Mike Dillon: Punters have every right to feel totally gutted

Professionalism - where did it go on Saturday?

Wherever it was, it wasn't at Wanganui.

Bulginbaah, winner of four of his last eight starts, went into the sprint at Wanganui carrying a pile of punters' money as joint favourite with Jury's Out.

With only minutes to start time, Trackside Television aired a pre-recorded interview with Bulginbaah's rider, Lisa McGregor.

Trackside's Donna Beck suggested to McGregor that Bulginbaah would be very hard to beat and the reply, to paraphrase, went something like:

"Oh no, he got bumped around pretty badly in the Mudgway last week and he's probably over the top. He's going for a spell straight after this."

The questions that need to be asked are: * If that was the case, what the hell was the horse doing at Wanganui?

* Why was it running if its rider thought it couldn't do itself justice?

Lisa McGregor basically told punters Bulginbaah wouldn't win.

How gutted do you imagine the punters felt listening to that, the ones who had their money on Bulginbaah and couldn't get it off under TAB regulations?

The image of racing is as important as the industry itself.

Those things simply should not happen.

For the record, Bulginbaah finished fourth, 3.8 lengths behind Jury's Out.

Consummate professional

To a different level of professionalism Lance O'Sullivan.

On yesterday morning's Racing Retro, O'Sullivan gave Hayden Tinsley a deserved double tick for his winning Wanganui Guineas ride on Dr Green.

The champion jockey then went on to point out that now tracks have firmed it was the class riders such as Tinsley, Vinny Colgan, Michael Coleman, Michael Walker and Leith Innes that would be winning a big percentage of races.

It's a big point.

Ordinary riders get horses home through the winter on wet tracks simply because what would be deemed to be a bad ride on a firm track - covering extra ground being three and four wide throughout - is more often than not the perfect ride in winter.

For some riders it seems to take three to four weeks at this time of year for the point to sink in that, as tracks firm suddenly, a different approach is needed.

Look to the top of the premiership for the riders to follow for the next six months.

Justa Tad shows potential

Justa Tad can win the Caulfield Cup based on her Melbourne debut effort on Saturday.

Okay, she finished only seventh, but it was as good as a winning effort.

She jumped only fairly, then got squeezed out the back of a group of runners at the rear.

She gave the leaders a massive start on the home bend and don't forget she had a crushing 58.5kg on her back.

For a smallish mare she takes a big stride, which requires room and that's something she got none of for almost the entire length of the Flemington straight.

She was twice blocked for racing room, but was still powering into it at the finish to be not much more than three lengths from the winner.

And, 1400m is not her trip.

When she gets up to a distance beyond 1600m, watch out.

And what a run Calveen had in her Australian debut.

The former Matamata mare was sent to Melbourne to be trained in search of a group one win and that's eventually going to happen.

Had she come out of a half decent gate she would have won the A$200,000 ($216,500) Bobby Lewis on Saturday instead of finishing a half-head second.