Jan 8 2025 Happy Valley

A fairly run-of-the-mill card with no major talking points from a time perspective. The opening Class 4 sprint that went to Fortune Whiskey (race 329) produced a quicker than par time for the class (SR 90.6, WASR 88.2), but not significantly so and the winner got a good trip in a race run at a good tempo so things had fallen into place for a decent time.

The other two Class 4s (races 331 and 332) were slow for the grade, but the latter at least was very messy and the horses are likely better than they were able to show, while the concluding Class 3 (race 332) was bang-on par for the grade, with the victorious Eternal Fortune (SR 92, WASR 90.7) having shaped well in prior runs.

For context, season averages for winners at Happy Valley are:

ClassSpeed Rating (SR)Weight Adjusted Speed Rating (WASR)
392.190.9
489.988.3
588.487.1

Eyecatchers

Nothing leapt off the page but Excellent Peers (third, race 329just makes the cut, having flown home with a much faster finishing speed percentage (102.4) than anything else in the race, and having had to come from the coffin box in gate 12 in doing so. He has very good form at a higher level in his back catalogue and is shaping as though he will soon be winning in this grade.