I jokingly wrote in yesterday's excerpt that Gladys Berejiklian would be making an appearance as a guest tipster....

You know what, she'd probably go better than Crazy Craig.

Well, that's the end of another crap chapter of the Spring Carnival, as Randwick managed to remain a Good 4 after somehow dodging that monster storm that hit Sydney on Friday night, then it stayed a Good 4 when another big front passed through in the afternoon, which really rooted me after I backed Icebath, who needed a Soft 6 to have a really big chance in the Epsom, but that was before she got given absolute Buckley's in the run.

In fact, from about 4 bets today, 3 of which were place bets (Icebath, She's Ideel, and some dud in the Bart Cummings), I only managed 1 winner, which was Staralign bolting in Race 5 at Kalgoorlie, but I suppose I've got the same tale of woe as everyone else.

So the highlights from Randwick centred around Coolangatta trainsitioning from beach to racehorse, Masked Crusader coming from the clouds like Chautaqua years ago, Regan Bayliss rode 2 Group 1 winners in 40 minutes, and in the Metropolitan, Hugh Bowman on Montefilia became just the 4th jockey in the history of Australian racing to ride 100 Group 1 winners, joining George Moore, Damien Oliver and Jim 'The Pumper' Cassidy, although if you start from the introduction of Group 1 racing in 1979, when the definition of a Group 1 was a bit more concrete, then it's just Hughie, Olly and old Pump.

Meanwhile at Flemington, Grand Promenade will get a Melbourne Cup start after winning the Bart Cummings, but that was nothing compared to the performance of one-time supercat Kementari in the Gilgai, who got just his 2nd win in the last 3 years after being roared over the line by one D.Oliver in a four-way finish, a triumph that should be ranked alongside man setting foot on the moon considering how much milk that one-time rival to Winx has consumed since 2018:

But once again, the Queenslander from Queensland in Incentivise was the star of the show at Flemington, with a wire to wire win in the Turnbull Stakes, following in the footsteps of two other great Queenslanders in Vo Rogue, who won the race in 1987 and 1988, and Bernborough, who won it in 1946.

Speaking of which, I think we know someone who picked Very Elleegant in that Turnbull:

Pick of the Day: Verry Elleegant in the Turnbull Stakes at Flemington - 4th

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An uncharacteristically bad performance by Verry Elleegant, who loomed up well enough after a decent run in transit, but when the whips started cracking, the apparent Australian racehorse of the year offered absolutely nothing and was headed by Young Werther at the Clock Tower, whereas Incentivise just kept on kicking out in front, and there would've been grown men at half mast when Prebble had him kicking like a mule at the 75m with Young Werther breathing down his neck, in the kind of performance that just said "Give me the Caulfield Cup right bloody now!"

In fact, I think Incentivise is now $2.30 for the Caulfield Cup.... There could be some kind of modern betting record broken, because I honestly cannot see anything short of bad luck stopping Peter Moody's rocket ship, who will win the race like Might And Power.

Going back to Verry Elleegant, this was Damian Lane's comment:

 "Slightly disappointing on face value, I guess. She travelled sweetly in the run and presented well. I feel like she didn't quicken as good as she can."

That's pretty much it really, because what kind of self-respecting elite racehorse gets beaten by ****ing Chapada?

And not only Chapada, Young Werther, who had never raced in an open age Group 1 before today, went straight past her.

So if we're giving the Caulfield Cup to Incentivise, we may as well give the Cox Plate to Zaaki, because based on today's performance, there is no way on this good earth that Verry Elleegant will get close to him on the 23rd at Moonee Valley.

Each-Way Pick of the Day: Incentivise in the Epsom Handicap at Randwick - 9th

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Just an absolute shitshoot from start to bloody finish for Icebath, and I suppose you could go back to last night, because Brad Widdup was probably praying like buggery for that massive storm to hit Randwick and plunge the track down to a Soft 6/7, but it only got 3.2mm and stayed a Good 4.

So as a result I noticed Icebath drifted from $10 to $15, then another solid front swept through Sydney in the afternoon, which may have helped contribute to him shortening back down to $10, but the track stayed at a Good 4.

Then in the run, Icebath nearly collapsed straight out of the gates and went straight back to last alongside Cascadian, then Robbie Dolan got caught on the inside of runners when he needed to get to the outside, and ironically enough the eventual winner Private Eye was on his outside and was able to get clear running down the extreme outside in the straight, crucial considering he only grabbed the lead with 10 metres to go.

And the flow-on effect of being caught on the inside was that Icebath got blocked about 5 times looking for a run amongst horses, which was more stomach-churning to watch than one of those gruesome surgery scenes during the early seasons of E.R.

End Result = Never had a chance at a place, despite looking to be travelling as good as Private Eye was at the 400m, which just makes me feel even worse just typing that.

Robbie Dolan's comment:

"She nearly fell over out of the gates and ended up at the rear of the field. I probably should have tried to get to the outside a bit more but she started travelling in amongst horses. Unlucky not to be closer."

In fairness young Rob, I think your ride could've been a little bit better...

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