15/06/16
I always rate the Ipswich Cup as one of the worst black type races that is run in Queensland annually, so to be balanced and fair to the race, I always like to go back annually in Ipswich Cup week and do some of my usual high quality research into what has happened to the horses that faced the starter in the Ipswich Cup one year ago.
The simple facts and realities are that the 2015 Ipswich Cup was unfortunately – for the sake of the race – won by the enigmatic grey gelding from the Chris Waller stable – Danchai. What a little ripper he is. He got home first at $5.50 that day in June last year. Snapped up by Australian buyers out of the stable of William Haggas after what one can only assume must have been a most unlucky 24th (in words so there’s no confusion here that would be twenty fourth) of 27, when beaten just 21 lengths (in words so there’s no confusion here, that’s twenty one) in a race at Newmarket in England, where incidentally William Haggas is based, Danchai was banished to the stables of “champion trainer” Chris Waller in Sydney. But even Waller obviously had a bit of trouble working out the English export, as Waller was incapable of winning a race with Danchai in 12 Australian starts before he made the decision to send the gelding to the Ipswich Cup.
So I got to thinking one day recently that if Danchai had such little success before and after winning the 2015 Ipswich Cup, I’d better check out what has happened to all runners subsequent to that race.
So here’s a list of the horses in finishing order from the 2015 Ipswich Cup and what they’ve done since:
PLACING
HORSE
CV SINCE
1
DANCHAI
Eight starts since have resulted in just one placing.
2
BANCA MO
Three starts since for no placings.
3
DARCI BE GOOD
10 starts since for no placings. “Houston we have a problem”.
4
NO TRICKS
Nine starts since for one win – at the Gold Coast in a Listed race.
5
BACHELOR ZEEL
Fourteen starts since for one win at Te Awanutu in New Zealand in an NZ$11,000 total prizemoney race.
6
NOISY OCEAN
Two subsequent starts have resulted in an eleventh and a ninth.
7
HI SON
Nine subsequent starts for one placing.
8
MISS HUSSON
Seven starts since for one placing.
9
VOLKHERE
13 starts since for two wins at Doomben (hang on – that’s just about Queensland Hall of Fame material?).
10
BALIGARI
Seven subsequent starts for zero wins.
11
SHOTOVER RIVER
11 starts since for four wins (good grief – four wins in a 52 week period – he should have already been inducted in to the Hall of Fame, but in the “incestuous world of thoroughbred racing, high achievers regularly get overlooked” – I should know?).
12
KURTLEY
13 starts since have seen him win one win at Grafton, so well done Big Fella.
13
VODNIK
16 starts since for zero wins. Ran 10th of 12 in the Beaudesert Cup last start as the 3/1 favourite, so he won’t look out of place if he comes back for another crack at the Ipswich Cup.
So that top quality research shows that the 13 starters from the 2015 Ipswich Cup have started cumulatively 122 times since and they have won nine races between them in the 52 weeks since, meaning they cumulatively possess a totally pathetic 7.38% win strike rate, which conversely means they got beaten 92.62% of the time since.
And as per the aforesaid table, of all the 13 starters in the Ipswich Cup of 2015, only five or 38.46% of all starters even managed to win at least one more race anywhere in the subsequent 51 weeks.
And my Hall of Fame recommendation – Shotover River – with four of the cumulative nine wins the entire group achieved in the subsequent 52 weeks – therefore provided 44.44% of all wins.
Maybe I’m just being hard on the Ipswich Cup, (rubbish – I’m not, it’s “e-orr, e-orr” heaven) – so to satisfy the wants and needs of the misguided what I’d call “tosser” (note singular – oh yes – you can bet “London to a brick on” that there will be at least one out there walking inconspicuously in amongst we other Earthlings), what I’ll do tomorrow is I’ll go back and review the CV of all the starters for the 2014 Ipswich Cup and what they have done in the two years since, and I’ll also research the subsequent CV of all other winners on the day from Danchai’s Ipswich Cup day last year and we’ll see how all that pans out – then even “tosser” will not be able to have a whinge.
And would readers please note that it’s not my intention to get you depressed at the following statement, but I understand “champion trainer” Darren Weir is possibly bringing his horse, Puccini, to the 2016 Ipswich Cup. Come to think of it, Puccini hasn’t won a race anywhere for 16 months and he’s missed a place at five of his last six starts, so he should blend in beautifully at Ipswich on their Cup day. And he’s been given topweight of 59.5kgs by the Handicapper, so one can only imagine the quality of equine athletes that are weighted below him.
Today on www.brisbaneracing.com.au there’s a story on Tony Vasil bouncing back from depression to train Flemington winner General Truce last Saturday. And we also catch up with the mare that won her second Swan Hill Cup – Minnie Downs.