Winning Post-1800m: It's usually quite wet in this section and that's the case again. Some fill across the inside few lanes but nothing too significant. Not a crucial area to analyse but walked well into the '6' range.
1800m-1200m: There is some wear and marking here with a touch more fill against the fence. That said, I don't think it will have a material impact on the racing. This section sat just in the '6' range and I thought it would race well here.
1200m-800m: I felt the inside two lanes might race a little slower here. There's slightly more fill underfoot but if jockeys can target the tyre-marks they might be able to get through it without as much effort. Lanes 3,4 and 5 were all quite uniform and I had a slight preference for those lanes. At present the difference is not huge but any rain might cause a bigger descrepancy.
800m-400m: Approaching the turn I felt the inside couple of lanes might race a little slower. Won't surprise me to see horses course out to lane 3 and beyond at some point. Later in the day hard up on the fence might come back into play as they wear out the wider lanes. Lane 2 felt slower than hard up on the fence. I thought it walked a genuine '6' track.
400m-Winning Post: I didn't mind hard up on the rail here, there is more sand-fill but I didn't think it walked any slower. I felt lane 2 would be inferior ground, there's a strip of thicker grass and it feels quite wet underfoot. It may result in them coming to lane 3 and beyond in the straight but I'm not against hard rail if someone tries that later in the day. Felt in the '6' range here too.
Verdict: Overall the track felt like a Soft 6 to me, with the back straight being slightly better than that rating. There is a reasonable amount of wear and tear in most sections as you'd expect at this time of year and I wouldn't be expecting to see fast times across the board. In terms of a pattern, I thought lane 2 and potentially 3 were inferior from the 800m to the winning post which might result in jockeys steering towards the middle of the track. I wasn't totally against the fence albeit there is more fill in that lane. If there's no rain then it might not race any slower despite the fill. With a decent shower or two I'd be confident the middle lanes will be the best going.
Blinkers (Near Side) FIRST TIME, Lugging Bit OFF FIRST TIME, Nose Roll OFF FIRST TIME, Tongue Control Bit FIRST TIME, Tongue Tie OFF FIRST TIME, Winkers OFF FIRST TIME
Prize
$230,255
Racing colours
White, Royal Blue Sides, White, Orange And Royal Blue Hooped Sleeves, Orange Cap
Owners
Pipeliner Bloodstock Pty Ltd (Mgr: W G Mitchell), A Brown, A Basile & W Doolan
M S S Cumani, D McMillan, K McMillian, Mrs K Sutherland, K S Sutherland, S G Padman, Mrs A A Padman, R L Cox, Mrs B Gardiner, P D Niall, C N Schumacher, D Brigham, Mrs D Ong, Miss C C Cato, Mrs D M Mason, R P McDonald, D P Kerr, R A Florence, Impulse Investments & N H T Racing
