A New Way For Punters To Do Their Doe

Yesterday we gave out what we thought was a good thing at Eagle Farm to our members. The horse was in race 6, named Borsha's Warrior. We knew it would start favourite, but had the credentials to beat his rivals easily. Or so we thought.

Now before we go any further, we have to relate the true story of an event that occurred on 2 June 1998 at Ballarat race course in Victoria. This event, up until yesterday, was the single most amazing way we have ever lost our money on a horse race. On this day, a very classy horse named Victoria Park was racing at Ballarat. He was a Group winner, and multiple Group placegetter, and was in a weak Open Handicap with 59.5kg, less a 3kg claim for apprentice Pat Ferris. At his previous start, Victoria Park had run 2nd at Caulfield, and being back in grade, and actually down in weight, he looked a living certainty. The bookies gave us luxurious odds of $3.50 or 5/2 in those days, which looked overly generous. Now, Ferris, although very inexperienced, had barrier 1 to assist him, and all he had to do that was steer, and Victoria Park puts a bundle into our wallets. As the field jumped, Ferris positioned Victoria Park beautifully, on the fence, directly behind the leaders getting a very easy run. Around the 800m mark, it looked like he had to ease the horse slightly to avoid heels in front, but steadied up well and as the field turned for home, Victoria Park was cruising 2 lengths from the lead. Ferris adeptly found a passage off the fence, strode up to the leaders, and put paid to his opposition in one fell swoop. He charged away to win by over 3 lengths, putting gleeful smiles all over his supporters faces. What a price, he should have been 2s on !!

Anyway, as we all know, it is not over until the fat lady sings, or the jockey weighs in correctly in this case. Ferris came back to scale with saddle and whip in hand and weighed in 2 kg light. This despite weiging out correctly only 15 minutes earlier. Well what transpired I have never seen or heard of, before or since on a race course. At the 800m mark of the race, when we thought the horse got slightly inconvenienced, Victoria Park actually brushed the inside running rail. The saddle bag, carrying the lead weights hit the rail, and some of the lead bags were dislodged from the bag, falling to the turf. And along with the lead bags went our money. So when Ferris got back to scale, he wasn't carrying the correct weight, and therefore Stewards had no choice but to disqualify Victoria Park from all placings. So punters who backed Victoria Park did their money cold, not even a refund. We didn't even get a run for our money.

I didn't think we would do our money in such unusual circumstances ever again. That was until Eagle Farm yesterday.

At around 8:30am, after scratchings and track conditions for all venues were avalaible, we put out Borsha's Warrior as our best bet for the day. We knew it would be favourite, but should have been able to easily account for his rivals. Around mid afternoon, we were checking gear changes for the Bunbury meeting and happened to glance at Eagle Farm. To our astonishment Borsha's Warrior appeared in the gear changes with the word "GELDED" written next to him. Now this sent alarm bells ringing. We checked the date of his last run, 9/2/2007, which gave him only 19 days to recover from this operation. Now, we here at Massie Lodge have had a bit of experience with geldings, in fact we have performed many here. After the operation, which is not stitched, the horse is left in a small yard for around 7 days, so he can walk around comfortably. The bleeding usually takes several days to cease. After 7 days we place the horse in a larger paddock and let him recover fully for another week, then he can return to work if required. There is no way a horse can do proper track work for at least 2 weeks after being gelded, usually 3 weeks. His last run was less than 3 weeks before this run. And it would be hard to imagine he was gelded even the day after his previous run, more likely two days after. This means he only had 16-17 days to recover, and would not have done any serious work in that time.

Now, Borsha's Warrior started long odds on yesterday, around $1.75, meaning we were not the only ones to back him. Hundreds, if not thousands of punters had their hard earned on him. I wonder if they would have backed him had they known about the gelding? Damn sure we would not have.

Borsha's Warrior jumped only fairly and had to work hard early to get up outside the leader. He was still there on the turn, however soon after straightening ti was obvious he had had enough and began to weaken. So would you if you had been gelded less than 3 weeks earlier. Borsha's Warrior finished a creditable 3rd, and on that run, should win in the near future if able to be given a proper preparation up to the race. In fact, we will definately be on him next time he runs around as the effort under the circumstances yesterday was outstanding.

Another new way to do our doe, maybe not quite as bemusing as Victoria Park, but somehting nonetheless that punters must be aware of in the future.

Good luck and profitable punting to all.