October 17th, 2008 - Weekend Hussler last the distance? Caulfield Cup
TRAINER Ross McDonald and jockey Brad Rawiller are convinced champion Weekend Hussler will stay, but many of the nation’s leading form experts believe the horse’s stamina limitations will be expose in today’s $2.5million Caulfield Cup.
“I am 110 per cent confident, I think he can win and prove the critics wrong,” McDonald said.
Rawiller also stated his case about Weekend Hussler’s staying potential in a Melbourne newspaper column, saying: “I said the day he won the George Ryder (1500m) in April he would stay. I base that on the way he came back under me, his great rhythm and cruising speed. He can sustain a sprint like nothing else I’ve ridden. That day he felt like he could go all day like that.
“When he sprints he keeps lengthening stride and gets stronger.”
But TAB Sportsbet’s Glenn Munsie has a different view, believing Weekend Hussler won’t run out the Caulfield Cup (2400m) distance.
“Weekend Hussler has never won beyond 1800m but he has topweight of 57kg in a 2400m handicap — he’s a big risk,” Munsie said.
“I don’t like horses going into a Group I race off a bad last-start run, either.”
Timeform’s Gary Crispe said that in Weekend Hussler’s only run at 2000m, he rated well below his best Timeform rating of 130 achieved winning the George Ryder Stakes over 1500m last start.
“The history of past Caulfield Cup winners clearly shows the winners must have at least been proven at 2000m and desirably at 2400m,” Crispe said.
“Sadly, this rules Weekend Hussler out of the Caulfield Cup- winning equation.
“Even though he is the highest- rated Timeform horse in Australia, and a great horse at that, to my mind he must have a rating that transposes to 2400m to be considered a genuine winning chance.”
Form guru Dominic Beirne said there was still “zero evidence” that Weekend Hussler would stay.
“The Caulfield 1800m is a simple test; over 80 per cent of weight-for-age races there are won by horses near the lead,” Beirne said.
“In the Underwood, he ran the equal-slowest last 600m and last 200m of the day.”
Mark Morrissey, the form expert from Col Tidy’s betting organisation, said he thought the alarm bells started to ring even when Weekend Hussler won the Underwood Stakes.
“He wasn’t able to break away from them that day,” he said.
Today, Weekend Hussler will answer the debate on his staying capabilities one way or the other.
Source: Daily Telegraph
Caulfield Cup field Trainer Jockey
1. 1118 Weekend Hussler (11) R McDonald B Rawiller 57kg
2. 2446 Maldivian (18) M Kavanagh M Rodd 56.5kg
3. 8-62 Master O’Reilly (13) D O’Brien V Duric 56.5kg
4. 4130 Fiumicino (4) M, W and J Hawkes S W Arnold 56kg
5. 7998 Kibbutz (5) D Hayes Scratched 55.5kg
6. 2D23 Nom de Jeu (20) M Baker (NZ) J Lloyd 55.5kg
7. 2212 Mad Rush (17) L Cumani (GB) D Oliver 55kg
8. -491 All The Good (8) S bin Suroor (GB) K McEvoy 54.5kg
9. -081 Duoro Valley (3) D O’Brien J Winks 54.5kg
10. -333 Ice Chariot (2) R Maund G Schofield 54.5kg
11. 1-87 Viewed (14) B Cummings B Shinn 54.5kg
12. -331 Littorio (10) N Blackiston S King 54kg
13. -402 Red Ruler (1) J Sargent (NZ) C Brown 54kg
14. -154 Boundless (6) S McKee (NZ) D Dunn 53.5kg
15. 7041 Dolphin Jo (12) T and K O’Sullivan C Lindop 53kg
16. -862 Riva San (9) P Moody L Nolen 53kg
17. 5210 Zagreb (7) D Hayes G Boss 52kg
18. 1153 Guillotine (21) D Hayes C Williams 51.5kg
19E. 3432 Barbaricus (22) D O’Brien S Baster 52kg
20E. 1091 Newport (16) P Perry Scratched 53kg
21E. 1128 Red Lord (19) A Cummings Scratched 53kg
22E. 1456 Moatize (15) B Cummings Scratched 51.5kg
