Breeders Crown 2020

[Messenger]

We kick off with the 2yo's at Ballarat tonight
I can see the heats being fiercely contested what with there being 4 for the colts and 3 for the fillies which means the boys have to place and the girls first four to make the final
There are some good horses that are going to miss out
Michael Stanley has enough goodies entered to give the Stewart/Tonkin stable a run for their money

http://www.harness.org.au/racing/fields/race-fields/?mc=BA041120

[Messenger]

Got that wrong - there are semi finals so tonights heats don't mean anything more than finishing in the first half of the field YAWN
Not even that for the fillies

[Messenger]

My previous YAWN was uncalled for and the racing was interesting - how can seeing the best be anything else
Yes, we still have semis to go but the Stewart fillies would not be too worried about Soho Almasi on tonight's performance
Stewart/Tonkin 5, Stanley 1

http://www.harness.org.au/racing/fields/race-fields/?mc=BA041120

[Adaptor]

My previous YAWN was uncalled for and the racing was interesting - how can seeing the best be anything else
Yes, we still have semis to go but the Stewart fillies would not be too worried about Soho Almasi on tonight's performance
Stewart/Tonkin 5, Stanley 1

http://www.harness.org.au/racing/fields/race-fields/?mc=BA041120

It was not too long ago that the Direct Scooter line was almost gone..
How it has been revived by son In The Pocket and grand-son Mach Three has been remarkable:

At Ballarat three generations of descendants of Matts Scooter (By Direct Scooter) sired winners:
Mach Three, his son Somebeachsomewhere and his son Captain Treacherous.

In addition two winners were from Christian Cullen ( In The Pocket by Direct Scooter) mares and one from a Mach Three mare.

[Messenger]

3yo heats at Bendigo tonight. With only 3 fillies heats they only need to finish top 8 while with 4 heats the C&G need to finish first 6

http://www.harness.org.au/racing/fields/race-fields/?mc=BN061120

[Messenger]

So what happened to Private Eye at Bendigo tonight?
They ran 1.54.6 which happens to be the Tk Rec time he set at Gunbower (a slower track) in his 2nd ever start back in Feb, last month he rated 1.50.3 for the mile at Menangle
And yet tonight he could not even hold onto 6th to qualify for the semis and was beaten 28m

http://www.harness.org.au/racing/fields/race-fields/?mc=BN061120#BNC06112009

[Messenger]

Shessylah had won 7 of 10 but could only manage 10th in her heat of the fillies and if my reckoning is right she misses the semis - stitched up by her 7 draw and having to go back to last in a pretty hot field

http://www.harness.org.au/racing/fields/race-fields/?mc=BN061120#BNC06112010

and Jilliby Sylvester who had won 5 of 8 (his first 5) was bolting in last place in his heat - early moves are the order of the night

http://www.harness.org.au/racing/fields/race-fields/?mc=BN061120#BNC06112008

[Messenger]

Emma Stewart had a good night qualifying 7 for the semis but I reckon she would have expected all 10 to (maybe 9 as you have to expect a little bad luck)

[Messenger]

Saturday's semi fields are out

http://www.harness.org.au/racing/fields/race-fields/?mc=MX141120

Emma Stewart has 5 in the 2yo Fillies 1st Semi but they should all finish first 6
It would be some feat but it wouldn't be surprising if all her 17 semi participants made the finals (I'll go with 15)
Clayton Tonkin has another 3 in his name

(I couldn't get the fields on HRV but HRA worked)

[Messenger]

As expected Emma Stewart produced the first 5 in the 2yo Fillies 1st Semi and 1st and 3rd in the 2nd Semi
- she could train the first 7 in the final! Congratulations to Anne again, LIR is a delight to watch
(Congratulations to Rick too with Final Peace making the 3yo Final)

[Messenger]

The draws

https://www.thetrots.com.au/news/articles/breeders-crown-barriers-drawn-as-we-count-down-to-finals/

3 semi winners drew 1

[Messenger]

Provided the emergency comes out Ladies In Red follows Tough Tilly out so IMO she wins as she is simply better than them

