THE highlight of the three-day Warrnambool Carnival – the spectacular Grand Annual Steeplechase – headlines today’s final day.
On paper it looks as strong an Annual as we have seen in years – maybe not so in numbers but certainly for depth.
We have 10 runners and six of those appear to have genuine winning claims.
Patrick Payne’s Zed Em is the benchmark chaser in Australia at the moment.
He comes into this race having just completed a memorable back-to-back win in the famous Great Eastern Steeplechase at Oakbank in South Australia.
He dominated that race with a huge weight and as a long odds-on favourite.
Again he will be favourite today, but this time he has some real competition to deal with including last year’s winner Gold Medals, Tuesday’s Brierley Steeplechase winner Bit Of A Lad, and his stable-mate Slowpoke Rodriguez.
Throw in Spying On You, who always runs well in these marathon races, and we have a fabulous contest.
He finished third in the Annual last year and sixth the year before and his recent form is two seconds behind Zed Em in both the Von Doussa and the Great Eastern.
A couple of showers overnight have kept the track in the ‘Soft 6’ range after a warm day with strong winds yesterday threatened to make the track dangerously firm for the jumpers.
Former top rider Patrick Payne has become the King of training jumpers in Australia.
His horses race consistently and clearly he is very good at getting it right.
Zed Em has already won $787,607 in prize-money and has won 12 of 19 starts as a jumper, which is quite remarkable.
He started favourite in last year’s edition of this race and just failed to beat Gold Medals after a memorable battle down the straight.
Interestingly he meets Gold Medals 2kgs better this year following that narrow defeat, despite having since won his second Great Eastern.
Gold Medals has had a meticulously planned campaign by trainer Symon Wilde into this week and he looked a little unlucky not to win the Brierley for the second time on Tuesday.
Punters here at the ‘Bool are still talking about the pros and cons of the protest in that race and whether it should have been upheld or not!
He looks very, very hard to beat again as you would expect he will be a touch fitter this time.
Payne’s other runner, Slowpoke Rodriguez, is a serious chance in this race.
He ran in the race two years ago and lost his rider when well in the market.
This year he has been racing in very good heart on the flat and he has schooled well and is racing well and comes into this race fresh and ready.
For mine Gold Medals might be the best value in this race, but perhaps the best way to approach the Annual this year is to find a good vantage point and just enjoy it!
The Warrnambool Cup this year appears to lack some depth thus the well-performed Furrion is a solid $3.00 favourite with TABCORP.
I thought the best value in the race was $10 chance Grand Dreamer on an each-way basis.
He should be ready now after his run in the Terang Cup, and if the predicted rain arrives during the day it will only enhance his prospects.
Good luck on Day Three.
