It was a weekend packed full of top notch graded stakes action at the virtual horse racing tracks of Equination.net with the Conference and Overall Championship races taking place. In addition to these feature events, spectators were treated to an emphatic winning performance in the Champagne Mile (G3).
The Champagne Mile was a particularly special event as it was the first of its kind to ever take place at Equination. Upon nomination, each entry paid one EQ Credit into a pool which was to be divided amongst the owners of the first three finishers. With a total of 24 nominations made and a 70% share of the pot going to the winner, there would be a bumper payout.
Owner, Pacer, has an impressive set of statistics including a staggering lifetime win percentage of greater than 38% which unsurprisingly translates into a Conference ranking of one and is also a former winner of the Japan Stable of the Year Award. The Pacer stable was represented in this contest by the well-supported, ISSEKA. The five year old, chestnut colt had recorded one of the best ratings on show here when scoring a tally of 130.75 when trouncing the opposition in an allowance race in early July. Despite achieving some top ratings however, ISSEKA had yet to make much of an impression in graded stakes to date, his best effort in five attempts coming when finishing sixth in a Grade 3 as a juvenile.
The only runner in the field to have achieved a better rating than ISSEKA was McDonald Racing’s Wild Dash For Glory MDf who posted a 132.0 when putting in a devastating display to destroy his opposition in an allowance race in mid-August. His form looked good but his recent work was reported to have been disappointing.
An obvious alternative choice for the punters was the Speedy TB trained, Super Easy. This Speedy Firefly colt had been in fantastic form of late and his top rating of 127.25, achieved when winning an allowance race in July, gave him a slight edge over the majority of the remaining runners here, in what was an ultra-competitive looking field.
Ultimately, it was Super Easy that came closest to eventual winner, ISSEKA, albeit at a respectful four and three-quarter length deficit. ISSEKA showed a scintillating turn of foot to come from being well back to powering clear in the final quarter, recording a personal career best rating of 131.0 in the process. Super Easy ran almost right up to his very best here, achieving a rating of 126.15 while it was also a career best effort for long time leader, Awesome Gent who faded into third place for owner, Wildcat Racing but still managed to post a highly respectable figure of 125.0. The champagne will have to remain on ice for the time being for top rated Wild Dash For Glory MDf who could manage only sixth place here.
Image: Blurry by 96dpi on Flickr.