This G3 Open 1200m drew a reasonable field and had a weight spread of 7kg from equal topweights of 60kg down to four runners on 53kg. The ten winners in race order and where they turned for home were tenth (wide and four lengths of lead, sixth (two lengths from lead), fourth (wide and a length from lead), led (four –wide turning in), fifth (widest and three lengths from lead), fifth (two lengths from lead), seventh (four lengths from lead), second (outer), fifth (widest and two and a half lengths from lead) and third. No leader won all day and More Wonder in R4 was at $1.60 and sat fourth the outer before coming up four-off to lead turning in, so the two clearly most favoured runners Ferrando and Prom Queen were in trouble before the start. Prince Oz won this easily after sitting back the outer and then got held up at the 300m with the rider having a lapful of horse. Once into clear air the 7yo gelding ambled up a middle path to third at the 200m and then strode to the lead at the 100m to score by just under a length in 1:08.33. The time dispels any headwind theory but is not that quick for this track as along with Trentham they have the two bionic chutes whereby 800m to 1200m times posted are quite impossible to believe. Both venues have seen 1:06 and change times posted without blushing and sometimes by gallopers not exactly top shelf, so always take sprint times with a boulder of salt at Riccarton and Trentham. Prince Oz has already won the award for most improved galloper of 2018 in New Zealand surely as he was sent from a North Island yard as a struggling eleven starts for one win galloper. Since coming to a South Island yard he has now won seven from seven including a G3 today and that is mind boggling. It would be interesting to see if he could reproduce this form back in the North Island as the depth there is consistently way superior across the board. Sensei, which has promised a lot but never really delivered and in fact is yet to win at Riccarton incredibly, ran on well for second after sitting seventh wide and surrounded. He is just a four-win sprinter and this was his first blacktype placing against the older horses. Pippi Rea, also a four-win galloper, was back and wide which was a plus today on a strangely manmade biased track that was posted as a Good3 but that clearly was not the case. The strongest grade he had run in prior to today was a Benchmark 85 (four or more grades inferior to today at least) yet he came home strongly for third at his first G3 outing. Casaquinman won here the first day when the track was an awful Slow8 and since had a couple of drying days but still got plenty of water pumped onto it the Monday and herein may lie the reason it was not an actual consistent Good3 today. The patchy underfoot conditions have seen some substandard times and it looks ridiculous when almost all runners are angling wider and wider the run home on a supposed Good3 surface. Casaquinman ran on strongly for fourth beaten just under two and a half lengths and has gone from a Listed Slow8 win to a G3 fourth on a supposed Good3 in the space of four days. Prom Queen the second favourite sat outside the leader and favourite Ferrando and both weakened the run home as the track conditions basically extinguished any hopes they had before the gates opened. Both were meek the run home and Prom Queen after leading narrowly at the 250m was headed at the 100m then swamped the final 25m to finish a disappointing fifth. In her start before today she ran second to Prince Oz, the winner today, with both carrying the same weight, as they did here, so the Riccarton track which she adores, clearly had an inconsistent surface and was false underfoot and manmade biased against on pacers as well. Ferrando, which has flattered to deceive his whole career so far, did it again when puncturing way too easily and finishing sixth beaten over four lengths. Up until today he had won five of seven starts on Good footing so the track posted today at Riccarton clearly was not as it seemed and not a genuine Good3. Prior to today he carried 60.5kg and led and won in 1:10.03 on a Good3 track and today at 60kg on a Good3 led and was run over in a 1:08.33 run and won race. The time difference may look the issue but this same sprinter has won a Listed 1200m at Trentham (also has a bionic chute like Riccarton) in 1:07.73 and ran third at G1 at the same venue in 1:08.30. The fact he failed so badly tells you all you need to know about the Riccarton track as he can clearly carry weight and run fast time, when underfoot conditions are actually consistently dry. Enzo's Lad was back and four wide then sixth turning for home before battling away and he won that G1 at Trentham in January this year that Ferrando ran third in. Passing Shot sat third wide and stopped and he had run fourth in the G1 1200m at Trentham in January on a Dead4, so that race has been well and truly demolished today at G3 at Riccarton on a supposed Good3 track. Signify ran thirteenth in the G1 at Trentham in January but won it the year before on a Dead4 though today he trailed the leaders and stopped. The two fastest chutes in all of New Zealand galloping (Riccarton and Trentham) are not seeing their form match up or correspond or even back each other up at all. The other two runners in this were well beaten and outclassed. Prince Oz showed how much easier it is in the South Island and is yet to beaten in the Mainland but until he ventures back to the North Island no one can know if he has really been transformed as a now 7yo. Horses do not improve at this age anywhere in the world so the level or calibre of the opposition is the one thing that can change. We need to see Prince Oz replicate his form back in the North Island to truly believe what we see in the South Island, so lets hope he is entered in the G1 Telegraph (1200m at Trentham in early 2019. Today looks like an outcome outlier regarding the sprinting pecking order and layers.