Caulfield Guineas Late Mail!

Just some quick thoughts, 

The best dry track runs behind Samantha Miss all season came two starts ago from the duo Kimillsy and Glowlamp. I for one think that those runs will be good enough to win here. 

As far as the home trackers go, Taameer and Dan Baroness have done nothing wrong and the price is definitely right!

Portillo's best runs in the spring have had some give in the track, and the $6 on it seems like a poor decision right now.

I'll take Glowlamp from Kimillsy, Taameer and Dan Baroness. All paying enough to keep you very interested.

Star Stable Week 2 in review!

Well it was a good weekend for the Calgary Roughriders with the big win of Whobegotyou and a nice third to Guillotine. 

The Captain, manager of the other Roughriders is preaching a return to fundamentals this week, with the bright spot a third to Von Costa de Hero. 

A momentum switch could come in tomorrows Guineas - the Roughriders saddle up Romneya and the Calgary Roughriders, well they saddle up nothing.

At this stage the score reads 1.5 Million to 800,000! This could be flattering, as the Calgary Roughriders stable jockey, Craig Williams has shown ineptitude of the highest order this spring. 

According to the Captain, "the Roughriders should be all the better for recent racing." 

Fuck you FIA. Fuck you Ferrari.

Lewis Hamilton admits he caused a bit of a fracas into the first corner and cops a penalty. Fair enough. Massa effectively takes him out of the race and gets a penalty. Not enough. Massa then has an incident with Sebastian Bourdais who is emerging from the pits and clearly has the inside line. Bourdais gets a penalty and Massa another point. Can the FIA please get their cocks out of the mouths of Ferrari? This shit has been going on for years. Sure, everyone who doesn't support McLaren gets a hard-on for Ferrari, but stripping a guy of one of his best results of the year so you can make the Championship a bit closer...get fucked you fucking poofters! How can an organisation such as this show so much bias? If it was Hamilton who tangled with Bourdais he would have been stripped of all points and given a suspended sentence. But Massa can drive like a fucking r'tard and get away with it. "Oh, we love you Ferrari, your drivers can do no wrong, we wouldn't want to offend the Italians". What a load of shit. Sanity will prevail, Hamilton will win the Championship and Ferrari and the FIA can go suck their balls, from here to high heaven. Captain out.

Weekend Shenanigans

The Captain's Star Stable Week 2:

Transfers out: Red Lord and Zarita

Transfers in: Fernandina and Von Costa De Hero

Shirtman and I have seen the terrific value to be had in Fernandina. Von Costa De Hero can look average until the big Group 1 races. Think he's been looking for this trip all along. In terms of the Star Stable, the Guineas is the one we all need to nail tomorrow...a cool $600,000 for the winner!

Shane Watson, you are rubbish. You have no place in the Australian Test side at 6. You have no place in the Test side bowling. Test cricket is not IPL T20 hit 'n' giggle son.

No EPL this weekend. What the hell am I suppose to do when I get home from the pub on Saturday night?!

Week 2 star stable.

It will be a somewhat quiet week in Professor's star stable this week.

Having all 10 of my horses run last week means that this week, I had only 2 of my current stable backing up; Raheeb and Guillotine. Not a terrible pair to be banking on by any means, Guillotine is a great chance in the Yalumba and Raheeb will be a big improver on a dry track in the Toorak.

Most of the cash for the day is coming from the Guineas, as such I want to have a couple of runners in that race. I have cut two high priced horses who I think are done for the spring - Mentality (there are no real $$$ left in Sydney) and Weekend Hussler (You can stick a fork in him by Cox plate day if R Mc keeps this program of his). In are Whobegotyou and Dreamscape. These two are big chances in the Guineas. May not see my $$ due to there being some better value bets in the Guineas - but they are deserved favourites. 

Australia vs India

I can't remember the last time I've looked forward to a series less. This is for a variety of reasons, but primarily, because of the alarming level of boringness in the current Australian squad. No Warney. No Pidge. No Hoggy. No Boof. Just boring, lifeless, cricket robots. Other reasons to not look forward to watching this series include Ponting's dubious captaincy and Jason Krejza's/Cameron White's bowling. Honestly, how can it be that these two are our best Test spinning options? What has the fine art of spin bowling come to in this country? Above all, this series will be hard to watch as there is a very real chance that we will get thrashed unmercifully. I am looking forward to seeing some cricket but I fear that the spectacle of this series will be as appealing to watch as Mark Skaife winning Bathurst.

Things you'll see:

Harbajhan being a tosser, the boring Aussies reporting him after the day's play rather than cocking the fists, Lillee-style.


