Naturalism Stakes

It was pretty good.

It beat the likes of St. George and Asterix in the Naturalism three starts back.

Tommy?

Yeah, I think he's been going really well.

Some good runs.

Naturalism was massive.

I think $3,200 is just a question.

Yeah, I think that's one that needs to be asked.

It wasn't a high-rating race this year.

I know it looked good visually, but there was two and a half lengths between the first nine horses in the Naturalism Stakes.

Like...

And there wasn't a, a huge, you know, um, sectional finish in terms of they didn't blitz home off a, like a, a pretty genuinely run race.

And then he went to that race behind Zaran.

He drew wide and Uh, he went back the naturalism stakes.

That's the race that half yours won last year.

And he hit the line really strongly.

So I expected him to go back to the Underwood Stakes and then go to the Turnbull and potentially win this race.

He didn't go to the Underwood Stakes.

He went to the Naturalism Stakes, same day, snagged, hit the line strongly.

And then last start, he... went ordinary in the Turnpool.

Yeah.

There's a bit, bit of a unique profile here with Naturalism Stakes winners.

So if you, if you win the Naturalism, then you can, um, run in either the Caulfield Stakes or the Turnbull and run top four at an SP of less than $16.

There's been seven starters for two Caulfield Cup wins and two seconds.

But still, again, not an ideal draw for a horse who also raced prominently when he won the, uh, the Geoffrey Frear Stakes.

The draw has been kinder to a former horse from our part of the world, Zaaraan, ex Johnny Murtagh, ex Aga Khan studs, now with Ciaron Maher, who became favorite for the race when he won the Naturalism Stakes two starts ago.

He was disappointing in a hotly run Turnbull Stakes on soft ground most recently.

But he's been drawn four, and as a result, he's back into favoritism.

From a market perspective, he can't get much tighter than the $7 with barely any form for two years.

I know he was not a bad run in the Naturalism, but it's hard for the market to just steam a horse like that.

Yeah, it's not flashy, is it? It's more of a-- It's not really a, a modeler sort of play, is it?

No.