Well-known Queensland media man Nathan Exelby is a constant at the track and has all the inside information as we head into another big weekend of racing in the Sunshine State.
HOW SUMMER CARNIVAL STACKED UP
WHO was top of the pops at this season’s Queensland summer carnival? Through the Road to Magic Millions at Eagle Farm and Doomben and the Magic Millions carnival on the Gold Coast, there were highlights every step of the way.
Last Saturday’s Sunshine Coast Cup put a full stop on the Queensland Summer Carnival, with Steve O’Dea and Matt Hoysted continuing their brilliant strike rate with SCALLOPINI back to winning form in the feature.
It was also a great breakthrough for young jockey Boris Thornton, who spent more than 12 months on the sideline with complications from a shoulder injury.
The Sunshine Coast was also the starting point for the carnival, with the running of the Mooloolaba Cup and Swiss Ace Plate back in November.
ZOUSTYLE kicked off that day and set up another big carnival for Tony Gollan, who had TIGER HEART win the Group 3 Vo Rogue Plate before ISOTOPE notched the highlight with her win in the Magic Millions Snippets.
COOLANGATTA came and did what was expected of her in winning the Magic Millions 2YO Classic, although it would be a stretch to say she enhanced her reputation here, with neither of her two wins improving on her Gimcrack Stakes rating.
Team Snowden made it back-to-back Magic Millions Guineas wins when KING OF SPARTA justified a big betting move to follow in the footsteps of Aim 12 months earlier.
Back in Brisbane, the highlights were APACHE CHASE winning The Gateway, David Vandyke unearthing a potential Oaks filly in Grand Prix winner GYSPY GODDESS and KEMENTARI earning a Magic Millions wildcard in The Buffering.
But what did the ratings say about the carnival?
Respected ratings agency Timeform Australia had a number of solid class performances, but none that jumped off the page, particularly in the two-year-old ranks.
The Timeform ratings from the carnival saw Zoustyle head the rankings at 117 for the George Moore Stakes.
When you take into account Timeform’s allowance for fillies and mares, Isotope’s 113 from the MM Snippets put her alongside Zoustyle at the head of the TF table.
Then you have Apache Chase (MM Cup) and Kementari (The Buffering) sharing the next line at 115 from ELEVEN ELEVEN (MM Cup) at 114 and ROHERYN (Falvelon) 113.
King Of Sparta landed inside the top 10 at 112 for his Magic Millions Guineas dominance, while BALLER (George Moore/Falvelon) and TAMBO’S MATE (Recognition) both landed on the same mark.
Magic Millions 2YO Classic winner Coolangatta missed out on a Top 10 berth with Timeform, sitting just outside with a 109.
As a comparison to other fillies to recently win this race, the 109 is superior to AWAY GAME (107) and HOUTZEN (108), but inferior to EXHILARATES (111) and SUNLIGHT (113).
CAPITALIST is the modern MM benchmark, going 116 at the Gold Coast before improving to 122 in his Golden Slipper win.
WEATHER QUESTIONS HANG OVER DOOMBEN
RACING is back to Doomben this weekend and once again we are guessing what the weather might do. The track received 24mm on Wednesday, which pushed it to a Soft 6, but Thursday is where the prediction for the damage was meant to be done.
Friday and Saturday look to be okay on the rain front.
The fields have stood up fairly well given the carnival is now behind us.
ROMAN AUREUS will be one of the runners that attracts the most attention this weekend.
Will the punters be with him or against him coming back from 1350m to 1200m? The Brian Wakefield trained gelding was one of the summer’s most deserving winners when he landed the prize in the final event a fortnight ago.
Roman Aureus had run placings in seven of his 10 starts subsequent to his previous win, knocking on the door but just finding one or two better each time. Finally, it all fell into place and under Larry Cassidy he was able to fend off the twin challenge from Tony Gollan trained runners PALLADAS and GLITTER STRIP.
Wakefield has now been forced into coming back to 1200m and to offset he has put blinkers on the horse for the first time in his career, which to date numbers 26 starts.
He is certainly meeting the right field; AXE and CONSTANT FLIGHT both come off even efforts on Magic Millions day, while EF TROOP is trying to break a 784 day drought.
The way Roman Aureus raced last time, he should be able to stay in touch with the leaders and then prove too strong.
Any substantial rain will only add further to his appeal.
BLACK SOIL STABLEMATES COSTLY FOR PUNTERS
PALLADAS and GLITTER STRIP have been good horses for bookmakers for some time now. Does their (or one of their) time come this weekend?
As stated the pair had to settle for the minors behind Roman Aureus when sent out first and second elects a fortnight ago.
Before that Palladas was rolled at $1.90 on the Gold Coast and at $6 first up. He was also a beaten $2.60 favourite before a spell. His strike rate of 2/17 spells caution, but punters like charging into him.
Similarly, Glitter Strip has won just two of 14, but gone under as favourite in two of her past three. I have to plead guilty to being married to the latter, getting my money in each of her last three defeats.
Do I have the heart to go again this week?
The barrier looks ugly on paper, but the camp stated before her last start the blinkers went on because she was field shy. Low and behold she’s slow out and ends up midfield the fence forced into taking inside runs.
Being drawn out might just enable her to let down better? I’m sure I can talk myself into having a fourth crack this time in!
NEVER SAY NEVER!
COULD the import NEVER NO MORE complete the full circle and break-through for Australian win number one at Doomben?
The son of No Nay Never first came to Australia to run in the inaugural Golden Eagle in 2019, where he finished 14th (of 16) to KOLDING as a $41 chance.
He came here as a European Listed winner who had also been Group 2 placed, but the wheels really fell off.
At his next five starts after the Golden Eagle, he managed no better than third last with beaten margins between 5.6 and 11 lengths.
Switched to his third Australian trainer, Matty Dunn at Murwillumbah, for his latest campaign, Never No More was given no hope by the market and went out $101 first up at the Gold Coast. He defied expectations, fleetingly looking the winner before just peaking late and finishing third in a deep Benchmark 85.
Into a lesser race this weekend, can he go on with the job, or was the first up run just a flash in the pan?
I can’t ignore how well he’s gone fresh and think he is poised to break his 1000+ day losing sequence this time around.
DOOMBEN BEST BETS
Kutayha: Race 2 - $3.20
Roman Aureus: Race 3 - $2.60
Diva Bella: Race 9 - $11