Racing Odds: No Melbourne Cup For Silent Achiever
October 30th, 2014 by Pom de TurfClassy kiwi mare Silent Achiever won’t feature in the 2014 edition of the Melbourne Cup, and you won’t see her name in the Racing odds at the end of that link: trainer Roger James this week ruled her out of a bid for the big race.
It sounds like it was a tough decision to make, and it will be a tough pill to swallow both for Silent Achiever’s connections and for James himself – not to mention all the punters who had their eye on Silent Achiever – but we get the impression from James’ statement to the press that there was a strong dose of reality in the camp this week: ‘I always thought she would get two miles (3200m), but now she is getting only 2kg from the Japanese horse (Admire Rakti) and it is a big task. I think her ideal distance is a mile and a half (2400m). I left home in August with her and I was pretty excited about having a Cup runner; I always thought she’d get two-miles but given the weight that she has been allotted and looking at the weights overall … I think it’s a big task and if we can find a better task for her she will do better. I think she’s the kind of mare that will bust her guts for you every time and [the Melbourne Cup] could be a pretty hard task for her.’
So whilst it seems like a sad loss for the Melbourne Cup itself – and it will no doubt be hard for Silent Achiever’s connections to watch the Cup this year and imagine what could have been – it sounds like it’s the right decision for the horse, and that’s fair enough. It leaves some room for movement in the Racing odds for the 2014 Melbourne Cup, of course, but we’ve got everything you need at the end of the link…
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