s red hot tips for Derby day at Flemington on 29 October 2016

gelding & dalliganWith the Spring Carnival in full flight, the Gelding’s attention turns to Derby day at VRC headquarters at Flemington today. He has been in great form with the feature races having the winners of the Caulfield Cup and Cox Plate already in the bag.

As always the bets are on an each way and all up basis.

Flemington

Race 4 Horse 2 – Real Love
Race 5 Horse 3 – Astern
Race 6 Horse 7 – Don’t Doubt Mama
Race 7 Horse 1 – Sacred Elixir (for the ladies at the Tennis club)
Race 8 Horse 2 – The United States (also for the ladies at the Tennis club)

Good luck and good punting!

The Gelding

Gelding’s red hotties for the Cox Plate meeting at Moonee Valley on 22 October 2016

img_3802The Gelding’s attention is on today’s Cox Plate meeting at Moonee Valley and he is in fine form after tipping the winner of last week’s Caulfield Cup. He cautions to be careful with selections given today’s wet conditions.

As always the bets are on an each way and all up basis.

Moonee Valley

Race 3 Horse 3 – Sweet Cherry
Race 5 Horse 1 – Lady Le Fay
Race 7 Horse 1 – The United States
Race 8 Horse 1 – Gallante (for the ladies at the Tennis club)
Race 9 Horse 8 – Winx (also for the ladies at the Tennis club)

Good luck and good punting!

The Gelding

Weekend musing – AFL trade period, Phil Hughes’ enquiry, controversy at the end of the Bathurst 1000…….

Sfan OB6Well it has taken quite some time, but Hawthorn has finally shown to have issues with the salary cap. It has always astounded me how the Hawks could keep adding good players from other clubs and not
unknown let anyone go (save for Lance Franklin of course, who left for the money). Wanting to recruit both Jaeger O’Meara and Tom Mitchell, someone needed to go so they approached the two players that were first and second in their best & fairest, Sam Mitchell & Jordan Lewis. It now looks like Lewis will stay and Mitchell will go, but the cracks are finally showing. It was obviously a mistake for them to re-sign Hodge, Burgoyne & Gibson late last year having already re-signed Sam Mitchell earlier in the year.

I must say I have been a bit surprised with the line of questioning in the Phil Hughes enquiry. It is almost like some Coroner’s enquiries unknown-1where interested parties are trying to establish negligence so they can sue. I cannot see the point of questioning the NSW tactics and what may have been said or not said on the day. It was a tragic outcome that no one saw coming and what went beforehand is irrelevant in my view. Fast bowlers use intimidating tactics against batsmen and that has always been the case. It was the basis of the bodyline tactics employed by the English to curb Bradman. Phil Hughes had many good friends in the NSW team and no one wanted to see him get hurt.

I had nothing much to do last Sunday afternoon so I watched some of the Bathurst race. I am no expert and do not know the finer points of the sport, but I thought that Jamie Whincup was entitled to try unknown-3and pass when he did and Scott McLaughlin took the corner wide and then moved back into Whincup. Either way from what I understand, McLaughlin had to do at least one more pit stop and all Whincup had to do was wait for him to move out of his way so there was no imperative to pass anyway. It is a bit strange when the winner of a race has not led at any stage of the race. The outcome of the appeal should be quite interesting.

I watched the Winx race last week with interest and I would not unknown-2have been disappointed if I was the connections of Black Heart Bart. BHB took up the running and while they may have dawdled in the early stages of the race, he increased the tempo and in the end it was run at a pretty good clip. Winx won comfortably, but it may have been interesting if Winx was forced to establish the tempo of the race. Bring on the Cox Plate!

Have a great weekend!

Weekend Musing – droughts broken in AFL and NRL, Winx steps out…..

Sfan OB6Well what a great AFL Grand Final and a result that is good for football. With the Doggies breaking their 62 year premiership drought, it brings to 4 the number of significant droughts broken in the last 15 years. First you had Brisbane/Fitzroy breaking a 47 year drought in 2001, then Sydney/Sth Melbourne breaking a 72 year drought in 2005 and Geelong breaking a 44 year drought in 2007. This now leaves Melbourne (1964) & St Kilda (1966) as the two established clubs with the longest droughts and with both sides having encouraging years this year, who knows we may see another drought broken shortly.

