Skip to main content

Cordina Sprint preview

With the Melbourne spring carnival, some of the lesser-known diamonds in Australian racing appear over the next few weeks - the Ballarat Cup, Super Saturday at Ascot in Perth, and not to be outdone, harness racing (the trots) gears up towards the Miracle Mile and the Gloucester Park Summer Carnival.

Aspiring journalist and keen harness racing enthusiast Thomas Hudson, @tommyhud9, makes his blog debut with a look at the final qualifier for next week's Miracle Mile.

--------------------

Cordina Chicken Farms Sprint Preview

The Miracle Mile Carnival rolls on this Saturday night as the $100000 Cordina Chicken Farms Sprint takes place at Tabcorp Park Menangle. The race provides the 10 competitors a final chance to secure an invitation to next week’s Grand Circuit event. Five names have already been confirmed in what is shaping up as one of the strongest Miracle Mile fields in recent memory, with last year’s champion Beautide proving he is once again the one to beat with some dominant victories in recent weeks.

As with the vast majority of Group 1 mile races at Menangle, a very fast first quarter is ensured this Saturday with a number of noted leaders and on-speed runners in the Cordina field. Blazin N Cullen, Mark Dennis, Devil Dodger and Bettor Bet Black will all fancy their chances of getting to the fence in the charge to the first turn, but the lightning-fast Suave Stuey Lombo, with a driver hell-bent on leading aboard in Lauren Panella, will be aiming to bullock its way to the lead and is expected to do so. The Shane Tritton trained gelding (currently trading at $1.30 with TAB.com.au), has enjoyed a stellar season thus far winning three of its five starts, with two of those victories coming over Beautide. This class factor leads many to believe the horse affectionately known as ‘Stuey’ will be winning this Saturday night and booking his place in the Miracle Mile.

Betting markets indicate that it is hard to find a horse capable of causing an upset, however Belinda McCarthy’s 4-year-old superstar Bling It On currently sits as second favourite ($4.50). This horse is a somewhat unknown quantity in these open class events, but his record as a two and three-year-old is nothing short of incredible with the horse boasting a 72% win record and having already earned upwards of $700000 in prize money. It will be very interesting to see whether or not the star youngster can mix it with his more tried and tested rivals.

Of the rest of the field, a lot of the chances will depend on the outcome of the early speed battle spoken about previously. Victorian trainer David Aiken brings Cold Major to Menangle to add an extra element of mystery to the race, while fellow talented Victorian Abettorpunt will be trying to improve on last week’s fifth placing in the Coca-Cola sprint.

John Tapp’s Menangle fast-class regular Chariot King will throw its hat into the ring yet again, while one of Shane Tritton’s other entrants into the race, Laterron, has been in top form since coming to the stable and is an outside chance.

Several quality races surround the Cordina Sprint on Saturday night, with heats of the Beautide championship continuing for the M0s. Three heats of the Smoken Up championship also take place on the night, featuring some of the region’s best open class horses. The square gaiters get a run in the final event, as the second heat of the Franco Australian Trotters championship takes place.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Spot-fixing - you will never, ever be able to stop it

According to this report , IPL tournaments so far have been rife with spot-fixing - that is fixing minor elements of the game - runs in a single over, number of wides bowled etc. The curious part of that article is that the Income Tax department are supposed to have found these crimes. What idiot would be stupid enough to put down 'big wad of cash handed to me by bookie' as a source of income? Backhanders for sportsmen, particularly in a celebrity- and cricket-obsessed culture like India are not rare. They could come from anything like turning up to open someone's new business (not a sponsor, but a 'friend of a friend' arrangement), to being a guest at some devoted fan's dinner party etc. The opportunities are always there, and there will always be people trying to become friends with players and their entourage - that is human nature. This form of match-fixing (and it's not really fixing a match, just a minor element of it) is very hard to prove, but also, ...

lay the field - my favourite racing strategy

Dabbling with laying the field in-running at various prices today, not just one price, but several in the same race. Got several matched in the previous race at Brighton, then this race came along at Nottingham. Such a long straight at Nottingham makes punters often over-react and think the finish line is closer than it actually is. As you can see by the number of bets matched, there was plenty of volatility in this in-play market. It's rare you'll get a complete wipe-out with one horse getting matched at all levels, but it can happen, so don't give yourself too much risk...

It's all gone Pete Tong at Betfair!

The Christmas Hurdle from Leopardstown, a good Grade 2 race during the holiday period. But now it will go into history as the race which brought Betfair down. Over £21m at odds of 29 available on Voler La Vedette in-running - that's a potential liability of over £500m. You might think that's a bit suspicious, something's fishy, especially with the horse starting at a Betfair SP of 2.96. Well, this wasn't a horse being stopped by a jockey either - the bloody horse won! Look at what was matched at 29. Split that in half and multiply by 28 for the actual liability for the layer(s). (Matched amounts always shown as double the backers' stake, never counts the layers' risk). There's no way a Betfair client would have £600m+ in their account. Maybe £20 or even £50m from the massive syndicates who regard(ed) Betfair as safer than any bank, but not £600m. So the error has to be something technical. However, rumour has it, a helpdesk reply (not gospel, natur...