MY CALL - SIZZLING AND SNIPZU SET THE STANDARD
By David Fowler | Tuesday, November 15, 2011
David Fowler is the principal thoroughbred caller for Radio TAB. David, who is a keen form student and punter, has enjoyed a lifetime involvement in the racing media. His personal blog, ‘My Call’, appears exclusively on HRO.
Summer is in the air.
Two months out from the Magic Millions, excited connections are now mapping out plans for their youngsters to earn enough prizemoney to be able to strut their stuff on the glitter strip in January.
And juveniles are popping up left right and centre, but are there any as good as the two locals Sizzling and Snipzu? I doubt it.
Both have clearly demonstrated the necessary trademarks of above-average two-year-olds.
They have gears. They win by margins and they run time and in Snipzu's case, she is proven in wet going.
To further underline their credentials, they are both in damn good stables (Sizzling is with Kelso Wood and Snipzu is under the care Liam Birchley) and being trained locally, they have that hometown advantage that I'm certain counts for something.
Put it this way, if I see an inter-stater win by eight at Rosehill or Caulfield and run a fast time, I'll start to consider our two locals aren't head and shoulders above
what's on offer.
Until then, I think they are.
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Sizzling's ability was a poorly kept secret.
If you purely judged him on his unplaced Doomben barrier trial, you would say he was "dead" in the trial, but didn't look to have that zip or dash that's needed in the early season.
But when punters are happy to put the cash on at $1.80 fixed, you knew the number was probably in the frame.
And just for good measure he firmed from $1.50 to $1.30 on track.
It used to happen so regularly in the old days with two-year-olds winning by big spaces at short odds. Sizzling reminded many of us of the past in his six length romp at the weekend.
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I have a gripe about the race order at some meetings.
Why do we see a good class 2 or class 3 race positioned early in the day, yet a maiden can be put on as race five or six and if often a leg of the all important quaddie.
Sometimes a maiden has to be a quaddie leg at the provincials or midweeks because four of the seven races are maidens but that is not always the case.
I hope those at RQ, delegated with this responsibility, don't think because the maiden field is larger in numbers it will be a more attractive betting proposition to the punter than the smaller sized, better performed race field.
Let me assure them, it is not.
Hopefully we won't see it occur too often in the future.
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GRAPEVINE: Expect mutiny in the harness racing stewards ranks not to be subside despite a recent dressing down from the integrity department.
Until next week.
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