Caulfield Cup Day

What an absolutely dramatic day Caulfield Cup day turned out to be yesterday. Never before have we seen such happenings minutes prior to a major group 1 race, with the shortest priced favourite in recent times and the second favourite both being scratched at the barrier. You have to feel for the connections of both horses, especially Mark Kavanagh who trained the favourite Maldivian. Michael Rodd who rode Maldivian to the gates yesterday showed his disappointment after Maldivian struck his head on the side of the starting gates, blood streaming down the neck of the equine, by slamming his cap and whip to the turf. Michael knew his Caulfield Cup dream was over for another year.

Maldivian has been a barrier rogue from day 1 and not even a two week holiday to a special barrier educator could assist him prior to his first race start. He refused to go into the barrier on that day at Flemington and was a late scratching at the barrier. However patience and persistence worked well for trainer Mark Kavanagh and his behaviour has been exemplary ever since. Nevertheless, yesterday all his bad habits came back to haunt him with Maldivian tragically paying the ultimate price, scratching at the barriers as a 6/4 favourite for the Caulfield Cup. One must feel for Mark Kavanagh who is genuinely one of the nice blokes of racing and deserves every success that comes his way. Mark did not deserve what happened to Maldivian yesterday, hopefully his luck will improve this week as he prepares Divine Madonna and Devil Moon for the W S Cox Plate. Good luck, Mark.

Tragedy for Maldivian turned into the ultimate triumph for Master O'Reilly and his connections. The Zabeel 5yo gelding had been trained to perfection by Danny O'Brien set for this race and the Melbourne Cup for over 12 months now and by way of a magnificent ride by Vlad Duric he finished far too strongly for his rivals. Nothing that ran around at Caulfield yesterday will beat Master O'Reilly on the first Tuesday in November. Would Maldivian have been able to beat Master O'Reilly? The answer to that question we will never know, however given the dominance of the victory, it would be hard to imagine Maldivian could have staved off such a devastating finishing burst.

PASS members were told 12 months ago that Master O'Reilly would win a Group 1 race. We have been on Master O'Reilly at every one of his 5 starts this preparation providing 3 victories culminating in the Caulfield Cup yesterday. A real shame the late scratchings affected the winning dividends so severely as the $12 would have been very sweet indeed. Nevertheless, the $5.60 was acceptable, far better available for those who took fixed odds during the lead up to the race.

There has been some irate punters who lost their money on both Eskimo Queen and Maldivian due to their scratchings at the barrier yesterday, after they took fixed odds before the final field and barrier draw was announced. The rules state that any bet placed prior to the final field being announced is declared an "all-in" bet and there are no refunds for scratchings. So you lose your money if the horse does not start. Only bets placed after the final field declarations are applicable to refunds. Those who place all-in bets, as early as 3 months ago, know full well they do not get a refund if their horse does not start in the race, so they bet with their eyes wide open, and generally obtain better odds as a consequence. In our opinion anyone who takes on these types of bets deserve to lose. How can anyone possibly believe they can predict who will win a race 2,3 or 4 months in advance? How can they predict if their horse will even start in the race? They do not even know who is in the field, what horses they are up against, what barriers each horse has drawn, and have no idea on ambient weather and track conditions on the day. Placing any all-in bet is fraught with danger and is not a recommended form of punting. In fact it is really not punting, it is a gamble of the highest extreme, akin to sticking a pin into the form guide with a blind fold on to select a winner. The best of luck to all of those who risk hard earned money on these types of bets, they are on a hiding to nothing.

Another great week for members here at PASS. Not only was Master O'Reilly selected exclusively yesterday, we snagged the quinella & trifecta in 5 selections. 4 out of our last 5 specials have saluted so we are certainly in form at the right time of the year.

If you would like to keep informed of all the happenings at PASS please contact us profselections@austarnet.com.au

Good luck and profitable punting to all.