No Further, Yet Much Further?Well, Races 2 and 7 at Eagle Farm on Saturday left me baffled. Check my previous blog if you're not with me here. Sure, the favourite scraped home in the seventh and probably had something up her sleeve (there are bigger fish to fry next Saturday), but Soiled in the earlier race came from barrier 19, the extreme outside, and gave them a bath. Both were limit markers.What's to learn? Maybe that a super jockey in top form rode them both, along with half the card? That

No Further, Yet Much Further?

Well, Races 2 and 7 at Eagle Farm on Saturday left me baffled. Check my previous blog if you're not with me here. Sure, the favourite scraped home in the seventh and probably had something up her sleeve (there are bigger fish to fry next Saturday), but Soiled in the earlier race came from barrier 19, the extreme outside, and gave them a bath. Both were limit markers.

What's to learn? Maybe that a super jockey in top form rode them both, along with half the card? That could be it in a nutshell. Craig Williams on song is a hard man to beat.

He destroyed the field in the first race as well, regardless of being three wide throughout. His timing in the final race was impeccable.

At present, though, I'm thinking that maybe we should allow for the lightweight jockey who is, simply, a superb jockey at the peak of his powers. Maybe that's the next step. If the horse is on the minimum, and it is to be ridden by a really outstanding jockey, perhaps it is allowed into calculations.

Let's put that aside for a later date. I won't forget.

Anyway, for today I wondered how you'd wear this;

1. If the horse is allocated the minimum weight, it must have a 30% (or better) win strike rate.

2. It must also have won one of its last two starts (this preparation).

Again, I'm just dipping a toe in. But those rules alone would retain the two winners and eliminate most of the losers. Interestingly, two of the very small number that would remain ran the second placings, and the quinellas paid around $20 and $70.

Perhaps only the qualifiers from these two easy rules could go on to your next stage of form analysis.