The Riccarton track helped shaft punters in Saturday's $300,000 New Zealand Bloodstock 1000 Guineas. Three days' racing in a week produced a substandard surface for one of the season's most important group one races.
It cost the $1.70 pre-post favourite O'Marilyn any chance of her first group one victory, riderSam Spratt declaring the high-class filly "hopeless" in the footing.
And well-fancied Bonniegirl injured herself struggling through what rider Mark Du Plessis described as a rough patch of track on the home bend. Du Plessis eased Bonniegirl down believing she had broken down and the pair finished 24 lengths back last.
To be fair to the Canterbury Jockey Club on their biggest day of the year, it had to make the footing as forgiving as possible for all runners after big days the previous Saturday and Wednesday.
The way the surface was cutting up - despite a good 3 official rating - it was clear irrigation had been applied.
Trainer Stephen McKee thought something had gone wrong when O'Marilyn struggled to get to the leaders on the home bend and started to paddle at the 375m. O'Marilyn finished seventh, 6.3 lengths behind winner Platinum Witness.
"Sam Spratt came back and said the filly had proved hopeless in the footing," said McKee.
"I said, 'It's not that bad is it?' and she said O'Marilyn couldn't hit out at all like she has in her previous races."
Co-trainer Andrew Forsman said Bonniegirl was very sore in her hindquarters after the race: "Mark was following O'Marilyn and saw her go through a rough patch on the home bend, which he thought he'd missed and he said O'Marilyn looked unbalanced.
"Mark thought Bonniegirl had broken down so he eased her up." O'Marilyn has come through in good shape, the pain in her case being in the wallets of the thousands who backed the classy filly. The disappointment for the connections of the fillies affected on Saturday is that a win could increase the horse's residual value by $200,000 to $600,000.
McKee said another problem is not knowing whether O'Marilyn can negotiate Saturday's 1600m. "I don't want to be critical of the club because they try their best, but Saturday was a bit disappointing for a group one day ... The upside is that we still have a filly."
