The worst ridden runner prevailed albeit narrowly in a race full of hard luck stories. Historian was having just his third run in almost three years having been sent to Hong Kong after a placing on a bog at Ellerslie in the G1 NZ Derby (2400m) early March of 2011. He had tendon trouble and never ran a race in Hong Kong with the initial diagnosis he was a crock and finished as a racehorse being such a big fella. Gary Alton had a go at recuperating the strapping tall horse and was rewarded with his first ever G1 success as a trainer plus the rider Rosie Myers was winning the Thorndon Mile back-to-back. She won it last year on the mare Say No More. Whether this was a true G1 handicap mile is not even an argument this year as it simply was not, with the runner up Lady Kipling a very good mare but a lip away from winning under 58.5kg. She gave the male winner 5.5kg and after eight starts at G1 now has placed just three times (never won at G1) including today so the level of the field for 2013 was G2 at best across the board and perhaps even more so an international G3. Today was the biggest weight Lady Kipling has ever carried lifetime by 1.5kg and it came against all comers for a mare that had only won up to G2 twice against just her own sex. This was yet another faux-G1 at Trentham over this week and the downgrading committee will move soon or else they then start looking lax and far too lenient. New Zealand really only has maximum a bakers’ dozen of realistic G1 races from the current 22 held and seven of these are for two and three-year-olds only. The Hastings Triple Crown in the spring, the pair of 3yo features at Riccarton, the NZ Derby and NZ Oaks and the wonderful fillies and mares G1 at Te Aroha are a lock it in eight. The juveniles should only have one G1 race a season at best and several WFA events for all comers are just not ever of a serious enough standard. The Easter Handicap has been sadly diluted and marginalized and the Auckland Cup is simply nowhere near a G1 level staying race since being moved to an autumn date. It was dubious prior and the quality is not there anymore with old jumpers even running in it regularly. One feature sprint is needed only a season and it may have to be at WFA to stop the handicapping farce of recent years. Ditto for WFA at 2000m as room for one race and perhaps two over summer and autumn but no more than that and one of them may in fact have to be a mile for balance. The set weights for age group races and the WFA scale for all comers set in concrete takes away this handicapping farce of recent years that has been downright unacceptable. Mares are now commonplace clear topweights in supposed G1 events for allcomers and it is making a mockery of the race status. Today with Lady Kipling a nostril away from a female number one saddlecloth double at Trentham in the last week (Final Touch won Telegraph last week as topweight) the grading panel need to make some real independent decisions and start culling what is a glut of faux-G1 races on the New Zealand calendar. Trentham only has the NZ Oaks as a serious G1 race now it seems in reality as the Telegraph Handicap, Thorndon Mile and Captain Cook Stakes at WFA are not of a G1 standard. Seven mares ran in the 2013 Thorndon Mile and the first five home finished second, third, fifth, sixth and seventh and all were within just over two lengths. The winning time of Historian that sat wide the whole way and never saw anything that remotely resembled the inside fence was 1:34.51. That time was this century the seventh fastest clocking of fourteen runnings so nothing special in the big picture. The track record time for a mile at Trentham was set in this race in 1983 by the star three-year-old McGinty (ridden by Jimmy Cassidy and trained by Colin Jillings) and he clocked a slick 1:32.99. So many luckless runners this year with Nashville almost certain to have won but for blowing start by almost ten lengths and he only caught the back of the field at halfway mark. He had the audacity to loom up likely at the 200m and was only beaten just over three lengths. Revolt was big for just a four-win gelding having his first ever G1 race and the sustained closing power over the final stages was impressive but once again proving this was nowhere near a genuine G1 open handicap mile. The now six-year-old has only ever tried blacktype level once before with an outing in the G3 Doncaster Prelude when finishing seventeenth (last home) beaten seven and a half lengths. Delecta Dreims and Full Of Spirit ran on well once getting through traffic and only need an ounce of luck to win a decent race this season. The 2013 running of the Thorndon Mile had all sorts of story angles but a two-win galloper prior with no form of note outside when a three-year-old was able to win at G1 and record his third win after a long absence from a serious tendon injury. The effort of the winner tells you this was nowhere near a G1 race once you also factor in his record, never having won left-handed prior, serious injury and never having performed against all comers at stakes class. Add in the runner up mare carrying the kitchen sink when a non G1 winner to date is also very telling as she was a lip from victory and produced a superlative performance. However perhaps the most remarkable and I rest my case evidence of a downgrade being deserved is that of Revolt, a four-win six-year-old gelding that was not competitive at G3 in Sydney and has never won a race left-handed. He almost came out of a last start third in a Benchmark 85 (this is nowhere near Open Class let alone a Group race) and almost bury the 2013 Thorndon Mile field. *ANZ