Stars prospects set to light up Spring

THE 2009 Melbourne Spring Carnival is looming as one of the best for years after several potential superstars were unearthed in less than half an hour at Caulfield and Rosehill this afternoon.

And they were matched by equally impressive performances by a couple of already established topliners.

First up was the highly promising four-year-old Mic Mac who staked his claim as a star of the future with a dominating win in the Group 2, Memsie Stakes at Caulfield.

A winner at six of his first seven starts Mic Mac faced his acid test in a field that boasted two Melbourne Cup winners, a Cox Plate winner and a BMW winner and he passed in flying colours.

Smartly away from his inside draw Mic Mac led the field at a solid clip with Von Costa Der Hero sitting on his shoulder.

That pair drifted towards the centre of the track entering the home straight where Von Costa De Hero issued a short lived challenge before the effort told on him and he dropped right out.

It was left to 2008 Melbourne Cup winner Viewed and 2007 Melbourne Cup winner Efficient to issue the next challenge but they were unable to make any ground on the leader who was drawing clear again towards the end.

The talented but eternal unlucky Whobetgotyou made a late charge through a gap to gain second without ever looking a likely winner.

A later vet check on Von Costa De Hero failed to reveal any problems with the horse who was ridden completelu upside down to his normal standard of racing.

Viewed and Efficient were ultra-impressive runs over the unsuitable 1400 metres and both will shorten in betting for the Melbourne Cup after their efforts.

Winning trainer Greg Eurell said after the race that Mic Mac would now be set for the Dato Tan Chin Nam Stakes over 1600m at Moonee Valley in a fortnight but he wasn’t sure if he would press on for the Cox Plate.

 

 

SOME 20 minutes later, in Sydney, Denman gave former class galloper Lonhro his first Group One winner as a sire when he stormed clear to score an easy win in the Golden Rose Stakes at Rosehill.

Denman was spelled after an unlucky placing at his first start at Flemington in December and today was his fifth win from as many starts since resuming.

He got back in the field early but quickly raced up to the leaders when asked for an effort by jockey Kerrin McEvoy and after taking the lead in the home straight he soon established a winning break.

Denman will now be set for the Spring Champion Stakes before likely heading to Melbourne.

While the winner was impressive so too was the runner-up Trusting who stormed home from the tail of the field with a withering burst which suggested he will prove hard to beat in the Spring Champion Stakes which will likely be a stepping stone towards the Victoria Derby.

Poor decisions lose the Ashes

WELL the Poms have regained the Ashes, but in boxing terms it wasn’t a knockout victory, it was a points decision and a hotly disputed one at that.
They will be waking up with sore heads this morning after celebrating their win but when they sober up they might consider just how lucky they were.
Sure, several Poms played well at times but there is little doubt that Australia were cruelly treated and a series of poor decisions by a series of people that made the difference between victory and defeat.
Nobody doubts that umpiring at that level is tough and there is clearly always going to be mistakes but how come they all seemed to favour England?
Absolutely nothing worse than not calling for the video umpire when Flintoff claimed a clearly “grassed” catch early in the series.
We won’t go as far as calling Flintoff a cheat but can you imagine how the jackals of the English press would have squealed had that been the other way around with an Australian claiming the catch.
There were numerous other doubtful decisions and several that were absolutely doubtless.
How Billy Bowden did not give Strauss out LBW first ball defies belief.
And in this final and deciding Test Marcus North copped two poor decisions.
He clearly edged the ball on to his pads in the first innings but was given out LBW and then in the second innings there is no way a video umpire could not have given him the benefit of doubt had they called for a replay of his “alleged” stumping by Prior.
You could think that Bowden seemed to get caught up in the emotion of the English player’s appeal his finger went up that quick.
But it would be terribly wrong to simply blame the umpires.
The Australian captain was on the wrong side of several bad calls with the coin toss throughout the series and had he won the toss and batted in the final Test it would likely have been a different result.
Of course you can’t blame Ponting for that, a coin toss is a matter of luck.
But not so a matter of luck when it comes to team selection.
It was criminal to see Nathan Hauritz sitting out this final Test.
Hauritz is not the best off-spinner in the world but either is English spinner Graeme Swan and he was turning the ball a mile from the start.
The Poms had left the covers off the pitch the day before the Test started and it was clearly going to be a spinners wicket.
From day one it was a dustbowl and as far as I know it is up to the selectors to understand these things.
The end result probably matches the lack of judgement shown by the team management before the first Test even started.
How the Australian’s prepared for that match by using practice balls brought over from Australia instead of using the local ball defies belief.
What were they thinking?
Costs?
Whatever it was it was a poor decision and one of many that cost Australia the Ashes.