Spring Racing Season 2009 - week 2

Mic Mac at Moonee Valley – 14 February 2009

Well I hope the season is not going to continue as it started with surprising results and long shot elderly winners. Good for the punters perhaps, if they were lucky enough to pick them. Veteran, Let Go Thommo won the Bletchingly Stakes and Teasing won the Missile Stakes last weekend. I seem to have put the kiss of death on Amelia’s Dream by mentioning her last entry; since then she has been retired having sustained the same injury that previously put a stop to her racing career. So we’ll never know just how good she could have been.

The Auries Star Handicap this coming Saturday appears to be the most interesting competition on the cards. It sees the return of El Segundo, winner of the 2007 Cox Plate who has not raced for some time, being sidelined by injury and enjoying a long break. Also in the field is Mic Mac who performed very well in the autumn racing season winning five races in succession. Other runners, likely to be in contention are Gran Sasso, Grand Duels, New Zealander Rios and All American of whom much was expected when he was a juvenile.

I’ll also be following the fortunes of Augusta Proud again in the Group 3 Spring Gully Spring Stakes in Adelaide. She has drawn a wide barrier, so may have difficulty in scoring a win this time around.

And good news for those keen to follow a stable of horses over the Australian Spring Carnival, the The Shu’s, Spring Super Stable is back and open for entries on the Racing & Sports forum.

It’s a great competition where the only gain is fame and glory, This competition was the first of its kind, and I even won it in 2004. To participate, you will need to register for a member account on Racing & Sports. It’s free and has some handy features like a black book service, which notifies you by email when horses in your personal black book are running, and also sends you the results.

As usual the competition involves purchasing a stable of seven horses with a virtual $1 million to spend. It is my strategy to purchase the best horses I can from the set price list. I am in the process of selecting my 2009 stable, but will wait until after the weekend before submitting my final stable. The price list is set by The Shu based on his Horse of the Year calculations and assessments.