Horse Racing The Good, The Bad and The Ugly – 18/6/2022

Chris Waller was doing Chris Waller things at Rosehill, a filly remained unbeaten at Flemington while at Belmont, a three year old stamped his Railway credentials. All that and more in this weeks edition of ‘The Good, The Bad and The Ugly’.

KEY NEWS:

Five For Waller At Rosehill

When Chris Waller is in a slump, it is quick to be noted, but for every slump he has, he usually bounces back with a fat day and that was the case at Rosehill on Saturday with five winners across the ten race card, and a narrow second in another race. The best win of the five was clearly Wicklow, who overcame the bias to win quite impressively and is destined for better things.

Passive Aggressive Remains Unbeaten & Wins Creswick

The Creswick (1200m) at Flemington was built as a match race between Star Patrol and Passive Aggressive, with the proven Star Patrol up against unbeaten filly Passive Aggressive, and it was indeed the filly who came out on top to remain unbeaten in four career outings, doing everything right while Star Patrol did plenty wrong under pressure but stayed on to run second.

Peters Three Year Old Devoted To Railway

The Winter at Belmont is always used by Bob Peters to unearth a good young one and that looks to be Devoted, who won his second straight Stakes race on Saturday, with a strong win in the Belmont Guineas (1600m). Peters said post race the three year old would be spelled, you’d assume with an eye towards the Railway.

PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK:

Waller got five at Rosehill, but I want to give the nod this week to Chris Munce. His stable is absolutely flying and while he hasn’t won a Group l this Winter Carnival, he has cleaned up with several Stakes race wins, including two of the three features at Ipswich on Saturday, with Smart Meteor winning the Cup and Centrefire leading throughout in the Gai Waterhouse. He’s doing a super job with his team.

DEBUT OF THE WEEK:

Eponymous looks above average and her debut win on Wednesday on the Kenso track was very sharp. Good change up speed when asked for the big effort then showed good ticker late to fend them off. Time was good relative to the meeting and has been well educated/grounded, so keen to see where she heads to.

RIDE OF THE WEEK:

When you get a track like Rosehill that was biased, it’s easy to break up the good riders who read the play and others who appear clueless. Willie Pike was in the former aboard Skyman. A horse that can drift back, he pinged the lids on the gelding, landed box seat and once he got clear air, it was race over. This upcoming season, the battle between he and J Mac in Sydney will be great viewing.

SLAUGHTER OF THE WEEK:

Pike was the good…the bad was Jay Ford aboard Oxford Tycoon in the last. Come race ten, Stevie Wonder could see the rail was hot…apparently Jay Ford didn’t see it. He was on the fence aboard Oxford Tycoon and there was a massive gap on the fence to rail up and given the pattern, he could have threatened somewhat to Titanium Power…but, he decided to angle 5-6 wide in the straight, which was clearly inferior ground. Instead of running fourth, he clearly runs second if he stays inside…awful ride IMO.

HORSES TO FOLLOW:

Dr Drill – Really good run from him. Ready to win
Irish Legend – He’ll be winning races. Nice horse
Passive Aggressive – She’s destined for better races
Tavidance – Strong return

ONE MORE CHANCE:

Lovely Esteem – Prep run so want to give her another look
Grand Pope – 1100m/1200m next time will be D-Day
Honey Pot – Sunny Coast two weeks time and that’s D-Day

NEVER EVER AGAIN:

Summer Glow – She’s a squib. Travels like Tarzan, attacks the line like Jane
Orbisyn – Thought he had every chance in front. No more for me