Either Jason Krejza or Cameron White geting smashed all around and out of the ground.

Harbhajan being a tosser. Aussies being tossers back.

Silly crowd banners.

Harbhajan being a tosser, making chimpanzee noises.

Crowd making chimpanzee noises, scratching under their armpits.

Harbhajan being a tosser, then realises that Symonds isn't even playing. Stops making chimpanzee noises, continues being a tosser.


Ponting winning the toss on a heavenly day 1 batting deck (after Stuart Clark withdraws citing some dodgy curry the night before)..."We'll have a bowl"...

India smacking 450 on day one (Krejza/White, 0/168) for the loss of two wickets.

2008 Kelt Capital Stakes, Princess Coup

Princess Coup looks a very good chance for the Cox on this run.
Red Ruler put in a nicer Caulfield Cup trial than Nom de Jeu one thinks.

2008 Craven Plate, Lorne Dancer

The only real cups interest here was Ice chariot who hates the wet.

Riva San, loves the wet and couldn't win this pretty poor affair. Discuss.

Studebaker or Elvis?

In the past 20 years, 4 horses have won the Turnbull-Cox Plate double. And these have been Super horses, Makybe Diva, Northerly, Phantom Agent and Better Loosen Up.

In that same time period, 4 horses have won the Turnbull-Caulfield Cup double. Northerly (who won the Cox-Caulfield and Turnbull in the same year), Elvestroem, Sky Heights and Lets Elope.

Turnbull-Melbourne Cup winners? Well, that's even less frequent: Makybe Diva in 2005 and Let's Elope in 1991.

So should we throw the form from the Turnbull away or not? Does Littorio have a spring that follows the illustrious path of a Elvestroem, or are we looking at a career highlight, Sphenophyta style?

Two reasons for optimism: 1) Littorio has put together a body of work this spring that has looked fantastic as a whole. A big win yesterday and two fast finishing runs over unsuitable trips prior to this. 2) Has a stayers pedigree - whilst he has looked a non-winner in the past, he always looked a good older horse - so this is no fluke spring.

The reason for being a little pessimistic? We could be looking at a true vintage crop (pardon the pun) of stayers this year. Even in the absence of Tuesday Joy, there were four runs behind Littorio that you have to take a longer look at:

2) Master O'Reilly: Long Run. A Sustained 300 meter run from the turn. Very, Very strong.

3) Zipping: Took a while to respond to being shaken up. Tried to follow Master O'Reilly, but couldn't respond. The good news was that his run had a lot more pace to it than that of Master O, with a fitness edge, this could be the one.

4) Efficient: A very nice run. 2000 is far too short. 2400 will be still too short, but if he runs and there is pace??

5) Guillotine: Ran on pace for fitness? Stuck on better than the more fancied types. Did almost everything wrong, pulled for the first 1000 metres, couldn't find a run when he tried to shake it up. Think that with a gear change and some average luck, he could have been winning this.

There you have it. Too much ink has been devoted to the poor run of the Hussler, but you can add Maldivian to that pile. This years Turnbull was a showcase for the countries best stayers, and you have to think that it will provide a better lot of form than Turnbulls past.

So there are five stayers that I am working around over the spring.

The Calgary Roughriders

My stable has focussed on the 5 big races of the weekend. I also don't want to have to make too many changes for the Cox, Caulfield and Melbourne Cups so I whilst my XI are all going this weekend, there is a definite eye on the big prizes on offer on Super Saturday;

1) Weekend Hussler. Probably too good in the Turnbull this weekend, and keeping him around for the Coxxy. Expensive at $250K, but will be a lock for some $$$ this weekend and beyond.

2) The Turnbull: Guillotine and Littorio. Great chances for $$$ behind the champ, and for me the two that could roll the Hussler this weekend. Here as well, because I want them around for the Caulfield where they are my two favourites.

3) Epsom: Mentality and Raheeb. A nice little duo for a total cost of $150K.

4) The Metrop: You forget about the metrop when you plan your super Saturday. But you shouldn't here. Biggest prizemoney on offer (equal with the Epsom) and you can pick up the nice duo of Red Lord and Bianca for $150K. By the way, the Lord probably has a better race in him, so not a bad one to keep around.

5) Three year old racing: Two big prizemoney races in the Flight and the Spring champion. Taking the Miss, Rhyno Chaser and Predatory Pricer should see a pickup in both.

These Roughriders will simply be too good for the Captains Roughriders. And Shirtman, too good for him as well!

Craig Williams to ride. I abhor you, Glen Boss.