Racing can be a tough game for owners and a classic example of this is for Dynamic owners in
BORIS BADENOV who go to the races at Canterbury for the first time in race 2 - a 1200m Maiden.
BORIS BADENOV - 3yo colt by Magic Albert ex Badinov's Babe. Named after the naughty Russian Spy from the Rocky & Bullwinkle cartoon show. (And he's living up to his name!)
Wow - Some Maiden ! The Big Sports Breakfast Maiden Plate is certainly of well above average quality for this type of race as evidenced by the fact it contains three (3) stakes placed gallopers each resuming.
We encounter Group 1 placegetter Fuerza, who also ran close up 2nds in the Inglis Nursery and the Inglis Classic.
Then there is War – who ran second to Whittington on debut in the Breeders Plate at its only start.
The other well performed horse is Eastern Dragon who ran third in a Gr3 in New Zealand last preparation.
Added to the mix are three horses who have trialled extremely well. Church Boy has had a flashing light on him in his lead in trials while the wraps about the Tim Martin trained Charge Missile would create a shortage of wrapping paper at Christmas.
Then there is our own bad boy – BORIS BADENOV.
He has trialled very well and under normal maiden conditions would expect him to be very difficult to beat. However he still does a lot wrong in racecraft, due to inexperience and he will be so much better next preparation with a small gear change making him 2 stone lighter, but there is little doubt on what he has shown, he has serious ability.
Regarding this event, there is a lot of interest in the race at Canterbury, as the whispers around about many of these runners suggest that several could play dominant roles in the Spring.
So how unlucky are the owners of Boris Badenov to run into a race like this ?
Unfortunately, it highlights again the poor race programming for 3yo’s at this time of year where there are not enough races programmed.
It’s far too difficult for the majority of 3yo’s to race against older horses. At Weight-For-Age 4yo’s receive 58.5Kgs whilst 3yo’s get 51.5 Kgs – That’s recognising that there is a 7.0 kgs difference required due to physical development that comes with age.
Yet under Maiden Plate races, males 4yo’s get 58.0kgs and 3yo’s get 55.5. That’s just 2.5kgs. It’s simply not enough unless you happen to fluke a real weak set of acceptors. 4.5kgs = 3 lengths. Young 3yo's, many who are actually still physically only 2yo's by their date of birth just can't give away 3 lengths in handicap weight and be competitive.
A review of this race at Canterbury on Wednesday shows:
Fuerza: This colt resumes off an excellent two-year-old season which culminated in a narrow second behind Guelph in the Group 1 Champagne Stakes (1600m).
Other notable efforts include minor placings in both the Pago Pago Stakes (1200m) and the Fernhill (1600m).
Fuerza possesses a Timeform rating of 115 from his Champagne Stakes effort while the majority of career runs assessed in the high 90’s range also auger well for his chances.
The son of Snippetson came close to stealing the Champagne Stakes when attempting to make all and was only collared late in a photo finish by the Peter Snowden-trained Guelph. Dropping back to a set weight maiden, Fuerza really does appear pitchforked into the event, meeting his less experienced, lower rated rivals on equal terms.
The blinkers are removed for his first up assignment but from barrier 12, the three-year-old should still roll forward. Even with the blinkers removed, seeing him settle outside of the first three would come as a surprise
War: A beautifully bred colt who also resumes in the Maiden Plate despite possessing black type. Waterhouse has given the son of More Than Ready a generous spell after he ran second in the Breeders Plate (1000m) behind stablemate Whittington. His debut effort yielded a Timeform figure of 92. Four pounds shy of Fuerza’s career worst figure but showed there was plenty of scope for improvement. Belonging to the highly acclaimed Joie Denise family, the Waterhouse stable have held an opinion of the colt from an early stage and a bold showing is expected. War is another in the contest who should roll forward from an outside barrier.
Eastern Dragon: He commenced his career with a four start preparation in New Zealand.
Those four runs produced a Timeform rating of 98 achieved when placing in the Group 3 Eclipse Stakes (1200m) at Ellerslie on New Years Day.
Today’s 3YO set weight maiden appears to be just a stepping stone into stakes races for the above mentioned trio where early signs suggest they can prove competitive.
A race with this sort of complexion generally isn’t an ideal race for form analysis with questions having to be raised surrounding the debutants and the strength of their trial form. Debutants competing against stakes performed gallopers generally aren’t finding themselves in an ideal race to commence their careers and barring a very strong market push, you would normally just sit back and observe how they perform.
Church Boy showed encouraging signs during a pair of trials last month.
Charge Missile didn’t trial as well but the Tim Martin stable are known to have a runner ready on debut and the money in early markets suggest its going to be very competitive.
BORIS BADENOV – has the ability on the training tracks but this is a hot race.
In Review - With a Group 1 placing under his belt though, it is Fuerza who appears to have the edge required over War and should be shedding that unwanted maiden tag at Canterbury today. Whilst it would not surprise anyone if our bad boy BORIS BADENOV performed strongly so long as he brings his manors to the races with him.
We wish all our owners good fortune in the run.