mckenzie

Some interesting analysis from Glen Boss

Chris Waller on how the Queen Elizabeth Stakes played out: "I don't know why they let the race unfold like that." "Most of my boys said it was out of their control but I think they all said that."

A brilliant front-running performance, but the lack of urgency from a few of those other riders makes you wonder what they were thinking. From the comments it seems C Williams was more excited about turning the tables on Cascadian whereas the other jocks think he was responsible for letting the leader get away.

I don't think Imperatriz is eligible being Australian trained.

They definitely seem computer generated. Look at Joliestar, a G1 winner at her last run at end of her last campaign, the comment says "Wasn't far away in Benchmark 68 company first-up last campaign. Consider." Why refer to a Benchmark 68 race 4 runs ago when she's since won the Thousand Guineas at Caulfield?

Not a total surprise, I remember hearing whispers a while ago that this season might be her last. Makes sense looking back now that they passed on the Everest to get G1 wins for her broodmare page.

I Wish I Win looked a run short to me. Interesting preparation.

I prefer the new, less cluttered broadcast. With the large majority now using the website or app to bet they can quickly access the odds and information for the race they want and the people who just want to enjoy the race being broadcast don't have to have those distracting graphics all over the screen, which as another poster mentioned were often for racing in the Australian bush or North America and wasn't of interest to a great many people.

Thought this was interesting: “She was all out and I remembered that in New Zealand when I rode her when I changed the whip over, she took off,” McDonald said. “She did it again today.

We produce world class horses but our local racing industry is lacking stars because the cream of every crop bred here gets exported. Even top NZ owned horses (Imperatriz, I Wish I Win etc) are now essentially Australian trained and won't race here ever again. As with most things, it comes down to a business decision. And racing in Australia is too lucrative to stay away from.

Yes I wondered if he'd be one of those three-year-olds that runs a big race in the Derby and never goes on with it but he really toughed it out today against a top filly who had the gun run.

The time slot seems strange to me. Wouldn't it make more sense on a Sunday morning? Surely more people would watch then rather than a Monday morning.

$350k in prizemoney if they can nab third, $100k for top 8, and $50k if you run last.

The Black Caps have a huge mental block playing Australia, especially in tests. They just seem to fold.

Four NZ breds are in the Australian Guineas this year, and of those you'd think Quintessa and Pendragon would have stayed here and run in The NZB Kiwi if it was around this year. Last year only one NZ bred went around in the Randwick Guineas.

I think other slot races will follow suit with the public auction. Seems a much better way to do it in terms of both publicity and transparency.

If that's the case it seems a bit pointless calling them the Avondale Cup & Avondale Guineas. Especially when the Cup used to be a quality G1 event and is now run at a different course over a different distance at a different time of year.

Here's the interview

Unfortunate to see her go, not just for our local racing but from a breeding perspective it's one less G1 winner that will go to stud here and leave progeny at the sales here.

I have heard some sports like netball say they get a good deal from Sky that allows them to put money back into the sport, but you have to weigh that up against the loss of interest from fans who don't have Sky. I know I watch more sport when it's on free to air as it's much easier to access. Many countries such as Australia have laws that important sports events must be free for all to view. For example much of the spring racing carnival has to be on free to air tv. I do wonder if the loss of interest in recent years in our local sports is because we don't promote them to the public like they do. The number of people who have Sky is decreasing and so a smaller and smaller audience is viewing these events.

Loyalty can be overrated. Look at how Elliot manages to find ways to get Legarto beaten. I think connections will be wondering 'what if' when JMac, Zahra, Shinn etc. are riding on the same card.

Interesting to hear several trainers lament the 13 day gap between the Railway and Telegraph. Perhaps the Telegraph would be better placed next Saturday rather than being run today.

Not sure but why do they still call it the Levin Classic? Made sense when it was run at Levin but seems odd to be still calling it that now.

Many of the fields seemed lacking compared to previous years despite the significant prizemoney increases.

The runner-up was pretty unlucky, getting pushed sideways when making her run.