I must say that Luke Beveridge handing over his medal to Bob Murphy was a wonderful gesture, but equally Murphy giving it back was the right thing to do. Without trying to kill Bambi, I am getting a bit tired of the love for Bob Murphy. Yes he is the captain and spiritual leader of the Doggies, but he is not the only player that has missed out on a premiership due to injury or suspension. I have always felt sorry for the recently deceased Neville Crowe who was captain of Richmond in 1967 when John Nicholls feigned being struck and Crowe missed the 1967 premiership as a result. That was also a drought breaking premiership win for the Tigers (24 years).

In the NRL we also saw the Cronulla Sharks win their first premiership since they entered the competition 50 years ago. I obviously wanted the Storm to win, but again it is hard to begrudge a club a drought breaking premiership.

The attention of the sporting public now turns to horse racing and the Spring Carnival. The Melbourne public see Winx for the first time since the Cox Plate last year. She is in a three horse field and sometimes these races can provide an upset because they can become a “sit and sprint”. If that is the case it may favour Black Heart Bart who is clearly the best sprinter of the three acceptors.

Have a great weekend!

Friday musing – Melbourne Cup selection, Terry Bailey, Jake Carlisle and the Wallabies

Chris Barwin HillsI must say I was very impressed with the win of Winx in the Cox Plate last weekend. I discounted her chances as she had not been around the Valley before, but she went around that home turn like a winxgreyhound lure while Criterion went around it like a Mack truck. Clearly Criterion will be better suited by the open spaces of Flemington and is worth some serious thought for the Melbourne Cup. I also like Preferment and Amralah for the Cup.

While we are on the races, the attack on Terry Bailey was very baileydisturbing. From all reports Bailey would not be concerned, but in cases like this it is always the family that is vulnerable. When officials who are trying to uphold the integrity of their sport or the law are attacked in this way and to have this type of threatening behaviour makes you wonder about the fabric of our society.

I remained silent on the Jake Carlisle trade last week, but was bemused by the scrutiny his manager has come under this week given he knew of the video before the trade went through. As Carlisle’s manager he is charged with getting the best deal for his client, it is carlisle
really up to the suitor to do their due diligence. The video was supposedly doing the rounds of various media outlets for a week before it came to light and the jungle drums suggest there was other material out there which may have betrayed his proclivities. The suggestion is that the Western Bulldogs & North Melbourne had done their due diligence and dropped out of the chase early as a result.

Good luck to the Wallabies this weekend in the fight for the Webb wallabiesEllis trophy. Against the Kiwis they will have their work cut out, but they have shown that they can beat the All Blacks if everything clicks, so fingers crossed.

Have a great weekend!

Friday musing – Melbourne Cup, Cricket, West Sydney Wanderers…

Chris Barwin HillsWell the big three races of the Melbourne spring have been run and won by international horses. The Japanese took out the Caulfield Cup, the Irish the Cox Plate and now the Germans have the Melbourne Cup. If Adelaide had been owned by Italian interests you may have questioned who won the war! There has been a lot of discussion about the influx of international horses and whether there should be a quota placed on them, particularly for the Melbourne Cup. Bunkum I say. If the locals want to win these races they should adjust their breeding and training regimes and start to focus on middle distance and staying races and not just breeding and training for sprinter/milers. For too long getting a horse to produce early in it’s career has been the focus instead of looking to the future. I think we should keep bringing in the international horses as not only are they better than the locals, they add plenty to the discussions at this time of the year. With Slade Power running in the Darley Classic tomorrow, the pain for the locals may not be over and we may be beaten at our own game.

I remarked last week about the pitches that had been produced in the recent test series against Pakistan and that may have been disrespectful to the Pakistanis’ as each of their second innings were better than our first in each test. The Australian’s were completed outplayed and any pretensions they had for being number one in the world has taken a severe blow. To be number one you have to be able to win in all conditions, not just those that suit your best players. Some of the selections have to be questioned as well. Bringing Glenn Maxwell in and playing him as a number three seemed as strange as the puzzling decisions in dropping Alex Doolan and Steve O’Keefe after one test. I can understand the theory of playing to your strength, but clearly the pitch blunted even the best fast bowlers, let alone the likes of Mitchell Starc. The batsmen need to learn how to play spin and the spinners need to learn how to bowl in those conditions.

