Cracks beginning to appear in Australia’s form
But that is the case with the European handicappers this week giving the Hamburg hero, Sea The Moon, a provisional rating ahead of Australia.
Such a scenario would have been quite unthinkable, after Australia had won at Epsom, but cracks in his form have started to appear and so impressive was Sea The Moon in Germany that it was inevitable he would at least be rated on a par with Australia. The handicappers, in their infinite wisdom, however, have gone a step further.
Australia’s success in the Irish Derby is irrelevant and his current standing is based very much on both the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket and the Epsom Derby.
That Epsom contest was hardly given a major boost by the display of the runner-up, Kingston Hill, in the Eclipse at Sandown last Saturday.
You can argue the ten furlongs was on the short side for him, but he did perform moderately enough all of the same to finish fourth.
I mean he couldn’t cope with 100-1 shot Somewhat, who was a place and a length and a quarter in front of him.
The simple fact is that Somewhat went into the race on a mark that was 18lbs below Kingston Hill and the latter should have been able to beat him over five furlongs!
Then there was the performance of Night Of Thunder, the Newmarket 2000 Guineas winner — Australia was third — who could only finish eighth of nine in the Eclipse.
Now you can make the case that ten furlongs was too far for Night Of Thunder, but one does grow weary of listening to excuses.
And then I can hear screams that whatever about Night Of Thunder in the 2000 Guineas, the horse he beat there, Kingman, more than upheld the form in the St James’ Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot.
Well yes, but the beastie Kingman beat at Royal Ascot was, of course, none other than... Night Of Thunder.
Essentially, what we are saying is that right now there is no great substance to Australia’s overall form and he still has it to prove, if the superlatives that have been hurled in his direction are to prove in any way accurate.
A pal of mine who is very much involved in the industry — he’s not a bookmaker — is, I suspect, Australia’s biggest critic.
He has repeatedly texted of late knocking the horse and theorises that Australia will wait to win a bad Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown and then won’t be seen again.
Well, that theory was shot out of the water on Thursday when it was revealed that Australia will head for the Juddmonte at York in August, before heading to Leopardstown.
Oh, and one other thing, how did Roger Varian decide that the ground was okay for Kingston Hill at Sandown on Saturday, after concluding it was too fast for his horse the weekend before for the Irish Derby at the Curragh?
The official ground at the Curragh was good to firm. At Sandown it was given as good to firm, firm in places on the round course. Now ain’t that puzzling?
And then, of course, there was Geoffrey Chaucer, taken out of the Irish Derby on the day of the race, Saturday, after reportedly coughing.
He had recovered sufficiently, though, by the Monday to be supplemented into the German Derby at a cost of €65,000. The way he ran he must have still been coughing!
we placed our faith in a horse of Ger Lyons’ called Ice Echo in a maiden over a mile.
To my way of thinking he represented really good value at around 2-1 and so the cash was duly shovelled in his direction.
Early in the straight, you just knew it was going to be tight between himself and Dermot Weld’s newcomer, Bleu Ciel Et Rouge, but that our lad was going to prevail and the lovely lolly was returning to a good home.
But then Ice Echo jumped a path that runs across the track inside the furlong pole and lost momentum.
Suddenly, we were in deep you know what and the pair then flashed across the line locked together.
Thankfully, the dear old judge’s sight was in perfect working order. He duly nodded in our direction and all was well with the world.
But is it really good enough that a path can play such a major part in the outcome of a race?
A colleague in the press-room at Limerick on Sunday made the point that “well, the path has always been there’’, which is fair enough.
But let’s take an example of a guy who had been having sex with another man’s wife for say ten years and finally got caught. If his only defence was: “I have always been doing it’’, then you’d imagine it might be in his best interests if, as a get-out clause, he was capable of running like hell!
The point is just because something has always been there, or someone has always done something, that doesn’t necessarily make it okay. So there!
