Natalie Rasmussen day...

Wins the Lady Drivers race.
Wins the $200,000 NSW Oaks.
Wins the $200,000 Ladyship Mile in 1:47.7 breaking Friths heart.
2nd by a Half Head in $200,000 NSW Derby, set it up nicely to run the last 400 in 25.8! How could you be beaten doing that? Well its called Gavin Lang in a superb drive and of course a horse with a very fast sprint, well done Gav and team Stewart/Tonkin.
3rd in the $200,000 Chariots of Fire.
5 drives 11123.
Not bad!
Outside Beau and Adore Me, Nat was the star of the day!

Gavin Lang's drive in the Derby was the drive of the day. Nat put on a clinic again but I bet she left the track wishing she'd took it up a notch in the middle half.

Some very ordinary drives in the Chariots.

I was on the winner in the Chariots. On paper I thought he'd whip around after Morris held out Jerome to either find the lead or park. I saved on Bright and had the Quin. I couldn't believe it when Morris handed up to Jerome. By far the worst drive on the card. Totally stiffing a live chance. That camp needs to believe in their horses a little more and do their form.

congrats to her & their team for grabbing a large chunk of the prizemoney but her Derby tactics were worse than terrible imo.

Quote:

Originally Posted by brent_L

congrats to her & their team for grabbing a large chunk of the prizemoney but her Derby tactics were worse than terrible imo.

???

Kev, after the heats were run it was clear who had the fastest straight line speed. Nat did zero to combat this when Gav moved to the chair 1400m from home. imo

Quote:

Originally Posted by brent_L

Kev, after the heats were run it was clear who had the fastest straight line speed. Nat did zero to combat this when Gav moved to the chair 1400m from home. imo

a bit like i said at the start, if someone told you before the race she was going to lead and run the last 400 in 25.8, you would think theres no chance of being beaten, in hindsight yes, but pre race, if you knew that was gonna happen, how much would you put on at the 400?

Quote:

Originally Posted by brent_L

Kev, after the heats were run it was clear who had the fastest straight line speed. Nat did zero to combat this when Gav moved to the chair 1400m from home. imo

I am not sure what more you want Brent, you have your sprinter/main opposition in the Death and you run your last half in 53.9 and your last quarter in 25.8

I don't want any more....I was on the winner @ $12 & $3-. But I have zero doubt that I would have only been collecting for the place if she had of upped the anti as soon as her ONLY danger appeared on her outside hence taking the sprint out of IFR. She played into her oppositions hand.

Quote:

Originally Posted by brent_L

congrats to her & their team for grabbing a large chunk of the prizemoney but her Derby tactics were worse than terrible imo.

Gee Wizz Brent I think you might be a hard task master. I bet Nat was pleased she was not driving for you :), what else should she had done? It's fine to say she should have gone faster, but how much and in which of split of the last mile? Misses it by half a head.............

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maorisidol

a bit like i said at the start, if someone told you before the race she was going to lead and run the last 400 in 25.8, you would think theres no chance of being beaten, in hindsight yes, but pre race, if you knew that was gonna happen, how much would you put on at the 400?

I get your drift mate & I'm just rehashing the ^ but in doing the form IFR was clearly the faster horse so surely it's best to burn all the way around the final turn so that the faster horse also then needs to be the stronger horse. Perhaps the result might not have changed as IFR looks a real nice type, but I do agree with Bob in that Gav clearly out pointed Nat in that one.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Race For Fun

Gee Wizz Brent I think you might be a hard task master. I bet Nat was pleased she was not driving for you :), what else should she had done? It's fine to say she should have gone faster, but how much and in which of split of the last mile? Misses it by half a head.............

I am no doubt a hard task master and I feel deeply sorry for my missus 24/7 but that's a different story. i think its pretty straight forward.....sectionals similar to that of the Oaks she won, or 'Panella' tactics if u will. My opinion seems to be way off others here (perhaps apart from Bob) which does surprise me a little. I remember thinking that as soon as Gav made the move that Nat would make him pay.....she didn't, so maybe I was wrong both then & now. Don't think so though.

p.s Nat is no doubt a champ and has forgotten more than I'll ever know

Quote:

Originally Posted by brent_L

I am no doubt a hard task master and I feel deeply sorry for my missus 24/7 but that's a different story. i think its pretty straight forward.....sectionals similar to that of the Oaks she won, or 'Panella' tactics if u will. My opinion seems to be way off others here (perhaps apart from Bob) which does surprise me a little. I remember thinking that as soon as Gav made the move that Nat would make him pay.....she didn't, so maybe I was wrong both then & now. Don't think so though.

p.s Nat is no doubt a champ and has forgotten more than I'll ever know

I think that's why the drive on the winner was so good mate. He let her think she was going that little bit quicker than she was. The 53.9 was too top heavy. Panella wins that race in Q3 : )

1 Attachment(s)

What did I say wrong?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Danno

some of the shit I am unfortunate enough to read on here!

Gee I reckon you all should get a licence! you'd be smashing in the winners hey? with all that knowledge!

The only one making any sense at all is Toni.

Give some of you a bit of a heads up,

when your on the track....you cannot....

a) change your mind and refresh the page

b) automatically know EXACTLY the speed you are travelling at

c) know the strategies of all the other players

d) have a multi faceted set of cameras portraying the action behind you.

ANNDDD! you actually have to be able to DRIVE HORSES...in a way they ( the horses) understand, you just can't learn that on the internet, sorry guys, there is a shitlaod of material on the internet that can make many people feel smarter than they actually are BUT driving horses is not one of them even though you are collectively convincing yourselves you can....

Haven't posted in this thread so I feel safe...for now.
This is generally speaking in regards to commenting on drivers, not specifically for this case.

I'm not saying I could do what Andrew Johns can do, but I make judgements of players like Jamie Soward, James Maloney etc in comparison to Johns. I'm not saying I could be Prime Minister, but I've made judgements on Shorten and Abbott and my local members - in fact it is compulsory to do so.
If we cannot make judgements - negative or positive - on politicians, footballers, drivers how can we then heap praise on them for good drives? Is commending a driver to be met with the same "You don't know what you are talking about?"

You are right that no driver, (and most certainly not myself) can change their mind and refresh the page, know the exact speed, know the strategies and have a rear vision camera. But at times and fairly regularly I've seen Dexter Dunn, Chris Alford, Nathan Jack, Kerryn Manning do stuff with the ease of Andrew Johns that makes it appear that those drivers can indeed refresh the page, know the exact speed and know exactly what is going in with other runners. Just because I myself have no idea how to do that, I can see top quality drivers can. I can also see when other drivers make mistakes. The average is the middle, there is always going to be half the drives better than average and the other half worse than average and there is no escaping that.