New Year's Day was one of the best days of racing I've been to in my life! It was a hot, sunny day, the track was perfect and the racing was unbelievably good.
Eclipse Stakes: The favourite was the impressive San Bernardino, but it was a gutsy little filly with a big white face who took out the G3 Eclipse. Lady Alberton, who has never been further back than 3rd in her career, hit the lead at the top of the stretch and fought so bravely. Very strong win.
Dunstan Championship: Cross Roads won his 5th from 8 career starts when he got his nose down at just the right time in a 3-way photo to win the Championship against a deep field. This has been a good race for finding top stayers of the future in the last few years, I think Cross Roads is another one. Genuine contender for the Auckland Cup in March.
Royal Stakes: Satinka did the double! The Eight Carat on Boxing Day and now the Royal Stakes 6 days later. Kaatoon and Keffiya were impressive too, but the winner was way too good. One of the best performances of the day.
Rich Hill Mile: The best effort by any horse all day was Sir Slick, who carried 60.5kg (134 pounds) and missed by a neck. Full credit to Fiscal Madness though, he had the second highest weight and ran a great race, a well-deserved G2 win after being 2nd and 3rd in so many in the last few months.
Railway Handicap: Imananabaa looked like one of the best sprinters in NZ this time last year, like when she was unlucky in coming 3rd in this race last year. After that she had some injury problems and went missing for 9 months, but she bounced back to winning form today. Brilliant. Needuask was brave in 2nd, he's definitely a genuine G1 horse.
There was a fall in this race, the horse was fine but the jockey broke his collarbone. Hope Tomohiro has a quick recovery.
City Of Auckland Cup: PASTA POST! He's a star. He's now won 7 out of 8 in his career, and this was his best performance so far. One of the strongest handicap fields of the year, and he killed them, running away with his ears pricked.
Here's Pasta Post enjoying the applause:
