2010 Woodlands NZ Free-For-All - theharnessedge.com

[emmelby]

He certainly was impressive, but I think the hype was too much is all. If you want to see a great sprint finish by a Kiwi horse in a mile, watch Monkey King coming home on the tiny Cambridge track in last year's Flying Mile, he was robbed. Can't wait to see AR back on the track though, I don't mind being proven wrong.

[emmelby]

And yes, I'm aware AR won over a dozen, including Group Ones, in a row!

[bgardiner2000]

@emmelby I was pretty impressed with Auckland Reactor. I don't think the decision to take him to the west coast of the US, throat condition or not, was a wise idea. The conditions are as different from UnZed as they get. And while you say his form was bad, and it was (comparitively), he did run into 1:47.2 mile in one race. By my calculations he still broke 1:50... which has never been done south of the equator. Though it's only a matter of time.

[bgardiner2000]

What was the mile rate? They certainly didn't break any records, although the last 1/4 was pretty slick. Being Australian it's a bit hard to say this... but he is in my opinion the best horse in training at the moment in the Southern Hemisphere.

[emmelby]

@bgardiner2000 Can't find the mile rate, it was pretty slowly run though this year. Agree with you though about the Monkey, I do think he's the best one around right now. We had Auckland Reactor hype for 2 years but I always maintained the Monkey was better, but his manners have let him down his entire career. MK's sectionals especially final quarters and halves were always better than AR's. I'm stoked he's finally putting in complete performances and getting the victories he's deserved.

[bgardiner2000]

@emmelby And even harder to say becausehe's a Queenslander... but is thereanything left you could say about Blacks A Fake? I've given up trying to describe how good he is. The frightening thing is - 5 Interdom finals is not impossible by any stretch of the imagination. Although he's probably not perfectly suited to the expanses of Addington. When will Aussie Reactor be racing again? I saw some stuff on him in the states and hear they sent him home.

[emmelby]

@bgardiner2000 Blacky's an out-n-out champ, he's been so consistent throughout his career. None of this one-season wonder type crap that people seem to get sucked in by. Auckland Reactor has had some kind of surgery to try and fix a throat problem and is back in training, so it'll be interesting to see if he gets back on track, Purdon's aiming him for the Auckland Cup. Apparently it went undiagnosed for a good few months, which may explain his pathetic drop in form.