October
OctoberPitched in
I was an interested listener as RVL handicapper Greg Carpenter explained on Radio Sport 927 the weights given to King Mufhasa (58kg) and my horse Toorak Toff (58kg), in the Toorak Handicap at Caulfield on October 8.
Greg explained that although King Mufhasa had won six Group 1 races in New Zealand the form is not as good as in Australia and King Mufhasa had never won in Australia, both of which are true but hardly relevant.
He forgot to mention that King Mufhasa is currently New Zealand Horse Of The Year and his last two starts in New Zealand a few weeks ago yielded a win at weight-for-age by 1¾ lengths against Cox Plate favourite Jimmy Choux (who has had 21 starts, $1.5 millions in stakes, four Group 1s including the Rosehill Guineas), and a second to that horse beaten ¾ length at weight-for-age over 1600 metres. Pretty good form I would have thought for a handicap in which he was handicapped at 1 kg under WFA!
Toorak Toff on the other hand went up 1½kg for his win in the Rupert Clarke Stakes against handicappers Pinnacles and Luen Yat Forever, neither in the class of Jimmy Choux. Toorak Toff’s only other Group 1 win was in a race restricted to three-year-olds and he had never won past 1400 metres.
Of course, it is history now that King Mufhasa was backed from $13 into $9, crossed from his wide gate to lead and won as he liked and the New Zealanders are still laughing. They no doubt also remember the day he won a mile race in New Zealand and ran 1:32!
Caulfield (Vic)