No Clear Answers is Our Best Bet

We still don’t know whether Mervyn Ford is going to make it across the line or not, but it’s a dead cert that any more progeny from Bitar Boy out of Shorten Curdly, and their respective stables, won’t be on the Bruvvers’ breeding plans for some time, if ever again.

Which just goes to show that a whole lot of weed-infested dung shoveled into the extreme corners of the paddock, producing feed for worn-out stayers like Boatsaway, can blow in all sorts of unanticipated directions, not just stick to the fenced-in feedlot.

The point is, of course, that the punters these days aren’t as easily persuaded by the backroom fixers about where to place their bets as they used to be.

That’s the big story to come out of the clearfell stable in the deep south, where Extreme Eric’s favourite smoked wood-fibre diet constipated the Mad Monk’s whole team effort. Now we have the unseemly prospect of other starters’ protests about Extreme Eric’s antics throughout the race being scrutinized – not just in camera, behind closed doors – but out in the paddock, and by the big sponsors from the centre. To make matters worse, Extreme Eric’s paperwork looks set to get squizzed as well, and not just by the local stewards.

So it’s not a good news week for either of the well-fed, groomed-up, sleek and shiny, brushed and plucked and coiffed show-pony teams. The trouble is that Mervyn Ford and Mad Monk both lost their bits, bridles and saddles to each other and never sorted out who had what, right throughout the race. Not only that, but they got tangled up on the same patches of turf, turning it all into identical piles of mud. All the inside runners of Nervous Nellies got caught up on the rails, stuck there for the duration, unable to see or hear anything except the horses’ rumps and snorts, jockeys’ increasingly grubby bums, flying dirt and methaned air.

It wasn’t a good race to watch by any measure. The tactics of Factional Boss and Chief Minders didn’t fool a whole lot of punters either. A good proportion of them wanted a clean race, and were willing to back Oldandnew Independent Stables and Greensleaves where they could see their runners were willing to have a go out in the clear, or take a risk around the outside.

Everyone wants to back a champion, with the heart to run out front. But they’re hard to pick until they’ve covered a bit of distance and chanced themselves in all conditions.

In the end the punters went for a mixed bag, putting their faith in No Clear Answers out of Melting Pot by Our Best Bet. That deserves respect and attention.

It remains to be seen who will pull up the best, and whether the following events will be more open, with Clarity and Vision in brighter colours, or whether the conditions out on the track will stay much the same, with Waste and Secret Deals out of Ego by Ambition leading the way.