The track was an awful gluggy Slow8 and never came back much after being heavy earlier in the week due to some downpours. It is still in Summer and steamy but this track cannot take much water and is so sluggish to recover it is now seeing the middle lanes and wider getting much more traffic all season and that says plenty in itself. Ellerslie does not dry out normally anymore and has not done so for decades so this six month hiatus and work being down starting March 11 cannot come soon enough. It may in fact for such little time being closed (six months is not a long to time regenerate a track of this size and undulation) be only a costly Band-Aid as a complete digging up of many feet down and proper drainage that works being put in should take longer. The G2 2100m 3yo event today once again for the umpteenth time this season saw this crop are still having turns and Group or Listed winners next time out miss even running a place. This crop of male and female 3yo’s are no separated by much on any given day and track bias meetings (natural or manmade) so with so many having a turn it confirms they all must be of the same ilk. They cannot all be top liners as nowhere in the world do such numbers appear in one season with a wonder Quartet in Australia of the 1995-1996 season the most numerical exception to the rule. Octagonal, Saintly, Filante and Nothin Leica Dane were a fabulous four for sure. It is the obvious inconsistency of the New Zealand 3yo crop up until now that is the glaring factor and it reared its head yet again today. On The Rocks won this G2 event by a short head at $17 having prior in a Listed mile run a poor eighth beaten almost six lengths where the winner was Scott Base over Embellish. Scott Base started favourite today and ran fourth and Embellish ran at Flemington today had every possible chance when sixth after a soft run the fence in a fast run 1400m where the first two home sat wide throughout. The form is not stacking up in New Zealand or Australia at the moment as the variance each start for many is way too volatile and so many cannot all be quality as that does not happen in anywhere else in the world and never will. On The Rocks was midfield the outer getting a soft run and poked though near the home turn before striding up to lead at the 200m and holding on by a short head. He clocked 2:13.96 and that was superior to the last event, a Ratings 65 of older horses but containing several 3yo Derby hopefuls too that clocked 2:15.24, by about eight lengths. The moral beaten was the lone filly in the race Danzdanzdance with the Australian bred sitting back and wide then becoming unbalanced with a self-inflicted move on the home turn that she copped the worst off after causing a bumping incident. It saw the filly then have to be angled inwards, when third widest turning for home, and have to come through on slower more sludgy negative lanes the final 200m. The race was lost for sure at the 400m and that contact did not have to happen had she been sent wide a fraction earlier as the other two that came around her (Mission Hill (fifth) and Scott Base (fourth)) caused the panic without a doubt. Danzdanzdance should have won this comfortably and now is a massive chance to win the Derby if she has not suffered any setbacks from that unnecessary self-inflicted bumping incident at the 400m. Vin De Dance ran a sound stayers race for a close third and was a long neck from second at the line fighting hard. He sat fourth the outer in a dream spot and came up third wide across the top before taking the front turning for home. After looking likely to finish fourth at the 200m he dug deep and regained third at the 100m. Scott Base sat last on his own then was sent the widest across the top and came up the deepest turning for home and copped a slight bump through chain reaction caused by the eventual runner up. The gelding surged into an ominous third at the 200m looking likely to win then seemed to hit a flat sport and ended up fourth beaten a length. He got there too soon regarding the burst after covering the most ground around the home turn so did come to the end of it slightly, which means timing is everything with this gelding. A riding change for the Derby was announced two days later showing the trainers and connections were not happy and they are taking no chances for March 3 in a million dollar race. Mission Hill, an Australian bred, was well back and wide but came up the second deepest near the home turn then got bumped by the runner up taking a tight gap that was there moments earlier but not as clear cut at this point. He then got held up at the 150m before grinding on like a stayer and is a serious Derby chance ridden differently. Two of the top three Derby chances are Australian bred and that shows the changing stamina landscape of New Zealand having so many now speed or sprinter/miler sires. The unsung hero of the race after a horror run wide sixth then fifth and going up second turning for home before having the audacity to lead at the 300m was The Mayor. He finished sixth and only got beaten two and a half lengths so the effort was massive and he will sleep well for sure. Mongolianconqueror got back after an awkward start and was trying to come through at the 200m but one-batted thereafter. Endowment leapt in the air at the start then recovered midrace to midfield the inner before working off across the top. He was seventh at the 200m but one-batted after that so this usually reasonable beginner must get away on terms to be competitive. Griffin was an ordinary ninth beaten nine lengths and it would be a massive upset if he could replicate the win of his full brother Gingernuts from last year as he simply is not cut from the same cookie dough it seems. He has had eight starts this season for one third. Persian Empire was an ordinary tenth beaten nine and a half lengths after sitting tenth then ninth wide but had cover. He will need better footing and to be ridden how he races best and that is forward plus a change of rider may be forthcoming. The rest could not handle this level or stay or both. Once again the 3yo form this season is inconsistent and untrustable as it keeps pointing to an average crop and there is a massive lack of stamina this season too. The amount of wet tracks (either by nature or manmade through excessive watering) plus biased venues with substandard footing due to unhelpful rail movements has been off the charts. That is creating the mediocre feel about the form and why almost every 3yo cannot hold their form from one start to the next. You could count on one hand the amount of male or female 3yo’s this season that have shown some consistency. Wet track form only matters if it is a wet Derby day and some runners are looking exhausted already after racing on biased bogs or energy sapping gluefests over Spring and now Summer too. You can go to the well once too often on these awfully presented tracks with this age group in particular and some it seems have fallen in and are drowning to find or show any form too. The weather and how the Ellerslie track is presented (watering) will as normal at this venue be the paramount factor for punters pockets. The rail was out 7.5m today creating worse bias and those slower in lanes have been no go zones for while plus that protected inside strip from today has not had much natural compaction from 500kg plus horses for years. Bettors yearn for the day a return to whereby the ability of the horse is the decisive factor in deciding Group races over an entire season. It is not too much to ask surely by bettors, as it is their hard-earned, to wager on the horse in a race and not the track bias or poorly presented racing surface due to excessive watering or rail movements. Turning off the taps and stopping using a false rail so much as a tricky track area cover up or crutch to mask feeble footing in this century is the silver bullet to getting turnover to soar rather than stutter, stall and slump.