What an amazing performance by the West Sydney Wanderers in the Asian Champions League final. For a club that has only been in existence for just over two years, they have played in two grand finals and won the premier club competition in Asia. Admittedly the A-League has only been going for a short time, but for a start up club to have achieved that much in such a short space of time is unprecedented. I think it even out-strips the Melbourne Storm’s win in the 1999 NRL grand final. It must say something about Tony Popovic’s coaching and he must be high on the radar for the national team or something substantial overseas.

Have a great weekend!

Friday musing – Melbourne Cup, cricket, AFL…

I was disappointed to hear how Australia had fared in the cricket in Abu Dhabi overnight and it rekindled a gripe I have about Test cricket, particularly games against India, Pakistan & Sri Lanka. A test wicket should offer assistance to the quicks in the first session at least and provide a good contest between bat and ball. Australia has the most dangerous fast bowler in the world at the moment in MitchChris Barwin Hillsell Johnson and he gets his first and only wicket in the second session with the only wicket in the first session going to Lyon the spinner. If the ICC wants to promote Test cricket as the pinnacle of the game they have to have the fortitude to demand pitches which provide a proper contest. Having said that Younis Khan has to be congratulated for his three successive centuries which is a formidable feat no matter how good the wickets have been for batsmen. Speaking of batsmen, Australia’s performance in the 1st test was quite lamentable with only Warner & Johnson able to hold their heads up.

It was an amazing performance by Adelaide in the Cox plate last week, languishing at the back of the filed he made one of the longest sustained runs I have ever seen in the time honoured race. He was helped by the banked turns at the Valley and at the turn into the straight looked like he was going to win running away, but the length of his run told in the final stages and Fawkner and the others on his inside pushed him all the way to the line. It was an even more memorable performance when you consider that he is only a 3yo and because of the difference in breeding schedules in Europe he had to carry the weight of a 4yo in the Plate. However, I do wonder why they gave a colt a female name, what next a filly named Sydney?

Moving on to the AFL fixture I note that Essendon are again playing the Demons in a home game at the MCG. The Bombers have hosted Melbourne in at least the last 4 games at the MCG and have lost 3 of them in circumstances where they have started warm favourites each time. Everyone knows Melbourne perform poorly at Etihad, but we keep playing them at the G. Why? I was also perplexed to note that the Bombers only play 2 Friday night games, both against North Melbourne. While the Bombers didn’t win too many of their Friday night fixtures this year, they put on some pretty good games against Hawthorn, Geelong & Sydney. Speaking from the perspective of my own team, not a great draw in my opinion.

In passing I think Paul Gallen is obviously pretty stupid for his Tweet insulting the NRL chiefs, but a $50,000 fine!! That is hefty and I question if it really fits the crime. $5-10,000 would have sent the same message.

Have a great weekend.

Gelding’s tips for WS Cox Plate day at Moonee Valley

MarkThe Gelding is still away enjoying the oriental breezes and misses another Group One race day, this time Cox Plate day at Moonee Valley.  I wonder how Mrs Gelding convinced him to be out of Australia at this time of the racing season. Fortunately, he has managed to spend some time at the computer in his luxury hotel suite and emailed his tips in.

Moonee Valley

Tonight

Race 7 Horse 2 – Lankan Rupee (for the ladies at the Tennis club)

Saturday

Race 5 Horse 1 – Precedence
Race 6 Horse 5 – Trust in a Gust
Race 8 Horse 8 – Criterion (also for the ladies at the Tennis club)
Race 9 Horse 4 – Sauvito

Good luck and good punting!

The Gelding

Friday musing – Cox Plate, Cage Fighting, Gough Whitlam…..

