2008 Caulfield Guineas – 11 October 2008

The $1,000,000 Group 1 The Age Caulfield Guineas is a set weight race for three-year-olds over 1600 metres at Caulfield, and has attracted the biggest field since 1985. At acceptance time there were 21 horses paid up, so one was balloted out to give a capacity field of 16 plus 4 emergencies. Since then Rhyno Chaser has been scratched which gives first emergency Whitefriars a guaranteed start.

Four of the horses will be having their first race start the Melbourne way of going, which can be tricky, especially at Caulfield – these are Duporth, Dreamscape, Baci Amore and Whitefriars. Duporth’s trainer Anthony Cummings believes that Sydney three-year-old form is superior to Melbourne’s so it should be a very interesting race.

The early favourite is Whobegotyou at $3.50 who has drawn barrier 12 and may have to come from last if he is going to win. He has the benefit over most of the field of having raced over a mile before, when he won the Bill Stutt Stakes at Moonee Valley on 26 September coming from 12th to win by 3 ¾ lengths. He is by Street Cry, and his breeding suggests he will do best over 2000 metres so his best may be yet to come.

Second in the early market is Dreamscape, trained by Gai Waterhouse. Gai’s stable is in great form after her quinella in last weeks Epsom Handicap with Theseo and Bank Robber. Dreamscape is very lightly raced and has two Group wins and a third from his three starts. He has a tendency to miss the start and they are looking at putting a smaller cup on his blinkers so he will have more peripheral vision. No horse in the last 20 years has won the Caulfield Guineas at only their fourth start, although Weekend Hussler (2007), Gods Own (2005) and Kenwood Melody (1998) all did it at their fifth race start. Two other horses in the race also have had only three starts and these are Time Thief and Bright Deputy, who probably won’t get to run.

There are two horses on the third line of betting and these are Lord Tavistock and Time Thief, followed by Duporth and All American. The horse that seems to have escaped attention is the Leon Corstens trained Fernandina, which is at $18 in the early market. Fernandina has won three of his five starts, plus a second and a fourth. His last win was the Guineas Prelude at Caulfield over 1400 metres when he was a 25-1 outsider. He beat several horses in the Guineas field including Whobegotyou, Lord Tavistock, Time Thief, Von Costa De Hero, Carnero and Gogocanny. He won despite the saddle shifting soon after the start, meaning jockey Vlad Duric had an awkward ride. Fernandina has drawn barrier one, and I expect him to be in the prizemoney at the finish.

by Jo Jackson