Jesters' Daily Roundup - August 1st

Daily Roundup - August 1st

For the first article of this new season we will take a look back at the season that just ended and revisit some of the highs and the lows.


Final Winners

Sky Castle Stables scored well in the Final races with Wizard Dynasty, White Strike, Red Anchor (NZ) and Dulcify (NZ) all winning. They also walked away with a few places whilst Shotgun_Mike took wins thanks to their runners La Diosa Guerrera, Ultinam Barbarium and Daisy Diamond. The wins were not just reserved for the big boys though as Nacho Libre won with Public Enemy No1, A Up claimed a victory with Cuba Libra and Queen Bee won with Path To Freedom.

The exciting Finals also saw The Face win twice (August Rush, Viva Forever) with solitary wins coming from Burkveen Racing, Death Row, Redhalo Racing, Heinz, Victor Consortio and Al Mighty.


Competitions

There were plenty of competitions on throughout the season with a whole host of prizes to be won. As well as the competitions detailed below we also saw two Sales Ring promotions, one of which offered huge “Stable Booster” prizes for four winners. We also saw prizes awarded in an open (free) competition where stables had a go at picking the winner of the Durban July Handicap and credits were also handed out in a whole host of polls.

The Tipping Competition

Victor Consortio won it last season with a late and fantastic dash but Nacho Libre took their throne this season and were crowned the Seasonal winners of The Tipping Competition, they were also luck enough to win the weekly competition twice and the Monthly competition once, bringing in a total of $450.

We had plenty of variation with the weekly winners though as Crossgar, Aliman, Jam Jam, The Immortals, Fickflucker (twice), Piste Again, Hammers Awaydays, Reluctance Stable, Gogogunner, Island House, Thechoosenone, Winbank Farm Stable and Dolphish Stable (twice) all walked away with weekly prizes of $100 whilst Jam Jam, Fickflucker and Dolphish Stable all won the monthly prize of $50.

Cloud 9

I am no expert on this competition and besides a few horses from my own fantasy stable I haven’t really been following it, so check up on the in the Clouds Article for more detail. Sky Castle Stables were crowned as this seasons winners, they had finished on joint points with Tanoshii but Sky Castle Stables claimed the win because they had picked more Final winners, (three wins to Tanoshii’s one).

Sky Castle Stables also won the monthly standings and will therefore walk away with a massive total of $1100 in Bonus Credits, whilst Tanoshii will collect $500 for their second spot and The Face will take $200 for third. The Face also have $40 to gather for their second place in the monthly standings whilst third place and $25 go to Team Johansson. The award for biggest improver goes to Turf City who got $40 for their efforts.

Raceclubs Tipping Competition

RC had a tipping competition of their own over the Challenge Finals where for a small entry you could place your tips on the Finals and the one to correctly guess the most winners would win a substantial award.

Their were twenty entries and as with the Cloud 9 it was Sky Castle Stables who won the competition by guessing seven correct winners. They took £122 in cash and £183 in Bonus Credits.


Highlights

It was an eventful season and through a post on the forum I got some comments from fellow trainers on what was the high and low points for them.

It was all highs for Ron at Queen Bee who was delighted with joining RC, buying Path To Freedom and then winning a Final with Path To Freedom. Whilst Victor Consortio entered the season on a big low having sold many of their horses and lost one of their trainers, they thought about quitting before deciding to continue. Jeans Legacy’s win in a Monthly Final was one of the things that kept them in the game, and in the words of the top syndicate account: “The win was particularly poignant for myself as she was named after my mum who passed away in January and the final was taking place in the same week as her birthday”. They also mentioned that this season had been their best at Raceclubs, certainly a good decision to stay on by them

Chypmunk and Jewitts were both happy at winning Consolation races and while Jewiits’ low was not having a horse capable of running in the Challenge series, Chypmunk was more concerned with the direction of the site. Tired Horses were delighted at being involved in their first Challenge series but their low is one that many stables have unfortunately suffered this year: “The Low was having to get a job to support my new game”.


Retirements

Plenty of seven year olds hung up their shoes this season with some beloved horses amongst them. As well a some legends of the scene (in both Gr1 and Gr2) we saw many Hall Of Famers depart, leaving a gap that many of the younger horses will now look to fill.

Muggins Racing Hit Big In GR1

The stable to lose the most GR1 stars seemed to be Muggins Racing who saw three colts from the G1 Hall of Fame leave them this season. The legendary Auroborealis will always be remembered by the Raceclubs community and the trainers that owned him (Pompadours, Nemesis Stud and Muggins Racing) and shared his vast earnings that totaled over £14k. He leaves as the biggest winning G1 Colt, although his record may one day be snapped up by Unleash The Beast who still has two seasons to run.

They also said goodbye to Greek Gladiator who won over £6.5k for them and managed to win eighty-two races before retiring, and He’s A Goodone who brought in £5.7k from eighty wins and retired on a high after winning his final race; a WFA with a pot of £35.

Also losing out will be Burkveen Racing who will be saying goodbye to Sharpshooter who competed with a couple of those Muggins colts over his long career. He won an impressive eighty-nine races and collected just over £7k for his owner.

Shandyman Says Goodbye To Phenomenal Filly

As I have mentioned a number of times, Phenomenal, who is current second in the Hall of Fame for the Most Wins for G1 fillies, will also be retiring. Her owner will be sad to see this beast go and will miss her fantastic record which included a win/run ratio of 34%, a place/run ratio of 47% and earnings of over £6.3k. Her record of one-hundred and ten wins will stay in the top five of the Hall of Fame for a long time, even if she is knocked from the second spot her name will always be up there.

Peyrepertuse, one of Phenomenal’s rivals, will also be retiring as the two competitors leave Raceclubs together. Peyrepertuse has impressed for Butlers Yard who bought her from MrTug in an auction in September 2008. She has won seventy-one times and has beaten Phenomenal more than once. Her earnings total just under £4k but it is her solid win count that will keep her in the Hall of Fame.

The Hitman Is Hit Hard With G2’s

The biggest trainer to lose out with the retirements of Hall of Fame G2 horses is the successful The Hitman stable. Popular EB racer Ignite The Rocket will be their biggest loss and he joins fellow colt and stablemate Amazing Echo. Together they have earned just under £2k and have won a combined total of eighty-one races.

Other G2 colts to depart include Gold And Silver from Calahonda, Mars Attack from Jj Racing, Unconte Stable’s Fernando Torres and Elfin Warrior from MarkusStable. They have all caught the attention of the virtual racing world throughout their careers and will (or at least their earnings will) be missed dearly by their owners.

The Hitman will also lose the filly Dirty Mare who walks away from the site alongside fellow Hall of Fame females Back2 from Gatehouse Stables and the legendary Imperial Majesty from Jewitts. There is little to say about Imperial Majesty that hasn’t already been said, the horse has smashed records so heavily that it will be a long time before we see any other horse even get close to what she has accomplished. She is the Auroborealis of the G2 filly world, a true monster of the track.


The Jester