[Messenger]

$1.46m on offer on Saturday at Melton
and for an entree $265k the night before

[Messenger]

Owners Colours will be back (will have to unlearn the drivers' colours)

https://www.thetrots.com.au/news/articles/owner-colours-to-return-to-victorian-harness-racing/

[Messenger]

The money has come for Ladies In Red and she is now just about co-favourite with Tough Tilly at $2.15 - $2.20
They were probably just waiting to make sure she would be coming out of SR2 which she is - not because the emergency came out of 9 but stablemate Dangerous Hand (8) was scratched

[Messenger]

We no doubt have some very happy posters/owners tonight and I reckon Rick would be just as happy about Final Peace's 3rd as Anne is about her 2 magnificent ones

The track was so pegs biased for the pacers it was a bit of a joke. My thread asking if 12 horse finals were fair could be ammended to 'we needed 4/6 horse finals'
The exceptions were Lochinvar Art and Ladies In Red and the 2yo filly's win deserves to be bracketed with him on the night

Check out Ladies In Red's breeding to see why she is what she is, with this link to her 3rd dam on ClassicFamilies and open the little + boxes (you may have to register with ClassicFamilies since their cyber attack)

http://classicfamilies.net/CF/Descendants.aspx?HorseID=10034580

ps A fantastic night for the Tonkin-Stewart stable but I hope the colours worn tonight are once only - they look like a track suit top that the Carlton team might wear to the ground (they looked nothing when watching the races)

[Messenger]

The Silver/Consolation races are at Bendigo on Tuesday night
There are at least of couple of horses that looked like tired horses during the series going around in the hope of winning $10k instead of heading for a spell

http://www.harness.org.au/racing/fields/race-fields/?mc=BN241120

[Messenger]

10 different drivers won on Crown night
Particularly interesting IMO because with the Tonkin-Stewart team training 4 of them, once upon a time you might have expected those 4 to have all been driven by the same driver (as they were all their main hope)

Honorable mention to Chris Lang who had only 3 trots drives (in the big ones) and notched up two 2nds and a 3rd with their starting odds ranging from $19 - $26

[gutwagon]

Very happy with third place in the final after forth last year.
Closing the sprint lane would help with that pegs bias ! Yes we took advantage of it but she would have stayed 1 out if there was no sprint lane !

[gutwagon]

I notice they didn't interview D Douglas after his win. Would have been colourful !

[Messenger]

The 2yo and 3yo fillies ran some serious times in the Silver consolations at Bendigo tonight

http://www.harness.org.au/racing/fields/race-fields/?mc=BN241120

[gutwagon]

The 2yo's often run the fastest mile rate for the card now. It's just frightening, not sure how good it is for their longevity ? The sprint lane seems to cause many drivers to just run along for the whole race, no slowing tactics in the races now.

[aussiebreno]

The 2yo's often run the fastest mile rate for the card now. It's just frightening, not sure how good it is for their longevity ? The sprint lane seems to cause many drivers to just run along for the whole race, no slowing tactics in the races now.
Interested in how you make the judgement the sprint lane is the reason drivers run along?

[gutwagon]

Interested in how you make the judgement the sprint lane is the reason drivers run along?
Seems to have started since their introduction. If they stack them up like they used to they will often get out sprinted by the one on their back.

Just my opinion . One of several reasons, many tactics have gone from racing now, bigger tracks and smaller fields also contribute.

To me it seems the excitement has gone from racing, you only need to see the first 200m and the last 200m of the race now. Nothing much happens in between. Too many short races and almost no long races only middle distance.

[Messenger]

It may be a symptom of the fact that the dominant 2yo trainer trains them to lead and run hard

[aussiebreno]

Seems to have started since their introduction. If they stack them up like they used to they will often get out sprinted by the one on their back.


I'd have thought the quicker the leader goes the more advantage for the sprint lane horse. Zapping the leaders energy while sprint laner is getting the suck along - the advantage from wind resistance would greater the quicker they are going. If you've run along less likely to run a zipping final quarter, hard for sprint laner to make ground when its a zipping final quarter.