Anyone interested in the race this year? 19 days to go. I can't see any horses other than Xcellent and Cheval de Troy finishing in the first 2. Cedar Manor for 3rd maybe. As for who will win between those first 2, I heard someone say once that a good colt will always beat a good gelding, so CDT it is.
Anyone else care and have any thoughts?
fk'n cedar manor. i had $2 on him to win a few months back. and what does he do? he wins but then gets disqualified. i will have my vengence in this life or the next
"Matt Damon"
I care but haven't really looked at the nominations - more of a harness man myself. However, I will have a punt on Fixed Odds over the next week or two, just in case I can't get to a TAB on Boxing Day.
Xcellent has been going very nicely indeed.
Cedar Manor for me, To me seems a very good Horse
yeh, harness racing is betterOriginally Posted by Voltman
Fair enough. I've never really enjoyed harness for some reason, just something about the thoroughbreds that I love watching. Hate the winters though with jumps races and heavy tracks. Love the firm tracks in summer and 1200m in 1:08, stuff like that.
He is good, but he hasn't won on a firm track yet and since Ellerslie is firm 9 years out of 10 on Derby day, that is my doubt about him.
Im not really up to scratch on NZ racing so i wouldn't be putting my house on him but i just liked what i have seen of him...
Think he can go a long way...
the biggest spectical for me is easily the nz trotting cup (pacers btw). it's a week after the melbourne cup and i always enjoy it. it's cool
Unbeliveable. Cheval De Troy won the Bonecrusher Stakes, one of the main Derby leadups, by 5 and a half lengths easing up, after being 3 wide throughout the first half of the race. Phenomenal performance. Is now $2.50 favourite for the Derby in 14 days time, and I really can't see him being beaten on today's run.
Mandela was also impressive with a narrow win in the Avondale Guineas, probably a better quality field. He is now $4.50 second choice, with the unbeaten Xcellent 3rd favourite at $6.50. Cedar Manor was 5th in the Avondale Guineas, couldn't find a gap with 300m to go but was in the clear in the last 200 and really should have performed better I think, he has drifted to $15 on the TAB market.
That was one of the most exciting races I've ever seen. The weather was decent, track officially easy but horses don't run sprints in 1:09.59 on easy tracks...it was firm, don't know why they didn't upgrade. Crowd was possibly the biggest I've seen at a racecourse (haven't been going for that long though), really massive. 18,000 would be my guess.
As for the race...after all the media hype about him, Cheval de Troy went out one of the hottest favourites in Derby history, $1.90 if I remember right. But it wasn't his day. He came 4th, ran around a bit in the straight which cost him 3rd or maybe even 2nd place, but he would never have beaten the winner. His name is XCELLENT. He has now had 3 starts for 3 wins. A really amazing performance to come from 4th last with 600m to go and circle the field the way he did.
1st XCELLENT
2nd MANDELA
3rd KING JOHNY
Time: 2:32.01, 3 seconds slower than the race before, the Queen Elizabeth Handicap over the same distance, because of very slow pace set by Danz Star.
As the commentator said, horses just don't win the Derby at their 3rd start. Freakish horse.
Xcellent winning the Derby will be my avatar for the next year.
how does the derby qualify as the biggest race in nz. the auckland is way better...way way better
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