24/8/2001 edition

Sunline Beaten

Talking about six year olds, champion mare Sunline also resumed at Moonee Valley in the 1200 metres Group 1 Weight for Age Manikato Stakes.

She began well, but shortly after the 600, when in the lead, her rider Greg Childs had to push her along. Childs said afterwards he was worried at the 400 when he knew she should have been travelling better. In the straight, another six year old mare, Piavonic, easily went past Sunline and won by two lengths, with Sunline finishing second.

Despite Sunline's previously undefeated first up record she was a huge risk last Saturday. The six year old mare was on the big side. She was not primed for a huge first up run. Her main mission is to emulate champion Kingston Town and win for the third year in a row the 2040 metres Weight for Age Championship of Australasia, the W.S. Cox Plate. This race, held at Moonee Valley is some months off. By then it is planned to have the six year old mare at her peak.

Piavonic paid $36.90 on the New South Wales tote for the win. But if Sunline was to be beaten, Piavonic's win was not such a surprise. Her first up run two weeks earlier was outstanding, though in a much weaker Group 3 Weight for Age event at Caulfield. She was primed to run a good race at Moonee Valley.

Piavonic also had an outstanding record at the track - eight starts for three wins and another four placings. Moonee Valley is very much a specialist's track. So that was very important. In March she won a Group 2 Weight for Age race at Moonee Valley, over the same distance as last Saturday's race, defeating none other than the Group One winning horse Testa Rossa, who is now at stud.

The biggest query was the track rating. Piavonic's best form has been on tracks no worse than Dead. From 31 starts she had also only raced four times on tracks rated worse than Dead. The Moonee Valley track was rated Slow, but with a penetrometer reading of 5.01 was just into the Slow range. The weather looked threatening on the morning of the race. A genuine Slow track, cutting up badly by the seventh race of the day, when Piavonic would race, looked most likely.
When this did not eventuate, if there was to be an upset, Piavonic came right into calculations.

In our Horse Racing Forum Pro-Punter tipster "Lucky Lil" took a punt on the track and took on Sunline with Falvelon as top pick and Piavonic right up there in the ratings. Punters backing Lucky Lil's long shot rated selections are once again well in front.

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Weight does matter
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