Bloody Xcellent

[Macca_]

He won a big cup race just before the Melbourne Cup (think it was the Geelong Cup) and finished 4th last year. Not bad for a nuffy :roll:. You sure you follow the horses ?

Yes he did (On a Jeune). I didn't rate the Geelong Cup form this year and was proved wrong. Envoy ran 7th in the MC too after a 6th in the Geelong Cup.

The fact that Xcellent was paying so much in Aus was laughable. Smacked of bias/arrogance.

Not at all. His 2 starts in Australia were poor. And although good in winning the Kelt, it was Distinctly Secret who ran second.

Kiwi form is unproven lol. Yeah, Kiwi horses have never been much good.

So Australian bookmakers like to lose money?

Fact of the matter is they underrated a very good horse because they didn't think NZ form proved anything, which is stupid, and they were proved wrong.

His form in oz was unproven... 2 starts for 2 flops... You'd be taking him on trust, and that was why the odds were like they were. Not to mention the form of some of his rivals in the race who deserved to start shorter then him.

Anyway I wasn't even talking about bookies in the first place! I was saying that it smacked of bias/arrogance because obviously neither the bookies nor the punters (moreso the latter) rated Xcellent. Whereas in NZ the odds were much lower and as it turned out more realistic imo.

Would have been shorter in NZ because of his following. Nothing wrong with that. You see it in the trots/dogs all the time in the big races. A horse from a certain state is shorter than other states. Happens a lot in the gallops too.

but the punters were partly wrong about xcellent as a horse paying $40 odd shouldn't be so close. punter thought it had no chance. WRONG

and a $75 odd shot shouldn't be finishing second. punters thought it had no chance. they were WRONG

but hey, EVERY punter will be wrong many times in their lives. that's racing

Year after year though roughies jump into the trifectas and first fours each year. It wouldn't be a cup without a roughie in there somewhere

Xcellent showed what he can do after 2 poor runs in oz (Cox Plate and Derby). On those 2 runs, you couldn't back it in the Melbourne Cup. Unless you have some sort of aliance with it, ie being a kiwi. He proved he is up to it though. As was mentioned, he'll be one of the favs next year.