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Three-year-old form worries

By admin on December 10, 2011 5:00 pm in Letters / 5 comments

DEAR Freeracer: I am a firm supporter of the Ready To Run concept and the Emperors Cup, it has produced so many top horses over the last five years, Igugu, Imbongi, Pierre Jourdan to name but a few.

I have also always believed that the race should carry a Graded status and I am certainly not changing my mind.

My worry this year is that the form behind Red Barrel is not standing up. We’ve seen about eight runners from the formline, including Extra Zero, Frontino Gold, Blaze Of Fire and Saucy Savannah and they’ve all been below expectations.

Does this mean our three-year-old crop is not as good as they are made out to be, or am I pre-empting things? To Mr Goss of Summerhill, this is by no means a critcism of you and your Ready To Run race, just have to name it to illustrate my view.

Thank you,

-Observer
Hillcrest

Observer, I don’t think it’s possible to assess a three-year-old crop before the end of a season. How can you really? The proof is in the pudding, and the pudding only comes towards the end of the KZN season with races like the Daily News, where Gauteng’s Classic Autumn form needs to be confirmed, and then the Durban July – a race that suits the top three-year-olds. If they come out winning all the way, I’d venture to say it’s a good crop. Before then, hold your horses. (I share your concern from what we’ve seen at this point, in Gauteng at least – FR).

5 Comments

deon says:

December 11, 2011 at 6:56 am

observer you cannot guage the strength of the 3yr old crop based on the r2r race.barring mdk horses, the jhb horses hv been much weaker for the last few yrs.imo this crop of 3yr olds is 1 of strongest in years and i will be surprised if they dont win most of the features in the natal season incl the july.i guess only time will tell so we will have 2 wait till the end of natal season to make our judgment on this crop.

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hilton witz says:

December 11, 2011 at 4:55 pm

3yo colts are strong especially the cape colts but the rtr crop are piss poor this year

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Observer says:

December 12, 2011 at 7:24 am

Just an opinion my friends, and supported by another mediocre run from Silver Flyer form yesterday, Excuse My French. Liancourt Rock from Cape, vaunted star, and Kingslayer, both below expectation recently. I venture to say, entire crop below par.

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deon says:

December 12, 2011 at 7:58 am

observer u r entitled 2 ur opinion so we will just hv 2 wait till the end of season b4 passing judgment on this crop.i however am of the opinion that we hv potential future stars like divine jet and princess victoria who will set the tracks alight.

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Antony says:

December 12, 2011 at 11:40 pm

I agree with Deon this years crop is a very strong crop ! Don’t forget in years past we have lost a few to Dubai early in the season !

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