AN APPROACH FOR LIFE - NOT FOR ONE DAYThe difference between the best and the rest is that the best go on winning.And, to put it bluntly, the rest don't.So where does that put us in Group One races?Well, the Oaks firstly. We have the winner of the biggest southern Oaks, and the runner-up. They've performed well enough to suggest they'll quinella the race in Sydney.And there's the third Victorian, having impressed locals and being the obvious other chance. Can she stay the full trip? Some breedin

AN APPROACH FOR LIFE - NOT FOR ONE DAY

The difference between the best and the rest is that the best go on winning.

And, to put it bluntly, the rest don't.

So where does that put us in Group One races?

Well, the Oaks firstly. We have the winner of the biggest southern Oaks, and the runner-up. They've performed well enough to suggest they'll quinella the race in Sydney.

And there's the third Victorian, having impressed locals and being the obvious other chance. Can she stay the full trip? Some breeding experts won't have a bar of it. I'm a duffer when it comes to breeding and I stay out of that. But her win last weekend was a bottler. However, she beat little of consequence.

There are two or three trainers telling us their charges have been prepared just for this race. Must have been very quiet preparations, I say, because on what we've seen the top two would blow them away.

If the toppie is in the black, she is surely hard to resist. And she has been most of the week. And her archrival is almost an each way quote. Now THAT'S a bet, as they say. Let's leave it at that, with the conclusion being that to bet outside the trio would be a straight out gamble rather than an investment.

The Doncaster. What a race it is! Many real chances including two past winners and a past runner-up. All are at big odds. They're not without chances.

But if you want to stay the course in racehorse selecting, you have to stay with the best when it comes to Group One.

The proven best are at the top of the weights.

And then there's one, just one, fair dinkum up-and-comer.

You can come down to 1,2,3,4 and 5 (in no particular order as I'm not tipping) and you have some very valuable and proven conveyances, none of which is weighted above its limits.

Just one of the five has a reasonable barrier. Not a good one,mind you, but at least decent.

The other four have to make their own luck.

Below them, it's a lottery. Nothing would surprise in ONE race, but long term these five are proven winners for you and for me.

Then there's the newcomer. Yet another lousy barrier!

However, this chap has fulfilled that other criterion above: he keeps on winning.

But that win last week in Group Two over this course and distance was awesome. The rider has an awesome record too. He's transferred his fierce allegiance to this one from the great Takeover Target. A big act to follow but we know this jockey can do it against any odds.

Just on the odds, mind, I thought that $18 or $17 (shopping around) was pretty reasonable each way. If he wins you'll never get that again.

If he doesn't, well, that sort of "up and comer" is worth a gamble (which is what it is, really, but a logical one at that price).

We shall see.