Will The Championships ever outshine Melbourne’s Spring Carnival?
THE Championships are done and dusted for another year, so it’s time to reflect on what was an incredibly-successful and exciting carnival.
While it’s often unfairly-compared to Melbourne’s spring carnival, The Championships have grown to the point that punters are arguably watching a better racing product at Randwick than they may be at Flemington this spring. Crowds are up, punting numbers are up, prize money is up and we expect the carnival to continue to go from strength to strength.
At the centre of the celebration was champion mare Winx, which captivated the racing audience with a stellar Doncaster Handicap win. The Chris Waller-trained superstar brought casual racing fans off their couches and on to the Royal Randwick track to see one of our greatest thoroughbreds of our generation in action.
Not only was it a stellar atmosphere on the track, but a movie could have been made about the betting fluctuations. Winx opened at $2, which most punters thought was a good price for a Cox Plate champion, but punters couldn’t have predicted its drift in the odds pre-race. Winx drifted out to $2.35 at one stage with bookmaker Sportsbet.com.au and we considered that as a very early Christmas present.
The $2.35 was a gift and the punters knew it. Winx was bet down to $1.80 before the jump and the money was never in doubt. Winx showed a great turn-of-foot to beat Happy Clapper and Azkadellia.
Winx is an incredible talent and one the racing public shouldn’t take lightly. The mare is a true thoroughbred star which lets its results do the talking. We look forward to seeing it defend the Cox Plate later this year at Moonee Valley.
The Kiwis are here to stay
The Championships also featured a large New Zealand contingent and they cleaned up. New Zealand-trained horses took both the Australian Derby (Tavago) and the Australian Oaks (Sofia Rosa) and had a hand in a few other notable wins.
Queen Elizabeth Stakes winner Lucia Valentina is a former Kiwi thoroughbred which is now trained by Kris Lees at Newcastle. The quality mare has a strong following across the Tasman and it continued the good run from former Kiwi horses, which also included Queen Of The Turf-winner, Azkadellia.
The domination of New Zealand runners at the three-year-old staying level should be concerning for the local Australian product. New Zealand horses have always had a strong staying stable, but now they’re beginning to take the age group races too.
More Kiwi runners are coming over for the Brisbane winter carnival where they usually go well and all the major races can be bet on at CrownBet.com.au.
Country champions rewarded on the big stage
The Championships also featured the Provincial and Country Championships Finals.
The country-trained horses competed for a purse of $400,000 and it was great to see the battlers of the industry get their chances to shine on the world stage.
Clearly Innocent was the early elect for punters, but after a mishap in the stalls prior to the run, the money shifted away from the Greg Bennett runner. As the money shifted, so did the confidence of punters as Clearly Innocent drifted from $2.40 to $4.40. No one told the horse, however, as Tommy Berry guided it up the inside of runners to clear out for an easy win. The early fixed odds punters breathed a sigh of relief.
The Provincial Championship Final was just as exciting as Kris Lees saddled up the quinella with Danish Twist and outsider Powerline. Danish Twist paid $6 with Sportsbet.com.au and Powerline paid over double that for the place ($14.80). Lees also trained the fourth-placed horse with Zestful which kicked off a memorable day for Lees who later trained Lucia Valentina later on the card.
One of the standout performances during the carnival was that of Yankee Rose for trainer David Vandyke. Yankee Rose finished second in the Golden Slipper earlier this year and proved far too good for its rivals in the Group 1 Sires’ Produce Stakes on the first day of The Championships.
Vandyke is departing Sydney for the warmer climate of Queensland and to win a major race was his career highlight. Yankee Rose will likely line up in the Group 1 Champagne Stakes this Saturday, but there has been concern for punters that took the $1.45 with WilliamHill.com.au.
Yankee Rose is showing signs of mild lameness and a synthetic hoof filler will be used this week. Reports state the filly is improving and $1.50 is now on offer at Sportsbet.
We can’t wait for the 2017 Championships and it’s never too late to sign up and get in early with CrownBet.com.au.