The 2012 running of this first G1 in a New Zealand racing season produced an exciting and powerful four-year-old winner in Ocean Park that has it all ahead of him this spring overseas. As long as his trainer does not fall into the conspiracy theory trap he did over the Sydney autumn carnival as a three-year-old, when believing the utterly inane thinking of a journalist during an interview, all should be okay. The male four-year-olds that win this event have made for super reading this century and in fact it almost assures bigger things to come. Starcraft won it in 2004 (1:22.59) and although unable to win in Australia that spring he was G1 placed third in both the Yalumba Stakes (2000m) and Cox Plate (2040m) plus of course became the older miler of the world as a five-year-old. Xcellent won it in 2005 (1:22.51) and the Kelt Capital later that spring but never won in Australia though he did place third in the 2005 Melbourne Cup that was the historic threepeat for the great Makybe Diva. Tavistock won it in 2009 (1:22.09) and would capture at G1 too in the summer that season the Waikato Draught Sprint (1400m) locally plus the G2 Blamey Stakes (1600m) at Flemington in Australia. Ocean Park has a combination of sustained power and ping that should reward his owners many times at the highest level if he stays injury free. He looks an ideal type for the Cox Plate with such explosive change up speed but also he can make a long run then lift further. The winning time of 1:23.79 was well below even standard and the Hastings track was between dead and slow, so some runners did get disadvantaged. The times over the whole day were poor across the board. In what was a race finish that set up swampers and closers from off the pace the effort by Mufhasa to finish fourth was commendable, as he got pestered by one of the outsiders in front. His handing up to the outclassed pest then working one-off to then challenge it near the home turn left him a sitting duck late in the race. Xanadu was super for second and is a four-year-mare in for a wonderful season as she showed an impressive sustained finish today, which goes with her sizzling bursts last season. Justanexcuse looked to be the boilover late in the race unleashing to momentarily lead and only lost second money near the finishing post, which puts the race form into perspective with that asterisk of doubt. He had tried G1 four times previous in his career and never looked like even filling a place so this quantum leapt under WFA does pose questions. He is a decent horse that has won ten races but a near G1 WFA winner second up is a stretch though the way the race was run suited him. Guiseppina was a tremendous fifth and when this mare is cranked right up and on dry ground not many can live with her powerhouse finishing speed. The name that puts the biggest query on the form is Time Keeper, the rank outsider that went the biggest race of the whole field for sixth beaten just over two lengths. He was very wide working early on the pace then trapped four-wide and sixth before being surged up deep to challenge for the leader again before the home turn. How he reached second halfway up the run home before wilting late, after being used up twice and wide, is the head scratcher for serious G1 WFA form. Time Keeper won a Listed handicap mile last autumn but the now six-year-old before that had not won since the autumn of 2010 as a three-year-old. His G1 win as a three-year-old was against older horses in the autumn and under handicap conditions in the Easter Handicap with 51kg. Green Supreme ran a nice race while Fleur De Lune disappointed a tad. The two mares that looked next uppers were Art Beat and Innovation, with the former underrated and the latter quite an eyecatcher one-off the closing stages like a knife through butter. Forget the dry tracker He’s Remarkable went around as he simply does not let down in footing he does not trust underfoot. The field crossed the line mostly in a bunch, which can be a legitimate query too on the overall form worth, with for example the first eleven home inside four lengths. Take out the outclassed last finisher Khemosabi beaten nearly eight lengths and the other fifteen were within just over five lengths. Ocean Park is untapped as is the mare Xanadu, with the already proven Mufhasa and Guiseppina both running blinders. Art Beat (6yo mare) and Innovation ran ripper races with the latter in particular just a four-year-old mare and it certainly is all ahead of her. A more reliable and firmer track is hoped for in the second leg of the Hastings Triple Crown, a G1 mile under WFA conditions. Ocean Park should have been unbeaten as a three-year-old both in New Zealand and Australia but was three times second beaten heads and a luckless eighth in the G1 Randwick Guineas. Bad rides happened in both countries so the conspiracy theory on top of that demanded an apology and got one from the trainer, as it was a scandalous to adopt such a far-fetched fable fed him. Let us hope Ocean Park and his trainer shun such journalistic idiocy ever again and just get on with presenting this potent entire in Australia then likely Hong Kong.