ODT racing writer Matt Smith shares his thoughts on the racing world.
Clash of the codes
Once again, the mysterious dates committee handed us a double-header yesterday with Oamaru gallops during the day and Forbury Park at night.
I'm not too worried about having to cover both meetings - I've got to work hard once in a while - but the scheduling is hardly playing ball.
The Oamaru meeting was dropped back from seven races to six after the fields were confirmed. But instead of losing the time slot for a race just after 4pm, the first race slot around 12.30pm was dropped.
Of course, Forbury Park had already confirmed its schedule earlier in the week and had picked up an extra race. Naturally, that race was slotted in just after 5pm.
I'm no speed freak, but I know it's impossible to get from Oamaru to Dunedin in an hour - even if I was Hayden Paddon.
This was supposed to result in some teamwork between yours truly and former ODT racing editor Tayler Strong.
I was to leave Oamaru early to get to Forbury Park before the first to get details from the early races there, while Tayler would stay on to get information and photos from the last race or two from Oamaru.
Of course, this was all rendered moot after the abandonment of Oamaru after one race, but the point remains - we're trying to give full coverage to both meetings as they are in our circulation area, but the schedule makes it very difficult.
Heavenly pacer
If you didn't happen to see Heavens Trend winning a Breeders Challenge semifinal at Menangle last week, I suggest you watch a replay. The Emma Stewart-trained 2yr-old blitzed her eight rivals by 8 3/4 lengths, pacing the mile in 1.52.1 - 2sec inside the Australian 2yr›old fillies' record set by Our Golden Goddess nine days earlier.
Our Golden Goddess also won her semifinal on Saturday, so it should be a cracking final on June 28, although Heavens Trend seemed to have a whole lot in reserve.
Good old Gore
One upside of last week's Forbury Park meeting getting moved to Gore meant I could tick another race venue off the list. And, despite truly atrocious weather for much of the day, the Gore racecourse seemed like a handy venue which could be quite pleasant on a warm day - just not last Saturday.
Add in a good bunch of local members and the weather was almost forgotten by the time I left at 4.45pm.
Lazy Fiver
Prince Of Pops was more like a True Bliss single than a Michael Jackson blockbuster at Alexandra Park last week, finishing a pretty weak fifth.
This week, I'm going for the inform Alleyoop in the Tauranga Classic (race 5) on Saturday.
