BEING ON THE GOOD AND BAD SIDE OF UPSET RESULTS

By Graham Potter | Saturday, November 15, 2025

Owner, breeder Bob Peters, who has been a high achieving standout in Western Australian racing for many years, knows that an upset result can work both ways and he has been around long enough to understand that, when it happens, you have to embrace the good result and take the bad one on the chin.

Racing at Ascot on Saturday gave Peters a serve of both helpings.

The downside came in the last race when the Peters Investment’s owned runner Cosmic Crusader, who had been the pre-race favourite for the Group 1 Railway Stakes for some time in spite of not having qualified for the race, had that Group 1 dream ended when he was beaten into third place in the R J Peters Stakes, a race which the son of Maurice had to win to earn a ballot free entry into the Railway Stakes which will be run at the same venue next Saturday.

Peters was trying to win the race named after him with Cosmic Crusader, but it was the chase for the bigger prize, entry into the Railway Stakes, that came up short, albeit by only 0.25 lengths in a highly pressurised finish which saw less than a length cover the first five horses across the line.

Cosmic Crusader had been rolled at a starting $1.80.

Peters had enjoyed the upside of an upset result earlier in the day though when the Peters Investment’s owned Drakaina, who started at $16, won the $125 000 Listed Jungle Mist Classic by 0.35 lengths after flashing up late in another highly competitive race finish where only 1.75 lengths covered no less than the first eight horses past the post.

It was just a reminder that it is a game of fine margins … and not even the biggest owners are immune from the old racing adage … win some, lose some.

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