MY CALL - WE ALL NEED TO BECOME HARDER MARKERS

By David Fowler | Tuesday, March 3, 2015

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.

I have to admit some of my media colleagues do bang on a bit too much.

It happens year in, year out at the beginning of carnivals ... “mind-boggling” ... “incredible” ... “another Sunline”. Yak, yak yak.

And it’s not confined to one domain. Print, radio or television. Take your pick.

And take First Seal for example.

There is no doubt her win was impressive. She clearly had lengths on her rivals but she was ENTITLED or EXPECTED to do that.

She was a $1.50 chance and beat up her own age and sex that she is clearly superior to.

She’s not the first three-year-old filly to have had a panel job on her counterparts. It’s this age and sex that consistently throw one up.

So why rave on like it was the second coming?

It’s a similar story with the two-year-olds. Every week, a new winner, a new excitement machine.

Enter Exosphere last weekend.

And TAB market framers fall for the same guff every week by readjusting the market to promote the flavour of the month.

Let’s become harder markers.

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The inclusion of a Country Championship Final on the first day of the Championships is a PR masterstroke.

While the two day series could be considered primarily for the elite, this race has embraced the various country racing centres of New South Wales with decent prize-money for heats and a whopping $300,000 Final.

The atmosphere for the first round heat at Bathurst was there for all to see.

And the staggering of the heats keeps the series and the final as a continual talking point.

Bringing the grass roots along for the ride to the big dance is a real winner.

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What did Anton En Avant, Heart Smart, Code Noir, Notonyourlife, Miss Cover Girl and Youwaitandsee all have in common on Saturday ?

Yes they were all winners, but they were all winners who swooped from well back either near the fence or wider on the track.

And just for good measure we had leaders Excellantes and Blueberry Hill come up trumps and Black Jet race not far off the pace.

Surely, the Doomben “bias bashers” will now retreat to a very dark corner.

Yet south of the border, Warwick Farm was a biased track.

Jockeys were in a rush to shift wider around the turn and most winners finished in the centre or wider on the track with the rail being the no go zone.

It seems only Canterbury plays fair consistently out of Sydney’s big four.

Miss Cover Girl and Code Noir delivered the best performances at Doomben on the weekend.

While the carnival is still two months off, they won in a manner suggesting they can go up a few rungs and still play a strong hand.

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GRAPEVINE: Standby for a “new” player to secure an important sponsorship role during the BRC section of the Winter Carnival.

It could be even at Group One status.

David Fowler