This G1 at WFA is under pressure to retain its top shelf rating and the small field lacking genuine depth today and the result will have poured more fuel on the downgrade status fire. The nine-horse field contained almost half handicapper only types and then Iamishwara, a wet track handicapper, won the race by a nose over a sprinter in Natuzzi with another handicapper Julinsky Prince finishing third. Another handicapper in Ringo ran fourth, so the race and result was as iffy as the track presented on the day that bettors soon realised could not be trusted. The Dead4 rating given by officials simply belied the visuals as runners at a summer meeting where the weather has been super and dry for days on end saw runners steered up the middle turning for home. Otaki looked awful today cutting up and chipping markedly plus it raced appallingly for bettor confidence (the only thing that matters in a turnover driven business). The times all day were ordinary and wet trackers won their fare share with some of them winter mudders (last race winner for example). It cannot be spun anyway as excusable plus what is going on as New Zealand has 22 G1 races and a few meetings have two G1 races on a day. Therefore with only teenage numbers of racedays that have a G1 races there is not that many vital shop front window days where you have to get it right or very close. The amount of G1 racedays with unacceptable tracks presented has become an epidemic for the last couple of years and nothing is improving. Not sure the excuse of a hard job and damned if you do or damned if you don’t can be used as the weather for a week at Otaki was flush and we are in summer. Bettors in New Zealand deserve better and the customer once lost is very hard to get back. Iamishwara at his fifty-fifth start won a G1 at WFA and loved the clearly much worse than Dead4 track confirmed by officials and lauded by the trackman as likely to be perfect once racing commenced. He has never shown G1 WFA aptitude and in fact at G1 under this condition was fourteenth of sixteen at Hastings last August and in this very same race at Otaki last year was seventh of nine. His only other outing at G1 came under handicap conditions when eighth so the facts are there for all to digest. No one doubts the toughness of the gelding (it was his fourteenth run this season and still five months to go) and his eleven wins and racing all the time it seems are testimony. The key statistic is eight of those eleven wins have come on dead or slow footing. Once he got into two-horse war with the sprinter Natuzzi that led and had no pressure whatsoever applied too him it came down to the bob of the head at the line. Natuzzi is a backrunner and a swamper so the fact he led ensured the race was not going to be a gutbuster mile and the time of 1:35.68 showed that on an unacceptable Otaki track for a G1 raceday. The worse than Dead4 track was enjoyed by Natuzzi as his record shows and he fought tooth and nail to the line. Julinsky Prince finished third after sitting second the outer to the home turn and is a swimmer (four heavy track wins in six outings) plus at G1 prior had raced three times for an eighth, a fourth and an eleventh. Ringo is a big strapping gelding that had won just five races so at G1 under WFA was always going to be an ask but he ran a sound fourth. Prior to today he finished ninth in a G1 handicap mile where the winner and runner up were importantly Puccini and Soriano. That pair ran today and finished eighth and fifth with neither ever looking any hope of paying a dividend upon settling down. Soriano was running on for fifth but she gave Ringo 1kg at handicap level and defeated him by over three lengths two starts ago yet got 2kg today under WFA but could not beat him home with a 3kg swing in total. Puccini, which is becoming known now for running some absolute shockers, finished a poor ninth and only the track can be an excuse as he was beaten over eleven lengths. His credibility keeps getting diminished with each awful performance. He gave Ringo 2kg at G1 under handicap level two starts ago and won the race plus beat home that runner by well over three lengths. Today at the same weight and he is almost eight lengths behind it. Bettors have every right to scratch their head and wonder how this happens during summer at Otaki. Fay Fay can be forgiven as first time left-handed on such an awful Otaki track was too much while Weregoingtogetcha finished seventh beaten almost ten lengths having prior been second at G1 under WFA behind Soriano. Slice Of Class was a distant last and is not a G1 at WFA versus all comers galloper. The mare prior had finished a sound fourth at G1 under handicap conditions behind Puccini and Soriano when carrying 54kg. The 2015 running and result is utterly meaningless as a form guide because it is not one and the flops were many and by very big amounts. The footing presented made a mockery of G1 form that runners bought into the race prior and these sorts of tracks cannot be allowed to continue on such racedays. This was not a true G1 race and was held on a substandard track for a month during summer and it may well be downgraded after today with an argument impossible to make in defending such a thing from happening. More damage was done and goodwill lost (to bettors the customer and trainers/owners the provider of the wagering product) by such a damp and dank arena presented on one of the supposed iconic G1 days that really matter.