Punters' Cunning Gamble Fails

Sun Herald

Sunday December 19, 1999

By MAX PRESNELL

CUNNING, in the Centacare Handicap at Randwick yesterday, was perhaps the only ``money horse" that wasn't disappointing.

Of course, sceptics will say that being a member of this category doesn't cost much these days.

However, the move for Cunning, carrying the black and cerise colours of the Woodlands Stud syndicate, created a tremor in a betting ring of suspect foundation.

Backed from 12-1 to 11-2, Cunning finished fourth and NSWTRB chief steward Ray Murrihy felt she was unlucky.

Murrihy asked jockey Larry Cassidy to ``please explain", and he maintained he couldn't cut her loose early because the filly was having her first start after a spell over 1,400m.

Cassidy said making too much use of her would have been suicidal, and Murrihy accepted the explanation.

Generally, the bigger the blow, the better the run. For instance, High Rolling eased from 9-4 to 9-2 in a ``check how many legs he's lost" betting drift in the Intellicon Handicap.

Obviously, the 11-2 to 7-2 move on Steel Point contributed to this, but High Rolling scored cleverly while Steel Point could finish only fourth.

Later in the day, Assertive Lad trained by Gai Waterhouse and a stablemate of High Rolling eased from 5-4 to 11-4 and completely overshadowed Pembleton, a 5-4 to 10-9 on favourite, in the Fleet Management Quality Handicap.

Word spread that the major player behind Pembleton had supported him to get back what he lost on the two-year-old in Melbourne last start. Should he pursue this course, it may be better to find another two-year-old or wait until Pembleton gets an easier mark than Assertive Lad.

To a lesser degree, Beauty Belle eased from 4-1 to 13-2 before a decisive win over Eye Spy, which blew from 8-1 to 20-1 in the Lease Plan Australia Handicap.

Favoured horses Merry Wives and Capitalism, always hovering around the 2-1 mark, wilted.

Alas, Shand, confidently backed from 5-2 to 2-1, was the first horse beaten in the Razor Sharp Handicap which went to Spend, hardly the pick with the punters as he went from 7-1 to 10-1.

In the Villiers, plunge horses Typhoon (12-1 to 7-1) and Serenade (9-1 to 6-1) were never sighted behind Final Fantasy (7-1 to 8-1). Typhoon ended up 14th and Sorrento supporters had a painful experience considering the course over which she was navigated.

The video of the event should be closely studied to get the full impact of Sorrento's performance.

On the subject of discomfort, consider jockey Adrian Robinson. He had to forgo the mount on Varino in the Villiers in unusual circumstances. He slipped in the sauna and was taken to hospital with an injured ankle.