Every sport has an off-season, and while racing is run almost every day of the year, July is the depths of the Australian racing calendar as one of only two months without Group 1 racing.
August has the Winx Stakes in Sydney and often the Memsie Stakes in Melbourne, September through November has racing at the highest level most weekends in the two key states, December has a couple of Group 1s in Perth.
February, March and April sees Melbourne and Sydney shine again, while May and June is for South Australia and Queensland racing to have their time in the sun. January is the other month with no Group 1 races in this country, but the Gold Coast at least has the Magic Millions, and there are some decent races down south leading into the autumn carnival.
One of the things we look for in the middle of winter is to find a horse that might measure up in the spring carnival, and a couple put their hand up on Saturday.
SEMANA
If there is a classical Ciaron Maher and David Eustace horse, it would look something like their filly Semana. They are known for giving horses long preparations, often with their runs spaced, happy to teach them their craft at regional tracks, getting racing into their legs and improving all the time as they progress through the grades.
Semana made her debut eight months ago, but has already had 11 starts.
Her first preparation saw her race at Muswellbrook, Gosford, Goulburn, Canterbury and Rosehill, producing two wins and two placings from her maiden through to lower benchmark class.
After a two month break, which included a trial in-between, Semana has now had six runs this campaign with Saturday’s run being by far her best and showing that there is plenty more to come.
She has finished in the quinella at her past five runs, all between benchmark 64-78 grade against older horses, and the form around her has been excellent.
Semana was second to Rediener in April, and that horse has since won twice again including at Group 3 level. She beat Touristic in May and ran a narrow second to Resonator in June, and we saw both of those horses also win good races on Saturday.
She ran her rivals a merry dance on the weekend after jumping to the front and winning by almost three lengths, with Maher and Eustace preferring to have their horses race handy if possible.
There are lots of mares races over 1200-1600m in the spring, in both Victoria and New South Wales, and you can bet your last dollar that Semana will win at least one of them next season.
GOLDEN PATH
Another three-year-old, Golden Path, posted the biggest win of the metro races in Melbourne, Sydney and Sunshine Coast over the weekend, winning the Silver Bowl Series Final by three and a quarter lengths.
The fact he was the most lightly raced horse in the field and still put such a decisive margin on a handy field is what gives us some optimism about how far he might go.
Golden Path’s debut win at Pakenham was by an effortless three lengths, but so it might have been as the form behind him in that maiden has been horrible. At his second start he was worried out of the race by the more seasoned Hard To Cross from the Paddy Payne yard, who had the seasoning of eight career starts to that point.
On Saturday, Golden Path made his race a one-act affair, and Mick Price and Michael Kent must now wonder how high they can reach in the spring carnival. The obvious aim for any four-year-old miler is the Golden Eagle at Rosehill, but he may well follow the path of I’m Thunderstruck in targeting the Toorak Handicap first.
The stable will need to get his rating up, so will no doubt look to win another 3yo race before the new season starts on August 1.
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