Idolmite

Yes, he didn't look too steady last Friday night at all. Hopefully just a small glitch, but it doesn't give me a lot of confidence in a bigger and hotter field only a week later (although look at what MARK PURDON did with CHASE A DREAM in one week), plus the bad draw thrown if for good measure.

1/ OSCAR BONAVENA 2/ THE LOCOMOTIVE 3/ MUSCLE MOUNTAIN 4/ QUEEN ELIDA 5/ I'M READY JET 6/ ARCEE PHOENIX 7/ BET N WIN 8/ NOT AS PROMISED

1/ LEAP TO FAME 2/ DON HUGO 3/ MERLIN 4/ CHASE A DREAM 5/ DON'T STOP DREAMING 6/ REPUBLICANS PARTY 7/ DUCHESS MEGXIT 8/ OHOKA CONNOR 9/ PINSEEKER 10/ RAKERO ROCKET

After the drawn it looks like a bit of a no-win situation for most of the field really. The Aussies will be up front and won't look like stopping, and other than those in the trail or the 1-1 (DUCHESS MEGXIT and MERLIN?') aren't likely to get near them. DON'T STOP DREAMING does seem to go best when taken back, but he isn't going to win this race from 5-back on the pegs like he did last start at Auckland. He has never won a race at Cambridge either. He can't win if he goes back, nor can he win if he attempts to go forward really (unless something unexpectedly breaks), so driven for best possible place? I'd say 4th or 5th at best. Maybe we should all have a go at listing the finishing order, 1-10?

I see they've added the Aussie form now, sort of, but it's still all over the place and their most recent runs are all out of order, as well as other missing or incorrect information. 60 days since LEAP TO FAME'S most recent runs for example.

Not sure patience will be a virtue in THE RACE BY BETCHA. It's sure gunna be interesting.

Maybe. But there are certainly many instances where the numbers just do not at up when such stats/data should always add up.

I see "l AM MAXIMUS" is the third favourite for the Grand National at Aintree on Sunday morning. $6.50 chance. You'll be on?

What a ludicrous situation with regards Entain and this meeting - that they are sponsoring through Betcha and the TAB - in that their website doesn't cover ANY recent Australian form. There are 5 Aussie trotters in the field of 8, and 2 of the 10 runners in the pace are from Australia (7 of 18 overall). On top of that a number of the New Zealand chances (another 4 runners l think) have raced in Australia over the past few weeks, yet that form is missing too (the "last 5" form doesn't match the "last starts" form). So well over 50% of the runners (actually over 60% by my maths) form is not accurate on a night where they are competing for a cool $1.6 million dollars in what is really a NZ vs AUS competition. Deplorable. The form from last Friday night at Cambridge is all over the place too, included in some places but not others, and not always accurate. If they can't up and get it right for this one, when can we rely on them to get right?

Unless DON HUGO is so fast off the mobile arm - and we know DUCHESS MEGXIT isn't - that a gap opens up in the trailing position. If Ants was there with TACT MCLEOD they wouldn't hesitate to drop into said gap Yes, it's going to take a big effort for a local horse to finish in the top 2 in the pace. l can see MERLIN ending up in the 1-1 behind LTF and getting a good drag along, and he has an excellent course and distance record, but overall he's been a little disappointing this season. Last year he went into this with strong Aussie form, but this year not so much. Could still run third though, behind a LEAP TO FAME / DON HUGO dead heat for first.

Gone from "futures" now; betting thru the meeting code.

The weather forecast is looking absolutely appalling. A real shame for the club. Thank goodness I've got a nice close mobility park and a nice covered in dinner venue The back runners will need to be wearing a snorkel at least, the drivers oxygen tanks, goggles and flippers!!

Mo'unga, unlikely to start, $21 Ohoka Connor, has a start, $201

Well I'm assuming maybe that horses missing a stat (where the total number of wins doesn't match the good, soft and heavy wins added together) maybe won an an easy track before they were deleted from existence? Dunno. But I've noticed the same thing before myself, that We're Doomed mentioned above. Although maybe the stats just suck.

11148 1.Duchess Megxit(Fr1) Tony Herlihy T: Barry Purdon & Scott Phelan NBT SP 51111 2.Don Hugo(Fr2) Luke Mccarthy T: Luke Mccarthy NBT SP 13346 3.Republican Party(Fr3) Carter Dalgety (J) T: Cran & Chrissie Dalgety NBT SP 61626 4.Mo'unga(Fr4) - T: Regan Todd NBT SP 21811 5.Don't Stop Dreaming(Fr5) - T: Hayden & Amanda Cullen NBT SP 13213 6.Pinseeker(Fr6) Jonny Cox T: Jonny Cox NBT SP 32262 7.Merlin(Fr7) Zachary Butcher T: Barry Purdon & Scott Phelan NBT SP 21121 8.Leap To Fame(Fr8) Grant Dixon T: Grant Dixon NBT SP 0x891 9.Chase A Dream(Fr9) Mark Purdon T: Mark & Nathan Purdon NBT SP 72124 10.Rakero Rocket(Fr10) Gavin Smith T: Tom Bamford NBT SP 2x729 11.Ohoka Connor(Fr11) Tim Williams T: Steve & Amanda Telfer