Chris Barwin HillsWell the Spring Carnival is in full swing and this week sees the running of the WS Cox Plate. It doesn’t look to be a classic field, but it is probably the best that can be assembled. However, I do question the inclusion of Wandjina who has been placed in only two of nine starts, but obviously got a start based on his third placing in the Caulfield Guineas. Unfortunately last years winner was a maiden who had similar lead up form so the precedent had been sent, but I don’t think it sends a good message when you tout yourself as the Weight For Age Championship of Australasia. My tip in the race is Fawkner, but they all have to get past The Cleaner.

There was a lot of grandstanding in the corridors of power this week about cage fighting/mixed martial arts. To allow the mixed martial arts fights without the cage, is like boxing without the ropes. The fighters can still hit their opponent the same way, they just do it in different surrounds. What real difference does it make. I have watched a bit of the UFC on Channel 1, but not for some time. It seems to be well adjudicated and from what I understand there have been no catastrophic injuries. If these guys want to fight each other in a controlled environment then I cannot see what the problem is with the use of the cage. I also find the Police Commissioner’s comments about violence a little hard to fathom as well given the acceptance of all types of fighting sports in the community. I have a nephew who is doing mixed martial arts training and I am sure my brother would much rather he practised his sport in a controlled environment, with or without a cage. The proper control is the key, not the cage. Will I go along and watch, no.

Now my last comment this week only has a loose connection with sport because his wife swum in the 1938 Empire Games for Australia. E G Whitlam must surely be one of the most interesting politicians ever produced in this country and I always considered that having spent so long in opposition, once he got into power, he tried to implement too many programmes too quickly. Like a good marathon runner, if he had paced himself his legacy could have been greater. Anyway I can thank him for my tertiary education, a national health system and Blue Poles that I saw in Canberra recently. Vale Gough.

Enough of my own political grandstanding, have a great weekend!

Friday musing – AFL trade period, NRL, Caulfield Guineas…..

Chris Barwin HillsWell what a week in AFL trading! We already knew about Paddy Ryder and Dayne Beams, but this week Allen Christensen and Ryan Griffen emerge wanting to be traded. Who will pop up next? These trades will be difficult, but if a player has publicly flagged that he wants to go, he has to be traded in my opinion. There are exceptions, like Ryan O’Keefe who flagged a few years ago that he wanted to go to Hawthorn, the Swans kept him and he went on to win the Norm Smith medal in their 2012 premiership side. Supporters from the four clubs involved will all be very disappointed as the players are popular players at their clubs, but for different reasons they want to go and the clubs have to try and get the best deal available.

On a related topic, I was not surprised the AFL knocked back the proposed de-listing of Paddy Ryder to give Essendon an additional draft pick. It would have been a good result for the club, but tantamount to draft manipulation.

Now that it is inevitable that Paddy is going, my son will have to remove the badge from his jumper and send it over to Port Adelaide. The situation at Essendon seems to be lurching from bad to worse. What player would want to come to that club the way things are at the moment? Even Jason Winderlich, who grew up an Essendon supporter and was not involved in the supplements saga wants to go! I cannot see any light at the end of the tunnel at the moment and this is a club that played finals this year!

I watched the NRL Grand Final last week and it was a lot more competitive than the AFL equivalent. Although South Sydney did eventually blow Canterbury out of the water, the game was in the balance until about half way through the second half. The game apparently rated higher than the AFL Grand Final and there has been a renewed push for the AFL to play its Grand Final at night. As much as the ratings would be better, I hope the AFL retain the afternoon time slot, but money does dictate the terms in sport these days and it is probably inevitable that the AFL Grand Final will be played at night or the early evening before too long. The first AFL night final was in 1993 so we are probably lucky that it has lasted in the afternoon for so long.

The Spring Racing Carnival is really starting to pick up with Caulfield Guineas Day this Saturday. This is one of the best days on the racing calendar and should Rich Enuff emerge as the winner of the Guineas this weekend, we may have found the star of the carnival. To date no horse has stamped their authority on the Spring and racing really does need stars to bring people to the races. Weight For Age racing looks a bit thin this year and if Rich Enuff can get through he would be highly fancied in the Cox Plate. He looks the logical winner with Looks Like the Cat the one that could knock him off without being a big upset.

Have a great weekend!