A classic sit and sprint in a field of four. Nothing to see here except Gunnison lost a plate passing the 1000m.

The race was on a sloppy dirt track running two seconds outside the ‘normal’ standard time for the grade. At start 26 Hay Run won his first race…….enough said. 

The pace was quite solid in the early stages here so it should have set up for a closer. The leader and winner Sky Treasure posted 24.05 for the final-400m so it doesn’t say much for the chasers. The race didn’t rate anything special, even with the adjusted standards although the run of Smart Rocket was probably the highlight of the race, with a solid final-200m (11.92) in the context of the day.

A pretty quick first 600m was set taking the conditions into account, so it set up for something midfield or worse to win. The race didn’t rate well although the win from Guy Dragon was encouraging, sustaining a solid final-600m (35.20) and one gets the impression he is going to be better over further. 

This race rated pretty well. Multimillion set a solid speed and held on, with Utopia Life and Goko keeping on well enough. The runner that makes the SID file is Grandma Win. This debutant closed with a race-best final-600m of 33.84 and looks promising.

Back to a sloppy dirt track where they went out hard but the chasers still couldn’t make much impression due to the conditions. It’s impossible to read too much in to this one unless we get a similar track in the future.

A solid win to Simply Big who made all and under the conditions, he was well suited. Silver Fig (SID) was first up and sat wide but ran on very well all things considered. Although the form on the dirt track on this occasion has to be treated with extreme caution going forward, Silver Fig is a galloper who has shown potential and can be followed. 

As one would expect, this was the highest rating race of the day and a solid pace was set which set up nicely for Rise High. He clocked the fifth-best final-200m (11.84) at the meeting off a strong speed and is clearly a talent of Group 1 potential. Off that speed, the 1600m might just test the stamina of What Else But You, but he can be competitive in a good mile event. Good Standing had some post race issues. 

Once again, in the conditions this was won by King Genki who sat leader’s back and he beat the leader Raging Blitzkrieg. There’s not much more to add except on this occasion the tempo and the conditions both played in to the hands of the first two past the post. 

The winner of this event, Champion’s Way, is headed for the top and this race rated very well. He stays in the class after the win but should be hard to beat even with the weight he will have to carry. There was a fair amount of merit to the run of Triumphant Horse (SID) on just his second local start, especially considering he was galloped on and was lame the next day. He might appreciate further and has potential. Solar Wai Wai was no match on this occasion but he can bounce back. 

They went quite fast through the first two sections of this event. Earth Trilogy (SID) was most unlucky when he was checked in the home straight when searching for a run and no doubt he should have won. He makes the file and overall, the form should stack up okay out of this event.