The Good, The Bad and The Ugly – April 25th Edition

Hawkesbury held their stand alone meeting at Rosehill on Anzac Day, Flemington hosted their traditional highlight, while earlier in the week, a talented rider was outed for six months. All that and more in this weeks edition of ‘The Good, The Bad and The Ugly’.

KEY NEWS:

Waller Mare Gets A Sweet Stakes Success

For Chris Waller and his lofty standards, it was a somewhat quiet Sydney Autumn Carnival despite Nature Strip blitzing them in the TJ Smith. One of his consistent mares, Sweet Scandal, who found dry ground, got a well deserved Stakes win in the Hawkesbury Crown (1300m) at Rosehill on Saturday. Glen Boss found three wide cover on the mare and she charged home late to nab In Her Time and stop a fitting farewell for a star mare.

Sacramento Wins St Leger

The traditional feature race at Flemington on Anzac Day is the VRC St Leger (2800m) and the Waterhouse/Bott stable continued their domination of the race, winning it for the third straight time and their fifth win in the past eight years with Sacramento getting the verdict both on the track and in the Stewards Room, surviving a protest.

Six Month Ban For Tarrant

He’s a talented rider is Luke Tarrant but has found himself in hot water again, with the hoop receiving a six month ban from Stewards after headbutting veteran rider Larry Cassidy. Social media posts from a family member of Tarrant suggested that the rider was provoked by a derogatory comment from Cassidy but Cassidy in a post online has strongly denied those claims.

PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK:

He’s got Stakes class written all over him Masked Crusader. Resumed on Wednesday at Bendigo and looked in trouble nearer the inside but once Winks got clear air, the horse did the rest and the way he put them away was most impressive and with plenty of improvement to come, he’s destined for better races than a midweek at Bendigo.

DEBUT OF THE WEEK:

Not sure Aviemore beat much when debuting at Doomben on Wednesday but visually, there was a bit of quality about the win, leading throughout and did run quicker time than the other 2YO race, running sub 34 for the final 600m. Probably the wrong time of year to go to Saturday company, but she’s got some talent I think.

RIDE OF THE WEEK:

Madison Lloyd is one of the more improving apprentices in Victoria. Getting really good opportunities with Nathan Hobson and the pair combined with Reward With Return at Bendigo on Wednesday. It was just a beautifully rated ride in front, running along at a tempo not too slow but strong enough to be left alone and gave nothing else a look in. She’s improving more and more with experience.

SLAUGHTER OF THE WEEK:

There are two schools of thought with Vega One at the Sunshine Coast. The first one being that it was a lovely handicap dodger given he’s heading towards the Stradbroke Handicap. But, if you were on him (I wasn’t), you’d be absolutely filthy with what Baylee Nothdurft produced on Vega One. Zero intent to win and was pretty much another barrier trial. He’s one of the best riders in Queensland, but this steer wasn’t the greatest.

HORSES TO FOLLOW:

Nicci’s Gold – Just wants a wet track
Live And Free – Clean jump and wins. Scone Cup for him I dare say
Lamu – She’ll go close to winning blacktype I think if she heads to Adelaide
Craftmanship – Sneaky SA Derby chance
Advance Warning – Very good run from him. He’s on track
Vega One – Was there for all to see
Crown Mint – Good lead up for the Sires
Larkham – Enormous in defeat. Maybe not this prep but next prep is his time to shine
Appalachian – Senior rider next time…please

ONE MORE CHANCE:

Vow And Declare – Either he was a lucky Melbourne Cup winner and is overrated, or he had an off day. We’ll find out in the Spring
Stampe – He’s a 1200-1400m horse
Baccarat Baby – Ridden a touch cute I think and cost her the win
Haunted – Back to 1200m for him

NEVER EVER AGAIN:

True Detective – He isn’t a line chaser
Monaco Snob – They came for him, ridden positively…but did nothing