Many moons ago, on my first racing expedition to the UK, the Herald-Sun’s Matthew Stewart offered me the following propitious salutation.
I found then in the 1990s and early 2000s that, at large, the English punter was much less sophisticated than his Australian counterpart.
No account was seemingly taken of track bias. Horses with obvious winning form but with an unfashionable trainer – jockey combination were invariably three times the right price. There was an obsession with the perceived unlikelihood of horses defying a penalty despite the fact their form had earned it.
And there was a total preoccupation with the major stables – particularly at most times, Ballydoyle and Godolphin whose runners would repeatedly be posted as short priced favorites even when either stable was not going as well as usual.
The situation has changed, especially since the advent of Betfair, with the UK punter much ‘smarter’ and the markets generally more accurate but I fancy you can still find value with runners from lower profile stables and/or those disadvantaged at relative weights. Identifying the right part of the track in the straight races can also be fruitful.
So, with that in mind we can look forward to five consecutive nights of racing from Royal Ascot this week. If you’re going to stay up late, might as well attempt to back a winner.
It’s unlikely to be as momentous as 2012 when the action opened with Frankel (Galileo) winning the Queen Anne Stakes (Gr 1, 1m) by 11 lengths. That was for the purists; half an hour later the 12/1 Little Bridge (Faltaat), with Zac Purton aboard, was for the punters as he won the King’s Stand Stakes (Gr 1, 5f).
That week closed with Black Caviar (Bel Esprit) winning the Diamond Jubilee Stakes (Gr 1, 6f). “Please be kind to me” was the heartfelt plea from jockey Luke Nolen, having realised that he’d turned the story into him not her when he eased shortly before the finish.
Never mind, she won and in the space of five days – we’d seen arguably the best two horses of the modern era – maybe even all time – win. Our memory can let us down and the deeds fade of earlier greats but I reckon they’re the best I’ve seen.
“Seeing is believing,” said trainer Peter Moody in Gerard Whateley’s book Black Caviar – The Horse Of A Lifetime. “That was the greatest performance I’ve ever seen on a racecourse and he’s the best horse I’ve ever seen.”
He was, of course, referring to Frankel, not Black Caviar.
This year may not be as momentous as 2003 when Choisir (Danehill Dancer) won twice in the week; or 2009 when Scenic Blast (Scenic) continued Australia’s winning run and American trainer Wesley Ward appeared for the first time.
Ward was underestimated as visitors often are and that can provide a betting edge. He won the Windsor Castle Stakes (Listed, 5f) with Strike The Tiger (Tiger Ridge) at the crazy odds of 33/1 and backed up the next day to win the Queen Mary Stakes (Gr 2, 5f) with Jealous Again (Trippi) who romped home by five lengths – at a ‘nice’ 13/2 given that everyone seemed to know she was vastly superior to the first day winner.
Nobody is likely to underestimate Ward now, whose seven Royal Ascot winners have come at an excellent strike rate of approximately 25 per cent. Since 2009, Ward has won with Strike The Tiger, Jealous Again, No Nay Never (Scat Daddy), Hootenanny (Quality Road), Acapulco (Scat Daddy), Undrafted (Purim) and Lady Aurelia (Scat Daddy).
This year, it would not be entirely preposterous that Ward might be leading trainer of the week.
I genuinely can’t wait for the action to get under way while attempting not to exhaust all funds before the William Haggas trained Tasleet (Showcasing) appears on Saturday in the Diamond Jubilee (Gr 1, 6f). He’s my pick of the week for what that’s worth (perhaps not much, refer back to paragraph two). Rule Britannia!
Japanese Technology
The story of the latest in Japanese technology – the Horse Call camera-monitor training aid – became something of a social media sensation in the lead-up to this year’s APQEII Cup (Gr 1, 2000m) in Hong Kong and it is soon likely to infiltrate Australian racing as Steve discovered yesterday.
The device, which is akin to a jockey’s goggles, allows the rider to simultaneously see the horse’s speed and heart rate without disrupting his vision.
It’s not entirely new but had received little publicity until – pardon the indulgence – I saw it being used on the APQEII Cup winner Neorealism (Neo Universe) in Hong Kong in April and asked the obvious question: ‘what is it?’ I wrote about it for the Hong Kong Jockey Club website and English broadcaster Nick Luck followed up on Twitter.
Precised, I wrote: “Neorealism attracted more than the usual attention as track rider Shinjiro Kaneko’s goggles were adorned with what appeared to be a camera like device. In fact it was more than just a camera but also a monitor. Manufactured by Horse Call Japan it is sold as an aid to training and displays heart rate and speed.”
Adam Harrigan, consultant and interpreter for trainer Noriyuki Hori, explained at the time.
“The monitor, which the rider can see, displays the horse’s heart rate in real time and the track work times for each 200 metres split….it’s valuable, obviously, for the rider to know exactly how fast he’s travelling and to have an indicator of how much the horse is exerting himself and, of course, Hori is able to download and evaluate the data, in real time, from home in Japan.”
The point is that, at the Cranbourne track yesterday morning, I was interested to see Michael Kent junior wearing the device as he rode the city-winning mare Maraudamiss (Clangalang) who’s trained by his father Michael senior.
It was the first test of the English version of the device and on hand was the Yokohama based Akira Hanawa, the developer of the product and CEO of it’s producer Anicall Corporation along with his daughter Anna who’s a director of the company.
Akira Hanawa explained the development of the tool.
“We had worked in cattle management and were contracted by a breeding farm in Japan to develop a sensor which would signal imminent delivery of a foal. This then extended to them asking us if we could develop something which would monitor the training and recovery of their horses and it’s progressed from there.
“It hadn’t had much publicity until Hong Kong this year and we weren’t quite prepared for the interest that followed but we do now have about 35 per cent of Japanese trainers, and eight of the top ten trainers, using our system and we are looking to expand to Australia and elsewhere. I am looking forward to the feedback from our test today,” Hanawa said.
It’s likely to be positive from trainer Kent. “It’s very good, more in depth than other heart rate monitors and you can assess the parasympathetic rhythm of the heart. The trainer can see the readings live and it will assist in tailoring work which is more specific to each individual horse,” he said.
Kent junior was also impressed. “It doesn’t obstruct your vision in any way or interfere with concentration,’ he said which was confirmed as he was able to call out the displayed heart rate as Maraudamiss was ‘warming up’.
“It will allow trainers to assess the work for individual horses based on the heart rate data but also if you are working horses in different conditions to the normal whether that be different temperate, humidity, track surface or track contours,” he said.
Hanawa said that Hori had adjusted Neorealism’s work after assessing the conditions in Hong Kong and the surface of the all weather track at Sha Tin. It’s also believed that champion Japanese stayer Kitasan Black produced incredible readings which demanded that his work be changed accordingly.
One of the key advantages of the Horse Call system is the automatic transmission of the data to another device such as a smart phone.
Hanawa said he hoped the product would generally be available in Australia in the next month or two.